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| i'm going to create a calendar called "Small Children with Knives" - here's Benson, January's shot |
This week has been practical-based training. Angie, Nathan, and I are teaching English to class 4 every morning 8-10 and then tutoring/lesson planning afterwards. This is my first time in a classroom, so it’s been interesting. I’m grateful to be with Nathan and Angie, two badasses with teaching/life experience that I am eager to learn from.
The sicknesses have been pouring in like the cyclone of march 12! Ever since my trailblazing into giardia, a handful of others have gotten it too. Along with that, the village collectively got the flu and a 9 of the trainees had high fevers! Everyone was breaking down and ready to end training and regain the ability to eat, drink, sleep, and do what we want. Next week is Vila town for swearing in which means meals and showers!
Shoshana sent me a great package with new string and beads! I was planning on making one for my papa and mama because they really liked mine. Unfortunately my family saw how much sho sent me and I became a one man hemp necklace sweatshop for the last two weeks. The things that made this okay were distraction from sickness and the smiles on their faces.
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| laura and i in matching dresses! mother hubbards forever |
Last day finish class and they have a small thank you for us. We got island dresses and kaliko and the kids sang us this farewell song. The song was pretty eerie because they knew it so well that it was obvious they’ve sung it many times. It’s a weird situation because all of the villages along ring road on Efate see trucks passing by full of tourists pretty often. When the tourists stop, the kids leave class and sing for them. We witnessed that this afternoon and it put a bad taste in our mouths. I guess it would be different if the people were coming to learn about Epau for an afternoon. Instead, they just drop by, take a few videos, and drive on. Some tourists do donate money or supplies to the schools, which is we’ve learned it can be hard as a volunteer in these situations. You can’t really engage with the tourists and encourage a better cross cultural experience without potentially spoiling the relationship of the whole thing. It’s tough for sure and has made me more aware of the role tourists play (positive and negative) in some societies.
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| family's new pet... he tickles... and apparently has good jokes? |
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| the sad pigs that belong to my family. really heart breaking |
Another treat is the meat truck. It’s a truck that drives around ring road with two ice boxes- one for meat and one for ice cream! My family bought meat a few times, but I really love it for the frozen dairy goodness. It feels like childhood when everyone lines up and gets their fix. There’s no ice cream truck music or a wall covered in selections, but it tastes even better than the “real” thing! Now for the other ice box (though I will admit, sometimes there’s only one ice box, I just don’t think about it) all of the meat is local and fresh and pretty damn good! Except for when it’s mince #2… Trust me, do not eat mince #2.
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| meeeaaaat truckkkkk! |
Around 5 we got to the nakamal and helped the mamas finish setting up for dinner. We all got matching island dresses and took some standard group photos, plus some ridiculous ones because Steve found a dramatic setting on his camera that made everyone look like evil cartoons! We had a small ceremony, drank a shell of kava, then ate a big delicious meal. The Epau string band played some tunes and we all danced with the mamas and pikininis! It was a fun night and a good ending to Epau!
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| nemo! |
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