Day Three on the Island

Dogs are everywhere on this island. They are not on leashes and have free reign to wander wherever they want. Most of them seem to be guard dogs, protecting homeowners from theft, apparently the most common form of crime on the island. So the dogs wander down the roads and always have right-of-way, apparently. I’ve yet to see a dog that’s been run over. Most drivers go very slowly, so the dogs have nothing to fear from cars. Most of them seem to be very well fed, and they only bark if you’re on someone’s property without permission. Or if another dog wanders into their territory. We were actually awakened by a dog fight in the early morning hours. It’s either the roosters in the area, who are early risers, believe me, or the dogs. Despite being a very rural isolated island, there can be a lot of noise here at night.

Today was our first day to visit the campus, so much of the afternoon was spent taking a tour of the various buildings and facilities, getting ourselves oriented to the place that will be our workspace for the next three days. We saw classrooms, labs, administration offices, residence halls, the bookstore, all kinds of locations. Most of the buildings are white with green roofs, and there are passageways connecting buildings so students do not get wet walking from building to building, class to class. The walkways also help a lot with the heat. It’s very humid here, and sitting under the sea almond trees or the huts at the front of the campus keeps the students from suffering from the oppressive heat.

By the way, it has rained at least once every day that we’ve been on the island. It rained twice today. I was the only one to bring an umbrella provided to us by the campus since my nose detected impending rain as soon as we got out of the car in the parking lot that fronts the school. It must be sense memory. I used to be able to smell rain coming when I lived in Mississippi. Maybe you never lose the skill.

The remaining three members of the team arrived early in the morning (about 3 a.m. or so), including the chair of our team. The rest of us had already bonded as a group, which is not all that surprising since we are the only people that we know on this isolated island. So we were all able to have breakfast and lunch together and get to know each other a little better. After the visit to the campus ended, we disembarked to one of the sketchiest looking restaurants we’ve encountered on the island so far.

The Rusty Anchor Pub & Grub is located in what was intended to be a hotel. The hotel was never finished, but downstairs in the building is a bar that offers brick-oven-baked pizza. You’d be surprised how good the pizza was here in the jungles of Pohnpei. We had four pies, two of them meat lovers, another a supreme, the final one called a Pohnpeian, featuring shrimp and pineapple. There was nothing left after we were through. The beers and wine helped, no doubt.

As far as atmosphere goes, though, the Rusty Anchor is kind of a mess. It has a balcony overlooking the lagoon and offering spectacular views. However, the rest of the joint is little more than a concrete bunker. There were a couple of pool tables, a large rectangular bar, and various nautical decorations, the most memorable of which was a series of tortoises and shells mounted on the wall. It was mostly just concrete, and the sense of un-completed-ness was palpable. Still, we had some of the best pizza I’ve had in a while.