Getting into Things #3

Fishing in the ocean was interesting. Fishing with a bamboo pole and a piece of hermit crab on my hook and standing in the middle of the reef as the tide was going out. It doesn’t go out very far in 4 hours and those waves can be real killers. I think I spent as much time on my ass trying to get my feet back under me as I did fishing. I did catch 2 fish though and was so excited when I finally figured out how to do it. Just the lightest tug and then I had to pull hard but not too hard. I went fishing with one of the mamas who yelled out to me hold on tight and kill it so I could put it on a string made from the spine of a coconut leaf. (side note: have you noticed yet that coconut leafs are an integral part of every part of life here???). Kill it? How was I supposed to kill it with waves knocking me around and nothing sharp to cut it with? She told me to wait and waded over to me, took the fish firmly in two hands and put it in her mouth and bit down. I think she broke it’s back. There was blood dribbling down her chin and the fish was awash with blood. She took it off the hook and put it on the string and tied it back around her waist. I’m thinking shark or barracuda and she’s walking around the reef with bloody fish hanging from her waist. No gat. At least that what she said. So the second fish I caught she told me again to kill it and I knew what to do. It took everything in me to put that thing in my mouth and bite down. I stood there spitting out scales for 5 minutes! Petoooey, petooey, petooey.

Not everything is distasteful in Port. I met some yachtees from New Caledonia who seemed intent on filling me up with fine wine and food. I was just walking on the road one day when they approached me and invited me to lunch and then dinner… on their yacht. We had wine and fois gras, wine and lobster, wine and cheese, wine and coconut cream dessert and wine and chocolate. They had lots of questions about the people in Port. Although they were French speaking, they knew enough English for it to be an enjoyable evening for the conversation alone.

Another pleasant moment came when my “son” Tom gave his farewell toktok to the Presbyterian congregation. He thanked me for helping him understand English better and told everyone that I might not know why I had come to Port Resolution, but he knew that God sent there for a good reason. After he finished everyone got up and said something good about him and his work as a lay minister. I, too, got up and said some wonderful things but also thanked him for reminding me that when I didn’t know was making a difference I would also remember him and what he said.
Just another day in the life of a volunteer: brushing my teeth in the rain (after all I don’t have a bathroom let alone a bathroom sink), using disinfectant wipes to clean my pandanas toilet seat, sweeping my bed before and after I sleep, opening cans of tinned fish to feed the dog and cat along with some cooked rice – every day, cyclones (look up Cyclone Gene, a category 4 cyclone, and you’ll see just how close it came to making my site non-existent), brushing ants off my book, body and computer. Waking up to the occasional crunch crunching of Target (my cat) eating a rat. I just wish she’d eat the whole thing at one time and not leave parts around for me to find in the morning.