Slice of life, Morning of June 21st 2017: Theives
Every once in a while, there are little moments of life I want to share, since life here isn't unlike the familiarity of the US.
It’s a sunny Wednesday morning, and the family is eating breakfast. Kimi the cat and a dozen chickens and baby chicks are prowling around, waiting for scraps to carelessly fall to the ground.
I was sitting at the table with Lidia (19) and Celine (12) while Ruth (2) sat beside my host mom Faeres on a straw mat on the floor feeding Donna (11 months).
Ruth speaks language to my host mom, who then turns to me to translate that Ruth wants some peanut butter on her bread. The peanut butter is on the table beside my plate. Ruth carefully stands up, hiding her smile behind one hand as she uses the other to hold out the bread towards me. I take it and she returns to her seat beside her mom.
In the time it took for me to butter the bread and pass it back to my host mom, Ruth became whiny for some unknown reason, as toddlers are wont to do. Faeres set the bread atop a mug resting on the floor. In a split second, while Ruth was pouting, a chicken quickly swooped in, snagged the bread, and rushed off to the opposite end of the kitchen and began pecking at it furiously.
I burst out laughing. Only in Vanuatu.
Celine and Lidia weren’t laughing, but when they saw me struggling to hold in giggles, they started laughing. Then Faeres started laughing. Then Ruth looked at us all and started laughing. Celine shooed away the chicken, passed the bread to Lidia, then to Faeres, who folded it so the peanut butter stayed inside the bread, and passed it back to Ruth. Ruth smiled, let out a soft giggle, and took a huge bite.
It’s a sunny Wednesday morning, and the family is eating breakfast. Kimi the cat and a dozen chickens and baby chicks are prowling around, waiting for scraps to carelessly fall to the ground.
I was sitting at the table with Lidia (19) and Celine (12) while Ruth (2) sat beside my host mom Faeres on a straw mat on the floor feeding Donna (11 months).
Ruth speaks language to my host mom, who then turns to me to translate that Ruth wants some peanut butter on her bread. The peanut butter is on the table beside my plate. Ruth carefully stands up, hiding her smile behind one hand as she uses the other to hold out the bread towards me. I take it and she returns to her seat beside her mom.
In the time it took for me to butter the bread and pass it back to my host mom, Ruth became whiny for some unknown reason, as toddlers are wont to do. Faeres set the bread atop a mug resting on the floor. In a split second, while Ruth was pouting, a chicken quickly swooped in, snagged the bread, and rushed off to the opposite end of the kitchen and began pecking at it furiously.
I burst out laughing. Only in Vanuatu.
Celine and Lidia weren’t laughing, but when they saw me struggling to hold in giggles, they started laughing. Then Faeres started laughing. Then Ruth looked at us all and started laughing. Celine shooed away the chicken, passed the bread to Lidia, then to Faeres, who folded it so the peanut butter stayed inside the bread, and passed it back to Ruth. Ruth smiled, let out a soft giggle, and took a huge bite.
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