Until next time

I know I haven't written for a few days – apologies, I haven't been feeling well (shall explain a bit more in a minute), but I'm feeling well now, so I'm sitting down with a cup of tea in my safe, but slightly freezing apartment, to write about the last few days of our trip.

Today was a weird day – I had taken an extra day off so I could ease myself into work a bit easier. I have enjoyed watching members of the team upload photos to Facebook today, so many strange and interesting photos. So many smiles. I stood at the petrol pump this morning filling up my car and was tempted to break out into a rendition of “Jesus is the sweetest name I know”, and then I thought, hang on, this is Australia, you don't do that here. There is something profoundly sad about that thought.

So, Sunday morning I woke up feeling a bit seedy. Not sure what it was, no one else in the team seems to have gotten it. I ate only hot food the night before. Might have perhaps been me drinking water as I sang in the shower? Anyway, foolhardy me decides that I should head down and have a coffee anyway, because with something in my stomach I can take my malaria meds. I headed down to the coffee shop with Ashleigh and Nami. We had a lovely coffee, but I didn't feel any better afterwards, in fact I felt worse.

We had been told to turn up at church at 10am, so we turned up at 9:50 and I am pretty sure we were the first ones there – or just about. We have found a little shortcut to the church via a dirt road – pretty handy, and a little bit less gradient than the other way. Always handy. We sat around for a bit waiting for a guitar to turn up, because we had been told to prepare an item for the service. At around 10 past 10 the president of Luli, the cell group that Thomas and I had visited on Thursday night, turns up and asks Tom and I to walk with him. We did. On the way we met Aesach, the guitarist for Luli, who also walked with us. We went back to where the buildings that form the dwellings of the Luli cell group. As we walked down the alley way I could smell a lovely deep smoke smell coming up from a nearby fire, and we walked through the smoke into a dining room, where we were presented with some clothing. Thomas was presented with a shirt, I was presented with the traditional church dress – otherwise known as a “mother hubbard”. I tried the dress on over my clothes and it fit me, so then I proceeded to change while under it. Quite a feat if I do say so myself. Now... I can probably say, without hurting too many feelings, that the mother hubbard is not the most flattering dress in the world, but the feeling of belonging and pride which filled my heart as I walked back towards the church will not soon be surpassed. What a lovely gesture.

Once we had gotten back to the church, we practiced our item “Blessed be your name” in the new (yet to be opened) church, and the acoustics in there were rather beautiful. Then we headed into their current church building and sat down. There was us, and about maybe 15 other people in the church at that time, which didn't fill the seats. It was really interesting to me how the church filled up though. By the end of the service the place was full, plus there were people outside the church. Pretty sure that wouldn't happen at Wesley.

To my delight we sang “Jesus is the sweetest name I know” (twice). I was seated behind a mother with a son who was just learning to walk, she was holding onto him pretty tightly. He kept walking across the aisle (about three steps for him) to get a cheezel from the girl sitting on the other side. As I kept smiling at him he came over for a better look at me during the sermon. Elder Johnny did the whole sermon in English, which he didn't do last week, but while I remember that his theme was about the balanced attitude that Jesus had, I confess I may have tuned out for a little tiny bit of it while playing with the super cute kid. If any other members of the team can remember the content of the sermon can they please inform me? :)

We performed our item which went quite well. The Ni Vans have a habit of clapping during the song. It is really quite a good way of knowing you're doing a good thing, although it is a tad disconcerting. For us they clapped as everyone joined in the singing, during the pre-chorus, and then a couple of times later on as well. After we sang, we gave them a donation to their building fund, and then Harvey choked up as he thanked them profusely, saying that this next Sunday, when we start our service, he will be thinking of theirs. Also during the service we were presented with some extra gifts from the cell groups, of sarongs, and shirts, and lots of hugs. It was pretty special.

After the service we all lined up and shook everyone's hand, or were hugged and kissed (on both cheeks). Ali started to hand out lots of stickers with the Australian flag, we played scissors/paper/rock games, and we also played with a boomerang which we gave to them. They were pretty good at throwing it. We sat down for lunch, and it looked delicious, although I did not partake since I was feeling very seedy by then; which caused a bit of a stir actually, since they always let the visitors go first. I had to explain that I was not going to be eating to at least three people. I think it was ok. I think so...

In the afternoon the team wanted to head to Turtle Cove, but by that time I wanted to lie down. We hear there is a place where you can swim with huge turtles, but unfortunately, the place where the rest of the team went, was not that place. It wasn't awful, there was still kayaking and turtles to see, but it did not live up to expectations. Or perhaps that place was it before, and has just been run down. Ah well, there is always next time :)

For dinner that night we went to the Brewery and had a nice meal. Most of the team enjoyed pizza or pasta, I thoroughly enjoyed my green tea and garlic bread. Everyone was either trying to use up the last of their vatu, or they had already used it up, so there was an interesting mix of meals ordered. It was quite a good mood that evening. I think two Sundays is good. You get to see the church in action twice. For us, the first service and the second service were very different. One a big celebration service, and the other a regular service. But it would be good either way. In fact the general structure of the week seemed to work quite well. A few longer days at the beginning of the week – get the big “project” out of the way, but then keep going back, reading with the kids or helping them with the computers, that continues to build the relationship. I'm not sure what we'd do the next time, although at some point I do believe there will be a next time, but we have had plenty of good conversations about what we've learnt.

