Meet the Family - Pele Edition

I've been blessed with many wonderful families in my life.  Of course my own family, Mom, Dad, and Nathan are great - and I feel their support just as tangibly when I'm thousands of miles away as when we're together in person.  It's a great gift.  Over the course of my travels, I've accumulated several wonderful host families as well.  As an exchange student in Finland, I lived with the Ahos, and Heikkilas, and the Wahlrooses.  In Benin, I spent training with the Azagbas in Porto Novo and then lived with Banna, Delegue, and their wonderful family at my post in Peonga.  While in Kenya this summer, I expected to spend my two months living in a hotel - only to be spontaneously offered the chance to live, free of charge, with the Nyende family in their apartment at Kibabii University.  I may have a pretty strong wanderlust, but I'm also a homebody in that I love putting down roots and being with family (new or old) - so these people have all been such great gifts.  And I'm still in touch with most of them - I sent a crop of Christmas cards back to Finland this year, e-mail Kefa Nyende (the father of the Nyende family) regularly with updates, and just talked on the phone with Papa and Mama Azagba yesterday, after being out of touch for quite a while.  One of Mama Azagba's first questions: "Have you had a baby yet?"

Here in Vanuatu, my list of families is going to grow yet again.  On Pele Island, I spent my 10 days living with Papa James, Mama Leimas, and their nieces, nephews, and other related children.  When I move to Ambae, my permanent island, I'll get yet two more families- I'll be spending 6 months each in two different villages.  My family on Pele was great.  They never spoke a word of English to me, but spent so much time helping me learn Bislama.  We would just chat and chat.  I played bingo and learned how to cook simboro (rolled island cabbage leaves with a manioc (cassava) or banana filling and how to scratch (grate) coconuts with Mama Leimas.   I drank kava with papa, had a late-night dance party with my sisters Patricia, Phoebe, Annie, and Lizzie (which ended abruptly when Papa peeked his head in the windows and all the girls hid, screaming and giggling, embarrassed), and spent hours upon hours with Jeanneth, the 6 year old.  

Mama Leimas making Simboro

My sisters Annie and Lizzie (with Jeanneth as the photographer)

Jeanneth was great fun.  6 year olds are great at helping you learn languages - they love to have the same conversation over and over again.  I brought two photo books from home with me, with photos of family and friends - one is a book I had printed before my first Peace Corps service in Benin, and the second one is new photos I printed out right before coming here.  Jeanneth never got tired of looking at the photo books - she would ask to see them several times a day, and repeated everything I had told her about the photos to anyone who would listen.  A favorite discovery - it's possible to cross reference the books, looking in the earlier book at the picture of my cousin Jill's wedding to her husband Aaron, and then in the second book at a group photo that includes Jill, Aaron, and their baby son Davey.  There are three weddings of cousins of mine in the two books - those are always popular.

Jeanneth showing the page of photos featuring my brother Nathan to her friend Leiwiya

  

Jeanneth and I also went swimming a couple times in the ocean together - I went swimming at least once every day.  We often had silly nonsense conversations while we swam - the last time we swam, I saw that the sky was getting cloudy and their was rain on the horizon.  "Bae i rein (it's going to rain)" I told her - (a key part of learning any new language is narrating each and every obvious fact you can, the more talking the better.)  "No, bae i no rein (No, it isn't going to rain!)" Jeanneth replied. "Si, bae i rein! (Yes, it's going to rain!)", "No, bae i no rein (No, it isn't going to rain!), and so on and so forth for quite a while.  For the record, it started raining soon and didn't let up for a day.

Jeanneth heading to church in the rain that same day - look who was right about the weather!

My favorite conversation with Jeanneth, though, took place on an earlier swim.

Jeanneth: Leifao, Amerika i nais? (Leifao (my new Pele island name), is America nice?)

Me: Yes, Amerika i nais. (Yes, America is nice.)

Jeanneth: No, Amerika i no nais. (No America is not nice.)

Me: From wanem? (Why?)

Jeanneth: Hmmmmm - from we i gat fulup mared! (Hmmmm - because it has too many weddings!)

I guess my photo albums give the impression of the USA as a land of many weddings.  I don't think Jeanneth has anything against weddings really, for the record - she loves those photos!

At the end of our week on Pele island, Nick (the other Peace Corps Response volunteer) and I were supposed to return to Port Vila on Friday in order to spend the weekend in the capital.  We both loved the island and our families so much, that we requested permission to stay on the island an extra weekend with them - and Peace Corps accepted!  At the end of the weekend, our families hosted a joint going away party for us.  We were each given gifts - I got an Island Dress, also known as a "Mother Hubbard" - the dress of choice for Ni-Vanuatu women, and a beautiful woven mat.  Our families also assured us that we're welcome to come back to the island any time we find a free weekend.  It's safe to say that we'll be taking them up on that offer as soon as we can.

Me with Papa James and Mama Leimas.  Note Papa James's big smile - he was always smiling - and my lovely island dress!

All the girls of the family.