The WET season has begun!!

Here in Tuvalu it’s sometimes easy to forget that there are any seasons at all! It’s hot almost all the time – last weekend a thermometer reached 44°C – and since I got here, there’ve been some days when it rains and some days when it doesn’t! But November, technically, is the beginning of the wet season and boy o boy can it rain! There have been a couple of days when I’ve stayed in the office until gone 6.30pm just because I’m waiting for it to stop raining or at least for me to be able to see the other side of the runway!!

 

 

And before you all think I’ve forgotten how to cope with British-esque weather, fear not, the rain here is insane and even with an incredible red rain coat – that starred in the Royal Visit coverage – it still is possible to get soaked through to the skin in a matter of seconds! This is especially true when I have to wear my amazing coat over my backpack to keep my laptop safe and then I can’t do up the coat so my front and my bottom half get soaked J

Heavy rains combined with seasonal high tides lead to the area outside my office being totally flooded! I wish I’d had a tiny canoe to paddle home but sadly I didn’t have one so had to wade through the shin high water almost all the way home!

Luckily the rain waited to start until my brother had gone home J so clouds and silver linings come to mind!

Other things have been happening in Tuvalu other than rain! My friends Caitlyn and Tony who had been away for ages returned on the plane that John left on, which is great and quickly got even better when Tony’s sister and her new husband came to visit and they bought 14kg of tomatoes with them!!!! There aren’t many places in the world where I think people get quite so excited about fresh tomatoes, but I was thrilled! I even made a salad to celebrate!! And then to top it off we even have a harvest of bananas in the last few weeks! It’s been great!

Last week was Kate, Dan and the kids’ final week in Tuvalu, so a crowd of us went to one of the islets still in Funafuti lagoon but on the other side of the lagoon for the weekend.  It had a guesthouse on it, which was really lucky because, you guessed it, it rained all night – so Camp Coconut would have been a little washed out!!

 

This weekend my work threw my leaving party which was a little premature I thought since I’ve got 3 weeks left here in Tuvalu – but it was timed for a number of reasons, the closing ceremony of a workshop the organisation I work for has organised and my boss and a number of other Executive committee members will be leaving this week or next for a church conference that is happening on the northern most island of Tuvalu, Nanumea.  It all worked out quite well! My wonderful Tuvaluan mother, Vaovai, rustled me up a traditional outfit, known as a puletasi. Modelled here with my colleague Melaka

Masi and I went a got Frangipani flowers for my head garland, or fou, which involved Masi having to climb a tree and hit the flowers from up high with a large stick!!

 

So my last few weeks are upon me and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to going – mainly because I miss my fiancé and salads – although not in equal measure!! And hopefully just two days after leaving Tuvalu I will see both!  At the same time I will be devastated to be leaving all the amazing people I’ve met here, and I really will miss this fantastic place!

But I’ve got another 3 weeks to go and I intend to enjoy every last minute!

McSherry population of Tuvalu temporarily doubles!!!

This shall also be known as Brother’s blog! J

This two weeks have been two of the best weeks in Tuvalu - and that says a lot!! My amazing brother John arrived here on Wednesday 31 October after flying straight through (pretty much) from London where he left the Sunday before!!!

As I told him there is not a huge amount to do in Tuvalu on a day-to-day basis, sure there may be opportunities to go boating, snorkelling and fishing some days but mostly it’s a slow pace of life with virtually no ‘distractions’.  There is hardly any TV, inconsistent internet and only a couple of bars and restaurants.  As I had forewarned him he came fully prepared with a kindle (other electronic reading devices are available!) full of books and a desire to do very little for 2 weeks!!

I went to work as little as possible, a few hours in the mornings each day and one full day, due to the staff meeting that would never end! And after work I normal trundle up to Caitlyn and Tony’s house where John was staying - thanks to those guys for letting him use their amazing house - and joined him doing very little! Those of you that have been reading my blog may have already seen a view from the house but just in case and to be clear this is the view from the outside deck.  During the day the view of the lagoon is stunning and in the evenings awesome sunsets!!

 

 

 

We went snorkelling on John's first Sunday and he struck Tuvalu gold and saw a turtle!! I’ve been here almost 4 months and I’ve only seen one from the boat.  At the next reef we stopped at he also spotted a stingray and luckily I was close enough that he called out to me and I got to see it too!

 

I’ve been wowing him with my new culinary talents such as Paw-Paw curry, and my famous banana cake/slice – which I made into a birthday cake with chocolate spread for Elisala (the father of the family I’m staying with), who celebrated his 61^st birthday on Sunday.   

 

Please note the cake featured above is not my one (we didn't photograph it, it got eaten to fast!), it was the much more impressive one that the family had arranged! Also note, Darling – the dog – looking longingly at the cake and sneaking into John’s picture – such an attention seeker J  

I was really nervous about John visiting, about having to entertain him here and the fear that he’d be disappointed he’d come all this way and essentially flown for 3 days (twice - including his return journey) to come to this tiny island in the South Pacific, but doing very little interspersed with occasional activities of swimming, going to the beach, and nice dinners with friends (and family) was enough to keep him happy and relaxed J

On his last weekend we headed out on the town, went out for dinner, hit the karaoke bar, went for a picnic on a desert island, did more snorkelling, but sadly we didn't get round to teaching him how to make sandballs (like snowballs but with sand!) or renting mopeds or joining a gang ;) - which he was looking forward to! We had an amazing time and I feel so lucky to be able to share this crazy place with someone from home, especially my little bro! It was/is really hard when he left this morning, but now I only have 5 weeks left here and I’m sure the time will fly! Better get busy!!!