Yap Days

Every year on the first Monday and Tuesday in March, Yap celebrates its culture with a colorful and very sensory display of BBQ, costume, dance, music, crafts, and culture. All the costumes, the ropes, the booths, even the restrooms are made or fashioned from local plants. Even the dyes used to color the costumes are produced from the flowers and plants.

Spear throwing -- perfect trajectory!

Olympics - Yap Style

Well, its Monday morning in Yap, (Sunday afternoon in Vancouver) and the excitement in Vancouver is being felt half way across the world to this little island in the Pacific... at least it has reached into our apartment. Outside, things are pretty normal... most Yapese haven't a clue what the Olympic games are, let alone where they are, or that the medal count is now ended. Life goes on as normal, oblivious to the tension I was feeling as I tried to follow the game on super slow speed internet... no video, no TV... just updates as the seconds ticked by! I have to admit, it was every bit as exciting to follow vicariously in my mind, as it would have been sitting in front of a high definition big screen TV.


I couldn't help but imagine my now American kids trying to keep their Canadian loyalties somewhat subdued as their fully American spouses and their families were screaming when the USA scored a tying goal in the last few seconds of the third period....


I imagined the excitement going on in the homes of my friends in Nanaimo, as they slouched, sat, stood and screamed as the tension grew to unbearable levels...


... then came the decisive goal in Overtime... I was there (in my mind) and very proud of what my home has accomplished in the last 17 days! Good job, Canada




It's amazing how close we felt to these games being hosted so close to our former home, in spite of the fact that we were unable to watch a single event, nor find anyone in Yap who really cared what was happening! We cared, and we loved it! It was as good as being there in person!