Oct 27th - Nov 2nd
(27) Monday
The big adventure of the day was to give the tourist from the cruise ship a tour around the island and get some much needed cash for the school. Problem is the bus does not work very well. It's AC is almost totally worthless and the front door barely opens and closes, it jumps around the road like a monster truck and then there is the constant whining of the console which is broken... so if you don't mind sweating, noise bumpy ride then MAN have I got an overpriced ride to take you on... plus I am supposed to do a guided tour of the island I know next to nothing about the history... It was going to be silly at best.
Oh well... back to just hanging out at my school all day.
Book shelves gone, Jes and Mike picked them up for Sam... Guess they're on their way to Pama? Probably spelled that wrong oh well. nice to have room again in my bedroom. Might be a good time to start making a picnic table or a better kitchen cook area.
Things are beginning to wrap up here for several volunteers. Soon Jes will be leaving, so will Hunter. They are gone in November. After that... then Rich, then Mike Stafford. I hung out these two a lot. I will miss them all. I never really got to know Hunter very well. Mike Hawkins will go to but he is returning so that is nice. Sam is leaving sometimes in early 2015 I hear. And then a bunch of new faces will be popping up in town. The rumor is that all the old sites will be replaced and a few new ones added. I hear we will have 11 people on Santo. This might be just a rumor.
If only this place had some creative arts going on, music worth listening to or something interesting like that, it would sure help my mind not dry up. Guess that is why I try and do some on my own. I need to find a way to stretch some canvas.
(28) Tuesday
Another strange day. Wake up have Sydney swing by to use my internet for a interview at 7:30am then walk into town with her and run into Thomas and then Albane... which leads to going to meet her couch surfer friends from Argentina and then take a cab down to Hunters house and walk around for 3 hours.
Now I am back at my school fixed a computer and ate lunch. It is 2:30pm. I think I will take a nap and then read for a bit.
It almost seems like I am a character in a mediocre movie being played in slow-mo and I already know the ending. I could fast forward and do six other things and then maybe feel useful. Tomorrow... I will putz around with a computer maybe and then do nothing except wait for the next day. Yup. Looking forward to change. Small town life is not for me.
(29) Wednesday
Playing non-stop music for the last day to drown out all the noise around me feels good. There is just a nonstop stream of annoying noise around me. Why do people here have to howl for everything? Is everything that howl worthy? No. The answer is no... there is just no reason for it.
I am really excited to have a few new faces visit in the next few weeks. Having new conversations will be great. I used to meet new people several times a week in the cities... here not so much lately. Having a conversation with my people at school is nearly non-existent. What is that like, its hot, yup. Too much rain, yup. Ok see you. Maybe if I Howled at the top of my voice that would really perk things up?
Fingers crossed that my principal will not play his power card again and whine about me helping build a computer lab on Malo in Nandiutu. Building a computer lab, installing a power system, wiring, setting up the room making furniture... It will feel like I have a point in being here versus just passing the time. He was being a tough guy and saying I need to ask permission to help others because I belong to him like property which is nice, being owned. Like a pet. My water dish is low... maybe I should howl?
Another year... I have another year to sit here and think about this sort of non-sense. Exciting.
Good thing though today is this new book shelf I made. Makes me happy I have a small amount of timber to make something. I feel like I did something small at least. Counterpart was mostly useless today... as normal the computer that is hosting the grading system had a loose internet cable. Did he check the computer no, did he look at what was causing the outage no... is he useful, not really, do I care... barely. Oh well another day in para, no scratch that almost said paradise. It is purgadice, a place where it could be heaven (its very beautiful) but ends up being hell quite often because of stupidity and greed. It is in the south pacific.
(30) Thursday
So it occurs to me even though it is one am, I should write before I forget what I was thinking. Even though it is likely that my work at the school is not sustainable because I have no person to transition the work to, or teach computer stuff to, because they are unwilling to assign a legit full time apprentice for this task I should not let myself get down about this assignment. It is ridiculous for sure but maybe I can still find value in this experience. It will be easy to find value if the Nandiutu happens. If not then I can get into good shape and write some stories. I can read a 30-40 books. I am learning beer brewing. I can throw a frisbee better than I ever could before. I believe this one thing I heard, I can't remember where, that you can make anything miserable if you want. Everything is a choice even your own mood. And even though I am locked on an island prison for another year, I can try to make the best of this shit. That was a thought.
So most of the day in hindsight now was dull. I worked on a couple computers in the school nothing exciting but Rex the academic advisor's computer seems to always have internet connections problems. How does he mess up that computers connection up so often, its a mystery.
After a boring day of nothing I went to Sam's with the other PC's to say goodbye to Jes. She returns to Vila and then the states starting Monday but it is likely the last time I see her. We had taco's played some games and all that. The ending of the party was less enjoyable but entirely forgettable too. Amanda Russell is visiting Santo/luganville too for the week.
(31) Friday
I crashed hard last night and did not hear a screaming semi-wild animal, person, rooster nothing. It was great. But today I am kind of bummed I did not get to go to Malo this week. I wonder what is going on with the project.
UNtil about 5pm nothing much was going on but a group of us met (Mike and Mike, Amanda Russell and myself) at Maclin's nokemal and then went to my place to grill and watch some tv/movies. Pretty excellent evening, some burgers fries and candy.
(01) Saturday
5:22am and moved the grill closer under the awning to prevent it from being rained on too much. I have to clean it tomorrow... not sure how much it being rained on bothers it. I doubt it will rust I think it is aluminum or stainless steel not straight up iron.
Today I think we might go to million dollar point not sure. I hope it is sunny and the water is calm.
Mike Stafford and I watched a few more twin peaks episodes and then Amanda Russell came over and tried some pancakes and started chilling the beer tonight after million dollar point we can try some.
(02) Sunday
It was a very chill day going to million dollar point yesterday I just stayed home and grilled some food with Mike Stafford and watched a bunch of twin peaks.
I started feeling sick end of the night.
10.27.2014
10.20.2014
Week 30 - Another normal abnormal week.
October 20-26
(20) Monday
I cannot move my index finger. That's because I think I itched it after being bit by a killer mosquito. It is so puffy it makes typing this post a little more challenging. Hopefully it goes back to normal over the course of the day. It was a great night last night though after everyone left it rained at some point making it harder to notice the dripping faucet my neighbors never shut off tightly that drips making a toy piano like annoying noise that requires my getting up and going out to the cockroach infested sink and tuning them shut tightly but with the rain I could ignore it.
At 8:42 I listened to the screaming laughter of 18 year guys push starting my principals truck. It hardly ever starts right anymore but who always tries turning that key gunning the engine three four five six twelve times until the battery is totally dead until finally he gets a mob of dudes to push him down a very slight hill and BOOM the engine comes back to life and he tools around the campus. Quite the performance. I see it two or three times a week.
