Just arrived

So the total travel time ended up being 12 hours long ugh. By the 10th I was dying. It was cool to see a bunch of the other islands again and for the first time though.. We did a 6 hour flight to Majuro in the Marshall islands then island hopped the rest of the way to Chuuk. It's amazing how you can just get on a plane and then end up in a completely different world and culture in just a few hours! Then we flew to Kwajalein, which is now owned by the U.S. military. It's kind of a sad story actually, they kicked everyone off the island and now most of them live on Ebeye, a much smaller neighboring island. There are about 10,000 people there.. Anyway, we couldn't get off there cause it was a base. After we flew to Kosrae which is the only state made up of only one island and there are only 5 villages on it. It is particularly beautiful there. They sell huge amounts of tangerines at the airport which are so sweet and delicious! I want to go back someday. Lots of tourists go to FSM for great snorkeling and diving (I HAVE to get my diver's license). Then we went to Pohnpei and finally Chuuk. There are distinctly different vibes on every island. Our hotel is right on the water. Very pretty. And everyone is friendly here. Our room is big and just fine. The air conditioning takes a few hours to cool the room, but it works haha. There is only one main road here FILLED with pot holes and lots of stray dogs and pigs. Betelnut is not as huge here as it is in Samoa, but common. They cut the nut in half, fill it with lime (not the fruit, but lime lime) and tobacco from a cigarette then wrap it all in a green leaf of some sort and chew it. They spit red and apparently it gives them a buzz and is pretty addictive, but it makes their teeth red and rotten. You can tell if someone is a betelnut chewer. We start class on monday and have 21 confirmed students which is a good number. We start home visits next week and will probably have to take a little boat to some outer islands which will be exciting. I'll just be doing random busy and organizational work until we start visiting kids and the students start working on the their projects. So xeroxing the syllabus today and my mom and I are gonna walk around and explore the island a bit. It's sunday so everything will be closed until the afternoon. I brought a lot of books and might hang out by the water. Also, forgot my bathing suit so I'm feeling pretty stupid about that. I'll just have to make do haha