Peace Corps Pictures
1. Island to island has a lot of differences even within the lagoon.
2. Bowing your head or Bowing your back and saying Tero(Excuse me) is respectful
3. A pole with palm leaf on reef or palm leaf around coconut tree means that area is basicaly taboo, that you cant pass. This is done when person has died.
4. Be carefull about nightcrawling!
5. Eating turtle and dog is part of culture. Dont eat Turtle.
6. Guys can cook in the lagoon.
7. Church is really important.
8. Mwarmwars, Lays are very important, and meaning is simular to that of Hawaii.
8. If you are especting thatched houses, people going around in local dress and dancing, sorry most is gone in chuuk, though outer islands you can still find that esp in the westerns.
esp if you plan to go on boats and visiting lagoon islands!
1. Thick(2inch) canoe chair
2. Dry Bag
3. Sunscreen
4. Hat.
5. Music/cd
6. Camera(digital is good since there is no film processing in Chuuk)
For any Peace Corps Volunteer who is coming to Chuuk, or interested in coming to Chuuk, then this is for you. First you might ask, why did I build this site. Simple, I wanted to share my experiences with the rest of the world, this includes Peace Corps Trainees/Volunteers. Second, why this guide. Reason for this Guide to Chuuk is to help settle some questions. This page is directed towards you, I do encourage you to explore rest of my site that will eventualy be loaded with information(its presently under construction at this time). But this is ment for Peace Corps Trainees who are coming coming to Chuuk, or volunteers who plan to vist.
First question you might ask, is well where is Chuuk? Chuuk is about 500 miles southeast of Guam, 500 miles east of Yap, and 500 miles west of Pohnpei. Might be noted that many of the outer islands in Yap State are much closer to Chuuk proper than that of Yap proper.
Second question you might ask, what geology and climate of Chuuk? Chuuk is an almost atoll. What that means is its an developed atoll that still has volcanic islands within the lagoon. The highest mountain is on Tol, being about 1500 feet. The climate on Chuuk isnt to bad. Year round the temperature averages about 85 degrees with about 5 to 10 degree variation through the year. There is a dry season starting from around late January to around May.
Thrid question, what makes Chuuk so special? Well for starters Chuuk Lagoon, also known as Truk Lagoon is one of the worlds largest enclosed lagroon. It has interesting history, the Truk Lagoon was site of major WW2 battle called "Operation hailstorm". The cool part is that US bombed Japans largest naval base outside of Japan that was located here. The result being some 60 plus ships along with planes are all around lagoon. This makes this lagoon one of the top sites in world for wreck diving. Because of the protection of lagoon the currents are quite safe for wreck diving too. As a note the US did concider Truk Lagoon to be the first place to use the Atomic Bomb, but lucky that was changed. The other cool part about Chuuk, is the outer islands, esp the Westerns. These islands along with outer islands of Yap are some of the most traditonal islands in pacific left still practicing such skills as traditional navigation, dancing, thatched houses, along with beautiful clear ocean. Basicaly your sterotype for such an island.
Next question, when I mention Chuuk to people in Micronesia or people who know about Chuuk, they mention how dangerous this is and full of corruption, is this true? Yes this is true, though people tend to give Chuuk an undeserved reputation. The rest of the FSM and Palau seem to have a better reputation. This has been the case since almost the very first ships that came to Chuuk. If I recall reading correctly one of the first ships to venture into Chuuk lagoon, saw some canoes coming, and looked like a war party, so they changed direction and headed out. Thats how the bad reputation started. Though let me give you soem historical perspective. Palau has historicaly been known for killing many of the first people who visited it, or at least they went missing. Kosria High Island Chief was actualy responsible for burning and killing of 2 ships that where in anchor. The Chief sent a letter to US about this and it was partical justified since these sailors had been responsible for taking the islanders wives and had total disreguard for local ways. On Pohnpei, there was a rebellion at turn of centruy when Germans wanted them to give all their guns back. Ironicaly in bad Chuuk, people where more than happy to give away the guns because they though the Germans could help with Peace. Now I might mention that Chuukese are historicaly known to have been great warriors and often would fight agianst eachother. They wanted to end the warring. Now for Yap, I havent heard to much bad about Yap, so sorry. I might mention that during training in Pohnpie a kid was stabbed to death at an elementary school. You need to realize that Chuuk has the largest population in the FSM, close to 60,000 people. Pohnpie in contrast only has about 20,000 people. So as you have higher population you will natural have more cases of violance. The other part is people here in Chuuk(you will see this all over FSM and Palau), consider the island which they where raised or even where their family had originaly come as their home. As result say people who are from Faichuk who are working in Weno, do not consider Weno as their home, as result they tend not to care as much about their environment. The other case also simular is payday. This is when people all around the lagoon come in and get their paychecks, they often buy alcohal, the result being more chances of voilance. So yes violance does happen here. I can also say I hardly seen any fights here. Most of the fights I seen is here in Weno. I consider Fiachuk much safer than Weno, but at the same time I feel safe in Weno. So when your walking around, just use common sense, dont do anything stupid and you probably will be fine. Now as far as the curruption in Chuuk. Okay thats legendary. Unfortuanly thats partialy to blaim to the USA. Under Compact 1 and to degree under US Trust Territory. I dont want to go to much on subject of US actions during the past. But one of the major mistakes was US policy of basicaly giving a blank check as aid to these states. Lets just say this created in some form a welfare state and a few people took advantage of this and got rich. I am still wondering where all they spent their money on. I dont see solar power, or big screen tvs or anything like that. But realize Chuuk has its problems, but dont listen to what people say about Chuuk untell you come here. Some of the nicest people who I met in FSM are from Chuuk. This will lead to the next question.
What is it like to live in Chuuk? Chuuk just like all of Micronesia is a very diverse place. Depending on where you visit, things can be quiet different. There is the lagoon, and then all of the outer islands. Within the lagoon, island from island differs greatly. I might mention there are two main regions in the lagoon. And the experience of outer islands are very different too. I personaly have been down to the Mortlocks but not the northwesterns or halls. Though from what I am told, even the outer islands differ. If you want to experience the classic pacific island paradise, then I suggest you go to the Westerns from what I been told. But no matter what you want there is a lot to offer. The people are very nice. When walking around people often ask me over to eat with them. This is something that the people of Chuuk do. You dont have to eat them them, just nicely say no thank you, and you can walk on. Also be prepared for many coconuts. By the way, dont expect to drink coconut milk when a coconut is braught to you. Its coconut water. Now as far as my personal experience. I live on an outer lagoon island called Pata, in Faichuk. There is no running water, and electricity is only via gas generator. When the gas generators run, people often watch movies, or do things like laundry. Very few people have solar power. As far as diet, my diet consists of a lot of traditional foods. This includes taro, breadfruit, bananna, topoca, coconut, and fish. Unfortunaly because of western influence rice and canned meat is very popular. As far as village life, its very relaxing and peaceful. People go by island time and things are at relaxed place. On my village, people go out fishing beyond the outer reef, and go fishing around the village. The women also go after octopuss, something that women of Pata are famous for. There are people who do farm the mountains. The youth like to play games and sports. Volleyball is very popular along with basketball(havent played much since gym was distroyed in typhoon). I might also mention that I have a lot of freedom walking around the island by myself. Though this is fact that my island is one of the safer places to be, and fact I am a male. I am probably in one of the safer places for female, but there are differences and I can only speak with a male perspective.