Island basketball is different from any type I have ever played or coached before. On other teams around here, if you are too tired or don't feel like doing a drill, you just don't. Needless to say that did not fly with me and I had to try my hardest to relax. It was nice to know that it was tryouts and I could just cut most of the people who walked off. I did explain that that sort of shit won't fly in practice, though. So we will see how it goes on Monday. We are sorely lacking in talent and I kept 4 freshman. I probably could have kept more, but I figured I needed to give the upperclassmen a chance. The freshman will have 3 more years to play. As for our limited skill, well I hope that they can understand the concept of man-to-man and help defense. I am also going to put in some plays that push the ball of off any basket, but especially for made free throws, so that we can hopefully get lay-ups and capitalize on the lazyish brand of ball that is sometimes played here. To bolster our fastbreak offense I am also going to put in a containment press that focuses on trapping and getting the other team to take quick, bad shots. With that said, I do not know how realistic this whole plan is, but I will do my best. Hey, at the very least I have some great offensive ideas from Coach Ruby!
So, moving on, last weekend we went up to Xavier and decided to go on a hike up to a mountain called Wenipong (pronounced Wett-ta-PONG). Xavier originally planned on doing this 2 weekends ago, but I could not go. So they postponed their trip which I appreciate so much. We headed out at about 3. The hike went through the jungle and past marijuana farms to a large field of tall grass, about 4' high. The hike was a steady climb until we reached one part that was a hill. But it was more than a hill, it was about a 15' high face that went straight up. A little trail marked the path. The trail was muddy and grass surrounded it on all sides. It was a vertical incline and intimidating at first glance. All of us made it up, but it was hard and I definitely almost fell several times.
9 of us hiked up that day: Myself, Jessie (one of my Roomates), Caitlin (the other roommate), Stephanie, Megan, Katie, Josh (Xavier JV's), Brian (Peace Corps at Xavier), and Matt an Australian volunteer at Xavier. Everyone except Caitlin and Brian, so 7 of us, planned on staying the night. The hike took us past old WWII caves dug by the Japanese and rusted artillery positioned on the top of the hill. The old guns really amazed me. They seemed like WWII howitzers. As we walked by it, I caught myself wondering if grandpa Al or grandpa Less would have ever believed that I would be here. Or even if they would believe that I would work here alongside Japanese volunteers (there is a girl named Fumina who teaches at Saramen Chuuk who is JOCV, which is basically the Japanese Peace Corps). It amazes me how much can change so fast.
So we get to the top of the hill, or mountain, as the Chuukese would call it. We found a place where there was relatively flat bedrock and set up camp. Brian and Caitlin headed back for Xavier, about an hour and a half walk. After we set up our mats and took some time to relax some people opened up the food and began to eat as Matt, Josh, and I started working on a small fire. Well, it had rained the past few days and was very windy. So keeping a mat lit and igniting the kindling proved more difficult than I originally thought. Good thing we brought kerosene lanterns and toilet paper. All of you who know me pretty well are probably already afraid when I mention that combination. But everything went perfectly. We dipped some TP in the kerosene and that turned out to be perfect kindling. No forest fires or anything!
The fired burned for a couple hours as we stayed up and talked. The wind blew hard, but it's Micronesia, you can't be cold here, right? Wrong.
For the first time since moving to Micronesia, I felt cold that night. Really, really cold.
We did not bring blankets, only a couple sheets, nor did we pack tents... It's Micronesia damnit! We live on an island paradise!
Well after I had fallen asleep for like 20 minutes I awoke to a strange sound and feeling. It sounded like a thousand tiny children running on pieces of scrap metal. And the feeling startled me. It felt cold and wet and very unusual. Well the rain had blown in. Thank God it was sprinkling. I can sleep through a little sprinkle anytime. We all woke up and laughed a little, secured our bags, and went back to lay down. But the rain did not stop until about midnight. The wind kicked up. Then the thunder and lightning hit. I have never seen lightning like this. It hit in the sky not far above us and it was bright. It was not a bolt, nor a sheet. It fell somewhere in between. It did not seem friendly. One of the girls, in-particular, did not like the lightning and she articulated this to all of us by making a lot of jokes and laughing, borderline, hysterically.
