We are busy getting ready for our adventure to Chuuk Lagoon, once called Truk Lagoon. It is very exciting to be planning and getting ready for this trip. Tom and I have traveled all over the world but never before have we been so in touch with students. We are really looking forward to hearing from you and for your help with many choices we need to make along the way!

The first thing I need help with is deciding what to bring to Chuuk as gifts for some of the people who are helping us on this trip. I want to bring something from the U.S. that they can't easily get in Micronesia. So far we need 4 gifts. We need something for Elvis Shirai and his daughter Leialoha Shirai. They have helped us set up a visit with Chuuk Saramen Academy, a high school on the island. We will visit the school on Day 4 of our trip to talk to one of the classes, so we want to bring a gift to the class. The school recommended we bring "something educational." Any ideas? Finally, we need gift ideas for a family that will host us for dinner on our trip.

Are you wondering why we chose as our first adventure to go to the Federated States of Micronesia (and because the Federated States of Micronesia is long to say and to type, I'm going to use the abbreviation FSM in the rest of my journal entries)? There were many reasons. Tom and I love to scuba dive and Chuuk is famous for the underwater wrecks in the lagoon from World War II (WWII). As we began researching this trip, we found that the culture and history of the islands was fascinating and unique. I mean, a whole culture based on breadfruit? Have you ever heard of breadfruit? I hadn't until we started learning about the FSM. The more we learned, the more excited we became about going on this adventure and bringing you along with us via the Internet.

One of the most complicated parts of this trip is figuring out the time difference between Chuuk and the United States. It gets confusing because the countries are on different sides of the International Date Line and many time zones away. Basically, when we are in Chuuk on Wednesday morning, it is Tuesday evening in the U.S. Chuuk's time zone is 6 hours behind California and 9 hours behind New York, but because of the International Date Line, it is the next day. Let's say you are in Chuuk and you want to call someone on his or her birthday on October 30. If you call at 10 in the morning to New York (where it would be 7 PM), he or she will say "thanks, but my birthday isn't until tomorrow."

When we get to Chuuk we are going to be incredibly busy, packing all sorts of adventures into just a few days. This is what we hope to do.

Day 1: Arrive in the FSM, unpack, and stretch our legs. It was a long flight!

Day 2: Wreck dive in the morning, beginning our exploration of the underwater life in the lagoon. In the afternoon we will visit the local museum, called the Ethnographic Center. At the museum we will begin to learn first-hand about the culture and history of the islands.

Day 3: We will again wreck dive in the morning, continuing to learn about WWII history and the battle called "Operation Hailstone" that left 60 ships lying in the lagoon, changing the course of the war in the Pacific. In the afternoon we will visit a local high school. We will meet with a class to ask and answer questions about life for students in Chuuk and in the U.S. We need your help thinking of questions to ask the students.

Day 4: Wreck diving in the morning (can you tell we like to dive? Plus, there is so much to learn and see about reefs, marine life, and the ocean). In the afternoon we will either tour the island we are staying on (Weno) or the island of Dublon. During WWII, Dublon was used as the Japanese Navy Headquarters. On Chuuk, or Dublon, we will view structures and memorials from WWII. Where we go is up to you.

Day 5: Lie around and relax all morning (only kidding - we are going wreck diving again!). As the trip goes on, we can visit deeper and more interesting wrecks because we'll get used to the diving conditions and the guides will become more comfortable with our abilities in the water. In the evening, we will travel by boat to one of the outlying islands in the lagoon to have dinner with a Micronesian family that still lives the traditional lifestyle of fishing and growing breadfruit. Rumor has it there will even be a traditional dance performed while we are there! We need questions from you to ask the family about Micronesian culture and life on the islands. Email us your questions.

Day 6: Travel the first leg of our trip home, from Chuuk to Hawaii.

Day 7: During a quick pit stop in Hawaii, we will visit the Arizona Memorial. The memorial is dedicated to people who lost their lives during air attacks on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. After our short visit there, we'll rush to catch our next flight, which will take us home.

We will be having live chats during the trip - we are getting up really early in the morning to make sure we catch you during the school day! This will be a great time to ask us anything you want about the trip and to give us your suggestions for the things we need help deciding.