Cost of Living

      We just got back from the grocery store.  We usually shop at Bon Marche.  As you can see, we didn't buy much  -  eggs, bread, jam, salt, onions, sour cream, olive oil, two cans of soup, some oregano, glad bags, cheese, oreo cookies, chocolate bars (I finally found some Cadbury chocolate), pancake mix, pasta sauce, and some measuring cups and a pasta ladle. 
      The total:   $110.00 US dollars!!!!!

Our Birthday's in Vanuatu!

      We have a gardener/caretaker at our home on the Blue Lagoon.  Every week he adds fresh flowers from the grounds to our home.  These happened to be on my birthday last April.

      We hold a devotional meeting every Tuesday morning.  On this day it just happened to be Sister Hinton's birthday and Christiane's birthday.  Christiane is the head of translation here.  Her office is in our meeting house as well.  Because Clyde's birthday was the week before, we had one celebration.

 Cake in Vanuatu is not particularly sweet.  They decorate nicely,

but they do not put sugar in the icing.  We added a little ice cream!

      On Clyde's actual birthday, we hosted a spaghetti dinner for all of the senior couples in Vanuatu.  I made the spaghetti.  Others brought pot luck - French bread, fresh cucumbers and tomatoes, and a yummy dessert pudding.  Elder and Sister Call arrived in Vanuatu the day before the dinner.  They brought fresh See's chocolates.  We had a great time visiting together and enjoying dinner!

Independence Day in Vanuatu

      The Independence Day celebrations in Vanuatu are a week long.  Every community sets up its own little fair area.  There are many, many booths made of bamboo and cocoanut palm frones.  Each booth has items to sell.  Mostly they are food.  We wish that they had more local crafts and products available.  However, the food was good.  There were fruits, cakes, rice dishes, etc.  Our absolute favorite was a booth by the Relief Society President in BlackSands Branch.  Her husband works at a tuna processing plant here in Port Vila.  The boats go out all over the south pacific.  During the celebration, they sold the most wonderful tuna!

      This is a smoker that they had set up.  They also had tuna kabobs with onions and cucumber slices.  They were delicious!  But - the very best was the battered and baked tuna pieces.  They were so good that we got some on Saturday and Monday and Tuesday.  We would have gotten more, if they had been available.  This is my favorite food here!!!!

      At the center of each fair area, they set up a bandstand.  This one is a permanent bandstand at the central park.  At the other locations, the bandstand was created from the same bamboo.  They played music, had speakers, conducted community business, etc.  Everyone in the country is involved, it seems.

 Face painting in Vanuatu!

 Volleyball is an important activity here.

This is a boxing ring at one of the fair sites.  There were matches every night.

      At the central park, they also had native dancers and music from the many islands.

 

Here are some of the booths at the fairs.  I wish I had more tuna right now!!!!

Now - a special treat!  I am going to try to send a video of one of the dances!