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.
