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I taught my students BINGO. You cannot throw a rock in Kolonia without hitting a freaking BINGO hut, so I was not expecting to have to teach my students BINGO. But it took TWO DAYS. They kept saying they got it, and then an hour would go by without anyone getting a BINGO, and then I'd explain the rules again, and then again they'd say they understood, and then another whole. class. period. would go by. With no BINGO. Did I ever tell you that it's culturally taboo to say "no" in Pohnpei? To say "no" to anything. This didn't seem like a big deal before we came, but it's becoming more so. Like, when you ask certain questions, you really want to know the real answer, even if it's "no." Like: "It's Sunday afternoon and I'm in an outer municipality. Please send a taxi?" (Even the taxi companies. They'll say yes, but only because they can't say no, and then you'll spend hours waiting for a taxi that was never even dispatched, because the business is closed, and the lady at the other end just uses the business cell phone for her personal phone so she'll always answer the phone and tell you yes, even when they're closed, or something.) Or, "we have an exam tomorrow. Do you understand?" Or: "I have spent the last 60 minutes calling out BINGO letters and numbers, and no one has gotten a BINGO, even though you must be able to cover your entire card by now. Are you SURE you know how to play BINGO?" You have to rephrase everything so that they can answer "yes." Like, instead of 'do you understand?' you can ask 'do you want me to explain that again?' But I did. I did. I explained BINGO a dozen times.

I finally got my best student (who is also the shyest), who also speaks the best English (coincidence?) to explain it in whispered Ponapean to my most gregarious student, who then explained it in Ponapean to the whole class. Who spent the next ten minutes laughing hysterically and arguing with each other. And then we played. And someone got a BINGO inside of five minutes after that. Two days.

Anyway, what's with all the BINGO huts? Phillipinos only? Are all my students Protestant? Are Protestants against BINGO?

But! One of my students just emailed me to ask if we were going to play again today (we are not). Got their attention, anyway. I had cash as one of the prizes. It was $4. It got them really excited--one girl screamed like Alicia would when I threw it down on the table.

Also, because I can't stop thinking about this stuff, I'm going to try and puke it out: Cheese, microbrew, cute boots, shoes in general, wool skirts, FALL FASHION, clothes in general, real pork chops, a haircut, cheese cheese cheese, cheeseburgers, pine needles, cold rain, hot showers, deciduous trees, talking about science, doing scientific research, arguing about science, teaching science, learning something new, hugs from Joni, Toby (yes, Toby), walking into my lab, hot tea/whiskey/wine/coffee on a cold day, espresso, 16-hour work days and how they make you feel (tired and hard core. I never feel tired and hard core anymore. Lethargic and sickly is the closest I come.), friends. A circle of friends. being near my family, sour cream, sweater tights, a quilt, the bathroom heater, talking to Justine five times a day, my books, daydreaming that my brother is going to surprise me by showing up at campus with Lauren and Carver (I seriously used to have this daydream every other day, especially when I was so lonely during the thesis-writing months, and I don't ever have it here, because the chances of my brother showing up to College of Micronesia Pohnpei Campus with Lauren and Carver are about 1 in seven thousand, which is how many dollars it would take for him to come here and surprise me with them).