As religion
is an important aspect of many Ni-Vanuatu’s lives I decided that a visit to the
Catholic Cathedral would be of interest. By 8.30am a congregation of about
1,000 people filled the pews. The choir began to sing and the church roof
lifted. I was in awe. The sound was incredible and resonated through every part
of my body. After a few songs the service began. As a Catholic (although
somewhat lapsed) I am conditioned to a 45/50minute service. By 9.30am the offering
still hadn’t been collected and the temperature had risen. Everyone furiously
fanned themselves and at one point I thought the entire Cathedral was ready for
lift off to the heavens. By 10am I was looking for an escape route. It wasn’t
going to be easy. I was wedged in between what appeared to be a huge floral
garden and a sand-bank. They were in fact only two rather large members of the
congregation. As one of only two
Europeans at the service remaining inconspicuous as I sneaked out was never really an option, so I settled down and
prayed for the service to end. My prayers were heard!
I’ve been
told the Vietnamese service is very quick so maybe I’ll try that next time. I’m
sure it will be the same God and if I can follow the service in French and
Bislama then Vietnamese will be a doddle.... or not.
Anyway, I
mustn’t have prayed hard enough because later in the week we had two major
events. The first was the Tsunami warning which fortunately occurred as school
ended so parents collected the students and we managed to avoid a mass evacuation
up the high hill behind the school, and the second was the collapse of the
adventure playground with a whole class on it. There’s nothing like a bit of drama to encourage team
building among an already strong staff. Fortunately there were no serious
injuries.
By the
weekend I was ready for an escape so headed to Hideaway Island for the day. It
had been ten years since I was last there and it was really pleasing to see that
even with progress the island had managed to retain its laid-back, no-frills
style. The snorkelling was better than I remembered it. Probably a result of it
being a marine reserve.
Anxious that
I might revert to a sedentary lifestyle here in Vanuatu I joined a yoga group.
However it was a bit physical so I decided to try another, gentler session, one
where hopefully all I would be asked to do was sleep on the floor. I arrived at
the venue. About 10 medical students were also waiting. No instructor arrived.
One of the waiters from the restaurant next door came out. No problem...he had
a key. He let us in. We found some lights, got the fans working, opened the
doors out to the ocean, set up our mats and looked at each other. ‘Does anyone
know any yoga?’ someone asked. One by one we all offered something, ‘angry
cat’, ‘dog down’ ‘salute to the sun’.... I suggested ‘sleep on the floor’.
Everyone thought it was a great idea so that’s what we did when we’d run out of
other suggestions. Then we turned off the fans, the lights, shut the door and
went and asked the waiter if he could now lock up. I don’t think the gym owners
even knew we were there!!!!!
Such success
at yoga made me think it was time to try something a little more adventurous.
One of the teachers at school teaches paddle boarding. I pictured myself
floating around the lagoon, paddling on calm waters in a meditational state. I
hadn’t realised it was Paddle boarding Fitness lessons. I’m not fond of
‘F-words’ especially not THAT one. We didn’t even use a paddle till the last
ten minutes of the hour-long session. Try to picture yoga/pilates on a
surfboard. My core muscles screamed in pain and it got to the stage where I
deliberately kept falling in the water as an avoidance tactic and to cool off.
Incidentally,
the session was preceded by a rather awkward bus trip. After everyone had been
dropped off the driver asked if I would move to the front seat of the bus. I
thought he was going to pick up a lot of people on the way. It didn’t take long
to realise this was the first in a series of ‘chat up’ lines. He proceeded to
tell me he wasn’t married and didn’t like Ni-Van women, only New Zealand woman.
I had no idea where I was going and I was so rattled we ‘overshot’ my stop by
about a kilometre. He was quite harmless but there was a lesson here. Don’t let
anyone know you are single and if you are invited to sit at the front of the
bus move to the back as quick as you can!
My
Australian friend Susi and I started the first of our Bislama lessons last
night. I’ve decided I definitely haven’t got a gift for languages! Bislama is a
form of pigeon English and quite easy to decipher if you read it. However after
a long day at school and sitting in a room trying to stay cool and concentrate
wasn’t conducive to good learning. However, we are providing lots of
entertainment for the Kaiviti staff as we practice our Bislama on them!
Well, that’s
about it till next time. Now..... I’m going to kill the thousands of ants which
seem to have made a home underneath my computer keys. Every time I type about
three scurry out. Makes me a bit scared of taking my computer back to New
Zealand. I’m going to have to ‘killim dead’ which is apparently different to
just ‘killim’.
I’m sorry
there are no photos again with this blog. Any photo of me doing yoga either in a room or on a paddleboard would
give you nightmares!
I’ll try to
show something ‘scenic’ next time J.
Don’t forget
to let me know YOUR news!
Lukim you
Ange
