Nius blong Mitufala

That Which Only Peripherally Concerns Simon

I often use cute photos of Simon to spur a blog post, but Marissa's comment on my last post got me thinking.  While I don't particularly feel that my personal identity has been subsumed by my son, it would appear that way from this blog, wouldn't it?  (I know you didn't mean it that way, Marissa, don't worry!)

So, I thought I would innovate a bit and actually write a post without cute Simon photos or anecdotes - is that half of my readership I hear clicking off the blog?

 I have been giving a lot of thought to next steps in life.  (insert 15 minutes of Googling "evaluation development degree" and then a trip to the kitchen for another coffee)  As I mentioned in my previous post, AusAID offers to reimburse studies undertaken that directly relate to one's field of work.  I'm keen to remain in development for as long as possible.  I've given a lot of thought as to whether I want to remain in the health sector which would mean completing a public health certificate in the very least in order to obtain formal qualifications.  And the answer that I've come up with is... no.  I'm not so devoted to health development that I want to specialise.  I would be happy to remain in the health sector for the foreseable future, but definitely have specific interests in other areas (gender, law and justice, education). 

Back to the mental drawing board I went.  AusAID is excellent at providing career development opportunities for its staff and one such seminar offered to our office was on monitoring and evaluation (M& E) for development projects.  The speaker was frank - almost brutally so - and took us each through one of our programs to demonstrate just how flawed the M & E component was.   It didn't take a genius to see that it would be impossible to demonstrate better health outcomes for the people of Vanuatu using the current evaluation systems... and if you cannot demonstrate positive change in black and white, what is the point of aid?

And so...  I am in the process of searching for post-graduate qualifications in M&E.  I will most likely be doing this degree online at a certificate level initially and, if I successfully complete that without too much pain, might move on to a Masters.  I am giving serious thought to either Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra or Melbourne University.  I was also thrilled to be chosen as one of AusAID Vanuatu's M&E trainees which will mean specialised AusAID M&E courses throughout the year and most likely a trip or two to Jakarata, Indonesia to get a first-hand look at the AusAID program evaluation going on there.

This brings me back to the fact that Fred isn't particularly thrilled with his job right now.  He craves a larger working environment with formalised feedback systems.  Construction has been in a major slump here, only really sustained by overseas aid to the infrastructure sector.  Indeed, Fred's in the process of tendering for a large, rural solar project through the Ministry of Health (funded by AusAID - don't get me started about how we've managed to avoid a conflict of interest in this small town).  We're both still very happy living in Vanuatu and don't really have a clear idea of where we would move if we did leave.  However, I don't know how long Fred will be able to sustain enthusiasm for his current working situation... and we all know what happens when you begin to dread having to go to work.

So in the meantime, we physically busy ourselves with Simon-wrangling and new nakamal building.  Our old nakamal was beginning to rot, and so we've built a much more permanent structure.  It will be half-jungle gym for the boy and half jungle juice for us.  I have it on good authority that the roofing has arrived at our house today from its island origins, so pictures should follow soon!

 Alright, and if you made it this far, you deserve a rewards so...

  

 

2012 in thoughts

Simon helped Fred and I ring in the New Year with style.  We spend New Year's Eve at my Peace Corps Veteran and good friend Carla's house.  She had invited a handful of families and everyone came with at least one, but more like two, children.  It was the type of wonderful melee and noisy joy that would have made childless-Fred-and-Kendra cringe.  But Simon's parents loved it and dove into the scrum with vigor.  There was Wii dancing, spaghetti bolonaise throwing, statues-playing, truck races, ball-throwing and kava drinking all mixed up with occaisonal firework displays.  It was a sight to be seen.  Simon conked out at about 8pm but woke up raring and ready to go at 9.  He danced the New Year in with all of us as evidenced by his prominent place in the dance circle below:

 Simon Breaks It Down

The early days of 2012 have been filled with sun, friends and much thought by Fred and I.  We came home from our USA/France trip wondering just how long we would stay in Vanuatu.  We haven't stopped talking about it since.  The dilemma is that while we want to be closers to our friends and family, we have some pretty good friends here, stable employment, a great house and fabulous care for Simon.  Not to mention the kava.  In short, life is pretty darn good right here.  We're busy hatching contingency plans, though, but at this point it looks like at least two more years here.  AusAID, my place of work, will reimburse any studies I undertake related to my current job and I'm EXTREMELY interested in taking advantage of this opportunity before Fred and I start getting clucky for another baby.

