Its good to be back - sort of

I am unsure why but I thought I uploaded this blog 4 weeks ago. Cos the internet is so slow out at Talua, we rarely check out our blog....instead we just send stuff to it, but during the last week we were asked if "parked" could be linked to www.laplap.com so I checked things. My initial blog for 2007 was missing. So have a read of 4 week old news.

 

Today we are OK. It still seems weird having Phill in NZ. Viv and I head to Bali for a Council for World Mission - Global Conference early in April, so we are starting to get ready for that (or at least think about it). My parents will come and look after the kids.

 

Anyway - here is the old blog that never made it

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It’s been a while since writing to this blog. I am very grateful we had a long break in NZ cos it’s been flat tack once getting back. My job has changed, I am also the acting bursar, and it’s taking a while to suss everything, and reconcile who owes what, and a heap of other things.

What’s it like getting back”? This time round its all about commitment - there was no excitement on arrival (except it was good to get back, get back to work and back into “normal life” and meet familiar faces). In some ways I wonder if we noticed the differences more this time round because last time it was all exciting and so the differences were exciting but perhaps we didn’t fully realise what the differences meant, this time coming here life is normal, but vastly different to NZ and so the differences seem more acute. Even getting of the plane from NZ, the first thing to hit was how outside the heater had been turned on to high - the air was heavy and damp. I couldn’t remember that last year - although the kids said they did. Perhaps last year I was too stressed with taking the family on the wild adventure.

Regarding the weather, we have adjusted quickly this year - and to be honest it’s not too bad. Sure we sweat heaps - the bursar’s office does not have much air going through it and so just sitting buckets of sweat fall off - no need to go to a gym!

The day after we arrived in Vila from Auckland, we bumped into friends who live on Pama (translating the bible into local language). It was very good to meet up with them - we had lunch together - it really helped in feeling OK about coming back, because there are days when we wonder. Why? It can be lonely and hard, you know the kind of day you can’t be bothered to cook and takeaways would be sweet - we can’t have those days. We can’t jump in the car and pop down to see our mates. Perhaps Sundays are one of the hardest. Church is not innovative here and in NZ it’s a day to visit, touch base with mates at church and the beach and/or do other family things. Well Phillip is in NZ (enjoying himself from what his emails tell us), so we aren’t not a whole family anyway, and the number of “family things” we can do are limited. Walk to the beach or walk down the road or walk up the road - that’s it.

I am the fortunate one as I am busy. I don’t have time to miss western convenience. If you are the praying kind, pray for Viv and the kids. Pray that the kids make the most of this last year here and that they really enjoy it. Also pray for our health. Connie and William have sore throats and runny noses; and Simon and I have toe infections. About school, the new online correspondence school course for William and Simon is going well, but the learning curve is high for all of us - a few prayers for all this to be sussed quickly would be good.

Final thought
We are very grateful to people in NZ who made our NZ break so good. You have been such a blessing. Mum and dad - thanks for the use of the bach, it was good. Team Wright - thanks for shouting us to Parachute and the host of other things you helped us with. Diane (and John) you have a gift for thinking what would be useful - thanks for the things in the envelope. Bob and Barbara, your help saved us and the GMO lots of money, thanks for your great hospitality, you guys are amazing. To the GMO office - you guys keep us going, thanks. To many other St.C people and others I have forgotten about - thank you.

God Bless
Jon

 

 

Kids fun

Connie and some of her friends dressing up.


As you can see - we have had plenty of sea food. A student borrowed our mask and snorkel the other day. The next morning he gave us this.
The kids still have plenty of fun. Here they are in the middle of gymnastics 

Mould and fish

This photo is of two IBM laptops I have brought for the students computer suit. One of them was stored on a shelf here Dec / Jan when we were in NZ. The other one we brought over with us in Feb. Look at how fast the mould grows. One wonders what’s happening inside. Anyway – they both work and I’ll will be setting up the computer suit next weekend after all the Short Course students leave Talua – with nearly 70 Short Course students, there is no room for the PC lab. By the way, if you are ever going to donate a laptop to somewhere like Talua, an 3rd world institution based in a humid climate. Don’t donate a brand new laptop – it’s a waste of money, the laptop would never be used to its full potential and the climate might kill it too quickly. Instead – donate a refurbished one – they are about a 1/3 of the price, get one that runs Windows XP so memory sticks work fine with no need for extra drivers. They work fine over here – that’s what we use.



Some fish we brought, (we just wish the supply was regular). Only NZ$14 dollars. Not bad. We had half and the Williamsons the other half. We also boiled the head to get another meal of fish meat. Talua brought another one for the singles. The day before Talua brought two more for the Short Course students – that was two weeks ago. Sadly there have been no more. 

A good day at Aore

Last Thursday we took the day off, spending the time at Aore Resort. A free boat trip over the canal from Luganville. If we have a meal at the resort we can swim in the pool, rest and go snorkelling around all the topical fish in the sea. It was good to get a way.

I have been flat tack with acting bursar work. People coming all the time for things to do with the bursar, light bulbs, nails, fuses, money and whatever else. Regarding the bursar work of sussing Talua’s finances (the cash flow), the cash flow physically is not good but at least we now know what is happening and what to expect.

The new focus at the moment is a healthier diet for the single students. When buying one of those big fish (see the photos I hope to put up soon), I spent sussing how much the singles meals cost, and discovered that last year they ate tined meat for every lunch and dinner. What is strange is fresh meat works out cheaper – of cours refrigeration is the problem. But with the bus goes into town every day – the new aim is for fresh meat for the single students each evening – and we can store a little meat in our 100 litre 12 volt fridge. No doubt this “change” will cause major problems cos any “change” here is-just-so-hard-to-deal-with. I do get tired of that.
Anyway – it was a good day at Aore! 

some photos

The photos below.

Some of the lads, getting the food out of the earth oven, ready for the opening 2007 feast. It is interesting how much food these guys eat -not a lot made it to the table. Perhaps that is why the guys eat last at the "feast"

The church/dining room was crowded for the opening service so some students and other people sat outside.

Back to new tricks, a banana tree fell on the power lines, stopping power to a part of Talua. Here I am fixing the problem - now which wire is + and which - ?

We had coconut crab for a meal - not bad at all. The restrictions on catching and eating coconut crab have been lifted this year for the first time in several years. Notice how brown they are before being cookd.

 

A few photos so far this year