I should probably eat breakfast and then fall back to sleep until I can think of something meaningful to do to consume the bulk of this day.
Not a terrible day at all... after a nice breakfast nap, there was a knock at my door. One of the teachers asked me take photos of the the meeting going on in the library... of my school giving thanks for the people that bought 200 bags of concrete to resurface the basketball court at the back of the school. The surface as you can imagine is pretty much destroy and has been for about 30 years. The last time they repaved the court was in about 1980, I suggested on about 10 occasions to a variety of people that we use some kind of drainage system to move the water off the surface of the court and improve the usability and life of the resource.
Ang is pretty funny and really cute. She had a good time at Taco Night.
(21) Tuesday
Back to my normal non-sleeping night. The dogs were barking their brains out as usual. I wish there was a way to remove all the island dogs barker. Then they'd be a much more pleasant animal to live with.
Thinking about what kind of nonsense I might be dragged into tomorrow. I think a cruise ship is going to land... meaning my principal might ask me to be a tour guide on a bus that often breaks down in the middle of nowhere... which I would fear could happen to 20-30 tourist on our way to champaign beach or where ever... and they get pissed off... what do we do then... the boat leaves without them. Holy shit. They'd have to call every taxi in town to come get them. Could be a total cluster.
Well so far free and clear of going out to nowhere with a bus that might not return. That is good news. Secondly I ate some excellent breakfast and feel great. I notice that when I a steady flow of exceptional dinners my mental state is remarkably improved. During training eating all the barely edible shit island food was the most depressing experience of my entire life except perhaps when my best friend died and my childhood dog. Those were lower lows. Bryan and Kate taught me a new trick on making shells for tacos... I love it... they are food heroes... and they made cheesy rice. I can eat rice again. The self imposed ban is lifted.
But on a side note it makes me wonder about one thing.... You know when a person makes a bad decision there is some degree of sympathy you can hold for them right? We all make stupid choices from time to time.... But I am lost as to why one would reward making a poor decision... even more mysterious what would make someone think that a bad choice should be rewarded!? Case in point, say you were aware of an event, an event that had been talked about several times... and hyped up quite a bit. Would you then do something to mess up the enjoyment of that event? My thinking is no... you try to ensure that you don't mess it up. Oh well world is full of mysteries.
Well on hindsight now... I might be being a bit harsh. Maybe this person was feeling sick and did not really think eating a big meal was possible... I don't want to make too big of an assumption. Partially wrote it and trying to be part of a comedy bit, likely teaming from watching too many Rick & Morty episodes. Probably should have kept this flow of conscious sit a while longer.
I am very excited about the next box being mailed from the states... with any luck sunglasses will be perfect and more brewing equipment for the enjoyment of the Santo people. Making a decent IPA will ROCK. the first batch is Wilco stuff tastes ok but I think the next round and the one after will only improve the quality of what we can made.
Cory and Mike Stafford came by and we grilled some steaks and watched a few tv shows... it was fun. Early night Cory needs to wake up at 4am tomorrow.
(22) Wednesday
Pretty dead day. Just added a small shelf in my bathroom been meaning to do that for a while. Small project.
Today is another ultimate frisbee day at 4:30, wonder if the new baby docs will attend. The Ang girl is cool.
3:00pm
Making a hamburger for Elise and then heading to her place at Hibiscus and then to Ultimate Frisbee.... Should be fun. Too bad we never got to hangout before during training, Elise is pretty cool.
(23) Thursday
Just came back from Ratua again... met with the click grant people. Interesting meeting to say the least. Hope things go smoothly... politics is not my thing.
Putting up some more photos. I took a bunch before outside and around but here are couple on Ratua inside the resort. It it really rad. I love the tree house lounge and the spa building was cool. Should have taken a photo of it... there are some hand colored photos the own took that I thought were rad too... posting them up too.
(24) Friday
Well I did not write much for friday... It ws a mostly nothing day. I worked on some computer stuff at my school... mostly fixing Gepi and Rex's PC... then we decided to use the Gepi grading computer for his replacement and I can take Rex's computer into the lab and make it work right.
After a long boring day at work... we got paid so I bought a ton of great groceries... and then met up with the other PC's and we went to a kava bar and they drank kava and I sat and listened. It might be one of the last times I see the G25ers like Jes and Hunter. Their time is almost up. Rich is still on Epi or Vila and coming back on Nov 1st.
(25) Saturday
Today Mike Stafford stayed over and I made some breakfast, pancakes, fried potatoes, little sausages... and I skyped with my parents. It was /is my Dad's 81's B-Day. He is an amazing guy.
Not much going on besides that. It is rainy and a little cold. Most of the PC's are diving at Million Dollar point. I am never going diving probably. It is really expensive and I cannot seem to pop my ears. I think snorkling is fine.
(26) Sunday
Very slow rainy day, I just feel like napping and reading. The rain is like a blanket that is barricading me in my house. I ate some some decent breakfast but I just don't want to venture out much. I worked on a short story. Trying to map the plot out to make it have a logic, right now it feels a little too random. Listening to some blond red head... and trying to figure out the second half of the story.
Some of the PC's are beachfront swimming. I might go but I don't want to leave my house since Bryan and Kate said they would stop by.
(20) Monday
I cannot move my index finger. That's because I think I itched it after being bit by a killer mosquito. It is so puffy it makes typing this post a little more challenging. Hopefully it goes back to normal over the course of the day. It was a great night last night though after everyone left it rained at some point making it harder to notice the dripping faucet my neighbors never shut off tightly that drips making a toy piano like annoying noise that requires my getting up and going out to the cockroach infested sink and tuning them shut tightly but with the rain I could ignore it.
At 8:42 I listened to the screaming laughter of 18 year guys push starting my principals truck. It hardly ever starts right anymore but who always tries turning that key gunning the engine three four five six twelve times until the battery is totally dead until finally he gets a mob of dudes to push him down a very slight hill and BOOM the engine comes back to life and he tools around the campus. Quite the performance. I see it two or three times a week.
I should probably eat breakfast and then fall back to sleep until I can think of something meaningful to do to consume the bulk of this day.
Not a terrible day at all... after a nice breakfast nap, there was a knock at my door. One of the teachers asked me take photos of the the meeting going on in the library... of my school giving thanks for the people that bought 200 bags of concrete to resurface the basketball court at the back of the school. The surface as you can imagine is pretty much destroy and has been for about 30 years. The last time they repaved the court was in about 1980, I suggested on about 10 occasions to a variety of people that we use some kind of drainage system to move the water off the surface of the court and improve the usability and life of the resource.
