Keeping up with the Jones'

The escape from the all-consuming consumer society that America has become is a recurring theme in my blog entries. It is one of my favorite things about island life. As an American on Pohnpei, I feel no pressure to keep up with Mr. and Mrs. Jones. In fact, there are no Joneses here. I checked the phone book.

By ‘the phone book’ I do mean “the” FSM phone book. The country has one phonebook. It’s nice and lightweight and doesn’t take up much room. It’s a half inch thick and contains a separate residential (white pages) section for each of the four states. The yellow pages are not divided by state but since each state has its own prefix, it’s easy to tell which state a business is located in. The book is 157 pages long, which includes 32 pages of general information.

Curious to see whether one could keep up with the Joneses if one were so inclined to do so, I checked the Pohnpei white pages. Entries jump from Mr. Tony Jonathon to Ms. Melissa Jose. It was a confusing page and I had to double check that the listings to make sure they were listed by last name. There are 10 listings with the last name Jim, 17 listings under Joel, and 17 more for the last name John. Joseph is the most popular last name on the page with a grand total of 22 entries.

Chuuk, Kosrea, and Yap are also without any Joneses. While the ex-pats enjoy this, I suspect that many of the locals strive to become the Joneses. Such is the nature of life.