Oh Yap 🙂 I feel so cultured already just by knowing its name 🙂 My friends and family give me dumbfounded looks whenever I talk about Micronesia and it makes me a little bit happy to know I am about to embark on an adventure that no one I know has the slightest idea about! I get to be new and exciting and I am REALLY excited about coming back and telling everyone!
One of the things I am most excited about is getting into their culture and seeing their politics and how it works in their villages. I want to see how they function without all of the grand US policies and rules! I want to see them live their lives for today and I want to see it work out so I can come back to the states with a vision of how to run my life with the greatest outcomes.
I am a little afraid, however, that I will be too naïve or ignorant about something that will get me into trouble. I don’t drink and I don’t understand everything that goes into drinking and I am afraid, in my eagerness to learn, I will be fooled and not taken seriously. This would make me feel like any friendships made on Yap would be affected by my ignorance. The betel nut is something else I feel will get me in trouble. I have no intention of trying it at the moment and I feel like there might be some pressure to do so. With this aside, I think I will get much closer to our team on Yap and I am very excited about that!
After the outing-inning in January, I wanted another one! We had such group cohesion and it was fun! I can’t wait for the fellowship that will take place in such tight quarters on a remote island for 3 weeks! I am excited to not have my phone, get awful tan lines, see exotic creatures and meet new people! After learning about Yap’s culture, I also really want to see a piece of stone money and a sea cucumber J
Yap is going to be FANTASTIC and I’m excited about all aspects! I hope the days are long and the laughs plentiful while stresses are low and pain tolerable! I hope we all get along for the entirety of the trip and that Dr. Reed doesn’t stay behind because everyone else was voted off the island…
Queens University of Charlotte - Yap 2013 