Their are so many things I could share about this week but I am going to skip ahead to Friday. We were blessed with another short week! No school Friday due to veterans day and the 3rd annual Canoe Festival. They have had a countdown for this festival posted since we arrived over three months ago! The weekend is filled with different canoe races, swimming contests, fishing contests, music, and even dances. We were ready by 9 am but of course we didn't load the van and leave until well past 10. Their weren't as many people as I was expecting there, I guess it was because it was only the first day of the festival. We said hi to our students running a fundraising booth and supported them. They had been trying to convince us all week that we weren't allowed to go unless we "went local" (as in local dress..). Haha! They are so funny... Next we headed over to the shore and watched some of the canoes. This morning was the youth portion of the competition. They had different ages and villages competing on different kinds of canoes. Canoe is really a loose term though... they were using the traditional canoes for several of the competitions which didn't really resemble a canoe at all. They are a bunch of small logs tied together, they use long sticks as paddles. They also had swimming competitions. The best part though was the opening ceremony we walked to next. It was in the big community center. The governor of Yap gave a welcoming speech almost entirely in Yapese. I've never heard any language like the one here! It is very unique. At the end of the speech he was recognizing all the different visiters and at one point said "would all the white people stand". Being politically correct is not a big deal here :). About that time the fishermen returned. They had a fishing contest that started in the morning, not like fishing contest at home though. They had to take the tradition carved sail boats (no fuel only man power) out to the open ocean. Upon their return they weighed all their catches to see which boat cost the most. It was a landslide as one of the boats caught a HUGE baracuda while the others only caught small fish. The baracuda was almost taller then the man who brought it out of the boat! My favorite part came next; the traditional Yapese bamboo dance! A group of dancers from one of the villages came in dressed in traditional attire. They had the colorful grass skirts for woman and thus for men, they were all topless, covered in coconut oil, and had shells and grass leis all over. The dance lasted a total of 30 minutes. They had long sticks they hit against each other and on the floor along with a harsh chant and song. I wondered if they were telling the story of a war, it was an intense dance! It was amazing to watch, and so unique. I have never seen or heard of anything like it. Their really aren't words to describe it. Hopefully I will be able to show the video we took of it to some of you when I return. I can't wait to see more of their dances! Next I watched a couple of my students perform in bands and then we did some shopping! Their weren't many booths set up, but we were all able to buy the traditional lava lava skirt! That is the hand woven wrap around skirt worn by majority of the Yapese women and all outer island women. They taught us how to put them on too. I don't understand how the women stop them from falling down, because ours won't stay up! We will definitely be wearing them with safetly pins. Before heading back to the school we had the privalege of being video taped for a Japanese travel agency. It was quite funny, I think they were really confused to find young American girls hanging out in Yap; not exactly your usual college student excursion. We met a lot of people actually. The weird part is, they already know who we are. They will start with "hi, you are the SDA teachers right?". Their are a good amount of tourists here for diving, but somehow they just know that we are the teachers. Anyhow, it was so amazing to see deeper into the extremely unique Yapese culture today! Reading over this blog I am struck by how bland my description seems, but words really can't describe the unique culture and life here on Yap. I think it is so cool how careful they are to preserve their culture. These islands are becoming more and more westernized every day, but Yap has taken special measures to make sure their heritage and culture is not lost.
P.S. Please keep praying for the dengue fever outbreak. It is continuing to get worse. The hospital is so overpacked they have beds all through the hallways and have litterally run out of places to put people, their isn't even space on the floor. Another older outer islander died from it this week and a couple of our students have it now. We are the only island in micronesia facing this outbreak right now and they are doing all they can to keep it from spreading. We have been burning mosquito coils all week in class. Please keep praying! I know God can protect us and this island.
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