Kelly visits Micronesia, Sept. 2006

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Kel and Emy	Pohnpei girl	Pohnpeian woman	Soheks
Susie	cooking	family raft	me and the ladies of PC FSM
me with kitten (2)	plumeria	session	sunset 2
sunset	volunteers

Kelly visits Micronesia in 2003 and 2004

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See the notes at the bottom!

1 Palau	2 Standing in Yap Stone Money	3 The conference center in PalauI	4 Hiking with Dave and the kids
5 the rock islands-Palau	6 Yapese money	Beautiful Palau,FSM	Carp conference center,FSM
Chuuk school,FSM	Suzy, Marianne and me,FSM	Traditional Bai,FSM	conducting a site visit,FSM
me and some of the Volunteers,FSM

Alii (Hello in Palauan)

I just completed a 5-week 16-flight whirlwind trip to the unstable country of East Timor, the pristine lush country of Republic of Palau and the rich and colorful history of the diverse country of the Federated States of Micronesia.

The highlight of the trip was returning back to Palau after serving there as a Peace Corps Volunteer in 1997. Palau is only 10 years old as a nation and is fortunately thriving with local and foreign businesses. Palau has proudly retained its old culture and traditions but has also maintained a healthy growth especially within the tourism field. Most of my time was spent in the capital, Koror, but was also blessed to escape the office and experience the awe-inspiring rock islands again on my way out to a conference. I have many fond memories of Palau especially of the warm and friendly faces of the people I met long ago.

During my travels I was able to visit 2 new places (for me) both in Micronesia, the first being the State of Yap and the second being the State of Chuuk. Yap is famous for the stone money that surrounds the island nation and also for its rich culture, especially in the outer islands. Chuuk is a divers paradise, with sunken ships and WWII paraphernalia unfortunately, I didnt get into the water. I also went back to the State of Pohnpei, where I trained as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

I loved wearing the mara maras (a ring of fresh tropical scented flowers) on my head, looking at the panoramic view of the multi-hued ocean below me as I flew Air Mike (Continental Airlines), watching traditional dances of the Micronesia tribes,

And most importantly it was wonderful to return back to a few familiar places and be greeted with open arms from people I knew from long ago.

--Kelly