Our new landlord came over to our furnished apartment on the second night we were here to take all the decorations, plates, glasses, the Cars themed mini chair and table set that the kids loved and wanted, the curtains and broom. The decorations were not my style and the curtains looked like they belonged in a funeral parlor, but these things were here when we looked at the house and we were not told about her de-decorating plan. Poor Xander, our two-year-old, really did not understand why she was taking the little table and chairs he had been playing with for two days and he called out the door to her “be careful with meine table please.” Even though it is so cute when he sounds like German is his first language I could not help feeling bad because his voice sounded so vulnerable.
I think the worst part was that she took the ¼ roll of toilet paper off the dispenser. This is the toilet paper that I took from our hotel room in Hawaii so we would have something to start out with when we arrived in Pohnpei. I do not think this is indicative of the culture here, but what do I know? Maybe taking toilet paper from someone who is new to the country, who has no way of getting to a market to buy more is a welcoming, initiating gesture. Somehow I doubt that is the case, but I do like to look on the bright side.
On day three it somehow feels like we’ve been here much longer.
We have a few disposable plastic cups I kept from the airplane, but the hot coffee would melt them, so I made the coffee in cereal bowls. It feels a bit like the tea ceremony scene from Karate Kid I. All I need is a clean little old-fashioned shaving cream brush to stir with and this coffee could almost feel steeped in tradition instead of instant granular.
Things are looking up as we look down over this amazing view of the valley. (View shown is from the other side of the mountain we live on.)
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