Next morning we had to be ready by 11am so we could get to the airport in time. We had some last minute shopping to do. I bought some T-shirts for my father and brother, plus some earrings for me. We gathered on a mound in the centre of the park for debriefing at 11:30. Kathy from UnitingWorld had suggested we walk through the trip “survivor style”, and talk about what had happened each day. Seemed to work really well. It was interesting with a bit of perspective on the week how easy it was to talk about our successes and how the things that didn't go as well didn't really matter as much anymore. The other activity we did was a bit of a “speed dating” type conversation where everyone had one minute with everyone else about how we had done. My rules were that you had to speak to everyone, and you had to be positive. Given how different people pitched in to help make everything happen, that was probably one of my favourite bits. It's interesting through how in the process of writing this blog I became a bit of an observer of the team, as well as a member of it.

We then headed back to the lodge to get our bags and get into the cars to go to the airport. We ended up arriving about 2 hours before the flight, which I thought was excessive, but there was no line when we turned up, and about 20 minutes later there was a queue out the door, so I guess … OK, I admit it, being early does help sometimes! Principal Daniel and Rekata came to see us off. Some of us played cards while waiting. We walked through customs and after a short wait headed on to the plane.

I decided to get one of those video sets on the plane and try and watch The Hunger Games on the way to Brisbane. Didn't quite get to finish watching it, but I have read the books so I know the ending. Quite nicely done I thought. We finished filling out our forms, and I ate about half a packet of Sao's. I was beginning to feel better. The landing in Brisbane was good and we filed through immigration and went to pick up our bags. Everyone's bag was there except Jono's, whose bag had been taken by a woman who was in transit to LONDON. There was a tense half hour while we tracked down the other bag, and once it was safely returned to us we had a good laugh imagining the woman opening her suitcase in London and finding it to contain Jono's dirty clothes and wet swimwear. Haha. Crisis averted.

We made it to the domestic terminal in time to grab a bit of dinner and get on the plane with time to spare. And I can also give you a bit of a public service announcement. If you have a swiss army knife, and then you remove it from your suitcase and declare it after getting off an international flight, do not, I repeat do not, put it in your cabin luggage and attempt to get on a plane. That is frowned on apparently.

We arrived back at Wesley at 10:54 to many hugs and lots of “my gosh it's a bit cold here's”. It wasn't long before I was in my bed and very asleep.

And now for a final butterflies and cockroaches from me.

Butterflies

1. On a personal note my absolute highlight was the cell groups, and since that's what I'd been looking forward to most, I was pretty glad about that. When the people in Luli said that I am now a part of their family, I am pretty sure they actually meant it. What amazing people.
2. As one of the leaders and instigators of the trip, I am so glad that it happened, that everyone was out of their comfort zone a little, that everyone is home safely (although I did hear this evening that half of the team has come down with a bad cold – ouch). I feel like we did a really good thing. And not just the "stuff" we did for the people at Seaside Paama, but the conversations, the games, the hugs.

Cockroach – I only have one – that we didn't get to finish the computer room because the keyboards didn't turn up. Anyone have some keyboards they would like to donate and we'll send them over there?  (USB non-wireless connection is best.)

I hear there are plans to finish off the church during this year, and if that's the case I am keen to head on over for its opening. Maybe if it's just for a few days I might be able to treat myself to somewhere that has just slightly more reliable hot showers?

Until next time.

K.

A must see ...

Yesterday evening at Elder Johnny's was excellent. We walked up the hill to his place. We were there a little bit early, but all was ready for us. Which makes me think that Vanuatu time works both ways – people actually don't work off watches over here. All they have to do is know when sunset is and work roughly off that. Dinner was nice and we sat around and chatted. I learnt that there is indeed a place to anchor a yacht at Paama Island – so I shall plan to sail there at some point. :) There was lots of chat about plans for the church and school. There are lots of groups helping out at Paama Seaside. It was also interesting to chat about what we had learnt on our trip with Elder Johnny – so different to my last trip where we came in with very vague aims. This time we had some idea of what we were coming over for, and for the most part we've achieved it.

Once I was back at the hotel, Nami and I borrowed some cards from Adam and I taught her some of the basics of texas holdem poker. Her poker face was not apparent when she giggled as she got two aces for one hand, but it worked out for her in the long term. I lost 25 vatu!

This morning was a working bee day at the school. It was quite a cool day... the week has been getting gradually cooler – and this day I have actually felt cold at a couple of points. I think we have all appreciated the change. We painted the preschool building, and then some places around the school. David, I and some others tweaked the computer setup so we could put some lining on the tables (I think it was lino?) and put all the cords back nicely. We sat around for a while – had a lovely couple of conversations with Principal Daniel and Elder Johnny about things at the school and understanding a bit more about their future plans. Then it was lunchtime; and what a spread had been put on for us! I particularly loved the gravy in one of the dishes, and Harv could not get over the brilliance of the cabbage. After lunch they gave us all sarongs as gifts and Harvey teared up a bit as he thanked them for their generosity (I wonder whether he will kill me for telling you that... :))

I was most amazed when I received a gift from one of the schoolteachers who visited us at Wesley last year. I was a little horrified that I didn't actually recall that I had given here an electric frypan that I had at my place, but it had made such a difference to her that she felt the need to give me a gift for it. So humbling to know that I have been a part of making that difference.

Daniel walked back to City Lodge with us and helped us get a good deal for a bus out to the Cascades at Mele. The bus driver said they normally get 400 vatu (roughly four dollars AUD), but we got 150 vatu each way. I think you would definitely give a group of twelve a discount if you saw them coming so I don't think the “we gave you a huge discount” line was totally warranted, but still, it was good.