 Simon and Ellie love Sesame Street

Having Simon in our lives has pushed Fred and I to try new activities and get out of the house on the weekends (which is doubly hard now that we have a kick-ass internet connection!).  The newest restaurant crze here is the Wahoo Bar which is located about a 30 minute drive outside of town.  The newly paved road around the island has opened up tourism and development opportunities on the northern side of the island ... and provided us with a sunny afternoon of good food and entertainment as we watched Simon walk his "baby." 

 Simon pushed his stroller

    Simon and Moma eat fish and chips at the Wahoo

The weather lately has been very strange, alternately sweaty-hot and get-the-blanket-out-chilly.  During one of the hot days, we gave Simon his first ice cream bar.   Needless to say, he has a tendency for dairy-love coming from both sides of his family.

  Do I have some ice-cream on my chin?

Simon has been developing in leaps and bounds... literally.  He knows how to jump now and isn't afraid to launch himself unaided into a swimming pool.  (This can be heart-stopping if you aren't paying close attention.)  He's also become aware of "boo-boos" that he both gets and gives.  He still has a bit of biting problem, but this seems to be limited to me and when he's tired.  He can use a fork and a spoon, make lots of different animal noises and name most body parts.  He's obsessed with my breasts right now in a way that he never was when he was breast-feeding.  Is this where men's obsession with mammaries begins?!  We're trying to teach him words for bodily functions in preparation for potty-training.  Today, he said pee-pee and then did it (in his diaper).  Great start!  He loves to give kisses full on the mouth and growls when he gives you a bear hug.  Did I tell you that we love him to bits?!

 Simon - 18 Months

 

La saison de peche recommence !

Ca faisait près d’un an que je ne m’étais pas mis à l’eau avec mon fusil. Des problèmes d’oreille puis d’emploi du temps chargé m’en avaient empêché. Et l’occasion de rêve est venue à moi : 3 jours de bateau et pêche autour de Lelepa, une île à l’est d’Efaté dans l’archipel du Vanuatu.

 

Bien que mes sandeaux étaient bons a changés nous avons pu nous mettre plusieurs fois à l’eau près de la passe entre Lelepa et Moso. Pour la première nous avions mal choisi notre timing. On était à l’eau entre 11h et 1h de l après midi. A cette heure les poissons sont timides et on a un mal fous à les approcher. Mais ce ne fut pas du temps perdu. Nous avons pu croiser un dugon (qui avait déjà nagé près de notre bateau la veille) et sur un banc de sable nous avons rencontré 3 raies. Deux d’entre elles sont parties sans demander leur reste mais une troisième est restée sous moi à 10 – 12 m pendant plusieurs minutes. Je ne connais pas bien ces poissons mais je sais que même si leur nage est gracieuse, elles peuvent être dangereuses avec leur dar. Je me suis donc abstenu de descendre la caresser.

 

La pêche suivante, le soir entre 5 et 6h a été beaucoup plus fructueuse. L’heure et le temps était idéal. Le soleil descendait derrière Lelepa ce qui nous permettait en plongeant coté île d’être moins visibles pour le poisson. Sous l’eau s’était la récréation. Pas besoin de s’éloigner de plus de 20 mètres du bateau pour trouver du poisson. Le fond était sableux avec des patates de corail plus ou moins hautes.

