Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Internet is back on!

Thanks for
being patient. Please remember this is a third world country and we are beginning to feel the impact of that. We've had power outages a couple of times in the past w]
eek, our internet time ran out and only just got paid for again yesterday (by us), and we are realizing that even though we are from the land of plenty, we are not currently in the land of plenty and things are very limited here, including our money. We are beginning to know what it is like to not have all we want. We are having to tell the kids we can't have things, even fruit, apple juice, milk, ice cream, chicken, because we can't afford it, or because it's not available here. It's very hard for us to disappoint them like this, but also very eye opening for us all. We also feel the impact of little choice of books at the library, little variety of videos, and little choice of toys. Often the kids are bored because there isn't much for them to do here. They really enjoy when the kids come over for school and they can play for a few minutes (sometimes an hour) before school starts.
Saturday we went to a wedding of Kateta and Nick. Kateta is a friend of Conn's from the US who is a Kiribati who went to the US to study. We met her on the plane from LA to Fiji. Nick is an American whose mother is Kiribati and his father is American. We went early and hung out with the family before the ceremony. We had ham and breadfruit soup (finally!) for lunch. The boys really liked that. Then the kids and I went to the ceremony while Conn finished helping prepare the food for the evening. It was a beautiful ceremony and very meaningful. Afterwards, there were refreshments including sandwiches, fruit and cakes. The kids really enjoyed this and filled their bellies. This was dinner for them. After returning to the house, Conn and I took the kids home and put them to bed so we could go back to the party. It was lots of fun with local dancing and singing. We were out pretty late, but it was worth it for our time together. We haven't had a date night in a long time.
Sunday we attempted to go to church, but the rain kept us from getting there in time. We were all ready to leave and would have gotten there in time, then the rain fell hard so we waited instead of getting soaked. When the rain let up, we headed to Conn's family #2 in Temwaiku. We spent the day with them, the kids playing and Conn and I visiting and resting. Again, good food and fun, but Parker and I had allergic rashes after eating the food. Conn said it's from the fish. We just had red rashes and headaches. I took another nap, and felt better. Parker had some Benadryl when we got home. We've both been ok since then.
It's been rainy and "cold" but still humid so only some relief. As long as we get some sun to dry our laundry, I can live with the rain. The breeze from the sea also leaves that salty feeling so baths are still needed morning and night.

1 comment:

  1. Be sure to enjoy all the things there that you can't have here! We miss you and will have many big feasts when you return.

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