Out at the cascades we paid 1500 vatu to get in and then had to walk about 20 minutes to get to the top. Majestic, amazing, brilliant, were all superlatives that I used in the first 2 minutes once I got to the top and glimpsed their full glory. Wow. This is my tip to you if you go to Port Vila. Go to Paama Seaside and listen to the kids read in the morning, then in the afternoon, go to the Cascades near Mele and climb to the top. Swim. Stand under the torrent of water. Smile. A definite highlight of the trip. My favourite moment was watching the glee on Adam and Jono's faces when they were standing underneath the torrent. Very cool.

Back down the hill and we sat around and drank good coffee and ate chips and icecream. After a very relaxing hour or so we wandered back to where the bus picked us up from.

To my delight the hot water has stayed with us, and I confess that I may have sung at the top of my voice while spending a little too much time under the water. I dressed up this evening and some of the older members of the group headed out to dinner, while the younger ones made a gourmet effort with the microwave at city lodge. I am writing the blog from the common room and it still smells very good in here.

We have just had butterflies and cockroaches and I am about to upload this and then call it an evening. Only two more sleeps to go...

Newsflash

A miracle has occurred. I got into the shower and there was actual hot water! At one point it was so hot I actually had to turn it down.

Trapped!!!

We are at Blue Lagoon. It is lovely. We have been jumping from ledges and swinging on vines (including me – eek!) However there is no way to get out of here, and there is no food. We are now sitting around waiting for Harvey and Ben to bring some lunch (from a while away). Ashleigh is playing sudoku. Many of the rest of us are eating from the coconuts that Adam has just hunter/gathered for us. He has just brought a pawpaw for us. Harv and Ben are now back. We are eating scotch finger biscuits and papaya and rolls with peanut butter. It's all feeling a bit “survivor” at the moment; it's also feeling just a bit “Lord of the Flies”, Adam is being a bit possessive with his coconut opening. He just said “I have sustained me and my tribe”, and he has just put some warpaint (dirt) on his face Hmm...

OK so what brings us to this point.

Yesterday we had a bit of a touristy day. I didn't sleep very well, and after my coffee we took a bus up the hill to the museum. So if that sounds a bit lazy, I should tell you that a few of the group had woken up early to go and listen to some of the kids at the school read. I did it this morning. The most noticeable thing for me was the range of reading skills. Some kids read so fast and so well that you didn't even have time to put all the ticks on the page. Some kids stopped at almost every word. It was great to be able to read with them. Nerida and Kaye have been working pretty closely with the teachers. Kaye is impressed that the teachers who came over to visit us in Castle Hill have taken the skills they learnt and put a Vanuatu “twist” on them. A few members of the group taught the kids some games yesterday.

Adam has just kicked a seed nest into a tree and unearthed a nest of fire ants. I hope I do not have to move soon. Harvey, Kaye, Nerida and David are over lying down on a grassy area, and Ben, Jono and Adam have just headed down the lagoon.

We saw the museum yesterday in the late morning. There are some cool headdresses there, and the sand drawing was lovely and decorative. There is a hanging set of bamboo tubes which are tuned like a piano. I tried out my favorite piano piece from my recent grade one exam, and the Star Wars theme. Ben (my piano teacher) had a far larger repertoire. All in all, I remember the place being better last time, although a rather seedy story involving Chief Rota and Kava was still there and as creepy as last time.

Last night we visited the cell groups that we ate with on Sunday. As expected it was a highlight. We went to Luli. They live very simply. The houses are put together using materials found around. So this ranges from Bessa Blocks to panels of corrugated iron. There was a lovely fire smell and we sang some songs – some lovely simple ones, and there was a devotion (in Bislama). Thomas and I were asked to say a bit of a word from Australia – so I was saying some things about how warmly welcomed we felt and how we were glad the weather had been good. It was a really nice night. At the end of the night we exchanged email addresses with some of the cell group, and I wrote down the guitar chords to one of the easier hymns there was to sing. Here's the words.

Jesus is the sweetest name I know

And he's just the same

Praise his holy name

That's the reason why I love him so

Jesus is the sweetest name I know...

Jesus, praisem Jesus

I love thy name

I love thy name

Oh Jesus, praisem Jesus

There is no other name I know.

(Footnote 17th July - Since I typed this song, Ben pointed out that everyone else was actually singing "Jesus, Blessed, Jesus" - and I also checked with the guitar player from Luli - so yeah ... my apologies... sounded right at the time...)

After we left there we headed back to the hotel. Ashleigh & Nerida, Nami and Kaye had all been gifted with some of the dresses that the ladies wear here. Especially on Sundays. They are lovely cool, reasonably oversized dresses, with somewhat inexplicable extra material hanging off the sides. I am a little jealous, but none of them were purple so I will cope. I was impressed with the gift they gave us though. As we were getting ready to leave, a kid was sent up a tree to get some grapefruit for us. Watching on with some trepidation, I was amazed at how he got around the tree. I had some grapefruit for breakfast this morning. Yummo.

So … this morning Ashleigh and I went for a coffee. It was a bit overcast. After we'd finished we headed up the hill and did the reading with the kids, and then headed back to the hotel to get ready to swim. This place has been recommended by many of the tourists we had come across, and it is beautiful. It's about half an hour away from Port Vila on some very good road – if memory serves (and I might just check my 09 blog) it is a donation from the Americans. It was just a little unexpected that there would be no place to eat here. I was so optimistic I even brought my power cable for my laptop.

Some of us are starting to count down now. Sometimes saying “76 hours to go” as if being home is the best thing in the world. Some saying “only 75 hours to go”, particularly when something goes well. I take the view that “this trip will be just long enough”. Anyway... I think I want to head back into the water, so that's enough for now. TTFN.

Ok – back on the bus now. Thought I might take this opportunity to straw poll the team on the trip so far.

What is the most essential item you've brought on the trip?

