There is an abundance of pawpaw trees surrounding the house, pineapples growing down the hill, a Soursap tree – has anyone ever tasted those things? OMG!!!! SO delicious! I think its part of the custard apple family, as they look similar and taste similar, (I tried to google it, but the internet is so slow that I couldn’t bother waiting for Wikipedia...)and yesterdays dinner was the most “instant” one we have had yet... One minute we were sitting on the veranda spying on a bunch of wild chooks walking into a trap to munch on coconut husks, then next thing the trap was shut, uncle Varomue was inside pulling out 4 chooks, next he chopped their heads off, next him and Rob went down to the water to pluck them and chop them up, and next thing I knew I had a bucketful of chook to make a chicken curry. So fresh, so yum!
One rare moment of relaxation
"Holiday house" snack with uncle Varomue
Dinner, just before they were beheaded
Its nice to have a bit of space from the rest of the household in Itumuta, am thinking of coming here every weekend... Varomue would be delighted, as his wife is in Fiji and he needs the company and a bit of woman in the house...
So a few stories to tell since my last post, first being a “Grog party” we were invited to by our friend Fay... he called early Friday evening and invited Rob to come and I just dragged along, partly to just get out of the house for a night, partly to look after Robby, and partly out of curiosity. People here love their “grog parties”, a bit like how we love our nights out back home... only these are so much more boring...
So Fay came by to pick us up wearing red tracky pants, a red over the shoulder T-shirt and sparkly earings, and took us to what used to be the old Catholic Church’s Nuns convent, now just someone’s home, and he explained that this is where he has a Grog party every Friday night. He said that he is always the only one that gets dressed up, and I thought his Little red riding hood outfit was good enough, but as soon as we got there and sat in a circle with a bunch of strangers, he disappeared, only to emerge wearing the skimpiest shortest open back glitzy turquoise mini dress, dressed with pearls and makeup, and gave us the full drag spin-around. Robby and I couldn’t believe our eyes... it was so surreal. The Nun’s convent, the silent strangers, and then Fay looking like a Rotuman Kylie Minogue... and we hadn’t even started drinking...
The Grog drinking, refers to Cava, the local root they harvest and dry, grind it into a fine powder with a man-size metal mortal and pestle, then mix with water in a wooden bowl, scoop out a cupful and pass it around in a circle. Every time you receive a cup, you clap 3 times and down it. It tastes very bitter, and all we felt was a mild numbness in our mouth, but when one drinks allot of it over hours of sitting in a circle, it has a muscle relaxant effect, so you’d feel like a big blob of jellyfish or something. And would be quite as interesting a conversation as a big blob of Jellyfish.
Being in a roomful of Rotumans is the most boring thing for me, (and for Robby too- as he soon discovered...), as they speak only Rotuman, don’t bother involving you in a conversation, never ask you anything about your life and where you come from, and if you ask them a question, if you even get an answer at all, it is usually a grunt or the traditional lifting of one eyebrow... which to this day I still haven’t figured out what it means (Yes? NO? I don’t know? Oh wow that is so interesting and how did it make you feel???). So at this Grog party, there were a few silent Rotumans, but also a few Fijian nurses, who didn’t speak Rotuman, so luckily alot of the little conversation there was, was in English. Rob and I just sat together and giggled and took the piss out of the situation, laughing at Fay’s stories of his massive thighs and faraway lovers...
At some stage, the “Hot stuff” came out, which was a big bucket of iced instant coffee with a couple of bottles of Rum poured in. I might just mention that most the people in the circle were about half our age, and Rob and I really started feeling it... we had a couple of sips of their “Cocktail”, and when everyone else just started to get a little too excited, we thought its a good time to leave, and strolled home in the full moon light, giggling our heads off...
Fay Minogue, robby and moi at Grog party
Another little story, one late afternoon, everyone was hanging out on the veranda, playing chess, lying down, when suddenly Litisia, an auntie who lives 2 houses away came running to me with a blank look on a very pale face, holding onto her wrist asking if I can help her. I looked at her wrist and it was pouring out blood like a fountain, I took one look at the cut and saw her veins and tendons and freaked out. She had accidently cut it on a piece of glass that broke off from one of the louvers in her bedroom, she came running to me, as I have become the village bandage lady, and I took one look at it and saw it definitely needed to be stitched up. We grabbed some tea towels to tie it up, and I grabbed my phone to call the hospital to send the Ambulance, but no one knew the number for the hospital!!!!!! What tha??? Whoever was sitting around on the veranda, just sat there and continued doing their thing, men playing chess, kids playing ball, Litisia sitting there bleeding away and only Rob and I were running around trying to figure out what to do while Carl was holding the tea-towel tightly on her wrist. The only one who freaked out besides me was Saulei, who probably sensed my distress and stood on the side crying... we sent one of the kids down the road to call Uncle Alexiyu who has a car to come take her to the hospital, luckily he was there, as the hospital is about a 30 minute walk away. They took her to the hospital and she managed to ask us to clean the mess in her house, as she was expecting some people to come stay that night, and she lives with her husband who is recovering from a stroke and cant walk properly, and her little grand-daughter Shannon- Noah’s best mate here. The poor girl saw it all, and was hardly fazed. Rob and I went back to the house and cleaned the drops of blood from around everywhere, changed the bloody bedding and removed the broken glass.
