The 6th Week

There seems to be a bizarre time-warp effect when it comes to traveling.  As with all other things that are chock-full of anticipation and excitement, somehow, time seems to move both fast and slow all at once.  I have now been here for 6 weeks, but I must admit some of it is a blur.  Being present, and fully absorbing every moment is my everyday focus, but it seems that the vast amount of cultural differences and energy consuming events (see: pig slaughter day) have made some of the time lapsed fuzzy.  All in all, I feel very settled and at peace, so I have no complaints.

Assimilating into the culture has its challenges.   The aussit community seems to be growing, and I feel as though our presence is sometimes overwhelming to locals when we travel together as a small group.  That said, it is nice to be able to share the experience with westerners who may identify with our personal experiences.  I think finding a middle ground between interacting with the other aussits, but also submerging myself in the community will be difficult.  The local people are so welcoming, kind, and giving – but there still seem to be some walls to climb towards full assimilation.  I feel confident that my in-home work will provide me with a wonderful experience to interact with people at a much more personal level. 

This past week was definitely a doozy.   Monday through Thursday, we faced a legitimate drought.  It’s true that this country receives the most rainfall of all places on earth, yet a stretch of 4 days without rain can be quite detrimental.  There is little water purification.  The tap water is provided by rivers that run outward from the mountain at the island’s center.  It is not potable, and changes dramatically in pressure and cleanliness from town-to-town, home-to-home, and sometimes just day-to-day.  Most people have rain catchments, and this is the water we drink.  Our house’s catchment however, is rusted through, full of holes, and also has a papaya tree growing out of it.  It is home to several feral cats, and I imagine an array of insects – but no water.  We’ve been boiling the tap water, and filling up water bottles at a catchment at a church down the road, as well as the catchment at the high school.  The routine has worked well for us so far, but with this week’s drought, we weren’t as fortunate.  After 2 days of no rain, the catchments were all empty, and the tap water was dwindling.  The water was actually shut off during daytime hours in an attempt to conserve.  Given that walking is our main form of transportation, with the sun bearing down and temperatures hitting 40 degrees celsius at noon, this posed quite the threat.  The walk home from the high school alone is nearly 15kms, which is just not possible in this heat without water to drink.  Luckily, on Friday, the drought broke and it poured harder than I had yet seen.  I nearly ran out of the Board of Education to dance in puddles.  It was such a joyous event! 

Eating continues to add strength to my character (Trace, this ones for you…)  
I have yet to eat any animal other than fish, and will persevere.  However, I have “grown”.  The local people do not use utensils when eating here.  Which means, I often don’t have the luxury of pushing things to the side of my plate with a fork.  Tonight, I attended a birthday celebration for a member of my host family.  The food was abundant.  All events are potluck style, and large parties are nothing short of feasts.  The young women prepare plates/ take-out containers of food, and serve the party-goers beginning of course with men, followed by senior women, then women and children.  There is no use saying “No, thank you”.  There is no use saying “I’m a vegetarian”.  There are no special orders.  Tonight, I had a plate which could have easily fed a family of three.  On it was a mountainous bed of rice, with small portions of cucumber salad, egg salad, and sashimi around the edges.  Piled on top of everything were deserts (banana cake, tapioca cake, cream pie), and meat.  Oh, the meat.  When I say meat, I mean : a giant portion of a pork rib (which was easily twice the girth of any of my own ribs), another hunk of meat the size of a small plate, and something resembling a chicken leg (resemblance does not equate authenticity here).  All were covered in some sort of sauce which efficiently assisted the flavour and juice to seep into everything below (aka anything I would actually eat).  I tell you all proudly, that this no longer deters me from digging in.  I am hungry.  I have easily lost the 20lbs I tacked on this winter.  I want you all to picture me gracefully picking up the animal’s rib, placing it further to the side of the dish, wiping the sauce on my skirt, and proceeding to fish out that damn banana cake and inhale it without flinching.  Desperate times, people… desperate times! 

( photo: Blue Starfish, Tafunsak )