Its Monday night 9:30pm and the generator has been off for the past ½ hour. During the week it runs from around 6-6:30pm to 9PM. In the weekends it runs to around 8:30pm. Tonight the generator started up and then stopped within a minute. About 10 minutes later we heard a different engine start up - the backup generator - it didn’t work and so stopped within a few minutes. Several dark minutes later the deputy principal said thru the window there would be no power tonight. He mentioned that the person starting the generator had forgotten to turn on the diesel. So the engine needed bleeding and no one knew how to do it - Trevor the fix-it guy was away. So the old rusty gears began to slowly turn somewhere in my head. Sometime way back in a former life I bled a few diesel engines on the farm.
Now at this stage here is some information for those cerebrally challenged on matters pertaining to diesel engines. All farm kids have drummed into them never, never, whatever you do, never run a diesel tractor out of diesel. Why? Cos you have to bleed it and that’s a pain. I still find it amusing hearing stories of people on lifestyle blocks whose diesel tractors run out of fuel and they refuel them, and then run the battery flat cranking the engine over wondering why it never starts. A petrol motor that does not need to be bled but a diesel engine does – hence you never run a tractor out of diesel.
In fact I can still remember the day dad purchased a new tractor that had a special self-bleeding system, it was bleeding good.
To bleed, starting from the manual fuel pump, one cracks different nuts, slowly pumping diesel back through the fuel lines to the injector. Then crank over the engine letting diesel fly out the injectors for a second or two while quickly tightening the last few nuts.
So it was off to the shed to try and bleed the generator. We got fuel to the filter, to the start of the injector but not out of the next section. We cranked it over and still no luck. Then we spotted a small nut hidden - cracked it open - pumped and we had diesel, and hence we soon had power. Nothing like a bit of fun. Although this week has had other electricity problems.
One night Viv started getting shocks from various appliances. That same night, when we had some students around for a meal, the inverter blew up! An inverter is a box that takes power from deep cycle batteries (or a car battery) and turns it into mains power (240 volts). So the next day I set up the brand new inverter we had brought with us from NZ. We were going to use it when we moved into our permanent house (we move out of this house when the new Dean of Studies arrives). So the next night our brand new inverter blew up. That was a shame as it had been working well, even giving enough power to use our desktop pc during the day.
So at the moment we don’t have any 240volt power during the day. Tonight (while typing with the generator off) I am using a 12-volt light and the laptop it powered using a 12-volt DC adaptor. Around the house I have set up a few cords in various places taking 12 volts from the battery to some temporary 12-volt fluorescent tube lights I have hung up. Viv is sitting under one reading up agriculture information in preparation for teaching it at the local secondary school (Tata School).
As to what blew up the inverters and is causing us to get shocks (only Philip and Simon have yet to have an unpleasant buzz). Well current thinking is a rat has chewed through an earth wire and perhaps the active wire and when the generator is going it plays havoc with invertors in our house. We will get up in the roof and have a look soon.
So again - this is an example of a lot of energy is used just to get by let alone be productive. And by the way - I am getting quite acquainted with my new digital voltmeter.
On the upside, yesterday Viv and I went exploring on our motorbike. (I brought one on TradeMe the day we left Tauranga). We drove up a road for around 40 minutes. It was interesting noticing the difference of culture even within that short distance. As soon as we left the main road (its only a track), we felt like we went back in time. Even the people dress is less influenced by the west - one guy we talked to was wearing just a loincloth and a weird hat. We went up quite high getting some good views. It was good to get out of Talua to have a look around.
Going around on the bike and looking at the villages we are pleased we live at Talua. Living at Talua is not like living in a village at all - in fact living in a village would be too hard. We have a nice house (compared to others - our is old NZ Bach quality I guess).
You know the old TV advert don’t leave home till you’ve seen the country. Well, in C1 class today some of the students shared about their bush people visit last Saturday. A team from Talua drove to the end of the road (about 1hr drive) and then walked 3 hours to a village to share the Good News of Jesus (if I had heard about the trip I would have joined in). It sounded fascinating as the bush people live very primitively. But I guess the thing that surprised me was the reaction of one C1 student. He really enjoyed the trip because for him it was the first time he had ever seen bush people. That is a weird concept cos even a normal village is kind of primitive! It was one of those moments that make you go uumm.
Sitting around the table one night, all of us (apart from Viv) with no shirts on cos it was hot, started talking about hairs on chests and then hairs under arms and at what age do they start to grow etc. Near the end of this conversation I mentioned pubic hair begins to grow at a similar time - at that moment Simon was having a drink and at the mention of pubic hair he coughed and spluttered his drink. We all laughed including Simon. Connie & William laughing at the mess and not at why, the rest at why and the mess. The simple life style here is sweet, yep it’s hard to live in the sense there are always itchy bites, one is often sweaty and clammy, rats in the roof and power problems. But other pressures one has in the west are not here. No traffic jams (although Port Vila can get congested), no advertising billboards putting pressure to have this that and the other thing. And there is a chance to sit around the table and laugh. I like the laidbackness of the place, being able to walk bare feet to classroom or around campus and not having to dress tidy. Even things like sweets from a shop are special. A packet of chips is like heaven. We received some jellybeans (and other stuff) from NZ yesterday (thanks Neil and Paula). They tasted like heaven.
For our family devotions we are using the book 365 Ways to make a difference: Daily Bible Readings. The book is put out by Christian Aid, written by Peter Graystone, published by Canterbury Press, Norwich. I really like the Christian Aid logo on the back of the book.
Christian Aid
We believe in life before death
The more I ponder Jesus – the more I think he was not only into life after death deliverance (his sacrificial death for us) but he was also into life before death - John 10:10 “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”. 365 is a little heavy for the kids to comprehend at times so often we need to explain and unpack things. Back in Tauranga I would daily go online to www.surefish.co.uk and visit the faith section clicking on the daily reading section. http://www.surefish.co.uk/faith/daily_readings/index.htm It is the same stuff as the 365 book - it’s good most of the time. There is something to read (a bible reading), something to think about (a reflection around that bible reading), something practical to do and something to pray. Give it a go - it might be just right for you.
I made a rather bad error in my February 26th Blog. I mentioned a good book but got the name of the author wrong. The book A Generous Orthodoxy is written by Brian D. McLaren (sorry about that – when writing the blog the book was still being shipped to Vanuatu from NZ with our gear). Anyway what do you think of this quote from the book (and back cover)
“Here’s why I am a missional + evangelical +post/protestant + liberal/conservative, + mystical/poetic + biblical + charismatic/contemplative + fundamentalist/calvinist + anabaptist/anglican + methodist + catholic + green + incarnational + depressed-yet-hopeful + emergent + unfinished Christian.” (from page 25)
Give you something to ponder? Have a good week
God Bless
Jon
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