 

De la surface, je vois une ombre de mérou ondulée à côté d’une patate à 10 m de fond. Je retiens ma respiration et je descends le fusil  en avant vers le poisson. En me rapprochant je me rends compte que pas moins de 4 autres mérous sont dans ce corail. En changeant de cible pour tirer un plus gros, je les fais tous fuir. Deux fois de suite la même erreur m’empêche de tirer. Je commence à avoir le souffle court. Je ne suis pas habituer à descendre si bas mais la 3^ème et la bonne, je tire et pique un mérou de 40 cm. Je ne le tue pas et il se met dans un trou, merde ! J’ai du y redescendre 3 fois avant de décoincer la flèche. Il ne me suffisait pas de tirer sur le fusil, j’ai du atteindre la flèche 2 mètres plus loin et la faire jouer entre le recif pour la décoincer. J’ai cru devoir couper la corde et perdre la poisson, mais la descente suivante fut la bonne, bingo !!

 

Fatigué par cet effort, j ai préféré faire quelques essais en zone moins profonde. Alors que je plonge sur une petite patate plate, je vois un perroquet disparaître derrière le corail. Je l’attends un mètre plus loin de l’autre côté et tire. La flèche lui rentre dans l’œil, le pauvre vieux est mort sur le coup.

 

Une heure après m’être mis à l’eau, j’en ressortais avec 2 belles prises pour le repas du soir.

 

Le lendemain, lors de notre retour sur Port Vila on avait laissé 4 lignes trainer. La mer était d’huile, pas un pet de vent. Le petit voilier avançait à 5 nœuds au moteur. Au large de Devils Point une touche sur une des cannes à pêche. Oliver remonte la prise, un wahoo qui casse à 2 mètres du bateau. Motivé par cette touche, Oliver relance la ligne. 10 min plus tard une des bobines saute sur le pont du bateau, on a juste le temps de voir un merlin bondir et casser le fil hors de l’eau a 25 mètre à l’arrière du bateau. Premier wahoo et premier merlin, on ne les a pas ramenés au bateau, mais s’en fout !

Deux jours plus tard je croisais un ami pêcheur en ville, forcément on parle pêche. Je lui demande: "T'as pu pêcher dernièrement?

- Oui, hier on était avec mon petit cousin a Forari (Est Efaté), j ai piqué un thon jaune et mon cousin un gros Napoléon, et toi?"

 Je me suis senti con avec mon petit mérou et mon perroquet...

Christmas Vanuatu-Style

Twas two days before Christmas and all through the house, all the creatures were stirring, even the mouse...

that lives behind the refridgerator after Woody brought it inside for a snack and forgot about it.

Fred, Simon, Josephine and I planned to do our little family Christmas on the 23rd.  I cooked up a 'special' lunch that included hamburgers and cheesy fries and the adults exchanged gifts while Simon napped.  Josephine was the proud recipient of a rotary fan and an electric kettle for her new apartment along with various and sundry items (including but not limited to aspirin, toothpaste, condoms and coconut oil) in a stocking.  When Simon woke up, Josephine gave him his gift which at first he didn't understand...

...and then wholeheartedly enjoyed.

Josephine had one last evening on-duty looking after Simon while Fred and I enjoyed a Christmas cocktail with friends.   My Peace Corps friend, Sara, inherited a beautiful piece of property overlooking the Vila Bay.  However, the house, the empty swimming pool and particularly the deck are not child-proofed.  It would either be a very stressful evening making sure Simon did not plunge to his death or a relaxing evening while Jojo babysat.  We chose to go with option two.  I brought a couple plates of Christmas cookies and both Fred and I drank kava with gusto.

For Christmas Eve day, I spend most of my time running around preparing for the meal that we were to host that evening for three friends.  By about 11am, I had finished all of my shopping and Fred, Simon and I went to wish Lucy (my ni-Vanuatu housemate while I was a volunteer) and her family a Merry Christmas.  I had planned with Bergmans, Lucy's husband, to purchase two five-year kava plants that Fred could leave in the garden until he was ready to use them in 2012.  Bergmans doesn't plant kava, but he told us that he has a friend who does.  So everyone, four adults and four children, piled into our little Bongo Van and off we went into the bush.  We could only go so far in the van but we were told that the garden was 'close by' so we decided to walk.  One hour later, we finally arrived (true island time!).  Despite the unexpected bush hike, we enjoyed the walk and Fred was super happy with his plant.  (the ni-Vanuatu man is standing next to it - this plant will provide enough kava for 20 people to drink happily.... we have some party planning to do!)

