| December/January 2000-2001 | Online Publication |
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Feature. . .
Answer:
To get to Guam, we flew from Seattle to Hawaii. After a night's rest, we boarded Continental Air Micronesia Flight 957, on Friday, May 12. Julie talked Marianna into taking the "milk run" through the islands, so that she could see some of the places our trainees would be coming from for the Department of Education Super Week training at Guam Community College.
 Guam Community College: Trainers were Marianna Deeker and Julie Yeager Arthur from Seattle & Kristen Vreeland from New York. Participants were from Guam, Kosrae, Pohnpei, Chuuk, Yap and Palan.     Training participants from throughout the islands. After Johnston Island, we crossed the International Dateline and all of a sudden it changed from Friday, May 12, to Saturday, May 13. Amazing how time flies! Our next stop was Majuro International Airport, in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The College of the Marshall Islands is located on the atoll of Majuro. It is quite amazing to look down from the air on Majuro-it looks a bit like an irregularly shaped letter "C"-there isn't much land, but the lush foliage and multi-colored reef and waters make it a gorgeous site. You can see the water on either side of the atoll from the runway at the airport! On one side is the lagoon; on the other side is the Pacific Ocean. We got off the plane in Majuro and were hit by the hot, humid air. At this point we were much closer to the equator than when we were in Hawaii, and the higher temperatures and humidity makes you think you are in a steam room. We did some shopping at the airport gift shops, picking up some beautiful Marshallese craft items- finely woven baskets and some small carvings. The items were sold by the artists themselves, as there is a very active craft co-op on Majuro. Marianna enjoyed discussing the basket techniques with the basket weavers. Next, we flew to the first stop in the Federated States of Micronesia, the state of Kosrae. In Kosrae, the first of our trainees boarded the plane, bringing us gifts of local tangerines. The tangerines don't grow on the other islands, and the bright green of the fruit fools you into thinking the delicious fruit aren't ripe. Kosrae usually has clouds hanging over the highest peak on the island and if it isn't currently raining, it will start soon. The rainfall keeps the vegetation lush and the plants grow so quickly that you can almost see them growing. After taking off from Kosrae, we flew 344 miles to the state where the capitol of the Federated States of Micronesia is located, Pohnpei. Pohnpei is also the location of the main campus of the College of Micronesia-FSM. Additional locations are in each of the other states: Kosrae, Chuuk, and Yap. Julie spent 10 days on Pohnpei in 1997, when she and Midge Hunt provided the Federal Update training for that year. Many more trainees bound for Guam got on the plane in Pohnpei and this is where Julie and Marianna were each presented with marmars-the colorful head wreaths made from local flowers. Eddie Haleyalig's wife Martha makes beautiful marmars and we were happy to be beneficiaries of her handiwork (Eddie is the director of financial aid at College of Micronesia). Chuuk, our last stop in the Federated States of Micronesia, was our next stop. Chuuk is famous for its shipwrecks, the artifacts left over from the bombing of the Japanese fleet in Chuuk (formerly spelled Truk) lagoon during World War II. SCUBA divers from all over the world visit Chuuk to explore the undersea artifacts from the war. Our last flight was from Chuuk to Guam. We finally arrived on Guam about 15 hours and over 4,000 miles after leaving Honolulu. Guam has a huge, state of the art airport facility, as it is a tourist destination for vacationers from all over eastern Asia. The air conditioning helped us to put off our contact with the evening's moist, warm air. We'd like to say that our arrival and trip to the hotel went without a hitch, but it seems that some of our luggage left the plane in Chuuk and failed to make the last leg of the journey with us. Julie was parted from her beloved training materials, while Marianna was without her clothes! Guess who was most dismayed? The airline most generously offered each of us the promise of a $50 reimbursement to cover our needs for the time we would be without our belongings. This gave us the excuse to visit what must be the world's largest K-Mart, open 24 hours a day, just minutes from the airport. It was amazing to find that even at 10:00 p.m., the store was packed with locals and tourists. Marianna was able to add to her non-professional wardrobe (they didn't have much along the lines of what the nattily dressed presenter wears to talk about the latest regs), and we both had our fingers crossed that our remaining bags would arrive before the presentation was to start on Monday morning, just 34 hours away. After exchanging our rental car for one that didn't sound like it was going to lose the transmission, we were ready for almost anything! On Sunday, which happened to be Mother's Day, Julie took Marianna and Kristen Vreeland (a Direct Loan Account Manager from New York City) on a tour of her former home. Unfortunately, a lot of changes have been made in the landscape and the landmarks since Julie lived on Guam, and she got lost during the tour. Fortunately, the island is rather small, and eventually she found her way. We took a circle tour of the island, stopping frequently for photo opportunities (if you'd like to see the photos, contact Julie or Marianna, each took many rolls worth of photos!). Mary San Agustin's twin sister, Ann, made sure we experienced the local culture and cuisine on Wednesday night at the Chamorro Village Public Market. Marianna and Kristen were brave enough to taste the sweet tuba beverage; Julie abstained! Yes, our bags arrived very early on Monday morning, in time for Marianna to be appropriately attired for the training. We did have to go to the airport at 5:00 a.m. to pick them up and we did have to argue with the Customs Officials that we were SURE the bags had arrived-they finally believed us and searched for the bags. All in a day's work for the federal traveler! The training went very well. Marianna, Julie and Kristen provided five days of training for participants on NSLDS, Pell and RFMS, EDExpress Application Processing and Packaging, and Reauthorization. Participants came from Kosrae, Pohnpei, Chuuk, Yap, Palau, and Guam. We faced some challenges in delivering the training, as the date on our computers was a day ahead of the date in the NSLDS training database (remember, we were on the other side of the International Dateline!), and there were some interesting database (remember, we were on the other side of the International Dateline!), and there were some interesting questions about applying for aid when the student isn't required to have a Social Security number (students from Palau, FSM, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands). The next time you think you are having difficulty with the regulations, consider what it is like for your colleagues in Micronesia-due to the time zones and the dateline, it is very hard to pick up the phone and call someone, there can be de-lays in e-mail responses because of the lack of synchronization between their work day and the work day of everyone in Washington, D.C., and many of your students live where the boat bringing the mail (the only form of transportation) comes but once per month! We truly enjoyed our time in the tropics. Everyone welcomed us and we were shown wonderful hospitality. If you ever get a chance, go for a visit! Your financial aid colleagues will be sure you get a wonderful tour of their islands. For more information:
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After last spring's WASFAA Conference in Anchorage, we were given the assignment of chronicling our training travels to Guam and the Pacific for the WASFAA News. It was a familiar trip for Julie, but a new adventure for Marianna.
Our flight took off from Honolulu at 7:10 a.m. Next stop: Johnston Island, a mere 821 miles from Honolulu. We didn't get off the plane at Johnston Island, as it requires special clearance to do so. The island is very small and is the home of the U. S. military's poison gas left over from various wars. Gradually, government contractors are destroying the gas. In spite of the deadly gas, the island is beautiful, full of palm trees and tropical flowers.