Ashleigh: Aeroguard

David: Water

Ashleigh: Actually – food

Ali: Toss up between the food and the hand sanitiser

Ashleigh: Thongs

Nerida: Undies and bubbles

Kaye: My camera!

Me: Conditioner

Thomas: Sunscreen

Jono: Camera

Adam: Clothes

Nami: Malaria medicine and camera

Best value for money thing you've had?

Ashleigh: 45 Vatu iceblock

Nerida: playing with the kids

Me: Coconut (drink and food)

Jono: Snorkelling

Adam: Stupid beanie hat, and coconut

Nerida: watching the sunset

Nami: Getting the postcards & coffee with Katherine

Me: Oh, and coffee

Thomas: cheap ice creams

David: Hideaway Island

Favourite activity?

Ashleigh: Hideaway Island Beach & Rope swing today

Nami: Cell group

Ali: Hideaway Island Snorkelling

Kaye: Hanging at the school

Me: Chatting to the kids about what they are getting out of the trip.

Okie dokie – everyone fell asleep after a while, so that was a bit difficult. But anyway we are back now, a great day. Off to Elder Johnny's for dinner tonight. Should be a good night :)

Chocolate.....

Today was probably the most relaxed day on the trip so far. I didn't emerge from bed until after 9:15 .... once i got up we didnt leave for another hour to go up to the vanuatu history museum, once we arrived we waited for some of the others to join us from the school. In our waiting time adam decided to pretend he was in a music video clip and start singing songs randomly and climbing and jumping off things.... soon enough everyone was joining in singing "lean on me". After this song and several others the others arrived and we went into the museum.

The museum was defiantly not something i would bother to return to if i were to visit vanuatu again... although the sand drawings were amazing to watch being created. And ben had a lovely time on this piano pipe like instrument. For lunch a group of us went to a resort near the church... most of the group enjoyed tapus whilst as always i enjoyed my vanuatu favorite - Hot chips. haha.

After lunch we visited the markets and i was able to start my shopping for everyone back at home. Although at the markets you worry about what wood and shells etc you will be able to get back through customs. I do still need to buy more gifts to take back for my family and friends though, hopefully ill have the opportunity tomorrow.

Tonight was incredible, we split off into pairs and joined in with cell groups from the church where we were invited into their homes. In cell group they say songs and prayed and ate. I was with Dave and we asked them alot of questions about their church and traditions such as baptism and communion. We also talked with them about how things are in australia compared to life over here ... i think they were shocked when i said i often work on a sunday as they take that whole day off...  even the shops are closed here! They gave dave and i lots of fruit to try and they convinced me into trying this fruit that is like a coco that they use to make chocolate ... after trying it im more confused than ever as to how something that tastes that terrible could make something as delicious as chocolate! Although dave and the group all loved seeing my face when i tried this unusual fruit . haha i think i shall stick to normal chocolate from now on!

6 days down. 4 to go!

Painting & Non-Laxatives

We are just getting ready to head off to the Anchor Bar in order to have dinner and watch the state of origin.  I am dressed in the closest thing I have in my wardrobe to the colour maroon. ;)

Woke up bright and early to the sounds of cars going past our bedroom window and noises from the market across the road.  At least I didn't have to have another cold shower this morning because I knew that my cleanliness would not last long.  A little bit of incentive to get moving though was from the discussion the night before that the first 4 who were ready would get to catch a bus to school along with all our donations to the school.  We had games, and balls, and clothes.  There was quite a lot... I did prioritise a coffee, but I managed to get fourth in line.  Phew.

Once we arrived at church we got moving pretty quickly.  We opened a new paint tin, we got another ladder.  Harvey took on the role of foreman, and we had about 15 young men from the church turn up and paint, and many of them took the jobs on the ladders so that was a bit of a relief.  Apart from it being a little bit hot, we had quite a quick painting session.  Managed to finish the undercoat on the front and side.  Looks great!  We were finished by about 11.

Hmm ... what was everyone else doing.  Well David and Ben finished off the computer room, getting the extra power boards and tidying up all the cabling.  Once that was finished a lot of young children crammed into the room, getting acquianted with programs like "paint" and "solitaire".  We were impressed to see how enthusisastic everyone was - although it was a big challenge explaining how to use a mouse to someone.  "Click" and "Move" were my starting words.

There is a man from Australia who is helping out at the church, his name is David.  I sat in on an English lesson he gave to the kids.  It was lovely to see them sounding out the words.  One of the Wesley team members who was sitting with me, turned to me at one point and said "I didn't know that was how you spelt yacht".  So yeah ... the kids are being taught very well :)

Our lunch was of bagettes and assorted toppings - Peanut Butter and banana is a WINNER!  We also tried a fruit called "corossol", which I had tried yesterday.  Such an unusual flavour and texture.  A bit like mango, a bit like pineapple, a bit like chewing gum.  I was delighted to see it did not have the laxative effect I had originally anticipated it would - but it certainly has a lot of fibre.  Too much information?

After lunch was sports time for the kids at the school.  I learnt where the sports fields are, and some of the kids were up the trees.  That didn't seem to go for very long, and we came back to the hotel.  I have had a sleep.  Anyway.  Better go.  Go maroons!!!!

Hideaway Island

Today we took the day off from visiting the church and helping out ... we all felt it was well time for a beach day.

The day started with a lovely sleep-in and we met at ten o'clock and caught a bus from just outside where we are staying.... i was amazed that we fit all 12 of us plus the driver in one minivan! We enjoyed the views as we traveled to Hideaway Island. The beach was beautiful and you can see photos of it on facebook. To my surprise the beaches here have very little sand and there was coral where sand would be on an Aussie beach. Apart from the lack of sand, it was amazing because we were swimming among the fish, and they would swim so close and not be scared away by people.

