kj: a touch of the doldrums (missing home might be a factor)

Written 21-May-2010

We have arrived on Santo. Our living arrangements here are, uh, interesting. The “transit flat” is under one end of the area director’s house (father of Graham, our IT guy at the mission). We are sharing it with the rest of the crew. This is way out of my comfort zone.

Behind our lodging is the area mission office, which supposedly occasionally has internet service. They also have a book store (ABC). I’ll have to check them out next week to see if they have any CD’s of island a cappella music.

We do have running water (one temperature only, tepid); a flush toilet which always seems to have a little residual left in the bowl no matter how often you flush (you also have to walk past our bed to reach it); a propane stove (Karl had to repair due to dirty flame that blackened the bottom of the cooking pots); and a small refrigerator that is non-functioning.

Karl offered my services to food shop and cook for the crew…oh, my word. This is in the outer limits of beyond comfort zone. Why that should be, I’m not sure, but there you have it.

Breakfast, a pretty big meal for Karl, is only peanut butter or avocado on a little bread and sweetened hot tea with milk for the guys. Don’t know why I’m whining, they take care of their own breakfast and I don’t need to worry about a noon meal which the church mothers are scheduled to provide. However, supper is a different story. I have no refrigeration for leftovers, so when I calculate wrong they either don’t have enough or I have to toss out what doesn’t get eaten. And believe me, with my foreign cooking, the potential is high.

Everything is so pricey. The produce is a little cheaper than in Vila, but not significantly. I am too far from town for walking, so must use a taxi, which must be called, for which, with my lack of ability with Bislama and the heavily accented English, I require assistance. Taxi is $2.00, $4.00 round trip. Somehow, the money just melts away one way or another.

We asked Brando what it cost a month to feed his family of 4… $600 US! And believe me, that is with very simple food and very little meat…a chicken once in a great while and fish a little more often.

Farther north equates warmer weather. We have been spoiled up to this time with either a/c at night in the mission guesthouse in Vila, or the cooler weather in Tanna. They have a fan in the Santo “transit flat”, which may have helped last night, but then again, perhaps not. Yesterday I was rinsing my face and arms every hour just to get the sticky, salty feel off for a few minutes…ugh. Yeah, yeah, I know I’m spoiled. Today is overcast and a bit cooler, I stay with the fan blowing on me as much as possible as I go about my day.

Since our potential internet access is a bit iffy here, this may not get posted until we are back on Efate for a few hours prior to flying home next week.

The Katie Jo whine is over.