For Christmas Eve, our friends Elodie, Olivier and Yohann came to celebrate at our house.  Simon was absolutely exhausted from the bush walk and so everyone decided to go to the beach to watch the sun set (and to occupy Simon until 7pm when it was time to go to bed).  We, of course, took some kava with us and celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ with a shell (What?!  Isn't that how it's done?!).  Simon fell asleep shortly after we started up the van to head back to home and snuggled contentedly into his bed until morning while we celebrated Christmas in the dining room.  We started with fois gras and moved on to smoked-salmon eggs benedict coupled with (too many) bottles of white wine and champagne.  Morning comes early with a 1 yr old and Fred and I regretted the last two or three glasses that we drank before sliding into bed around 12:30am.

Santa even visits small island nations and so when we woke up on the 25th, our stockings were full and there were even some presents under our little tree.  We were a bit sad that our boxes from the US and from France did not make it for the big day, but this will give us another reason to celebrate when they actually do come!

Amidst the various balls, books, trucks and other gadgets that Simon received, his very favorite present was a doll stroller (he - I wonder who got him that in an effort not to perpetuate gender stereotypes?!).  It's so funny to watch him with the stroller, though.  I showed him how to tenderly strap a stuffed animal into the stroller to push around... but he was having none of it.  He loves the stroller because it is something that he can easily race around corners, lift onto our coffee table and roll over the cat with.  He loves it because it means he can transport three balls and four trucks all at once.  He loves it because he can fully control it... a total, stereotypical boy through and through.

Santa was also good to Fred...

And to Kendra...

And he even remembered to fill a stocking for Simon!

I don't have any photos from our fabulous Christmas Day meal with our newest friends, Dominique and Anna Gibert and their sons Theo and Matthieu.  However, we had a wonderful traditional French dinner with them (duck confit... mmmmm!), went swimming and finished with a rousing game of Pictionary.  Simon was in seventh heaven getting to play with all new toys and spent most of the day happily vroomvrooming little cars around a mat on their lawn.

Fred and I are both off of work until after the New Year (except for a short stint at the office for me today... you can see I'm working hard!), and so we enjoyed Monday and Tuesday after Christmas en famille.  We spent a lot of time playing at the house in the least amount of clothing possible...

Swimming at a local swimming pool where we've bought a membership...

Visiting gardens that we had never seen before...

And watching Simon push his stroller around the nakamal while we have our evening shells of kava.

One of Fred's Christmas presents was a 3 day trip to sea with his friend Olivier while I watch Simon.  So he's gone and I'm alone with this guy.  Oh, poor me.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas with your families and the 2012 will be a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year for all!

Voilà une dizaine de jours que notre petit Simon est obsédé par les bateaux. Lors des derniers kavas avec Olivier et Elodie, sur le front de mer, Simon était tout existé à la vue des voiliers à quai. J ai décidé de prendre les choses en main et ce week end, on a fait le tour des bateaux.

 

Coup de chance, un bateau de croisière était en ville. On n a pas pu monter dessus, mais on a pu le voir de près. Simon ne cessait de répéter « Bato ! Bato ». On a ensuite enchainé avec les bateaux du port domestiques. Le quai était blindé de monde : avec les vacances scolaires, les gens retournent dans les îles. L’endroit pourrait être sinistre de vieux bateaux toujours en fonctionnement mais souvent en réparation y sont entassés : le Southern Star, le Northern Start, des barges.

 

Pour finir notre tour on est allé voir Olivier qui nous a permis de monter sur son voilier. Sisi s’est régalé. Il a pu jouer avec la barre, aller à la proue du bateau… pour voir dans la baie d’autres bateaux, jouez avec le winch en suivant les ordres du capitaine.

 

Le soir il s’est endormi la tête plein de voiliers, de bateaux de croisière et autres transports de fret en répétant : « bato, bato…. »