Group Gatherings

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