After this I went into town and got some meat for taco night at Bryan and Kate's and went to ultimate frisbee... and in doing so ran into some of the new baby docs... Ang.. said or Angie and 5 others that were all pretty shy. We played and then ate. The game was pretty hard core and I made a few really fab one handed catches and a few clutch passes... guess I am getting into the swing of the game. Have not been much of a sporto in decades, I liked hockey growing up, just to check people mostly.
Ang is pretty funny and really cute. She had a good time at Taco Night.
(21) Tuesday
Back to my normal non-sleeping night. The dogs were barking their brains out as usual. I wish there was a way to remove all the island dogs barker. Then they'd be a much more pleasant animal to live with.
Thinking about what kind of nonsense I might be dragged into tomorrow. I think a cruise ship is going to land... meaning my principal might ask me to be a tour guide on a bus that often breaks down in the middle of nowhere... which I would fear could happen to 20-30 tourist on our way to champaign beach or where ever... and they get pissed off... what do we do then... the boat leaves without them. Holy shit. They'd have to call every taxi in town to come get them. Could be a total cluster.
Well so far free and clear of going out to nowhere with a bus that might not return. That is good news. Secondly I ate some excellent breakfast and feel great. I notice that when I a steady flow of exceptional dinners my mental state is remarkably improved. During training eating all the barely edible shit island food was the most depressing experience of my entire life except perhaps when my best friend died and my childhood dog. Those were lower lows. Bryan and Kate taught me a new trick on making shells for tacos... I love it... they are food heroes... and they made cheesy rice. I can eat rice again. The self imposed ban is lifted.
But on a side note it makes me wonder about one thing.... You know when a person makes a bad decision there is some degree of sympathy you can hold for them right? We all make stupid choices from time to time.... But I am lost as to why one would reward making a poor decision... even more mysterious what would make someone think that a bad choice should be rewarded!? Case in point, say you were aware of an event, an event that had been talked about several times... and hyped up quite a bit. Would you then do something to mess up the enjoyment of that event? My thinking is no... you try to ensure that you don't mess it up. Oh well world is full of mysteries.
Well on hindsight now... I might be being a bit harsh. Maybe this person was feeling sick and did not really think eating a big meal was possible... I don't want to make too big of an assumption. Partially wrote it and trying to be part of a comedy bit, likely teaming from watching too many Rick & Morty episodes. Probably should have kept this flow of conscious sit a while longer.
I am very excited about the next box being mailed from the states... with any luck sunglasses will be perfect and more brewing equipment for the enjoyment of the Santo people. Making a decent IPA will ROCK. the first batch is Wilco stuff tastes ok but I think the next round and the one after will only improve the quality of what we can made.
Cory and Mike Stafford came by and we grilled some steaks and watched a few tv shows... it was fun. Early night Cory needs to wake up at 4am tomorrow.
(22) Wednesday
Pretty dead day. Just added a small shelf in my bathroom been meaning to do that for a while. Small project.
Today is another ultimate frisbee day at 4:30, wonder if the new baby docs will attend. The Ang girl is cool.
3:00pm
Making a hamburger for Elise and then heading to her place at Hibiscus and then to Ultimate Frisbee.... Should be fun. Too bad we never got to hangout before during training, Elise is pretty cool.
(23) Thursday
Just came back from Ratua again... met with the click grant people. Interesting meeting to say the least. Hope things go smoothly... politics is not my thing.
Putting up some more photos. I took a bunch before outside and around but here are couple on Ratua inside the resort. It it really rad. I love the tree house lounge and the spa building was cool. Should have taken a photo of it... there are some hand colored photos the own took that I thought were rad too... posting them up too.
(24) Friday
Well I did not write much for friday... It ws a mostly nothing day. I worked on some computer stuff at my school... mostly fixing Gepi and Rex's PC... then we decided to use the Gepi grading computer for his replacement and I can take Rex's computer into the lab and make it work right.
After a long boring day at work... we got paid so I bought a ton of great groceries... and then met up with the other PC's and we went to a kava bar and they drank kava and I sat and listened. It might be one of the last times I see the G25ers like Jes and Hunter. Their time is almost up. Rich is still on Epi or Vila and coming back on Nov 1st.
(25) Saturday
Today Mike Stafford stayed over and I made some breakfast, pancakes, fried potatoes, little sausages... and I skyped with my parents. It was /is my Dad's 81's B-Day. He is an amazing guy.
Not much going on besides that. It is rainy and a little cold. Most of the PC's are diving at Million Dollar point. I am never going diving probably. It is really expensive and I cannot seem to pop my ears. I think snorkling is fine.
(26) Sunday
Very slow rainy day, I just feel like napping and reading. The rain is like a blanket that is barricading me in my house. I ate some some decent breakfast but I just don't want to venture out much. I worked on a short story. Trying to map the plot out to make it have a logic, right now it feels a little too random. Listening to some blond red head... and trying to figure out the second half of the story.
Some of the PC's are beachfront swimming. I might go but I don't want to leave my house since Bryan and Kate said they would stop by.
10.13.2014
Week 29 - Twin pools Vanuatu.
Week of Oct 13-19th
(13) Monday
I had a very slow start today crawling out of bed at 6am to make some food potatoes and eggs with ketchup... not bad... then up to the computer lab to sit and watch some grade 9 kids typing.
Most of them really just wanted to look at facebook or the web. I don't really care if they do. I saw them sneaking peek at web pages. It is funny they think they fooled me or something.
I was on skype for a bit with my family. My niece Mila has made a crazy costume I took a photo of it and will post it online as soon as I have it transfer to my laptop.
evil-possessed-teddybear: My Niece is hilarious. I think.
When I get back to the twin cities we will have to go to haunted houses she is a chip of the old scary block. I miss my family. I wish they could come here but the flight and cost the stress of it would be too much. Mila would love all the crazy adventures we could have here. I realize a ton of things by having time to think about them... without all the noise I usually have in my US life. Not many people are going to bother getting to know a person like family... I mean most people break it off if they get sick of you but family they forgive and forget and stick around when the its not so great. Pretty obvious probably but I did not know how good I have it.
Let's see what happened today... well I got to show a friend of mine, a tv show, for bit today... that was fun... Broad City episode 1. Then we took a cab to LCM I bought some cereal (eight bucks a box) and had two bowls as soon as I walked in the door back home, it was great. And I am almost broke again foolishly of course... I think I have 15 bucks until payday but it was worth it.
Tomorrow I have a morning class with year 9 then one at the end of the day same thing. I will have to try to get into town and see if the fridge is fixed. I just feel like I know what I am doing better if I have food waiting safely inside my house. The fridge is the best defense against bugs as well... Oh well not that big a deal.
If only I can get one of the admin people to help, to let me show them the website for the school and get them to help fill it in the content on the blank pages... all of them are blank. That would be great. I really want them to have cool website to promote the school. It is really turning around it's whole shitty decline and fixing things up. I can see this place in a few years being way better than it is now if only they continue on this path.
