Going to the Beach

Kids at local lake beach in US

One of the fun things about being back in the States for the summer is the opportunity to go to the beach.  We've had a great time going to both the ocean and body surfing on waves at Hampton Beach as well as enjoying the ease and pleasantly cool lake waters of the local town beach.  The kids have loved every minute of it.  Playing in the water, jumping off the docks, building castles in the sand.
Now some people are a bit surprised by our enjoyment of the beach. It goes along with the response we often get when we explain to people that we live on a tropical island.  "Tropical island," they respond, "that must be nice." As visions of Fiji or the Bahamas run through their mind.  But the truth is, our life hardly looks like one of those places and although there are some beautiful sandy beaches, it often comes at a price.

For instance, where we are staying right now in the States, it's a five minute drive to the town lake beach and an hour to the ocean.  We can load up our car with all our gear and then it's a short walk to the sandy beaches.  If only it were that simple on the islands.

Trashy beach on Clove Island

On Clove Island we can see the ocean from our house.  We are a five minute walk to the closest beach! The problem is, you don't want to swim in it.  The beaches around the city are akin to a city dump.  Trash is daily dropped onto the sands and the waves break upon the shore with gobs of plastic bags, broken flip-flops, dirty diapers, banana peels, coconut husks, moldy plastic water bottles.  Buried in the sand are crushed soda cans, broken dishes, various car and electronic parts and other bits of metal and plastic for cutting your feet on.  And those nice rocks for climbing and finding tide pools… are also used as a public toilet. (That is not a sea cucumber.) So the 'local beach’ on the islands is a no go except for some pretty walks at sunset with your shoes on.

To find a nice beach you have to get out of town and away from villages, pretty much away from people in general.  The problem is, there are a lot of people on Clove Island.  Plus getting remote means travel, probably by foot.  So that's how we've come to find two spots we like to visit, but both are a commitment to visit.  There's the river.  The taxi ride is only about 5 minutes, but at that point the river is trashlogged. Still too near people. To get where there aren’t people, you've got about a half mile of walking to do.  The reward is a little grass clearing by a calm piece of river amongst the the jungly farmland. But still, that walk is not so fun with little kids. and a bunch of swimming stuff.

Hiking back from the river on Clove Island

The ocean beach we like to frequent is even more remote.  It's a 30 minute taxi ride out of town to a place between two villages.  The beach is beautiful, but here's the catch.  You have to climb down a steep trail to get to it.  This limits the people who go there but again, it's no easy trip with little kids.

By now you may have thought of some of the other problems.  Remote means no amenities. No bathrooms, no restaurants.  No water fountains or showers.  Whatever we want, we have to carry in.  No boardwalks, no shops, no nothing.  It also means getting back home at the end of the day can be tough.  Remote means taxis are less plentiful, and waiting half an hour for one is pretty common.  So when we show you pictures of a lovely tropical beach, either look closely for the trash, or know that finding that beautiful spot came at a price.

Playing in the sand with admirers

There is one other thing to mention about going to the beach on Clove Island.  We've gotten used to it, so we hardly notice it now, but at first it can be rather disconcerting.  Wherever you are, no matter how remote, they will be there.  Often they look a little dirty and will beg for food.  Sometimes they arrive in flocks and will surround you while you swim or sit on the beach making a racket.  I'm not talking about seagulls, but rather small boys.  Wherever you go they just seem to appear.  Often they are naked and they are always curious.  They just have to come around and see what you are doing.  They have no qualms about staring, and you can't just shoo them away. (On the one hand, asking them to leave would be rude and on the other hand, they would just gather around again in seconds). So you just go about your fun and let the boys have theirs.

Someday perhaps the islands will clean up their beaches and figure out a new place for their trash, but for now you have to seek out these island treasures.  So when we do get to that remote beach (which usually only once a month if that) with the clean white sands, coconut palms bending over the waters and waves crashing against the shore, all the hassle seems worth it--I mean, we do live on a tropical island, right?

PRAYERS ANSWERED
This week we’ve had news of someone new interested in joining the work on the islands— we continue to pray for the right people and for the chance to get to know prospective team members. We had the chance to chat with one of our team couples whose plans to return to the islands are heading toward a faster return than originally planned— this is exciting news to us. Our first week of homeschool went well— we’re looking forward to getting into a weekly schedule. Our plan for the coming months is also taking shape. It's a relief to have it more fixed

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for Megan's back which seems to be improving but slowly.  Give us wisdom to know if we need to go and see a specialist.  Pray for our old teammates as they too pursue their next steps.  Some are planning to return to the islands but the timing and roles are still to be figured out.  Other teammates are moving onto new works and need wisdom as they pursue these new endeavors.  Three of our old teammates are pregnant! Pray for healthy pregnancies and for their growing families. Continue to pray for islanders— it is hard to get more than superficial news from islanders without being with them face to face, but we trust and know God is continuing work there during in our absence.