We all had a go at snorkeling whilst we were at the beach ... for some of us including myself this was the first time, and was truly incredible!

Also at Hideaway island there is the worlds only underwater post office which we all had turns to stand on top of it. Later in the day some of the group (Jono, Adam, Ash, Dave, Nika, Harv, Kaye, and Tom) went on a snorkeling tour of the reef, Whilst myself, Ben, Katherine and Nami stayed on the beach, and had some lovely drinks and lunch before going back to do some more swimming.

After we returned most of the group headed down to the markets then headed out to Vietnamese for dinner whilst some stayed back and cooked food for dinner.

A good day, 4 days down, 6 to go!

Nectar of the Gods

Another magnificent day.  Not quite as hot today, still pretty hot ... and had a nice breeze in the afternoon - I think we were all grateful.

So today was our first day of "work" in Vanuatu.  Yesterday we discovered that the classroom that we were to put the computers in had no desks, so Harvey and David went early to the hardware store early to get some wood in order to make desks.  We borrowed a sander, and a drill, and at the end of the day we have some magificent desks, with computers on them, and all but one of the computers survived the trip.  Harvey was just mentioning how good it was that everything worked today, the equipment we had survived the heat, we had enough wood - at one point they were putting legs on the desks, and ran out of wood - they looked up into the roof and there was a piece of wood almost exactly the right length.  Yay God! 

Unfortunately the keybords for the computers are currently MIA which is disapointing.  But it was interesting to watch the kids just learning how to use a mouse - we had a bunch of them playing solitaire in the room at the end of the day.  Daniel, the principal, is very happy what we've been able to achieve and he told us how excited the kids will be to be able to try them out.

We woke up bright and early in order to get to the school on time.  I went to get another coffee (take away this time) and the market had opened.  For 100 Vatu (about 1 dollar) Harvey had found a bunch of passionfruit.  The first one I had was a little tart, but amazingly fresh.  The second I had was a little sweeter.  Harv called it "Nectar of the Gods".

We walked up the hill to the church.  There is a long set of stairs to get on to the plateau.  I find that I like to turn around on the set of stairs and and take a look at the view, which is breathtaking, but not quite as "breathtaking" as the walk up the stairs itself.  Most others seem to cope pretty well with it, and I cope well enough that I am only slightly tempted to spend a buck-fifty on a bus.

We arrived roughly on 8am - and the teachers amongst us headed into the classrooms where kids broke into hearty rounds of the Vanuatu Anthem, If you're happy and you know it, and My God is so Big.  Harv and David arrived in a ute with the rest of the boxes, and we set to work unpacking them, and cutting up the wood for the benches.

I went to start us on painting of the church but it turned out there were a few hurdles to doing that.  We had to get the key, and we had to get the paint itself open.  Harvey ended up having to hammer it open.  We then started painting.  The paint was quite thick, and we started slapping it on.  we figured out a bit later that we could water it down a bit and it would slap on a bit easier, but the team got together and went really well.  Nami went up top on the ladder, I alternated between standing, sitting on a chair, and standing on a chair.  And others did similar.  We managed to get two panels of the church done, and they look really great!  I was particularly proud of my ingenuity in drinking a lot of my water and then cutting the top off to make a paint can.  I have never used a hacksaw on a water bottle before, and I can tell you that it works ok.  I bet you needed to know that :)

As we got a bit bored while painting we started doing some extra things to keep ourselves entertained.  Like singing.  I ran out of Aussie tunes pretty quick.  We did a bit of bohemian rhapsody, and even a little Katy Perry.  I need to google some more lyrics for tomorrow.  Any suggestions please!!!

Nerida and Kaye wandered down to the market and got us some lunch.  For 100 vatu they got a hand of bananas - really little ones which tasted lovely and sweet.  I think I ate three.  Also some cucumber, which I had on a bagette with some peanut butter.  Very satisfying.

We had fun playing with the kids too.  I wasn't quite as good at the scissors/paper/rock game as yesterday, but still had fun (and I think they liked our singing).  Adam and Jono continue to make relationships with some of the young boys there - and to be honest the fun I see them havihg is exactly - exactly what I was hoping we would be doing.  I keep remembering the story of Martha and Mary in the bible.  With ... Mary I think it was, sitting with Jesus, having a chat, and Martha in the kitchen getting narky.  I have had the "you guys gotta do more work" thing in my head a few times, but I turn it around almost straight away, I only hope that we all get to have a balance of our Martha and Mary time. 
This afternoon Adam and Jono went down the back of the church and the boys cooked them some sweet potato and fruit in a fire that they built.  They played soccer next to the church.  It was pretty fun to watch them play together.

Not everyone is coping with Vanuatu time, but some are growing to love it.  Tomorrow we are heading to the beach, and I'm really looking forward to a nice relaxing day.  Although I think I will be happy to get back to the church on Wednesday and teach the kids some computering, and do some more painting.

Adam has just demonstrated some self torture by eating a very hot chilli in front of us.  This is exactly what I was worried about since ... well let's face it ... a while now. I guess with the excellent relationship building and willingness to try new things, you also get the extremely bizarre chilli eating behaviour.  Umm ... and on that note, I'm calling it a night.  REALLY need a shower.

A Church Service to Remember

What a massive couple of days!

I am writing on Sunday night.  We've just had a lovely dinner of pasta, vegetables, BBQ chicken and pasta sauce, with bread.  Pretty tasty.  (Thanks Ali for your cooking prowess!)