Midnight, and I can sleep but I don't. It seems pointless... why not work on a story for a few hours then sleep. I watched some twin peaks... man I forgot how strange and interesting that show was. I recall though that season 1 was great and season two a big let down... I dunno... maybe.
(14) Tuesday
I slept first time in forever. I can't remember the last dream I have had. Used to get crazy dreams all the time.
First class completed at 8:30 am and then I checked on my fridge nothing doing... said maybe tomorrow afternoon. Not likely. Betting next month more likely. But if I keep on it every other day I am sure it will trim the wait time down a few weeks.
I worked a bit teaching I guess... babysitting a computer lab is not much of a teaching gig but I sat there and let them using the typing program and once they got bored with that I let them use encarta or just tool around on the web. I personally think we should a fun class like gaming or something. If only this country could get into the modern age they could use gaming as a legit class for testing/debugging programs. Oh well... thinking way too big again.
After class I checked on my fridge and then watched the rest of season one of twin peaks. I forgot how strange that series was. And it was fun watching it without commercials and having to wait a week between each show. I could never keep the series strait when I saw it back when it came out. Impossibly complex with a ton of possible killers.
Whew... this country has the biggest cockroaches ever. Just saw a monster outside. Thank god I put mesh on all my drains and blocked them out.
(15) Wednesday
Last day of teaching I hope... I don't know what I am doing really and I hate the curriculum so much that if I were forced to teach I would basically ignore their rules and just do my own thing. Microsoft is not IT... it is a bad excuse of a reason to even use a computer. Sorry had to yell that once.
8:41am... tiny tiny earthquake... felt like a giant shovel my house a little.
Bowl of cereal and then teaching... Tomorrow I go to Ratua island and Malo to check out a site for a internet project. So excited... I hope I get to eat there again. That would be AMAZING.
Long day of nothing. Teaching if you want to call it that was not interesting at all.
Fridge is maybe going to be fixed in a few days.
But the best part of the day was writing something decent I think I have something worth writing. I have not had anything exciting to do creatively in ages. I look forward to getting some canvas one day and painting something. That will help my mental state immensely. Also excited about getting some prescription sunglasses I hope they work out right.
(16) Thursday
Went to Ratua today... and here are a ton of photos.
This is the old generator at the Malo site... it needs to go and be replaced by a newer one.
Might be able to sell it. The dude here is named Rod Newell. He has been working/living in this country for some 35ish years. I was amazed at how razor sharp his mind was. He was tossing out power numbers like a bookie at a race track. I could not keep up. We might try building this project in phases.
Phase 1:
a) Get old generator out of the shed and put a new one in. Hook it up and power the lab.
b) Put in windows in classroom,
c) Build tables, chairs and or work stations for the computers.
Phase 2:
a) Do prototype / feasibility study on pipe/ground cooling system
b) If we find it works then we dig trench for pipe cooling system
c) Install the pipe and hook it up to fans in classroom
Phase 3:
a) Install more lights in other classrooms
b) Install lights around the school site outside to improve visibility around site at night
c) Power other items if power allows (Fridge, and more computers)
d) Work on coconut oil production to reduce fuel procurement cost.
Isabelle and a friend of her's with her daughter Fiona.
Being at Ratua is fun. I love the project they have going at Malo at Nandiutu. They received the click grant and will get 20 computers. Which is a miracle. I think we are very lucky they approved of it so we can build them a great a lab.
Oh when I got home... my repaired Fridge was sitting at my door. WooHoo I can cool things again.
(17) Friday
I spoke with my family at 5:30am... getting news from back home is nice even if all the news is not. Really hopeful I can find a renter for my condo asap versus having to spend money out of pocket for an empty unit. And I am getting some small canvases in my next package and xmas lights so excited for small odd things. The sun glasses will be the best. The sun here seems more powerful than back home. How is that possible? Does the smog of the cities enough to block out some of the sun?
I was told sometimes my blog sounds a big down... that is not always intentional. There are moments that I think I have a purpose here, like building a computer lab at Nandiutu on Malo island and working with people that are super excited and appreciative like Isabelle... then I go back to my school and do next to nothing interesting like fixing dead computers from scrap parts and being given the yeah yeah.. I will watch you fix that next time, from counterparts. But that is how it is here. Some want to learn and do stuff and others just rather do nothing and watch. I am not mad about it... its just observations. Main thing is not to take it personally. Some people give a shit about learning other not. Their loss.
It is now 9 am... I slept again. I think it was the rain... it just tapped on the tin roof all night like a uncoordinated pianist and blocked out all the animals, babies crying, roosters everything. It was peaceful. I had a dream about a being in a maze and the only way out was climbing up this narrow severe slope of loose grave with no railing or means to prevent sliding off it to my death. I made my way up and once at the top there was a locked door and I left my keys somewhere I could not find them. Then I woke up.
Ok back to working on a short story. This is might actually be a decent story.
Short pit stop in town led to having a grill party night at my place... small gathering last minute.
And I got to talk to Lindsay and Annie... and took this photo on skype: at 3pm
Should have took a photo or two of the steaks we made they were fantastic.
(18) Saturday
Slow start its almost 7am and I am making some coffee... Mike Stafford stayed over, slightly chewed up my the mosquitos last night but no migraine this time... my brother used to get those all the time... he said I caused them heh kiddingly sort of.
Elise is visiting today no clue what are going to do.
(19) Sunday
I have work about the plan we have for the site in Malo:
Nandiutu School Computer Lab.
Stages of total project.
Rod.
4:32pm
Just got back from Riri and here are some photos:
This little kid was going crazy to get into the water making these ridiculous faces hard to believe how funny unless you saw it.
Hopefully there will more sunny perfect days at this location again. There are two blue holes we goto and a third one that does not really count... Riri and Matavulu. The twin pools of Santo. And I am writing a short story using twin peaks as a genre style.
We were lucky the sun was out while we were there. When the sun actually is out when you get out of these cold blue holes you can dry off quickly. Which feel a lot better than being cold and wet for 20 minutes. There was a ton of mosquitos near the water as well but that is how it is when near fresh water. Lost a pint of blood. Not really but got bit up nicely.
After grilling I got to take a hot shower at Hibiscus. First hot shower in six months or more. That felt great. Then Elise and I watched a movie and the others slowly made their way over. We then bottled the home brew and we started making philly cheese steak sandwiches. A Ni-van dude named Jerry joined the crew at my place... pretty nice guy but he kept messing with my grilling, sticking his fingers into the food and flipping them.... until I told him him to stop because he was irritating me. I almost lost it. Don't mess with the grill master ARgh.
Movie night was fantastic again. Tomorrow we are having a taco night at Kate and Bryan's after ultimate frisbee.
My counterpart showed up at the same time the grill party was happening... glad to see him back so I can avoid being in a classroom "teaching" anymore.
