Watch the Walk

Meet Jack, he's not scared of anything A couple of months ago I started hearing a phrase everywhere-- on the streets, in class, in taxis, and yelled by my neighbors. And it always seemed to garner a reaction, maybe a little embarrassment on the part of the person questioned, while others would invariably laugh. A "gotcha" moment. "Whatcha scared of?" - they ask. It's interesting how language evolves and catch phrases develop. Word has it that the phrase  originally came from a radio host. It was adopted in relation to a new telecommunications company in town: what are you afraid of, to buy a SIM card with the new company? But language changes, and the catch phrase came to apply to a number of things. Like crossing the street. You can hardly pause a moment to check traffic before an interested islander will yell "whatcha scared of?" at you. What are you afraid of? Certainly not being hit by a car.... There are a lot of situations where it can be us...

This face brought to you by coffee In trying to start writing on my blog again, I started thinking about those things that make a difference. I was without a team here on Clove for about 2.5 months, but now my team leaders have returned. "What good is a team?" you might ask. Well, sometimes it's just those little things that make all the difference. These last couple of weeks I've been running long days with little margins of spare time, and a lot of the work has been highly brain-intensive. The first couple of days I drank coffee before leaving home, then had instant coffee while working. But it just wasn't doing the job. We were all dragging. And my team leaders weren't involved personally with the project, but they offered to help in any way we needed. So I asked them to make coffee. And faithfully, every morning, they did. Lord bless the coffee makers of this world. Is there someone you can be making coffee for this week?

Rain! When I was a kid, I hated hiking. The idea of climbing hills and sweating a lot in order to see a view that others had already seen didn't really appeal to me. But I changed and these days I like hiking. I like the peace of getting away from people, the joy of exertion that is rewarded by nice views and fresh breezes. I like the freedom of just walking, putting aside other cares for awhile. But hiking on Clove Island isn't always like that. Yes, it still involves sweat and hills, but peace and quiet? Maybe not. Awhile back, I went for a hike with a (white) friend. Our goal: the top of a big hill. Our outlook: positive. Our timeframe: I needed to be home midday to prepare for an English certificate ceremony. It was a trail I'd taken before, so we headed out without any local friends to guide us. We walked past the airport, then along the beach, and saw dark clouds over the hill we were about to climb-- oh no. Rain! Well, not to be deterred, we kept walking. Now on Clov...

  (Note: normally I don't talk about this on the blog, but my financial needs have gone up due to rising insurance rates in the US. If you feel led to increase support, start supporting me financially, or direct a friend my way, you can find more information on my support page: http://abbysturner.blogspot.com/p/support-info.html . Thanks!) Besides lots of cooking every day and making flower necklaces for the big events, weddings mean a lot of discussions and a lot of dancing. The former creates stress, the latter relieves it. From an outsider’s perspective, every wedding is the same. It’s not like you have to rehearse all the motions and figure out where everyone will stand. But here are a few details that have to be figured out: -           Who will dress the bride and do her hair and henna? -           How will everyone who helps out be fed? -        ...

20 kilos of flour and who knows how much coconut milk Last week I spent a bunch of time helping out and hanging out with a couple of good friends' wedding activities. Here on Clove Island, couples will often get married but then wait until they have a lot of money saved up to do the big wedding that's composed of multiple events. Here's a bit of what's involved in a wedding: 1) lots of cooking. 2) flower necklaces 3) family fights rolling the dough 4) stressed out brides 5) dancing 6) pictures Of course, to write about all of this in one post would be quite the long post, so here's the first installment of "wedding talk"  --- Cooking. During the wedding week, the bride's house (and the groom's too) is filled with women. Some women are making cakes/goodies for the exchange of gifts from one family to another, some women are cooking food for the bride to gift the groom, and some women are cooking food for everyone who is gathered at the house to work...

Hanging out on the roof On moving day I watched a couple hours of music videos with my host sisters, waiting for the call that the landlord was available to give me the keys and sign the contract. At 11 AM I finally got the call—the keys were mine, but the landlord was busy and couldn’t deal with the contract. After many reassurances from people involved that I wouldn’t move in only to have to move out again, I brought my luggage that had come from America to the house. And started cleaning. Things here get dirty fast, and I don’t think the house had been cleaned since it was built. My friends who came with me started in sweeping and wiping things down, while I grabbed a mop and started following behind. And wait, the kitchen is locked! The landlord had lost the key for the kitchen between the time I looked at the house and the time I got the keys! He assured my friend over the phone that he would look for it and send the key with someone as soon as it was located. Well, okay, that wa...

Goofing off Despite my attempt to have a house arranged before arriving on Clove Island, my plans fell through and I had to do some house hunting after arrival. While looking for a house I stayed with a couple of dear islander friends. They also helped me in the house hunt. Here are the steps I went through in looking for personal accommodations: 1)       Spread the word. This I started before leaving the U.S., sending messages to a few friends that I would be looking for a house and to let me know what they know of. After arriving on Clove I told most people I ran into (acquaintances and friends) that I was looking for a house, and I gave them a few parameters: 1) water needs to come from the pipes, 2) it can’t be a huge western-style house, 3) the neighborhood needs to be friendly. 2)       Look at all the houses. People started coming out of the woodwork, showing up at my host family’s house to talk with me and take me to houses, pic...