June 11

Saturday, June 11

Aaron, Sarah, Benjamin, and Olivia went to Karumalun last night around 5:00 to participate in the festivities kicking off St. Barnabas day. The Sunday School kids from Marulaon had prepared some “action choruses” to join the other dramas, singing, and dancing during the evening. Unfortunately, the young ladies in charge didn't come to Karumalun until close to the end of the evening, so the Marulaon kids didn't get to participate, but our crew still had a great time. Sarah helped parcel some of the rice in leaves to distribute for supper. Katherine and I stayed home, read books, and delivered a birthday cake I made for my friend, Kiko. Her birthday is at the end of June, but we will be back in Honiara. She loves peanut butter, so we made a peanut butter icing. Our dancing crew returned home around midnight to catch a few hours of sleep before our early departure.

 

We were down at Kiko's house around 6:15 because we were going across to Karumalun in her brother's boat. By the time her family was ready to come, dark clouds were gathering, and we could see rain on the mountains of the mainland. A brilliant rainbow soon grew into a double rainbow

as we putted across the water. Pictures can't even come close to capturing the beauty out here.

 

 

Church was over around 9:00, then we began the cross-cultural puzzle of waiting and visiting and figuring out where each member of our family fit within that puzzle. I had brought a jar of popcorn to give to Janet, Ezekiel's wife, as a thank you for always loaning her husband out to the work of Bible translation. I didn't realize she didn't know how to cook it, so I gave a quick pantomime of how to prepare the yummy treat. Then she told me she would have to buy oil! Chalk it up to a cultural blunder on my part. I walked away with two hands of bananas after I watched one of her sons cut them off the tree.

 

 

As soon as I returned to the rest of the family, I sent Benjamin and his small entourage of boys to buy oil to take over to Janet's house. We found a little house where we could sit and visit with some of our friends from Marulaon. The owner very graciously offered her bed to me so I could lie down and rest my back (which has really been giving me problems lately) while we chatted.

 

 

After more than an hour, it was time for the feasting. I had high hopes of getting out of the “big man” table, but as often as I declined, somebody else came forward with “Inu aira ru!” (You're a big woman!) So I finally accepted.

 

 

The rest of the day was filled with yummy local food, good opportunities to visit, and hours of dancing. I even got to teach my friend, Kiko, about taking “selfies”!

 

I was super proud of my girls who had practiced and worked hard to learn several of the local dances. The footwork looks fancy. It's second nature for our neighbors, but hard work and lots of concentration for those of us who haven't grown up dancing from the time we could walk.

 

 

Our canoe load decided to leave before the dancing was finished. We could barely keep our eyes open, even though it was only late in the afternoon. We arrived home laden with leftover food and chugged lots of water to help us rehydrate after the long day. After attending evening prayer and getting everybody through the shower, we were ready to crash early and get a good night's sleep.