Let me dial it back to a day ago though.  Our flight was from Sydney to Brisbane and then Brisbane to Port Vila.  On Saturday morning we had to catch our flight at 7am, so we had to be at the airport 90 minutes beforehand.  At 4am I was already awake - in that very annoying "gotta get up soon" mindset.  I had a quick shower and made it down the stairs in time to see the Smiths parking their car.  They drove me to church, and from there we all got on Bob's bus.  Despite the early hour the atmosphere was quite playful, a good atmosphere to begin.  Our bags all weighed in ok.  Mine was 22.3 - reasonably close to the limit of 23kg.  David's exactly on the limit of 23 kg, and Adam's was the winner with 23.1 (we had stuffed it full of equipment from Bunnings).

Anyway, flight took off late - 40 minutes late, so our plans to shop and sit around for leisurely coffees in Brisbane international were quashed a bit.  Having said that, I was reasonably impressed that we got through customs so easily - I would have thought it would have been a bit more difficult on the first day of school hols!  We got to our flight on time - and it was a great flight.  I seem to remember it being a 3 or 4 hour flight from Brisbane last time, but I must have been mistaken, it was only just over 2 hours.

When we landed there was a bit of a bump, soon enough though we emerged on to the tarmac into the joyous humidity of the Vanuatuan countryside,  It makes a fantastic change from the cold Sydney weather last week.  Can get a bit draining though.  After we emerged from customs, we were greeted by Elder Johnny and some members of Seaside Paama church, we were given leis around our necks which had been handcrafted from some local grasses.  Pretty special.  Interesting point - the airport in Port Vila was a gift from Japan in the 90s.

We checked in at our hotel and headed up to see the church.  Elder Johnny gave us some education in the coconut tree - which they call the tree of life.  When the fruit is green you can drink it, when it is brown you get the desicated coconut out of it.  With the palm fronds you can weave baskets, hats, mats, bags, clothing, toys and even a whistle which Harv tried out.  And then we had some fruit for afternoon tea including some beatiful grapefruit which isn't quite as sour as it is as home. It was a great intro.

We headed back into town and checked out the supermarket which is right across the road.  Some things are more expensive than home, but lots of it is cheaper.  We bought water supplies and headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. 

We had our first experience of "Vanuatu Time" before dinner when we were waiting for Jocelyn, Johnny's adopted daughter, to come and walk with us.  We waited around for half an hour ... I think I am already used to it - for some it is a bit trying though.  I wonder whether the rest of the team will come to understand it (and almost love it) like I do now.  Johnny lives really close to the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu head office which is just up the hill from our hotel.  We had a few introductions and a really nice dinner.  we had some instructions from our UnitingWorld training that you should only take as much as you will definitely eat - as wastage is bad.  I find I am taking a decent amount, but not heaps, and some of the foods I am loving - but some it has been a bit of a challenge to finish.

Some of the cultural norms around here are a little difficult to understand, but one definitely wasn't.  We noticed that Elder Johnny was wearing shorts yesterday, and the boys wanted to confirm what they had to wear today.  We were informed that long pants were acceptable - and that some "crazy Ni Vans" might wear shorts.  Ni Van is to Vanuatu what Australian is to Australia.  So yeah, long pants on Sundays.

By the time we arrived back at the hotel I was just about ready to crash, but being only 7pm we sat around and played UNO for a while.  We gathered at 9pm and went through some Butterflies and Cockroaches, which is basically where you say one good thing that happened during the day, and one bad thing.  My butterfly was the weather, and my cockroach was that we'd been delayed in Sydney.  Not a big cockroach though, and so far I've only seen one cockroach in my room, so not bad all round.

I was awoken during the night with some loud noises on the road, which my room backs on to.  I am hoping that was just a Saturday night thing.  If it happens every night I shall be ... tired.  Woke again at about 6:30 and got up.  Got all the painting equipment and school presents out of my bag.  It now closes quite easily!  (Can't wait to fill it with sarongs...)  Nami and I went searching for some coffee and found some up the road.  Bit lucky to find it as nothing much opens on Sundays here.  It is good that everyone takes a break.

We were asked to be at church at 9:30 on the understanding it was "Vanautu Time" so church started at 10:30. In the meantime we practiced the song we were to do in the afternoon, and also met some of the kids, and looked around the church.  The "call to worship" is hitting a heavy metal pole against a giant gas cylinder - I think if I heard that on a Sunday morning I would most certainly be curious enough to check it out :)

It was a special day for the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu (PCV) - 164 years since it was inaugurated.  As such we had a flag raising ceremony, and sang both the Vanuatu National Anthem, and the PCV Anthem.  A bit of Bislama for you - "yumi" means "you and me" or "we", and since Vanuatu has a very community oriented culture, you hear that word about every second sentence.  We sang some songs, and then Elder Johnny did a sermon.  I was trying to hear what was being said, but it was a little difficult.  I think he was talking about King Solomon, and I heard him say "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also", so ... I think it was a good message.  The service was quite long compared to the services at Wesley in Castle Hill, (which are for the most part 1 hour on the dot). Finished up about 12:15 ... Probably the most "un-Wesley-like" thing I saw though, was during the offering, which was all the different cell groups bringing forth their offerings for PCV, the church would start singing, and then the cell group would be singing a different song, and one song would ... almost organically take over from the other song.  I thought it was beautiful.  we had a bit of a panic attack as we figured out we would need to sing a song as we brought our offering forward.  We chose "Love the lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul and your mind ..." - and it went ... ok.  After the service we split up into groups of two to sit and have lunch with our cell groups.  All of which are named after ... I guess you'd call them suburbs ... of Port Vila.