.

Drowning in Choice

Blueberry picking!

“How is it being back in the States?!” This is the most common question we’ve gotten from the people we meet. Lots of people ask assuming that is must be amazing, all positive— who would be anything but happy by coming back to the developed world after 3+ years living in the developing world. Others ask with a tone that tells us that they realize that it might be difficult, that transitioning back to the States after years away might be hard.

They call it “reverse culture shock” when you have culture shock coming back to your home country— you’ve been gone long enough that you have a new normal, so your home country feels strange and not completely comfortable anymore.

A lot of the differences have gotten easier over time.  We expect them and so are better prepared for them.  But one difference we continue to struggle with is all the choice. On the islands when a product arrives on the islands, it is often only in one variety— one brand, one flavor. So whether it is shampoo/conditioner, jam, chips, a candy bar or something else, we’re usually just excited to find things that we like on the islands at all. In the situations where multiple versions do make it to the islands, usually price limits the actual choice to 2-3 reasonable options at most.

Not so in the States— here there are whole aisles devoted to one product.

Blueberry pie is why we needed vanilla ice cream!

My task was simple. Go to the store and buy some vanilla ice cream. I knew that the choices would be overwhelming, so I had a plan. I’d just go for the brand on sale that week and get the vanilla. I wouldn’t have to even look at all the countless different brands— on-sale brand, vanilla. It would be easy. I was in the ice cream aisle. I saw the sale tags. The on-sale stuff had been rummaged through and the flavors were mixed up, but still on task—one ice cream brand, on sale.  I just need to find the vanilla.  finally I spotted it: French Vanilla. “Great!” I thought. I started to open the freezer door when my eye caught a container of “Vanilla Bean.”  Same sale, same brand. I gave a sigh and was about to contemplate my choice when my eye caught yet another container,  this said “Homemade Vanilla”. Same brand, same sale.  Right behind it was another container that said “Vanilla”. Same…you get the idea. “Why on earth does one brand need 4 different types of vanilla ice cream!” I knew deep inside that the American answer would point me to the subtle differences of French Vanilla, Vanilla Bean and Homemade Vanilla. But the subtlety was what was overwhelming me— I don’t have opinions about these subtle differences anymore— on the islands it is the occasional tub of freezer-burned ice cream or no ice cream at all. I grabbed the generic-sounding “Vanilla” and got out of the ice cream aisle before I had a chance to second-guess the decision.

Rather than getting down on the culture that calls for 4+ versions of vanilla ice cream, I thought of the conversation I had earlier that day with my 8 yr old daughter. We were passing a farm sign that listed the 3 varieties of apples that were already in season. I was explaining that this was only the beginning— that lots of different varieties of apples would ripen in the coming months. “America has a lot of apples!” was the conclusion. I immediately pointed it back to the islands. The islands have tons of different types of bananas, each with a different name, but there is only one name for apple on the islands (and it’s French) because apples don’t grow there. In contrast Americans generally have only one word for yellow bananas. We gain lots of subtlety with things that we know well, like Arctic peoples having tons of different words for “snow”.

Starting 3rd and 1st grades!

As you might have guessed there is no native word for ice cream on the islands, they just use the French. Subtleties of ice cream flavors would be lost on them and are only coming back to us. So, you’ll have to give us time before you ask us our favorite type of vanilla ice cream.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Thank you for your prayers.  Our travel back to the East Coast was easy and uneventful.  Our kids are doing well and we are already feeling a bit more “settled” knowing that we don’t have any big trips to make for more than a month.  Our youngest seems to be doing better too.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
We’ve started homeschool for the kids.  Pray that they would be ready and willing to learn and that we would teach well.  Pray for all the kids and families on the islands as school won’t start for awhile and kids are often left with nothing to do. Although Megan’s back has been doing very well for a long time now, she moved wrong this week and has been in a lot of pain since.  Pray that with exercise and rest her back would get healthy again. We're still trying to get our calendar fixed-- pray for clear decisions and a firming up of our schedule.

Community

Island community at a wedding

“Wait, what sort of community is there already on the island?” someone asked.

We were talking with a small group of people about the islands this weekend, trying to help them understand some of the things we wrestle with on the islands. One of the questions that we presented was: “How do we make community?”

 By community we mean, a group of people that actually cares for each other. This means they know each other, trust each other and work together with common goals/values. . 

It has happened several times on the islands that we have found some individual islanders with similar interests/beliefs and we’ve tried to connect them. We’ve tried to help them to form a group, to be “community” to each other. But most times our attempts have failed. The islanders might meet together when we are there with them, but without us, they don’t meet. The “community” we were hoping for never gains momentum.

We’ve come to realize that the initial question needed to shift from “how do we MAKE community?” to “where do we FIND community already?” Once we find communities then it is a matter of making communities better, uniting them behind common goals/beliefs.

Creating community from scratch is very difficult on the islands and perhaps anywhere. Good community requires trust and building trust always takes time.