(13) Monday
I had a very slow start today crawling out of bed at 6am to make some food potatoes and eggs with ketchup... not bad... then up to the computer lab to sit and watch some grade 9 kids typing.
Most of them really just wanted to look at facebook or the web. I don't really care if they do. I saw them sneaking peek at web pages. It is funny they think they fooled me or something.
I was on skype for a bit with my family. My niece Mila has made a crazy costume I took a photo of it and will post it online as soon as I have it transfer to my laptop.
evil-possessed-teddybear: My Niece is hilarious. I think.
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When I get back to the twin cities we will have to go to haunted houses she is a chip of the old scary block. I miss my family. I wish they could come here but the flight and cost the stress of it would be too much. Mila would love all the crazy adventures we could have here. I realize a ton of things by having time to think about them... without all the noise I usually have in my US life. Not many people are going to bother getting to know a person like family... I mean most people break it off if they get sick of you but family they forgive and forget and stick around when the its not so great. Pretty obvious probably but I did not know how good I have it.
Let's see what happened today... well I got to show a friend of mine, a tv show, for bit today... that was fun... Broad City episode 1. Then we took a cab to LCM I bought some cereal (eight bucks a box) and had two bowls as soon as I walked in the door back home, it was great. And I am almost broke again foolishly of course... I think I have 15 bucks until payday but it was worth it.
Tomorrow I have a morning class with year 9 then one at the end of the day same thing. I will have to try to get into town and see if the fridge is fixed. I just feel like I know what I am doing better if I have food waiting safely inside my house. The fridge is the best defense against bugs as well... Oh well not that big a deal.
If only I can get one of the admin people to help, to let me show them the website for the school and get them to help fill it in the content on the blank pages... all of them are blank. That would be great. I really want them to have cool website to promote the school. It is really turning around it's whole shitty decline and fixing things up. I can see this place in a few years being way better than it is now if only they continue on this path.
Midnight, and I can sleep but I don't. It seems pointless... why not work on a story for a few hours then sleep. I watched some twin peaks... man I forgot how strange and interesting that show was. I recall though that season 1 was great and season two a big let down... I dunno... maybe.
(14) Tuesday
I slept first time in forever. I can't remember the last dream I have had. Used to get crazy dreams all the time.
First class completed at 8:30 am and then I checked on my fridge nothing doing... said maybe tomorrow afternoon. Not likely. Betting next month more likely. But if I keep on it every other day I am sure it will trim the wait time down a few weeks.
I worked a bit teaching I guess... babysitting a computer lab is not much of a teaching gig but I sat there and let them using the typing program and once they got bored with that I let them use encarta or just tool around on the web. I personally think we should a fun class like gaming or something. If only this country could get into the modern age they could use gaming as a legit class for testing/debugging programs. Oh well... thinking way too big again.
After class I checked on my fridge and then watched the rest of season one of twin peaks. I forgot how strange that series was. And it was fun watching it without commercials and having to wait a week between each show. I could never keep the series strait when I saw it back when it came out. Impossibly complex with a ton of possible killers.
Whew... this country has the biggest cockroaches ever. Just saw a monster outside. Thank god I put mesh on all my drains and blocked them out.
(15) Wednesday
Last day of teaching I hope... I don't know what I am doing really and I hate the curriculum so much that if I were forced to teach I would basically ignore their rules and just do my own thing. Microsoft is not IT... it is a bad excuse of a reason to even use a computer. Sorry had to yell that once.
8:41am... tiny tiny earthquake... felt like a giant shovel my house a little.
Bowl of cereal and then teaching... Tomorrow I go to Ratua island and Malo to check out a site for a internet project. So excited... I hope I get to eat there again. That would be AMAZING.
Long day of nothing. Teaching if you want to call it that was not interesting at all.
Fridge is maybe going to be fixed in a few days.
But the best part of the day was writing something decent I think I have something worth writing. I have not had anything exciting to do creatively in ages. I look forward to getting some canvas one day and painting something. That will help my mental state immensely. Also excited about getting some prescription sunglasses I hope they work out right.
(16) Thursday
Went to Ratua today... and here are a ton of photos.
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This is the old generator at the Malo site... it needs to go and be replaced by a newer one.
Might be able to sell it. The dude here is named Rod Newell. He has been working/living in this country for some 35ish years. I was amazed at how razor sharp his mind was. He was tossing out power numbers like a bookie at a race track. I could not keep up. We might try building this project in phases.
Phase 1:
a) Get old generator out of the shed and put a new one in. Hook it up and power the lab.
b) Put in windows in classroom,
c) Build tables, chairs and or work stations for the computers.
Phase 2:
a) Do prototype / feasibility study on pipe/ground cooling system
b) If we find it works then we dig trench for pipe cooling system
c) Install the pipe and hook it up to fans in classroom
Phase 3:
a) Install more lights in other classrooms
b) Install lights around the school site outside to improve visibility around site at night
c) Power other items if power allows (Fridge, and more computers)
d) Work on coconut oil production to reduce fuel procurement cost.
Being at Ratua is fun. I love the project they have going at Malo at Nandiutu. They received the click grant and will get 20 computers. Which is a miracle. I think we are very lucky they approved of it so we can build them a great a lab.
Oh when I got home... my repaired Fridge was sitting at my door. WooHoo I can cool things again.
(17) Friday
I spoke with my family at 5:30am... getting news from back home is nice even if all the news is not. Really hopeful I can find a renter for my condo asap versus having to spend money out of pocket for an empty unit. And I am getting some small canvases in my next package and xmas lights so excited for small odd things. The sun glasses will be the best. The sun here seems more powerful than back home. How is that possible? Does the smog of the cities enough to block out some of the sun?
I was told sometimes my blog sounds a big down... that is not always intentional. There are moments that I think I have a purpose here, like building a computer lab at Nandiutu on Malo island and working with people that are super excited and appreciative like Isabelle... then I go back to my school and do next to nothing interesting like fixing dead computers from scrap parts and being given the yeah yeah.. I will watch you fix that next time, from counterparts. But that is how it is here. Some want to learn and do stuff and others just rather do nothing and watch. I am not mad about it... its just observations. Main thing is not to take it personally. Some people give a shit about learning other not. Their loss.
It is now 9 am... I slept again. I think it was the rain... it just tapped on the tin roof all night like a uncoordinated pianist and blocked out all the animals, babies crying, roosters everything. It was peaceful. I had a dream about a being in a maze and the only way out was climbing up this narrow severe slope of loose grave with no railing or means to prevent sliding off it to my death. I made my way up and once at the top there was a locked door and I left my keys somewhere I could not find them. Then I woke up.
Ok back to working on a short story. This is might actually be a decent story.
Short pit stop in town led to having a grill party night at my place... small gathering last minute.
