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 61st 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!!!
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