Kora

Monday, December 28

Today, Pogo helped Joy and me make kora.  It's a type of lelenga very similar to scalloped potatoes.  You prepare the "rumit" (thick coconut milk - about ten coconut's worth) like you do for lelenga, but instead of scraping the obikola, you slice the umalau very thinly.  Tonight, the village had a going away party for the bamboo band that came for Christmas.  So after prayer the bell rang to let everyone know that the party was starting and Joy and I took the kora down.

 

Several of our family and friends have asked why we wanted an outside kitchen.  We wanted to be able to cook some of the same dishes that our friends cook, and they can only be cooked in the motu - hot stones surrounding the food.  However, I don't cook in the outside kitchen everyday.  We have a stove inside the house for everyday cooking.  When we were in Papua New Guinea, we cooked over an open fire every day.  Although I know how to use the outdoor kitchen, it's much easier and faster not to have to split firewood, make a fire, and cook everything outside.

 

Tuesday, December 29

This morning we walked a little more than two miles over to show Joy Fly Harbour school where the kids from Marulaon go to school.  Then we walked a little bit more to Baison, the village at the end of Marulaon island.  We've recently befriended a cousin of Felta's who lives at the very tip of the island, so we walked over to her house and took a bag of umalau from our garden.  We sat and storied for a while, then we noticed rain coming from the east.  It crossed Marulaon (I had left my laundry on the line), then it came toward us as it showered four small canoes paddling against the wind.  We scurried underneath the house to wait out the quick shower.  Felta has been staying with this cousin and helping in the garden.  Doris was there even though Felta had paddled away to the mainland for the day.  Katherine was thrilled to see her!  The cousin sent us home with a papaya and two breadfruit.  We headed back for the long walk and finally arrived back home around 3:00 p.m.  Katherine fell asleep in her Daddy's arms on the way home.  When we arrived, I found that Eileen had asked her daughter to move our clothes underneath the house.  What a great friend!