How It's Made Bible

I made a 1 min parody of How It's Made: the Bible. Click here for it.

Teaching at Enafa

Abby and I went to the Southern Islands Presbyterian Bible College so I could teach for three days. The students were very engaged in the material, which was nice.

The highlight was the blue hole. You drive on the typical muddy north Tanna roads for 5Km past Enafa, and then hike through a peanut field, down the coral ledge, and dive 10 feet off the ledge into the water. Then you swim UNDER the small entrance into the cave. Once you're in, you see vivid blue water at your feet, light by the sun rays coming through the small hole. There were about 15 of us-- students at Enafa-- andI wondered how we'd all fit in the cave. Once inside, you realise that the cave is about 100 feet across and five stories high. I'd heard there was a hole at the top of the cave letting light in, but I didn't realize it was a 20 foot wide hole, which lets ample light in. We swam to the edge of the cave where you can stand on rocks. There, I noticed that the students had brought a can of white paint and were writing their names on the walls. Abby wrote hers, but a student came and changed it to "Hapi." That upset Abby for about 1 second, then she got over it. Sorry there's no pic of the cave- next time we'll get a cheap waterproof camera.

Since we dived off the 10 foot coral ledge, that left me wondering how we'd get up. The students scaled up the ledge just fine. Abby did fine. I couldn't do it. After hesitating and hesitating, someone said, "Do you want to go around the easier way?" Wheww!

It's also thrilling to stand at the edge of the hole at the top of the cave, looking down inside the cave.

I got sick towards the end of my stay, and this caused a theological problem for the leaders there, who figure that sickness is a result of God's punishment.

Camera works

We haven't been able to take videos in a while, because the record button on our video camera is broken. Then Caleb had an idea, "Buy a battery for the remote and use that to control the camera." We'd never used the remote. We bought a new battery, and it still didn't work. Caleb said, "Let me try." He got it working. Here's our most recent video. 3 Girls singing

Church in Lenakel

We went to church on the other side of the island, Loanpakel, today. That was so I could do dissertation interview #23, the second-to-last. This church doesn't have a person trained to preach, so they skip the sermon! Better than heresy, I suppose! Makes the church service shorter, too. After the service and the interview, they gave us a feast of yam, rice, beef, pineapple, grapefruit. Then we went to Tanna Lodge and swam in the pool and ocean. Caleb lost his bottom retainer in the waves, which devistated him. But he takes such good care of his retainers, we let reasurred him it wasn't the end of the world.

After swimming, we found a store open on Sunday, which was nice. I asked the shop-keeper if he was an SDA. He said no. "So, how can you work on Sunday then?" He said, "Mi go harem toktok blong heven, ale, mi kambak mo swet." Which I took to mean, "I went and took care of the heaven thing in church, and now I have to come back and work for a living."

Tomorrow, Abby and I are going to the Southern Island's Presbyterian Bible College so I can teach for a few days.

How much do you know?

I am continually astonished at the proportion of cultural knowledge we LACK compared to the amount we KNOW, even after more than 6 years in a village. It sure makes me compassionate on those who move to American cities as adults, and have a hard time learning the language, let alone the culture. I think the language is easy compared to the culture! For example, I happened to ask Linda if there is ever a time when women blow conch shells. She said, "Oh, yeah, when they burn nases leaves." I said, "When is that." She said, "You know, when they burn the monapitang leaves that are bad." "When's that?" "Like, when there's a hot thing, and then a cold thing, and then the circumcision ritual is finished." "Huh?" "Well, they burn nases leaves, and whip the moms of the circumcised boys, and blow conch shells, and stamp out the fire. Then the circumcision ritual is done."

It's like, if I didn't know any of that, how much else do I not know?

Picture is of Linda Naug digging a taro hole with a "tap" digging stick.

Honey

The men were smoking bees out of a banyan so they could get the honey. Abby, of course, wanted to eat the honey from the comb. But I saw it wasn't honey, it was bee larvae! "I want to eat them!" "No, Abby, I won't let you eat the bee larva." A kid in the village said, "If you eat the worm, it's good."

That's where I draw the line

New Video- God Bless America in Bislama

Glad to have our internet back after a few days. Jacob, had an idea of translating "God Bless America" into Bislama. Here's my shot at it:
Click here for the video.