So where do you find community?
I asked my brother that same question this past week. I was wondering where people in America are finding community these days. College provides lots of community but in the post-college environment it seems a lot harder. Maybe work provides community? Or maybe you still have friends from college or high school that live nearby? Community used to be your neighborhood or town, but unfortunately it seems rare that people find community with their neighbors, at least where we are right now in urban/suburban CA. Some people may even try to get by without a community.

On the islands, people depend on their communities a lot and these communities are easy to find. They are found in the extended families and close-proximity neighbors. People may have school friends, but this is a fleeting community on the islands. It is your family that stays with you, and generally family land is never sold, so your family’s home and your neighbors don’t change much over the years. These are the people that help you when you are sick. They are the ones that celebrate with you and mourn with you. If you are going to accomplish something these are the people that help you make it happen.

4th Birthday!!

With this realization, there comes another challenge. How do we encourage change in these communities? Ultimately we think it is by entering among them and interacting with them as a group and not just individuals. Sometimes we hear that change happens one person at a time, but now we’re beginning to think that it happens one family or one small community at a time.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We had our first big opportunity to share about the islands this weekend. It went well. We also got to reconnect with some old school friends of Megan.  We are thankful for this past slower paced week.  We’re also thankful for our youngest who celebrated his 4th birthday!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Continue to pray for thriving communities on the islands. We travel back to the East Coast tomorrow after a wonderful time on the West Coast.  Pray for our travels, for family we leave behind in CA, and for our kids as they continue to deal with the difficulties of a transient lifestyle. Pray especially for our youngest as he seems to be taking it the hardest.

Americana with Island Eyes

Not sure what islanders would say about this?

One of the things we've discovered about living abroad is that it gives us new perspective on our own culture.  We see things not only from a different perspective ourselves, but we can even begin to imagine, "What would an islander think of this?"  Seeing things through an islander's eyes was brought home to us in a sort of funny, unique way this past week.

We were in Missouri and one night we found ourselves with our extended family (almost 30 in all) at a special dinner show called the "Dixie Stampede."  If you've never heard of this, you might want to google it, so that you get a sense of what we're talking about.

Now that's island starch!

Now from our American eyes, I would classify the Dixie Stampede as fun, family, big-show entertainment, but as we put on our island eyes, the show left a whole new impression.  The first thing was the food.  There were no utensils—a novelty for Americans but completely normal for islanders, who rarely use utensils anyway.  The food itself would have been shocking for an islander.  Each of us received a whole chicken, a slice of pork brisket, corn on the cob and a baked potato.  That much chicken is extravagant to an islander.  Pork! That's a no-go.  Corn on the cob and baked potato are just strange.  Looking at the meal as a whole the islanders would balk—tons of meat, but where is the starch? Half a potato?!? A real island meal should have a heaping pile of rice, green bananas, or cassava.  A island stomach cannot be full without it.

Then came the show.  It's no ordinary show because most of the show involves horses.  Most islanders have never seen a horse-not even once.  To watch these great animals gallop, cantor, trot and jump must be truly thrilling to someone who has never seen a horse show or watched a horse race.  What would they make of a man riding two horses and jumping through a ring of fire?  And as we asked ourself that question and looked around this huge arena with hundreds of people eating and watching a horse show, we asked ourselves, "What would they make of any of this?"  There is absolutely no category, no celebration, no tradition that could compare to this bit of Americana.  It would be so completely foreign!

One other part of the show struck us.  The show had a strong patriotic flavor to it.  Near the end of the show, the riders came out holding American flags and wearing jackets that lit up red, white and blue.  Patriotic music played and many people in the audience stood up in respect.  I imagine that islanders would love this!  Islanders are patriotic in their own right, but have little opportunity or reason to show their patriotism.  Their government is so often a disappointment and probably because of economic reasons, patriotic holidays are little more that an hour pf celebration and a military march.  No pomp. No spectacle.  But that doesn't mean islanders don't like pomp and spectacle.  Actually, they love it.  And so, we imagine, an islander in the crowd would have been enraptured.   The lights, the flags, the money spent, the pride,and all this for a show!  Our island friends would have probably been taking notes to see if there was any way they could reproduce any of it at the next island celebration! 

Cousins having fun

PRAYERS ANSWERED
It has been another crazy week with lots of travel but also with lots of fun! We’re thankful that we will be settled in one place for the coming week. We’ve had a great time with Megan’s immediate family. We’re saying goodbye to her siblings now but will be in CA through this week and into next week.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Megan’s aunt (whom we just saw last weekend) collapsed and ended up in intensive care. She’s home now but they still aren’t sure of the cause. Pray for her and her doctors. Next weekend will be our first chance to share about the islands with a large group (that isn’t family)— pray with us as we prayerfully consider how/what to share during the coming months and that we’d have lots of opportunities to do so. Our family needs a down week— pray that we’d have some normalcy this week.