And I got to talk to Lindsay and Annie... and took this photo on skype: at 3pm
Should have took a photo or two of the steaks we made they were fantastic.
(18) Saturday
Slow start its almost 7am and I am making some coffee... Mike Stafford stayed over, slightly chewed up my the mosquitos last night but no migraine this time... my brother used to get those all the time... he said I caused them heh kiddingly sort of.
Elise is visiting today no clue what are going to do.
(19) Sunday
I have work about the plan we have for the site in Malo:
Nandiutu School Computer Lab.
Stages of total project.
- Refurbish computer room, desks chairs etc, glass in windows.
- Room cooling by passing air through pipes just below sea bed. At present concept only, detailed feasibility and engineering to be done.
- Lighting to rest of school by using truck alternators driven by the same engine to charge a battery bank. Distribution at 48 VDC and then down convert to 12 V using converters made for electric golf buggies. Probably one small battery (12 V 40 Ah) at each classroom block and then 12V LED lights.
- Train islanders to make coconut oil as a fuel. Use some mechanization to increase productivity. Make desiccated coconut by using a small hammer mill and extract the coconut milk with a small powered press. The hot water from cooling the engine can be used to heat the coconut milk to have a batch of coconut milk separate in 16 hours instead of 2 to 3 days. If the engine load averages 6kW, then its fuel consumption will be about 2l/h. Therefore a fuel consumption of up to 16 l per day can be expected. For the computers alone at 3 kW, fuel consumption should be about 1 l per hour.
- Improve hygiene of school inhabitants by using co-generation to collect the waste heat from the engine (exhaust and water) to provide a hot water supply.
- A machine to be built by Rod to lift engines off the barge and also transport to the engine room.
Rod.
- Finalize pricing for Generator set and installation at Nandiutu.
- Get pricing for internal wiring of computer room.
- Find price of glass or Perspex for class room windows, 24 pieces approx 700 by 500 mm.
- Contact Onesua Presbyterian College to find if they are interested in buying the original generator.
- Start engineering design of possible air cooling system by cooling air with sea water.
- Design and build No 6 above.
4:32pm
Just got back from Riri and here are some photos:
This little kid was going crazy to get into the water making these ridiculous faces hard to believe how funny unless you saw it.
Hopefully there will more sunny perfect days at this location again. There are two blue holes we goto and a third one that does not really count... Riri and Matavulu. The twin pools of Santo. And I am writing a short story using twin peaks as a genre style.
We were lucky the sun was out while we were there. When the sun actually is out when you get out of these cold blue holes you can dry off quickly. Which feel a lot better than being cold and wet for 20 minutes. There was a ton of mosquitos near the water as well but that is how it is when near fresh water. Lost a pint of blood. Not really but got bit up nicely.
After grilling I got to take a hot shower at Hibiscus. First hot shower in six months or more. That felt great. Then Elise and I watched a movie and the others slowly made their way over. We then bottled the home brew and we started making philly cheese steak sandwiches. A Ni-van dude named Jerry joined the crew at my place... pretty nice guy but he kept messing with my grilling, sticking his fingers into the food and flipping them.... until I told him him to stop because he was irritating me. I almost lost it. Don't mess with the grill master ARgh.
Movie night was fantastic again. Tomorrow we are having a taco night at Kate and Bryan's after ultimate frisbee.
My counterpart showed up at the same time the grill party was happening... glad to see him back so I can avoid being in a classroom "teaching" anymore.
10.05.2014
Week 28 - brewing beer here blows
(06) Monday
28 aka Week 37 out of 112 total weeks
I started counting from the time training ended and I arrived in Santo as week one. But one PC started the count from the day we landed in country... if you add those in, that adds 9 weeks so 37 weeks in all, in a really strange country. Not sure which I should use. Hm... training being such a HUGE HUGE HUGE waste of time and money and energy I don't want count them. They are just tooooooo Horrible a memory. I will skip them.
We have the day off I know that so... it will be a good day to work on some side projects.
OKay... so it is teachers day and I was roped into taking photos as the government center. I went there at 8am... and no one is there. Ah Vanuatu... land of no one shows up on time.
Here are a few photos from today.
The speeches at the government building were very boring but oh well.
and here is ultimate frisbee photos:
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Oh I forgot last week We made some hamburgers too...
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(07) Tuesday
Very slow start to the day. Been researching a few things about using Wamp for php apps. Also doing some story writing but I am not sure what direction my story should take... should I go off into a fantasy where the character are running for their lives or dial it back to reality... not sure.
I need to get some yeast and attempt to get this beer fermenting. It is doing nothing.
Also I want to get some hardware for a computer two things, some DDR2 ram, and a nic card.
Should go check the internet at the school this will be a whole week of it running fine.
8:00pm
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Weird day or maybe just normal Vanuatu day, but after hours or just sitting around at my house I ventured up to the school around noon and from there I went on a trek with my Principle and accountant, I should learn his name. I talk to more than most people at my school, since he pays for all the expensive hardware I end up getting, to fix all the broke things at my school. I thought I was just going to john Lum store... aka the best buy of Vanuatu in Santo/Luganville. But NO.
We went on this round about journey to a Ni-Van's house who is a butcher and my principle needed to ask him if he would be willing to slaughter and clean a goat for a pre-game festival/feast for the rugby tournament that is happening this week. I guess my school is heavily involved in this game and they bought a huge ass goat for the feast. After asked this guy to cut up the meat we went to this French guys place and picked up two more people to get the goat. Then we went and got the meat... then we dropped me off at John Lum... which I thought was a mid trip thing and they would pick me up... no dice. I walked home. They never came back. On my way home I checked on a bunch of things though.. like how much a thermometer cost at uncle bills, if I have mail post office, how much for baking yeast for beer problem solving... then i got home.
Yup. then I worked on some computer problems and found out I am substituting for Samuel my counterpart for a week... as he goes somewhere, no idea where.
That was my random day.
(08) Wednesday
So there will be an eclipse today.
The times displayed might be a minute or two off actual times.
* The Moon is above the horizon during this eclipse, so with good weather conditions in Luganville, the entire eclipse is visible.
My morning had been restless as usual waking up at 4am watching the sun rise and talking to people back in the states... I saw my fridge melt all the ice inside into a worthless puddle of water on my kitchen floor, my bike tire flat again and all my food going to waste. But the beer is bubbling so I know it is fermenting.
Had a chat with my friend Mary about a story idea... it is intriguing. I shall give it a shot.
4:00pm
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Full strange day as normal. I sat in a classroom from 1:30-4:00pm and helped teach a bit about excel. I think excel is one of the worst programs ever made but I get how it can be useful from time to time. It is sad that it's considered IT in this country.
