Reflections on my trip to the U.S.

Sunday July 5, 2009

I haven’t posted an entry in over a month. As planned, I went back to the states in June and Wenonoa and I rendezvoused in Jersey. Now I’m back in Pohnpei. Having returned over a week ago I’m falling back into familiar patterns, only now Wenonoa is with me!

Having only been gone three months, I wouldn’t say I experienced culture shock upon being back in the states but I definitely had a new appreciation for things we often take for granted. Things were wonderfully clean and choices were abundant. On my first trip to a supermarket I fought the urge to drop to my knees and kiss the holy ground. So many vegetables, so many fruits!

The suburbs, though sparkly clean, felt as empty as a ghost town. With no pedestrians, no dogs lying by the side of the road, and no chickens crossing the road (which they do with a frequency here), the life that pulses slowly through Pohnpei was missing. Though the housing structures were magnificent and the green lawns expansive, the burbs felt empty.

New York, on the other hand, was a whole different experience. New York was beautiful. I hadn’t spent much time in Manhattan since the 80s and the place has cleaned up nicely. The subway graffiti was wiped clean, the streets swept of trash, and even the seediness of Time Square was gone.

As an American, I felt a sense of pride during the time we spent in New York. New Yorkers take a lot of slack for being loud, pushy people but they get things done. The skyscrapers, the architecture, even the subway system that exists as a city beneath the city exemplified the ‘can do’ spirit that made America the land of opportunity. Pohnpei, by contrast, seems to lack drive and ambition and I question whether it will ever achieve any level of economic independence.

Most of all, I enjoyed the New York museums. During multiple trips from Jersey, we visited the Museum of Jewish Heritage, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, and even a folk art museum. Life in Pohnpei is pleasant but it lacks pure intellectual stimulation. Things are as they are here and there is little reason to give consideration to topics outside the immediate environment. The New York museums were a wonderful change from all that.

Our museum trips provided the opportunity to witness African-American school children consider prejudice from a different perspective as they toured a Holocaust display. At the Met we gazed at Greek sculptures among throngs of New Yorkers taking advantage of free admission on a Tuesday night. At the Museum of Natural History dinosaur skeletons prompted us to contemplate life on a whole different scale. Even the folk art museum provided food for thought. Jazz inspired quilts were on display leading one to consider the ways in which music touches us and inspires our own creativity.

Manhattan is now some 10,000 miles away and I’m on back on Pohnpei. Having been back for ten days now, I’m readjusting to the pace of life and the limitations. You may be wondering how Wenonoa is adapting to life here so I’ve asked her to write a couple of guest blog entries to share her first week here.