Thursday 18 June 2015

Some fun facts about Kosrae



In this entry I’ve put together some of the most fascinating and unusual facts about Kosrae/Micronesia I’ve ascertained from my preparations so far.
I’m sure they’ll be a fair few more to report once I arrive on the island!

…..

Kosrae is known as the ‘Island of the Sleeping Lady’ because when looking over to Tofol (the main ‘town’) from Lelu Island, the mountain range looks just like a lady having a snooze on her back… (head end is on the far right)……


The speed limit on all roads on Kosrae is 25 mph (40 km/hr). Everywhere. AND people apparently stick to it.

The average life expectancy in Micronesia is 70 years and average age on Kosrae is 19 years (!).

Not much happens to a specific time on Kosrae – everything operates on ‘island time’. This could take a while to get used to if you’re me! And I can expect no one even makes things like to-do lists which regularly get churned out of my life at dramatic speed. 

Church has a very strong presence on the island (50% Catholic, 47% Protestant), and pretty much all of the island closes down on Sundays so that islanders can attend church for several hours.
 Subsequently, drinking alcohol is illegal on Sundays between 12am and 12pm.

Kosrae is the 4th most populated island out of the 607 in the Federal States of Micronesia. #1 is Pohnpei, #2 is Weno in Chuuk State and #3 is Yap…in Yap State.

Doctors don’t wear white lab coats in the hospital (boo!). This is similar to practice in the UK, so I’m pretty used to it. However, it shatters the dream of having at least once chance in life to be a white-coat-wearing doctor - they have really good pockets to keep all your stuff in!

One flight goes in and out of Kosrae only 4 times a week: once on a Monday (that’ll be me on June 29th!), Tuesday, Friday and Saturday.

Micronesia has had Spanish, German, Japanese and American leadership until becoming free from association with the US in 1986. Federal States of Micronesia became a member of the United Nations in 1991.

Kosrae used to be called Kusaie.

By the looks of it, my diet will be a lot of: mangoes, bananas, citrus fruit (with lime juice being a particular speciality – nom nom nom!), coconut (better get used to liking this then), pork, other bits of pig and lots and lots of fish (not surprising since they’re surrounded by oh…. just that insignificant body of water called the Pacific Ocean).

There is apparently just one radio station – and it plays ‘Micronesian Pop’! Amazing! Can’t wait.

The Micronesian Pigeon (!) is an endangered species of bird on Kosrae. Shame that’s not the case for the ‘Trafalgar Pigeon’.

Christmas sounds like a right ‘ol knees up in Kosrae (quite literally!): on Christmas Day, starting at about 8am in the morning, the WHOLE island goes to church and each village or social group  performs a marching parade, (with obligatory accompanying songs I hasten to add). There’s food-a-plenty brought along by all families and groups and it’s just one big singing-dancing-eating-(marching) celebration! It goes on until about midnight.

They are very keen about being green. For example, one initiative is this: when a glass bottle enters Kosrae, a fee is paid (6 cents). Once it’s used, the user can take it to the recycling centre where they then get 5 cents for it and the recycling centre gets 6 cents back from the state for each bottle processed. So being a user of glass bottles can be lucrative! But, importantly, it provides good incentive for users to recycle, therefore reducing the risk of bottles ending up in the ocean which they try to preserve so diligently.

That’s all for now but I must thank a number of resources for the information on this entry. They are good further reads for anyone interested in finding out more…
Micronesia & Palau by Ben Cook et al. Other Places Publishing – the only travel guide for Micronesia I’ve found!




2 comments:

  1. I can't wait to hear more about Micro-Pop! I wonder if there is a Micronesian Song Contest hosted by Graham Polynorton?

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  2. It does look like a lady on her back! :)
    (Graham Polynorton - love it!)

    Belle x

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