dec 7

it's raining, which is good for showers and laundry..it's 6:30pm and it's dark outside. Alex is reading in bed and I just finished playing with the guitar. I asked people (by people I mean 2 people) about family values here. I heard a lot of what I already knew - men look out for the garden and women look out for the children and the cooking - but also learned that money is very fluid within the family, meaning you can always borrow money from family and children live with the parents until they marry - there's no move out when your 18 or 21 concept here. Suppose you never marry than it would never occur to you to move out - I don't know if this is true, it's just what one person told me.

Alex and I are making tentative plans to get to the bank sometime in the near future, it's said to be half a day's walk, but we might be able to hitch a ride on a boat.

The ship from Vila came last night, and sadly, our items did not come; at this point we're pretty confident they aren't ever going to come. sad, we lost a nice frying pan, a cute pot, a tea kettle, lots of books and lots of food (lots of dry beans) and some medical supplies and our two kerosine lanterns. Lo ples ia, emi talem 'sad we sad' (at this place here, they say 'sad way sad').