wan bigfala update

1 August 2014

Well, life without a computer has really made it difficult to keep up on my blogging. My friend Alison is really good at writing blog posts in her phone and just posting them once she reaches internet but I have found it difficult to take time away from all the books I’ve been reading to type away in my iphone. So, this is going to be one big update so fasten your seat belts and get excited! Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures right now because of that whole computer issue but eventually I’ll have some beautiful ones! A lot has happened since returning to site from Vila so I’m going to do my best to get everything in.

This is going to be a random smothering of the diverse and often strange thoughts and experiences I have in my village. The first thing I want to talk about is coconuts. Never have I ever consumed or observed so many uses for coconuts in my life. I also never actually never really enjoyed anything about coconuts but now they have become such a staple of my everyday life that I can’t imagine life without them. Here is a list of the many uses of coconuts: milk (in almost every meal of the day), water (from green coconuts), weaving mats out of leaves/baskets, making brooms (stems of the leaves), cleaning sauce pans (with the husks), starting fires (leaves), making roaring fires (shells/husks), cups to drink out of (shells), strainer (husks), timber (trunks of trees), great places to take a snooze in the shade–as long as you watch out for falling coconuts! There are probably more but its hard to think of them on the spot. Basically, I’m livin la vida coconut and loving it.

Coconuts are only one example of just how resourceful the people of Vanuatu can be. I am confident that even if I don’t come out of this experience with a solid idea of what I’m supposed to do with my life, I will absolutely come out of Vanuatu as a more resourceful human being. When you lack access to many of the comforts of life in the US you can’t help but get creative. Recently, I’ve completed a few new projects like painting a chalkboard calendar on one of my tables, building a pathway to my swim house with bamboo and coral and then throwing multi colored sea glass on as well so as to make my walk to the pit toilet a little sparkly! I have hung wire hooks from my ceiling so that I can hang my solar lamps anywhere in my house/kitchen to provide light at any time of the day and many other small projects that I just can’t think of right now but will try to share more when possible.

Another interesting thing I have been thinking about lately is the Vanuatu sneezing culture. It’s flu season right now in the South Pacific so I hear a good amount of sneezes everyday. I have always been a firm believer in the need to say “God bless you” or even just “bless you” when someone sneezes, regardless of whether or not I know them or not. I always feel awkward when someone sneezes and the sound that follows is silence. In Vanuatu, nothing is said after a sneeze but I have found it difficult to draw myself away from saying “bless you” so there have been many an awkward time when I have said “God bless you” and then just been stared at. Saying “god bless you” is a serious compliment in Vanuatu because the Christian missionaries really did some work on these small islands. Whenever I say “God bless you,” the people in my village are overwhelmed with joy that I have just asked God to bless them. I haven’t bothered explaining that it’s just a saying because the joy in their faces makes me smile/giggle a little.

My little village farm house is really coming along. The week after I got back from Vila my goat finally arrived! Her name is Babes and she’s pregnant! I can’t wait for her to give birth so I can start milking her and making goat cheese!! If anyone has any tips and tricks for cheese making please pass them along. Of course I’m also excited for her to give birth so that I can have a cute baby goat running around my house! She is one of the best pets I’ve ever had–she requires very minimal attention, I just have to move her to a different coconut tree every few days so she can reach fresh green grass! She is even a built in lawn mower because she eats the grass down to the perfect length so the grasses surrounding my house look healthy and not too overwhelming! Dane has been giving me tips on how to train a goat so that I can help her learn my scent so she isn’t quite as afraid of me as she currently is. I also acquired a new puppy named Spike! He’s super cute and much healthier than Noa was. I got him in a different part of my village but my family has one dog who’s puppy ended up dying so luckily she still has milk in her so Spike has been able to get all his necessary puppy nutrients! Shaki is still alive but hasn’t really grown much (I think because of a lack of necessary kitten nutrients) but she has started eating rats that the bigger cats catch so I can’t complain!

My new kitchen is complete and beautiful! I’m going to try and upload pictures of my kitchen but unfortunately they are really dark pictures because I took them at 5am before I got on the truck to leave town….I have other pictures but they are on my camera so who knows when I will upload those! The kitchen is great–I have enough room for a fire as well as my gas stove so no matter what my energy/effort level I can whip up a delicious meal. (See post about my bush kitchen creations for pictures of my meals). I also have a raised platform that I sit down on to eat and its so comfortable I frequently take a little cat nap after eating or read until its time to go into the house for bed. I love cooking on the fire and gas is expensive so I’ve been attempting to use the fire as much as possible and its been going much better than expected. My garden is looking great and soon enough I will have fresh corn to cook in my kitchen!! I harvested some cabbage, beans and green peppers from my garden last week–feels so good to be sustaining myself! Last weekend my headmaster’s wife invited me to their garden to dig up some sweet potato so I’ve been eating lots of delicious sweet potato frittatas!

There is a volunteer from Australia living in the provincial center (Lakatoro) named Mollie. As one of the only outlets for white man time (and because she is pretty awesome), Mollie and I have been spending a lot of time together when I’m in town. She works at the Council of Women and has been helping the women of Malekula to start a handy-craft center where they can sell all their handmade goodies. The building was kind of just sitting in the middle of tall grasses and garbage so one Saturday Mollie, Dane, Maureen and I joined with some woman who work for the council to do a little cleaning and freshening up. We cut the grass, spread coral around the perimeter and planted flowers to draw more people in to the beautiful things to be found within. Dane worked his landscaping magic while Mollie supervised and organized. Maureen and I focused on coral transportation and ice cream purchasing. It was a great day of sweating, laughing and eventually eating delicious Laplap sor sor. Alison is sick of me talking about sor sor but it’s so good–can’t stop won’t stop. I have included a photo to help explain the dish…so you take regular lap lap (grated/mashed root crop like banana, manioc or yam) but you cook some stones in the middle so that when it comes out of the earth oven and you remove the stones you have a little bowl. This bowl is then filled with fresh coconut milk that you then use to dip the Laplap in. This one had chicken wings and greens in it too. My mouth is actually watering thinking back. 

The weekend of the handicraft clean up was also the 4th of July (HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!) so I was lucky enough to celebrate with a diverse group in which us Americans, the celebratory party, were actually the minority. John, Pam (John’s girlfriend visiting from Australia) and Mollie represented Aussie land, Kazu, per usual represented Japan and Dane, Maureen and I were the proud fools born in the USA. The gang gathered at John’s house on Friday night decked out in any and all red, white and blue attire we could put together with our limited wardrobes. We drank cold beer, listened to an all American playlist compiled by John and full of the Boss, Muddy Waters and even some Pearl Jam, and Pam cooked up some incredible cheese burgers (three kinds of cheese provided by Maureen who had just come back from Port Vila) and sweet potato fries. To top it off, literally, Maureen even brought Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce back with her from the states. So many treats! Of course, my regular sleep schedule was being interrupted so my body promptly shut down and I was asleep in a chair by 9pm. Luckily I wasn’t the one one, Mollie was also asleep in the couch across from me. I distinctly remember seeing her asleep and taking that as the sign it was okay for me to give in and shut my eyes.

I pass this structure on the truck ride back to my village from the provincial center everytime I go to/from site. Just in case I haven’t made dinner plans, this is where I can buy freshly killed and cut beef for $2.50/kilo. Can’t get any fresher! Not bad but the only way to carry it out is by holding onto the rib or finding some banana leaves to wrap it in. I haven’t purchased any meat from here yet but others on my trucks do so I always have to make sure my backpack doesn’t become a beef pillow.