We brought her family some dinner, and a couple of hours later she came back from the hospital with her wrist bandaged up. She said they put a few stitches in and wanted her to stay overnight, but she didn’t want to as she was worried about these people coming to stay the night without her being there... so I got her settled back at home and punched my phone number on speed dial in her phone and showed her how to use it (she only knows how to answer the phone, nothing else...) and told her to call me if she needs anything during the night. Luckily I did that, because at around midnight I was woken by a phone call from her telling me she has been bleeding all night and her bed is covered in blood, I told her Carl and I will be there right away. In my half sleep I grabbed my first aid gear thinking I can help, but when we got there and saw she was covered in blood, Carl ran over to wake Alexiyu to come take her to the hospital. This time I went with her, driving in a very dodgy ute in pouring rain on really bad roads, which in itself freaked me out. As I do, I started imagining these terrible things that can happen, half asleep. Not good.
We got to the hospital, it was very dark, and a sleepy nurse came out to see who it was that’s disturbing her sleep. We took Litisia inside, at this time she was feeling weak and dizzy, and the nurse very slowly, very sleepishly removed her bandage. I took one look at what was underneath and had to sit down and resume the Brace position, otherwise I would’ve probably passed out myself. Her cut was like a gaping L-shaped slit in her wrist, with about 3 stitches barely holding it closed, her veins and tendons still exposed...
The nurse called the doctor, who came over looking just as pissed off by being woken, took one tiny look at her through his sleepy eyes and mumbled “observation” before he marched off back to bed. I guess “observation” meant “keep her here and watch her through the night”. So the nurse bandaged her up again, gave her some pain relief, and I went back home with Alexiyu who was waiting outside.
When I got back home around 1am, I couldn’t fall asleep. I was having the worst thoughts go through my mind, all the “what if” thoughts I fear about being here, and try to push out of my mind. I had to do a bit of breathing exercises to calm me down and put me to sleep...
The next morning Rob and I rode up to the hospital to take her some fresh clothes, but she was ready to come home and was driven home in the ambulance. Since then she has been recovering, the poor thing is hating not being able to do anything, as she is the kind of person who values herself by the work she does. Luckily, the people who came to stay at her house ended up being a blessing, as they are doing all the work for her. Feeding the pigs, working in the plantation, bringing the food, fishing, cooking and cleaning. It turns out that she probably should have had surgery done on her wrist, as she cant move her fingers and they are really swollen and sore. Maybe some nerve damage, I don’t know, but over here nothing is descriptive. If someone has terminal cancer, they just say he is “sick”, if someone has been vomiting, they are the same “sick” as terminal cancer or heart disease. Its very basic.
And what else has been going on? We went on a big walk up to the top of a mountain to check out the views of the island from above. With kids on shoulders (not mine of course – Carl, Robby and cousin Johnny took turns) climbing up steep slippery mud and rocks, swinging off vines, with me having my usual fear of heights panic attack refusing to go any further, tears in my eyes and shaking, the kids just charging along with no fear what so ever. Needless to say I didn’t enjoy it, not one little bit, even when we reached the top and sat on this massive rock hanging over a big drop into the ocean with views all the way to the tip of the island, I just wanted to be back on the ground, on the beach, drinking coconuts. Which is what we did next.
What else? Lots of baking and cooking with Robby, who is equally into food as I am. Lots of Green Pawpaw Chutney, Cumquat and Ginger Jam, Banana and Cumquat Jam, Gnocchi made from Tapioca, Gnocchi made from Pumpkin. Its good to have Robby’s enthusiasm to inspire me to cook a bit more interesting. Not that it has any value tor anyone else besides me and him...
View from the top of the rock
Tree monkey fetching coconuts
The other night Carl and his cousins went out to sea to get Lobsters, they came back with a sack full of about 8 lobsters and a couple of Balmain bug type thing. The kids were still awake and were screaming with fear when they saw the things, who were still alive when brought home. I had to sooth them to sleep, then proceed to the kitchen to share the freshest Lobster tails one can eat with Robby. He ate about 4 of them, feeling very guilty, not realising that they were caught especially for him. What a treat.
Robby with pre cooked dinner
Next week is the Doom day, Robby will be leaving to go back to his life in Bondi. Same life I had there. I am quite jealous. I hate the thought of him sipping on a quality latte, eating beautiful fresh bread, cheeses and the variety of fruit and veg I cant get here, which I miss so much. But most of all I hate the thought of missing his company, his humour, his cynicism, swims with him and the kids, endless chats over cups of tea and sneaky biscuits. Back to being the only white person around for miles. The only one who sort of understands my head. Till our next guest Lauren comes here in October hopefully.
Loads of Love to all of you out there!!!!!!! xxxxxx
i love sour sops too, Nadine.
ReplyDeleteHi Ben here, I want to come over! Sounds amazing. Keen to help with the house, cooking and of course FISHING! Sent you an email, hope to hear from you soon.
ReplyDelete