Dec 28 & 29

Saturday, December 28
Aaron let me sleep in this morning, so when I walked out into the dining room, he told me that the Kosco had unexpectedly come this morning around 5:00 instead of tomorrow morning.  I can't begin to describe the disappointment I felt.  We knew that ships frequently changed their schedule, but with everything that has happened this week, we didn't even think to ask around the village to find out when the Kosco was expected.  As far as we knew, it was still following the schedule we had posted on our bulletin board.  Ugh!


Sunday, December 29
Last night I made a big pot of soup with pumpkin leaves and umalau cooked in coconut cream and curry with the leftover fish from Moses.  We had enough for us to eat and still share a big bowl with Naris.  When I took the bowl down to share, Chief Leonard's sister was sitting near Naris' kitchen.  She saw the bowl and reminded me that I still had a bowl at her house leftover from the Christmas food we shared with the District Priest.  One of the best things about the conversation with her was that she was talking slowly in Lavukaleve, even though I was replying in Pijin.  When I responded to her, she would rephrase what I said in Lavukaleve.  How patient!  I walked over to her house to get the bowl and was reminded that her mom is an invalid.  Her mom is the last living sibling of a group of amazing siblings.  My guess is that at least 75% of the village is a descendent of one of those siblings.

Growing up, my mom was always such a good example of taking care of our older female relatives, following the Biblical example of caring for the widows.  My head is full of memories of going to visit my great-grandfather's sister or my grandmother, raking leaves, taking perfume, sitting and visiting.  So, I was prompted last night to ladle up the end of the soup to share with Chief Leonard's mom.  I asked for both of my bowls back so nobody would feel the need to reciprocate.  My neighbors have to work so hard for the food they eat.

After church this morning, we had back to back deliveries of food.  First, Moses and Margaret's daughter brought up a very nice fish with some umalau and uvikola.  Right behind her, Naris brought another fish.  Since we ate breakfast around 6:30 before church, we were ready for “second breakfast”.