• Jono and Harvey are with Lutah.
• Ashleigh and Nerida are with Alma.
• Nami and Kaye are with Beverly Hills.
• Ali and David are with Seneali.
• Ben and Adam are with Oelep & Hingal.
• Thomas and I are with Luli.

So we sat down to a great lunch with everyone.  From the kids I learnt a fun new twist on Scissors Paper Rock which is followed by what looks a bit like a chick fight.  It was great to see all the team using their strengths.  Adam was particularly good with the kids - they took him behind the school and climbed a cliff ... taking photos with his camera all the while.  We chatted to the ladies and basically just sat around a bit, drinking in the atmosphere.  After a while the musical concert happened ... we were half way down the programme..  David sang a lovely rendition of Amazing Grace, and most of the other songs still had words like "praesem God" in it, so I felt that the team's item "10-9-8 God is Great" was pretty appropriate.  We were asked to sing one more, and we didn't have another one,  but we managed to get a whole bunch of the Ni-Van kids up with us to sing and do the actions.  So much fun.

My number one favourite moment of the afternoon though was when there was some lovely music being played and Ali said to me, "let's get up and dance", and all my theatre sports training kicked in when I accepted the offer and said, yes of course, let's go now, and then we danced for two dances and a few more of the team got up.  I think the moments dancing in that small crowd will easily be one of my highlights.  OMG.  Thank you!

The musical afternoon over, we wandered down the hill back to our hotel, had an icecream, some of us had showers and we planned for dinner.  We did butterflies and cockroaches again.  And then I wrote a blog.  And now you're up to date. 

Probably have to do this more often.  Tomorrow we start working with the preschool and with the computers we brought over.  We're also going to be painting the church at some point.  Given that my day job involves drawing pretty diagrams, typing and talking to people, this is definitely going to be a challenge!!!

One week to go!!!

This time next week I will be in Vanuatu :)

I wrote up the list of what I need to take yesterday.  I would like to have been able to expand my wardrobe a little bit.  Managed to find some nice shorts today - but I don't think this is the right time of year to be enhancing my summer wardrobe.  So ... might have to get out the sewing kit and fix up a few buttons.

Last night we had our last youth group for the term - had a bit of a Vanuatu theme team.  Part of the night included a "guess the melted chocolate" game, and there were a few of our team that were a little bit too keen to eat food that was clearly no longer edible.  This does not fill me with confidence (but I'm still comfortable that we have a fantastic team).  I am not sure whether I've mentioned that we now have a whopping 12 people going in the team.

We've also found out that the first Sunday we're there, there will be a lot of people at the church at Paama Seaside.  This isn't a surprise - we've known about that for a while.  But - what we have been informed of is that we are expected to do an item.  So ... eek!  I am thinking we can have a couple of things up our sleeve,  Probably ...

• A hymn - I was reading my blog from last time and we sang Amazing Grace last time we were there.  I am thinking ... This Kingdom?  (I have a Vanuatu hymn book and I know they sing different Bislama words to the same tune in one of the  songs - but you can never tell with a hymn book - maybe they never sing that one?)
• A kids song - because lots of the group we're going with is primarily a youth one, this should be our best item.  Ali and I broke into "10-9-8 God is Great" when we were discussing items - so I think that might be my vote for that one.  There is a rocket taking off at the end of it, plus it teaches kids about how to count backwards from 10.  Can't go wrong!
• A blessing - at the end of lots of Sunday morning services we sing a blessing song called May the Feet of God ... it's a nice one, plus I can do half decent harmonies for it.  Of course compared to the harmonies that people in Vanuatu do really naturally ... hmm maybe I shouldn't pit my lame harmonies against theirs.  But it's quite a nice simple song.
• An Aussie song - one of my friends is in a bush band, and they play a cracking Click Go The Shears.  I think between us we could do a pretty good rendition of it.  Last time I sang it was probably in a choir at high school though - we should probably practice.
• And to round out our reportoire, a bit of Heel and Toe Polka :)  Can't wait to teach some dance moves - big challenge!  We could save that for the second week I think.  Slightly smaller audience if everything goes pear shaped.

Tomorrow we're having our last meeting before we go - we've got a stack of stuff to take over, and we are going to distribute it amongst everyone's luggage.  The pluses of this are that will have plenty of room to bring back some beautiful sarongs!!!  I also need to find the music for those songs and come up with a couple of music folders - after I've vetted those songs with the team of course :)

Woohoo!

This time next month ...

... I will be finalising the last of my packing for Vanuatu, ready to head off for a great week.  A lot has happened in the last 20 days that has made me feel quite a bit more prepared.  We have been doing the training that UnitingWorld has up online, and putting in some comments on the training forums.  I find that I am quite willing to jump to some potentially rather disastrous conclusions, so the training has been great for me so far.  This morning I did the child protection training, with questions like this:

Choose A or B as a precursor for this statement ... "be responsible around children"
A) I will always
B) I will never

I got 100% correct.  This is a good sign I think...

I know I'll be adding some of the following things with me when I go ...
- combined sunscreen/insect repellant.  My doctor recommended this stuff because it means you don't have to apply sunscreen as well as repellant separately.  I know though, that the time when I get bitten most by mosquitoes is in the evening, so I suspect I'll end up taking different insect repellant as well.  Insect bites definitely = bad.
- A laptop, so I can type blog type things.
- a mini hairbrush.  It is from the stuff we sold at the garage sale, and it has a picture of Winnie the Pooh on it.  I mention it not only because it's very cute, but because I forgot to take a brush last time I went to Vanuatu, and it drove me nuts the whole week.
- My sense of humour - as much as I like to think I can get all "chilled" on "Vanuatu Time", my nature is pretty much on time.  If I am late, it is because I basically intended to be late, and even then, I'm normally only like ... 5 minutes late - so I can't even get the "fashionable" bit right.  So will have to work on patience and fun stuff like that.

