Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hey everyone,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! It's been about a month long celebration here in Pohnpei for Christmas. It has been insane the past week. There has been tons of traffic in town and there are all kinds of crazy parties going on all over the place. The past few weeks have been filled with Christmas parties for school and parties with some of my students families. It has been really awesome. Christmas is over now and everyone is getting geared up for New Years.

I've been doing a lot of thinking recently and I've decided that I am probably one of the luckiest people I know. It seems that everything that could go right always goes right for me. I've met some of the most amazing people here in Pohnpei, I've done some of the coolest things most people will never be able to do, and I feel incredibly lucky to be here.

I have a lot of people to thank for helping me get to where I am today. First of all...Mom, Dad, Ben, and Emily... thank you so much for being so supportive of me while I have been here. It has made it much easier during the more difficult times. Your packages are awesome and talking to you here and there is awesome!
Grandma and Grandpa Flyntz and Grandma and Grandpa Rabe... You have given me so much inspiration to keep doing the things that I am doing. I think about you all the time and I thank you for all of your support and advice over the past 23 years.
The Vandenbergs and the Sanfilippos...You guys are amazing. You have been my second and third families since......well I can't really remember when. Thank you all so much and I can't wait to spend some time with you in July when I return!
All my buddies from UD... I miss all of you guys and I can't wait to see all of you.

Tomorrow morning I will be getting ready to leave on a ship (Caroline Voyager) to go and visit two of the outer atolls Mokil and Pingelap. I will be sleeping on the deck of this ship for 5-7 days? No one is really sure when we are getting back. So...sometime after New Years?! I am going with a few Peace Corps volunteers and a few World Teach volunteers. It should be an amazing time.
Mokil has a population of less that 100 people. It should be pretty rugged.
Pingelap is a little bigger but I think around 500 maybe?
Basically Ill be staying on two of the most remote islands on our planet. I should be incredible. I will make sure to take lots of pictures and post them on here when or if I return...hahaha.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years.


Tyler