Things I don’t want to forget

•Washing volcano ash off my vegetables (locals call it shitshit blong volcano : )
•The titi pawpaw next door
•Asked my Class 6 girls what time church started and they pointed to the sun and said “When the sun is just over that mango tree church will start”
•The sound of my neighbor walking on the coral back from kava and relieving himself just outside my window
•The roosters at 4 o’clock in the morning
•Nights with a full moon when you don’t need a torch
•The stars and the Milkyway
•My tippy tap to wash hands
•Fresh, organic, homegrown veggies
•Going on a walkabout and not taking snacks because there will be a mango or mandarin tree somewhere
•Besides my fat Uncle Jeffrey, every single Ni Van man, boy, toddler has a 6 pack and huge arm muscles
•The smell of laplap as it comes off the hot stones
•The sound of everyone scratching coconuts as the sun goes down
•Parakeets
•People taking plants and flowers from school, church, or a neighbor’s yard as a “memory” to go and plant in their own yard
•Ni-Vans shower before bed and before going to school/work in the morning
•Male-domination!
•Women, girls, men, and boys picking out each other’s lice constantly kind of like animals grooming each other all day