shoe and tell 2

This is Putu, the chicken I was given at the end of my last stay. She has had three litters? broods? ... sets of chicks since then. The first lot was eaten by dogs. But the hens of round 2 are are about to lay. Soon I will be up to my neck in fowl. Actually I am going to trade them in for a pig ... I should have enough by December ... so I can enter the circumcision ceremony. Papa BB is amping for me to do it, as he will be my sponsor. This means he has started to refer to me as his pig - a joking way of referring to a wife ... Hmm ritualised homosexuality anyone?

shoe and tell

Here's the rooster I ate at my going away dinner.

I did not eat this turtle. They know not to hunt them.

I had a great time though, endangered species not withstanding. Some very sad and disturbing developments though. One sister in law died in childbirth. Premature labour brought on by yet another bout of domestic violence... Another uncle has a very serious case of elephantitus ... and one of the teachers ... ayoung guy died in his sleep.

And me?I accidently swam with a shark. I was standing in waist deep water inside the reef, and noticed a fin slowly rise above the water about 15 metres away. I thought I was hallucinating until I heard one of the chiefs resting on the stage ... a kind of verandah affair just above the beach cry 'shark shark'. This is it I thought. So I started to carefully and splashlessly move back to the shore about 40 metres away. Because of the shape of the beach, it actually dips down just near the shore, and I thought if this shark is going to take me, he'll do it there. My legs were a bit shakey once I got out of the water, but no damage.

When I got back to my house I mentioned the adventure to my brother aged 9. Oh it wasn't a shark, just a dolphin, he said. And he would know because he was there. And he knows better than the chief ....

Other than that it was pretty much work work work. I didn't drink nearly as much kava as on previous occasions and that seemed to have allowed me to preserve a calm demeanor in the face of the usual shenanigans -consultants not turning up when they said they would ... the laplap and the water shortages ...

Oh well am back now, and back into it.