I managed to get two computers back into circulation, one for the principal and the other in a conference room. Both we very troublesome about getting onto the network. I had to use some command line tricks to get it to work. But once I did that they were members of LUGANVILLE woohoo... and now I don't have to look at the crappy PC in french anymore or try and translate it back and forth all the time on the principles PC. I just can login with my account ,in english, fix any problem and log off... and then the principal can login and look at his desktop in whatever language or keyboard configuration and not be annoyed too.
After those successes I decided to go into town and eat a pizza. It was a waste of money a bit... but since i have nothing of any interest to eat at my place I spluged. Share a slice with Rich and wandered back home on foot until I get my bike fixed. Maybe tomorrow.
Yeah and at 7-9am tomorrow I am teaching again. I don't really know what to do to kill my time... maybe diagram the network and try and get the admins to work on the website. There is not much to do in that class it is a basic typing class. Kids are just learning how to use their fingers to type.
9-midnight
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Watched the moon eclipse. It was really great. Made my neighbors look too. They never saw anything like it... they were not even sure it was the moon at first. I was online too and made sure to get 4-5 other people to look out their window and see this... well hope you did too.
(09) Thursday
3am and I can't sleep. Shocking right? Blog time I guess.
Had a long day of teaching and then went home and crashed but people in the Peace Corps wanted to cheer me up because everything at my house is breaking so they came over and we made pumpkin soup
CHeck out these photos... I have not scrathed a coconut since training village time... Little rusty.
Planning stages:
Some serious bran storming... Rich seems to not approve for a minute...
The next party we planned out using my white Board... Kate is the the drawer... Used two colors of markers for enhanced readability. Good Job Kate. I like the turtle drawing and the hamburger.
(10) Friday
8:16 am and I am in a classroom teaching basic stuff in excel stuff... so bright... should get better blinds in that room.
So much to do today after this class.
1) Get the fridge fixed
2) Patch tire
3) Ask for gas in tank for cooking just went dead last night.
Fingers crossed on the top two .
4:00pm
Ended up dropping off the fridge at super cool but if they actually fix it soon is a real question. I doubt it. I patched my tired again after I found the metal shrapnel that was popping it every time and thought that would solve the problem but it went flat again. No clue why... but will try again.
I ran into Daria and had a decent conversation... she's quite funny in my opinion.
6:oopm
Then I went over to Kate and Bryan's and had some spaghetti with Mike Stafford, Rich. It was so good.
(11) Saturday
There are many things I really hate the sound:
1) of clothing being scrubbed on washboard or whatever is making the non-stop noise.
2) of the fijian rugby team screaming and WHOOping about every stupid thing they tell each other
3) of dogs murderously barking all night.
Oh well... I have speakers and I can drown them out constantly. I wish I had a soundproof building I could shut myself into.
Today there is the ruby match... I might go but mostly so I talk with a few people that plan to be there.
Time to do some work in the lab and fix my tire again.
I ended up skipping the rugby game because it was non-stop raining and by the time I got my tire fixed it was 4:30 and the game was almost over. I feel bad about missing it.
Had a burger at HQ... and fixed my burner to work... later we mostly all got together at the kava bar near the phillips gas station. Hunter and Sam were a no show.
Walked back with Rich and waited for Matt H. to show up and wait for Rich's food to show up at the small restaurants by the Mama's market.
(12) Sunday
It seems like I might have the wrong impression about my house. It really does not belong to me in the sense that I am its primary resident at the moment... it really is the house of ants and I am its honored guest. My job is to provide them, things to eat. I am a terrible host, I patched up several holes in the wall and destroyed entry for the landlord ants.
Time to crank my music as well so I can kill the blather from my neighbors all squeaking in high pitched local language and laughing in madman outbursts.
11:00am
Rich, Matt H and I went for a bike ride up to LopeLope... and of course it pours buckets of rain. Non-stop pretty much. We waded into the water it was shallow and Matt is doing his absolute best to freak me out about sand sharks. About how the depth of the water was the perfect level for them to sneak up on us and take a leg off. Great. Saw no sharks. I will post a couple photos later.
4:00pm
At night... we had a great BBQ event... everyone in Luganville showed up, Even Hunter a few hours late but he made it. Bryan, Kate, Rich, Mike Stafford and Hawkins, Sam, Jes, Hunter, Matt Hardwick and myself.
We made hamburgers, sausages, fired potatoes, with onions and garlic and lemon pepper tomatoes, ketchup and mustard and all kind of thing like that. It was beautiful. Then we watched a few shows, saw the episode of Broad City I forgot to show in the series 01. And then We watched some Twin Peaks.... I had this nugget planted in my brain from my friend back home, Mary so we watched episode 1-2 and the pilot which is an hour and 30 minutes. so committed some hours to this.
They liked it... Rich is on the fence about it, he thinks it is pretty weird. But the ones that stayed for the them mostly liked it.
28 aka Week 37 out of 112 total weeks
I started counting from the time training ended and I arrived in Santo as week one. But one PC started the count from the day we landed in country... if you add those in, that adds 9 weeks so 37 weeks in all, in a really strange country. Not sure which I should use. Hm... training being such a HUGE HUGE HUGE waste of time and money and energy I don't want count them. They are just tooooooo Horrible a memory. I will skip them.
We have the day off I know that so... it will be a good day to work on some side projects.
OKay... so it is teachers day and I was roped into taking photos as the government center. I went there at 8am... and no one is there. Ah Vanuatu... land of no one shows up on time.
Here are a few photos from today.
The speeches at the government building were very boring but oh well.
and here is ultimate frisbee photos:
Not much really happened today... the beer is not fermenting so will have to look into that tomorrow.
Oh I forgot last week We made some hamburgers too...
(07) Tuesday
Very slow start to the day. Been researching a few things about using Wamp for php apps. Also doing some story writing but I am not sure what direction my story should take... should I go off into a fantasy where the character are running for their lives or dial it back to reality... not sure.
I need to get some yeast and attempt to get this beer fermenting. It is doing nothing.
Also I want to get some hardware for a computer two things, some DDR2 ram, and a nic card.
Should go check the internet at the school this will be a whole week of it running fine.
8:00pm
----------
Weird day or maybe just normal Vanuatu day, but after hours or just sitting around at my house I ventured up to the school around noon and from there I went on a trek with my Principle and accountant, I should learn his name. I talk to more than most people at my school, since he pays for all the expensive hardware I end up getting, to fix all the broke things at my school. I thought I was just going to john Lum store... aka the best buy of Vanuatu in Santo/Luganville. But NO.
We went on this round about journey to a Ni-Van's house who is a butcher and my principle needed to ask him if he would be willing to slaughter and clean a goat for a pre-game festival/feast for the rugby tournament that is happening this week. I guess my school is heavily involved in this game and they bought a huge ass goat for the feast. After asked this guy to cut up the meat we went to this French guys place and picked up two more people to get the goat. Then we went and got the meat... then we dropped me off at John Lum... which I thought was a mid trip thing and they would pick me up... no dice. I walked home. They never came back. On my way home I checked on a bunch of things though.. like how much a thermometer cost at uncle bills, if I have mail post office, how much for baking yeast for beer problem solving... then i got home.
