Watch the Walk

The other day I was on a phone call with a few people.  For two of us, the first language was English. For two of us, the first language was from Clove Island. So what language did we end up speaking together? French. Why did we end up communicating in French? Because, although three of us were fluent in English, one of us was not, and so for the sake of group communication we needed to function in a language in which none of us were native speakers. Yesterday, when we started the call, the person who doesn't speak English was late to join. So we started out in English. It being the mother tongue for two of us, and comfortable for the third, we were able to use English and have everyone at ease. But as soon as the fourth person joined the call we automatically switched languages. Why do that? Because language is a way of communicating hospitality and community. To put it another way, what are we communicating when we use a language in which only half the group is proficient? Or wha...

My student tried calling me at 3 am, but I was still asleep. I noticed the missed call, but figured I'd catch up with her later. She tried again at 10 am, and I answered. It was 8 pm for her, and she was done with her day, wanting to practice her English, so she just gave me a call to see if I was free. My time in the US looks a bit different these days than it did when I came home for my first leave in 2016. Back then, very few people had smart phones. Now my 12 year old student has access to her mom's smart phone, and WhatsApp allows her to give me a call at any time of the day or night. So I answered the phone and greeted her in English. She talked a bit, asking me about "life in America." I answered her question in part by explaining the time difference. It was a helpful illustration for me to take the phone outside and show her how it was bright and sunny for me, while on Clove Island for her it was dark and the end of the day. Then her mom wandered past and want...

Until I started running, I didn't realize how much of a mental exercise running can be. See, when running, you always have the choice of slowing down to a walk. Struggling for air? Why not just walk a bit? Muscles telling you they don't like what they're doing? Slow down and take it easy. But when I'm going for a run, I'm not going for a walk. It's not a pleasure stroll. I try to absorb the beautiful views, because I'm not going to stop or slow down to take a picture. I only started running a couple of years ago. It started out as a random curiosity: if I started running, would I like it? I found I did, and I found I enjoyed the challenge of pushing myself to conquer hills and go further distances. But I also found that I didn't feel like running every time I went out for a run. Some days I would negotiate with myself during the first mile, telling myself, "if we're not enjoying this after a mile, we'll just go home." I'd set my foc...

I'm in the middle of a set of travel right now, as I make my way from Clove Island to the US. On a call with my cousin, her son was quizzing me about my travels, so I thought it might be fun to describe my trip so far to all of you here. My first flight was from Clove to Volcano Island, where the international airport is. The flight takes all of 30 minutes, but you still have to deal with being there for check-in, for a police check, security, and then finally flying. The limits on luggage for this flight are pretty strict: 44 lbs checked and 12 lbs carry-on. Because I was traveling with more stuff this trip, a soon-to-be-priest agreed to check in together with me and made it so I didn't have to pay for having extra luggage. We ended up chatting in English while waiting for the flight, then said goodbye on arrival.  I walked out to the main road to catch a taxi into town, and the aforementioned almost-priest was exiting the airport with a friend. They offered me a ride into tow...

One of the most commonly seen animals here is the goat. Some goats are tied up or secured in a backyard, but most of them in the city are left to wander and forage for themselves. I find it a bit surprising to see something so valuable wandering the streets unattended. And what's the risk of a goat wandering about on its own? Well, it could be stolen. That happens. It could be hit by a car; I once watched a young goat get run over by a car on a rainy night. It could also forage in a place where it shouldn't, and end up in trouble with the property owner.  My friend and I were discussing this the other day as we watched a herd of 10 or so goats wander down the road. "What happens if a goat eats someone's garden?" I wondered aloud. "Oh, the garden's owner will take the goat to the police and file a lawsuit." The image of the police station filled with random lawless goats tickled my fancy. "So, they'll sue the goat?" I asked. She laughed....

The talk of the town of late has been the many shortages and the rising price of food. Food prices here have risen 20-50% while salaries have remained the same, making it harder and harder for families to feed themselves.  In addition, shortages have made basic food items either difficult or impossible to obtain. A basic cheap meal here is typically a little fish, cooked with tomato sauce, served over rice, all prepared on a single-burner kerosene stove. There's no kerosene, so many are cooking over wood fires. The "50% broken" subsidized rice is hard to obtain, and the price has almost doubled. With fuel for motorboats hard to get, and the ocean being rough, fish is less available, and at 3 times the previous price.  Tomatoes are available, but the price has gone up, and the price of tomato paste has gone up too. So families are left struggling to figure out a new plan. What to cook? How to cook it? Will we feel full tonight? I remember when I first came to the islands h...

Transportation from one island to the next is sometimes an issue here. We have small commercial planes that go back and forth, a "high-speed" passenger boat that goes between Clove Island and the bigger island which hosts the international airport, and then some fishing boats or other small fiberglass boats which make the trek between islands. But sometimes the options start to disappear, or become less appealing. Fishing boats and little fiberglass boats never really seem like a good option, but when even the fishermen don't want to brave the seas, they seem rather unappealing. The passenger boat can be a pleasant enough experience, but when it's stuffed with 200+ passengers and the seas are rough, pretty much anything seems better than being trapped for 6 hours between puking passengers in a poorly air-conditioned interior as the sea rocks in and out of sight through the windows. And planes? Well, one airline had an accident and hasn't been allowed to resume wor...