So ... you wanna watch a football game?

A few months back, I was walking around Vila with Sheena. We were just going around, storying ... and we got the idea that we wanted to go see the Amicale game. Amicale is the top team in Vanuatu and they were playing against Fiji ... naes tumas.

But tickets inside the stadium are I think 500 vatu for nice seats, 200 vatu for cheap seats. (Think 5$ and 2$.) That's not that much, but that is a chunk of change. 

Professional problem solvers: climb onto tree. Stare into stadium. BAM.

Not pictured: there were also tons of people hanging out at the overpass (or rather, road going on top) trying to take a peek down at the stadium. There were lots of buses parked there, people sitting on top of buses, people selling peanuts ... And car radios telling everyone how the game was going. It was like being at a tailgate. 

But the whole sitting in a tree thing, professional problem solving, I swear.

The ship arrives

The ship is in!

You see Valea, Ewose, and Tongoa in the back. This is the ship I travel on--MV Brooklyn. 

I

I didn't take this photo-- you can see my head in the water. I just liked all the action that's caught here.

The line to put things on the ship...

My new favorite baby!!

I always post photos of this kid, but she's so cute ...

We had Ruth's birthday party back in January. She's such a little doll. My present to her was the little pink rabbit--Thanks, Mom! Knew it was going to go to some kid some time.

The MP comes to visit

This is what I look like most of the time when I have to dress up. This is from when MP Toara Daniel came to talk to the island back in February -- the bamboo I'm holding was for kastom dancing. It's this one where you step forward as a group clapping the bamboo together. Anyway, thought it was a cool photo. The MP made his toktok in front of the Class 1 classroom while the community sat around on the field.

More pictures from that day ...

In Vanuatu, salu salu (like leis) are given out as a sign of respect. It's always women who give them out, too. Jalyn, Winnie, Jenny, and Ruth were the assigned girls to give out salu salu to the MP's party.

Sam jif mo sam narafala big man long komuniti. Notice in the back, the leaves are covering the road. That's so when the truck goes through and breaks it, it's pretty fancy.

The MP is the guy in the blue shirt. All the people around him work in Vila at the Ministry of Trade. This is Island Formal Wear.

An Average Day

I think I did one of these before? At any rate, this is what an average day is like for me at my site.

5 a.m.: Wake up. Do a quick bucket bath. Start a fire, boil tea, cook breakfast. Usually I eat pancakes, root vegetable fries, or soup for breakfast, sometimes rice or noodles.

7 a.m.: Walk to school.

7:30-9:30 a.m.: Co-teach Class 2 English.

9:30-10:00 a.m.: Break.

10:00-11:30 a.m.: Co-teach Class 3 English or prepare lessons (if I'm feeling lazy).

11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Lunch. Every day a different family brings me lunch. Sometimes it's great stuff, and sometimes it's like "Hello, Leilima, here is some taro, I forgot to milk it."

12:30-1:00 p.m.: Usually I do a little lesson planning or clean the library up some.

1:00 p.m.: Walk home

1:30 p.m.: Get home and grab a book, sit in my hammock.

3:30 p.m.: Go for a jog. Sometimes I do yoga and sometimes I play volleyball, but usually I go running.

4:30 p.m.: Take a bucket bath. A few times a week, there are fundraisers back over at the school, so I walk back over. If there's a fundraiser, they usually sell kava, some root crops, maybe fruit or prepared food. 

6:00 p.m.: Go to my host parents for dinner.

7:30 p.m.: Go back to my house. My solar usually can charge my laptop for about an hour and a half a day, so I usually watch about an hour and a half of TV or listen to podcasts. 

9:00 p.m.: Good night!