Yup. then I worked on some computer problems and found out I am substituting for Samuel my counterpart for a week... as he goes somewhere, no idea where.
That was my random day.
(08) Wednesday
So there will be an eclipse today.
When the eclipse happens worldwide
Lunar eclipses look approximately the same all over the world and happen at the same time.The times displayed might be a minute or two off actual times.
| Event | UTC Time | Time in Luganville* | Visible in Luganville |
|---|---|---|---|
| Penumbral Eclipse begins | Oct 8 at 8:17 AM | Oct 8 at 7:17 PM | Yes |
| Partial Eclipse begins | Oct 8 at 9:18 AM | Oct 8 at 8:18 PM | Yes |
| Full Eclipse begins | Oct 8 at 10:27 AM | Oct 8 at 9:27 PM | Yes |
| Maximum Eclipse | Oct 8 at 10:55 AM | Oct 8 at 9:55 PM | Yes |
| Full Eclipse ends | Oct 8 at 11:22 AM | Oct 8 at 10:22 PM | Yes |
| Partial Eclipse ends | Oct 8 at 12:32 PM | Oct 8 at 11:32 PM | Yes |
| Penumbral Eclipse ends | Oct 8 at 1:32 PM | Oct 9 at 12:32 AM | Yes |
I worked on a couple computers in the lab, fixing one's nic card issue... but getting neither of them on the network. Not sure why. Managed to show my counterpart a couple tasks for the first time in weeks.
4:00pm
----------
Full strange day as normal. I sat in a classroom from 1:30-4:00pm and helped teach a bit about excel. I think excel is one of the worst programs ever made but I get how it can be useful from time to time. It is sad that it's considered IT in this country.
I managed to get two computers back into circulation, one for the principal and the other in a conference room. Both we very troublesome about getting onto the network. I had to use some command line tricks to get it to work. But once I did that they were members of LUGANVILLE woohoo... and now I don't have to look at the crappy PC in french anymore or try and translate it back and forth all the time on the principles PC. I just can login with my account ,in english, fix any problem and log off... and then the principal can login and look at his desktop in whatever language or keyboard configuration and not be annoyed too.
After those successes I decided to go into town and eat a pizza. It was a waste of money a bit... but since i have nothing of any interest to eat at my place I spluged. Share a slice with Rich and wandered back home on foot until I get my bike fixed. Maybe tomorrow.
Yeah and at 7-9am tomorrow I am teaching again. I don't really know what to do to kill my time... maybe diagram the network and try and get the admins to work on the website. There is not much to do in that class it is a basic typing class. Kids are just learning how to use their fingers to type.
9-midnight
--------------
Watched the moon eclipse. It was really great. Made my neighbors look too. They never saw anything like it... they were not even sure it was the moon at first. I was online too and made sure to get 4-5 other people to look out their window and see this... well hope you did too.
(09) Thursday
3am and I can't sleep. Shocking right? Blog time I guess.
Had a long day of teaching and then went home and crashed but people in the Peace Corps wanted to cheer me up because everything at my house is breaking so they came over and we made pumpkin soup
CHeck out these photos... I have not scrathed a coconut since training village time... Little rusty.
Planning stages:
Some serious bran storming... Rich seems to not approve for a minute...
The next party we planned out using my white Board... Kate is the the drawer... Used two colors of markers for enhanced readability. Good Job Kate. I like the turtle drawing and the hamburger.
(10) Friday
8:16 am and I am in a classroom teaching basic stuff in excel stuff... so bright... should get better blinds in that room.
So much to do today after this class.
1) Get the fridge fixed
2) Patch tire
3) Ask for gas in tank for cooking just went dead last night.
Fingers crossed on the top two .
4:00pm
Ended up dropping off the fridge at super cool but if they actually fix it soon is a real question. I doubt it. I patched my tired again after I found the metal shrapnel that was popping it every time and thought that would solve the problem but it went flat again. No clue why... but will try again.
I ran into Daria and had a decent conversation... she's quite funny in my opinion.
6:oopm
Then I went over to Kate and Bryan's and had some spaghetti with Mike Stafford, Rich. It was so good.
(11) Saturday
There are many things I really hate the sound:
1) of clothing being scrubbed on washboard or whatever is making the non-stop noise.
2) of the fijian rugby team screaming and WHOOping about every stupid thing they tell each other
3) of dogs murderously barking all night.
Oh well... I have speakers and I can drown them out constantly. I wish I had a soundproof building I could shut myself into.
Today there is the ruby match... I might go but mostly so I talk with a few people that plan to be there.
Time to do some work in the lab and fix my tire again.
I ended up skipping the rugby game because it was non-stop raining and by the time I got my tire fixed it was 4:30 and the game was almost over. I feel bad about missing it.
Had a burger at HQ... and fixed my burner to work... later we mostly all got together at the kava bar near the phillips gas station. Hunter and Sam were a no show.
Walked back with Rich and waited for Matt H. to show up and wait for Rich's food to show up at the small restaurants by the Mama's market.
(12) Sunday
It seems like I might have the wrong impression about my house. It really does not belong to me in the sense that I am its primary resident at the moment... it really is the house of ants and I am its honored guest. My job is to provide them, things to eat. I am a terrible host, I patched up several holes in the wall and destroyed entry for the landlord ants.
Time to crank my music as well so I can kill the blather from my neighbors all squeaking in high pitched local language and laughing in madman outbursts.
11:00am
Rich, Matt H and I went for a bike ride up to LopeLope... and of course it pours buckets of rain. Non-stop pretty much. We waded into the water it was shallow and Matt is doing his absolute best to freak me out about sand sharks. About how the depth of the water was the perfect level for them to sneak up on us and take a leg off. Great. Saw no sharks. I will post a couple photos later.
4:00pm
At night... we had a great BBQ event... everyone in Luganville showed up, Even Hunter a few hours late but he made it. Bryan, Kate, Rich, Mike Stafford and Hawkins, Sam, Jes, Hunter, Matt Hardwick and myself.
We made hamburgers, sausages, fired potatoes, with onions and garlic and lemon pepper tomatoes, ketchup and mustard and all kind of thing like that. It was beautiful. Then we watched a few shows, saw the episode of Broad City I forgot to show in the series 01. And then We watched some Twin Peaks.... I had this nugget planted in my brain from my friend back home, Mary so we watched episode 1-2 and the pilot which is an hour and 30 minutes. so committed some hours to this.
They liked it... Rich is on the fence about it, he thinks it is pretty weird. But the ones that stayed for the them mostly liked it.
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