Friday, June 10, 2011

May 31

It's a tuesday evening, Alex and i were meant to head to south Pentecost tomorrow to watch the land diving, but it's looking like neither of the two ships that pass each week will be passing this week. One is in the shop and the other decided to take a different route this week. We just figured this out today, it's a little sad as we were looking forward to land diving and just getting out of the village for awhile, and spending time with some Peace Corps friends. We have the option to pay for a small boat to take us but would costs us more than two hundred dollars, so we won't. We could walk too, but it would be three or four days to get there and were just not really that keen on a long walk right now. I think we'll stay here and head into vila when we get a chance, when a ship finally comes.

I was remembering this moment earlier today - It was shortly after we arrived, a guy was visiting with us at our house, he started playing the guitar and as he played he stared deeply into my eyes, too deeply. I didn't know what to do, his stare was too intense, I was uncomfortable, I wanted to look away. I didn't know if his staring was culturally appropriate or if he was just a weird guy. I didn't know if I should look away or if that would be considered rude or if he would think I was weird for returning such an intense stare. In the end I did both, stared back and looked away from time to time when the staring was more than I could handle.

I have since learned that it's normal for folks here to stare at you when they are playing a song and also that this guy's stare was a more intense than what is typical. I still don't know the appropriate response, I just don't worry about it anymore, I do what's most comfortable for myself, which is short stints of deep staring but a lot of looking away and getting distracted by other things in the room.

I remember that moment, but I don't remember who it was, as I didn't have a clue who was who when I first arrived. I wish I knew who he was now, and if he is somebody that I now consider to be a little off, a little socially awkward; If he is just a weird guy.

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