Around the Islands-October

Nik, Nic, and I went to Baitora to help Lindsay with an HIV volleyball tournament. Lindsay was a wonderful host, sharing a fabulous meal of American Mac-n-cheese, green chilies, and Cholula hot sauce on top. A couple of days before that we feasted on breakfast crackers topped with fried SPAM (or the lesser quality Chinese version), and condiment packets from America! I got a taste of real Hellman’s mayonnaise, spicy mustard, Heinz ketchup, sweet relish, and tartar sauce. It was magical.

I have yet to taste sea turtle, which sadly villagers do continue to kill and eat despite it being illegal. I am told the sea turtle has every meat inside. So depending on what part you get, it could taste like chicken, fish, turkey, or pig. I did get to meet these guys at Lindsay’s site. I think their names are “poop” and “fart” in local language. Her village is going to release them when they get older. I’m not sure how they will do considering they are growing up in a small dish full of water.

For the last two weeks our church has been out of communal wine. Substitution? Coca-Cola! Yep, the first week I was told they watered it down so it would go farther and then threw some more sugar inside. I’ve got to admit I enjoy this refreshingly warm, spitty treat much more than the overly sweet communal wine. The problem is I leave wanting to drink an entire Coke, which is not available because I bought the last one our village had.

For the past two weeks I have had a little ratty friend following me around. His name is Hitler and he is one of two dogs named Hitler that belong to Nic’s dad. In Bislama his name is more like “heet-La” so the connection is rarely made between him and a certain Nazi man. He likes to follow Nik and I back to site, which means we have to babysit him until the next time one of us goes back across the island. I have given him a collar and bathed him twice, though he still smells like rotten fish. Nik was nice enough to write his name on his side in red permanent marker. He’s actually nice to have around as he runs pigs and cows at night and he guards my kitchen from chickens and unfamiliar villagers. He likes to bring the ladies home and I now have a pregnant dog that keeps showing up. I admit I’ll be a little sad when he returns at the end of this week.

I’ve been weaving fans again. One will be given as a gift to my Mama Hanson because I drew her name for our “secret friend” gift exchange. One I will give to Melissa because the one I made her last year got stolen by her  student. And one will go to Pam when she comes to visit. I gave one to Nik’s mom, who unfortunately didn’t make it to our village because she got severely seasick, so I didn’t get a chance to meet her. She did bring with her FOUR bottles of various hair gel products that I’ve been unable to find in Vanuatu. Bless her lil’ soul. And she baked two whole tupperwares of cookies that nik was kind enough to share with me. That’s worth a lot more than a fan, I’ll say.

Next, I want to weave a basket and a mat. I plan on starting those during the December/January holiday while everybody else is playing “Seven Lock” the National card game for hours at a time.

My mommy had her baby, a boy named Trino Falon Tofi Sale. He is tiny and quiet and precious. As per kustom here, she did not handle or cook food for a whole month after delivering him, and stayed in the house for a bit over a week after delivery. She started carrying him around outside after about a month because a lot of sicknesses were going around. When mama’s carry around their babies, they also carry around a bunch of kustom leaves with them to ward off devils.

Speaking of babies, my handicap fowl Nikolas sat on 10 eggs, nine of which hatched in to adorable little squeaky fluffballs. Congrats Nik! I’ll be curious too see how many are still alive when I get back to my village. This is a photo of them at 3 days old.