I lamented that we did not have a 2-iron because not even God can hit a two iron. Meanwhile the rain continued and even started to pick up. At every crack of the thunder we all jumped, instinctively. Although the lagoon surrounded us and we have a 360 degree view of the water and lagoon islands and all the beautiful things that come with Micronesia, it did not seem to matter. It all drifted away, only to drift back again at sunrise.
So by 1 or 2 the rain died down. I discarded the sheet, went to my bag and put on my sweatpants and a new tee-shirt. I laid back down, closed my eyes, and heard the rain on the tin roofs again. This time it sounded more violent, more angry. It sounded like those rain sticks you find at the Natural Wonders store at the mall. But not just one, it sounded like thousands being used at once. Then all of a sudden the tropical Micronesian rains came down in full force. We all realized that there was nothing we could do at this point.
Heading back was not an option, we would never find the trail at night, and plus trying to get down that vertical face seemed utterly ludicrous in this rain. The hysterical laughter started again and we just began talking. No one was going to get any sleep tonight. Well almost no one, Jessie, my roommate and colleague at Sarramen Chuuk has narcolepsy. I am sure that this has caused a lot of problems in her life, but tonight, in this situation, we all envied Jessie. She slept like a log, occasionally turning to put her yoga mat on top of her instead of lying on it, to shield herself from the rain. Jealousy filled us all until about 4, when the really hard stuff hit we heard, "Are you kidding me? I can't sleep through this!" Not even Jessie Fullenkamp could sleep through our rainstorm. And let me tell you, she has slept through a lot including but not limited to: a 28 hour boat ride on the open ocean on a deck with all sorts of livestock and no bathrooms, so the deck served that purpose. She also fell asleep at her senior prom (before the disorder was diagnosed) standing up, while dancing. She loves dancing!
If the United States had an Olympic team for sleeping I had always considered myself a prime candidate until I met Jessie. She would be captain, MVP, coach, and one-woman team.
With Jessie up we decided to fight back. Shivering and chattering had become a brutal fact of life at this point. T-t-t-t-t-alking be-be-be-be-be-came vvvvvvvvery sporadic and difficult; as did moving and thinking (something I have trouble with even before the rain and wind). Waterlogged, we decided it would be best to spoon. And now we run into language difficulties.
American and British are different languages. British and Australian are different languages. American and Australian are VERY different languages. All of the Americans know spooning as a sleeping position. It is front to back, where everyone faces the same way in, more or less, the fetal position. We decided that this was the best way to conserve heat.
Matt, the Australian, seemed appalled.
Turns out, in Australia, spooning means anal sex, usually homosexual. So after we assured Matt that there would be no sex on the mountain that morning, he agreed. It worked better than I thought. I refused to join the spooning session for a while. Opting instead to lay on my own mat and just tough it out. As the rain picked up and the chattering and shaking became worse I gave in.
It was warmer with everyone else and, given the circumstances, quite nice. We continued joking around and I threw off my sheet. The sheet was hopelessly waterlogged. I would prop it on my knees and elbows a few feet above my head to shield myself from the rain. But after the first rain, it no longer absorbed any water and basically turned into a faucet pouring all over me.
As we all laid there, American spooning, I managed to catch about another 30 minutes of sleep. I awoke to a beautiful sunrise over some islands in the lagoon and encouraged everyone to pack up and head back asap.
As we walked back, we all talked and, as strange as it sounds, we decided that even if we had the choice to do it all over again, we would have stayed the night ill-equipped. It helped us all to get to know each other so much better and even proved to be surprisingly fun.
Ok, so jump to the present and moving on. I am currently experiencing a major hearing impairment in my left ear and it looks like I won't get it fixed until Monday or Tuesday. My ear was hurting so I decided to q-tip. I was really looking forward to q-tipping too. It just sounded really satisfying to me. And it was, until I clogged my ear canal. Now I cannot hear anything out of my left ear and it is driving me officially crazy!
So I needed to throw in that last bit about the ear because of the title.
I would like to remind everyone to email me at:
mmillerfsm08@gmail.com
I want to wish Mike happy birthday! 33 always has been my lucky number!
And I would like to ask any and all of you who are teachers to check at your school. If they happen to be throwing away or getting rid of any book... ANY book, especially text books, please grab them and send them to SCA. I will be glad to reimburse for any shipping costs. It is driving me nuts not being able to give my kids books to take home! Thanks everyone and I miss you all!
