Ok, as most of you know, I am a person who pays a lot of
attention to smell. So since you can’t experience that through the pictures,
here is a post about everything olfactory:
Disclaimer: This is not to argue that Pohnpei is any more or
less smelly than other places. It’s just to give you an idea of my experience
here, like any other post. Stanford smells like eucalyptus, a little bit of pine,
warm earth, sometimes jasmine. Hamburg smells like earth and rain and soil, and
sometimes algae near the canals. I haven’t pinpointed Pohnpei yet (also not New
Haven actually), but here are some impressions:
1) Kerosene: My family’s stove runs on kerosene. So that’s
the first smell I notice in the morning (my host mom usually makes scrambled
eggs and an island-style French toast, which is just bread dipped in egg and
fried). The actual breakfast smell comes after.
2) BO: I have not come across anyone who smells of what
Americans call “body odor” (Germans are more blunt, we just say someone stinks
of sweat). Which is quite amazing, considering the climate.
3) Bettle Nut: I still haven’t tried it, cause the thought
of the limestone powder cutting up my gum in order to get the chemicals in my
bloodstream freaks me out. However, when people chew it, their breath actually
smells pretty good. Interesting.
4) Mangrove: On the other side of the street from my house,
there are mangroves. So every now and then at low tide it smells ocean-esque.
Not the fresh North Sea smell, but more of a “you left a starfish out in the
sun until it smells” kind of smell.
5) Sakau: it smells very much like earth. Especially when
they are in the process of pounding or squeezing, the whole area smells like
sakau.
6) Pigs: They’re somewhat next to the porch, and if the wind
is right (or I guess, if one of them farts O.O) it smells like I’m on a farm.
7) Trash: I finally figured out the residential trash
system. You just throw everything off the porch, organic or not. When it starts
to smell, my Pahpa collects it in trash bags and drives it to the dumpster.
Just yesterday when we came from work, he laid down on the porch and gave a
“hoo! Something smells. Maybe the junk.” I was like “huh, maybe.” But on the
inside I was roaring with laughter.
8) My room: smells like the insect repellent I spray on the
windows (they call them “louvers” basically they are louvers made out of class,
so they have lots of spaces between them).
9) Fish: Super fresh, but also not refrigerated in any way.
So the fish smell in the market (and in the car on our way home) is different
from the fish-store-smell I’m used to.
10) Fabric: My host parents take my laundry to the
Laundromat (I’m pretty sure they wash their own clothes by hand), and whatever
detergent she uses, it smells amazing. However, towel, sheets, pillows,
everything kind of smells a little old/damp very quickly cause the humidity is
so high.
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