We are having a catch up this Sunday so we can run through some of the finer points of our trip.  I keep forgetting who I have spoken to about what, so it will be great to get the whole team in one room!

We should hopefully be posting a bit more over the next month or so ... can't wait to see how things go when we are getting the last set of details ready.

Less than 50 days to go now...

What a massive couple of months.  It is about a month and a half until we fly out now - and still quite a lot to do.  I still need to get to my doctor and get her to fill in a form which says I'm ok to go and do these things in a different country.  We have just received the training information from UnitingWorld - so we need to get into that.  And all of the team seems to be pretty busy doing general day-to-day things.

On the plus side, the person who will meet the shipping container which we put all the computers arrives in Vanuatu this week.  It then needs to be moved from one island to another.  We are really praying that everything arrives safely!  So far so good on this one.

We have also been busy selling some things to fundraise further.  We had great fun at the Wesley Garage Sale a couple of weekends ago.  Raised quite a bit too.  We don't have a purpose for some of those funds yet.  We have had quite a few situations in the last few years where we've wanted to give someone extra stuff to take with them to Vanuatu, and we hadn't taken the excess baggage $$($) into account.  I will be quite happy if we don't spend all of that money straight away.

Anyway - we now have 12 people going on the trip.  Three more intrepid explorers have joined us.  I find myself really looking forward to the adventure.

Preparations in Full Swing

My mobile app says there are 99 days until the trip today, so to commemorate that I thought I would run you through what we're going to be doing in the lead up to the trip.

Today Ian Parkin will be taking a number of boxes to a place from where they will be shipped to Espiritu Santo, the largest island in Vanuatu, and from there, taken to Port Vila. We are piggy backing on another shipment to get our stuff over there. What are we sending? (you may ask) Well ...

• Computer Equipment including desktop machines, monitors, mice & keyboards. We'll be setting up a room at the Paama Seaside school which will be used to teach the children during the day, and the adults in the evening. We are hoping it will be a really useful room.



• Some equipment that will be used to paint the school inside and out. This is an activity we'll be doing in conjunction with the youth of Paama Seaside.



• Some gifts for the school children.

So, if you are inclined to pray, please pray that all off this stuff gets there before we do. That will be quite important. :-)

So, what else are we doing between now and then...

We are going to be doing some training in term 2 which will help us to understand differences between different cultures, and tips for travelling, and other things like that. I am also hoping to understand more about the strengths of each team member so we can know how to back each other up. The training is provided by UnitingWorld, and most of it is computer based training (online). I have done my fair share of CBT in my time, and most of it is about as exciting as eating cardboard. Hopefully this training is of the better variety. But in any case if it does suck we can always laugh about it with the team.

There is other paperwork that we need to get through too - like getting all of our passports ready, completing medical checks. Our Travel Insurance is being provided through UnitingWorld, so we need to jump through just a couple of hoops to make that happen.

Speaking of UnitingWorld... We are doing this trip as an "InSolidarity Trip" through them, sort of pioneers for such a type of trip. I prefer not to think of it as a mission trip, although sometimes that is the easiest word to say to explain it. In the Western culture we often fall into thinking that it's all about the 'stuff' we can provide - and don't get me wrong - we have stuff, and we should be sharing it, but it's a constant battle, in my head at least, to not make it all about the 'stuff'. The way I think of it is this:

Basically our primary purpose in heading over there is to build relationships, so all the 'stuff' is actually only secondary to or major goal. If we stuff up the secondary stuff though, I think we stuff up our primary purpose too. So we had better get it right.

On Monday the 2nd of April we are holding a fundraiser at Castle Hill McDonalds. From 6pm-8pm we will get a percentage of the money from all of the food sold at the counter (includes McCafe, but not the drive through). The money raised will go towards more of the activities we'll be doing over there - so things like visiting a museum, or going on a road trip to a school at the other end of the island. It should be a good night. Hope to see you there!

107 days to go...

Hi. My name is Katherine and I am one of the team members for this upcoming trip. I've been to visit Vanuatu before, in July 2009, when myself and three others from Wesley Castle Hill headed over to investigate the possibility of forming a relationship with a church in Vanuatu. Our adventures are catalogued in here.

Hmm... I might just explain where the title of the blog comes from. When we were over in Port Vila we were introduced to the concept of "Vanuatu Time", which, depending on how you look at it, is a lovely laid back attitude, or a huge excuse for being late all the time. Basically, if you say you will be there at 2pm, you might mean 2:30, or 3. I found this concept a little difficult to grasp at first, but by the end of the week, when someone was actually on time (!), I vividly remember rushing through the corridors of our hotel rushing to get my stuff together. So I am looking forward to heading back to Vanuatu time.

I have a app on my phone which I have set up with a countdown to June 30th. Today it says 107. Heaps to do between now and then, I look forward to bringing you on the journey.

Welcome!

Hi everybody and welcome to the Wesley Uniting Church blog about our connections with the Paama Seaside Church in Vanuatu. Currently a team of 9 are heading over to Vanuatu at the end of June on a mission trip. This team includes Katherine Allen, Nerida Weir, Dave Sanders, Ben Speechly, Adam Smith, Jono Case, Kaye Weir, Harvey Weir and myself. We are all eagerly looking forward to the trip and can feel the anticipation building as our flights and accommodation have been booked within the last week.

Anyway, Thanks for taking the time to check out our blog, it will get updated weekly if not more regularly and will be updated (hopefully) almost daily when we are away in Vanuatu.

Ali Case and the Vanuatu Team, 2012