Rain, Rain, More Rain and Joe's Birthday

It is one thing to sit in a nice dry warm house in the rain for days on end. You get tired of it, get a bit stir-crazy, may be grumpy at times, sometimes suicidal or homicidal. But you can escape by getting in to the car and go to the grocery store or mall or friends, etc. When you have to get in to a wet dinghy with the wind blowing 15 knots, it is another thing entirely. We have been somewhat used to the wet but you get tired of it. Yesterday we went out to the Wan Smaol Bag Haos for my first ukelele lesson. We had to dinghy in, walk to downtown, catch a bus, walk in mud puddles (even on the sidewalks), then walk back to the road, catch another bus (no bus stop), get splashed from head to foot by a passing truck going through a puddle, then walk to the dinghy and go back to the boat. Oh well, this is the wettest place we have been in the boat, including Washington. I am sure the Washington folks will cry foul but there it is.

Back to the ukelele - I got my first, long sought for ukelele. I have wanted one ever since French Polynesia where they were everywhere. I have absolutely no musical ability and was even thrown out of junior high band (publicly humiliated actually), but I wanted to try. The ukes out here bear no resemblance to the ones played by Arthur Godfrey and Don Ho. They are hand-crafted affairs, some with 8 strings, which is what I got. Cindy and White Swan had quite the adventure getting it but I will leave that to Cindy to describe. It was my birthday. Arggh!!!! 57 years old! I got a beautiful ukelele made out of laminated wood (not fancy woods) with fishing line for strings. It has eight strings which gives it a rich, double sound. Cindy, Bob and Dianna even found the place to get a lesson for free at the Wan Smaol Bag Haos which is a volunteer community education center for young people. They teach about nutrition, crafts, abuse awareness and coping, other social causes, etc. It is sponsored by Japan, Australia, New Zealand and other countries. The people there are super nice and offered to bring someone in to teach a basic class for free.

Dianna on White Swan also got one of the ukeleles and was going to go to the class but caught a bad cold and wanted to stay home for the day, so Cindy and I went. We met several people in succession and thought each one of them was going to be our teacher until finally we met Albert, this young kid with short dreadlocks and a huge smile and intelligent eyes. His English was not the best but more than adequate. We were walked back through some run down buildings and alleys until we got to a nicer building that looked like a small gymnasium from the outside. Inside it was one big room with a large kitchen at one end and some picnic tables at the other with people eating. It was lunch time and everyday they fix a nutritious meal for $2. The building was a gift from Japan and they are very proud of it.

Well, our class was at one of the picnic tables with all these people around. Every one said hello, and several shook our hands (shaking hands is a big deal in Vanuatu). Everyone was oohing and aahing about the ukelele, saying how nice it was, how gorgeous, how super. Obviously it was way beyond the normal run of the mill ukelele that these people normally see and play. Several, besides Albert, came up and grabbed it and started playing these great riffs. One guy took it an tuned it up a bit. Our tuning lesson consisted of him tuning it really fast and us listening to what it sounded like. They said "Make it sound like that and it will be tuned!".

They drug a white board over and drew some strings and frets and Albert showed us all of six chords - three "normal" and three "flat". He did it really fast but was very patient with me. He showed us how to hold and strum the uke (no picks) and we had a lot of fun. It did not take very long but the warmth of these beautiful dark people shown through so much. They are so friendly and warm - some of the best people any where on the planet. The other day we got on one of the busses, which are rally just small passenger vans, and a fellow got on from the side of the road and he was carrying a big bush knife which is like a machete. Long and sharp, they use them for cutting open coconuts, gardening, walking through the jungle and the whole bit. In the US they would stop the bus, call the cops and shoot the guy if he did not put it down. Here they just walk around with them like the old six shooters in the old West.

Anyway, I am very, very happy with my birthday present and have been practising for hours. I am sure the boats around us are sick of it but I am getting better. My fingers are sore and I still need to track down a couple of the locals who helped get the uke for Cindy and thank them. I almost screwed everything up as I wanted one so bad I was going around asking everyone and Cindy was telling them to say there weren't any so I would not get one. That was because she got it done as a secret. I need to practice some more so will sign off now.

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