after the first week of work...

Saturday 21 October

Phew, what a week! Is it time to go home yet? I’m completely exhausted, but taking comfort in the realisation that I’ve got some kind of virus or something, so things aren’t necessarily as immense as they have seemed in the last day or two…

A typical day at work this week has started with the walk to work via a ‘goat track’ short cut (named after the agile and nimble mountain variety I’m sure, as the track is steep and slippery in the constant wet and reminds me of parts of the walk up the volcano on Savo), then past numerous stalls selling betel nut, accompaniments, single cigarettes and the odd donut or coconut roll along the side of the road from the main road up to Ngossi. Then I meet up with the main road, where I can see the ocean, Savo Island, Florida Islands and Malaita on a clear day; and smell the heady aroma of vehicle exhaust, sewage and burning rubbish (no landfill here!). Lately it’s been raining fairly often in the morning, which keeps things cooler, but can make progress through the centre of town very slow as everyone tries to squeeze past on a single non-muddy piece of curb, avoiding muddy, betelnut stained puddles and crazy drivers on the road.

My trip to work takes me past the market, so I sometimes stop for some fruits or vegies (there’s not usually much left by the time I’m heading home). Then into what’s left of Chinatown, and to the SIDT building where the WWF Honiara HQ is. The building is wooden, and has a policy of no shoes on the wooden floors, which is a relief as my feet are still a little tender from last weekend and I’m more than happy to go barefoot when possible.

Our office is quite nice – we have ceiling fans, laptops, an operational printer, and intermittent broadband. The broken photocopier makes a fantastic feature and stand for miscellaneous files. The toilets are a bit of an adventure, and there’s a new canteen run by a youth group, which has rapidly expanded its repertoire from fish and chips (not quite as we Ozzies know them) to include greens/tuna/coconut milk, cooked bananas and sweet potato in coconut milk, and rice. They also sell cold young coconuts and fruit sometimes. Would put Jamie Oliver to shame if resources were compared, I’m sure. I’ve been trying to establish fridge usage rights by asking them to keep a can of softdrink cold for me sometimes, but I think putting a container of lunch fare or a fish from the market might be stretching the friendship…

In my office there’s the country manager, Stephen (or Kido); the communications person, Doreen; and the fisheries policy officer, Julia. We’re also recruiting for a replacement finance manager as the last one was encouraged to leave recently because he wasn’t doing his job satisfactorily (pretty impressive that they managed to get rid of him! Go team!). People just seem to beetle away on their own for the most part, and Doreen and Julia are both pretty new. I think Doreen’s been there for a few months, and Julia just for a month or so. I share an office with Julia and we’re starting to get a bit more chatty; she’s probably around my age or a few years younger, and has recently finished studying in Moresby. We’re going to give a presentation to second year teaching students next week on WWF’s activities, so that should be a learning experience for both of us. I’m hoping she’ll do most of the talking. It’s been a pretty draining week, trying to work out where to start, what project is what, etc. etc. Next week a representative from WWF South Pacific is coming for his annual visit so that should be exciting… hope I don’t seem like too much of a goose. He, Stephen and I will go to Gizo for a visit next weekend which will be a good chance to meet everyone there and check out accommodation etc.

After work, depending on how much I’ve got to carry, I usually walk or get a bus to the turn off to Ngossi (no busses go up the hill, unfortunately…). The busses are fun – mostly just Toyota type people movers with music blaring, a driver and a conductor sitting in the back. The fare is SBD$2 (around 50 cents) regardless of how far you’re going, but if you don’t have the right change it’s SBD$3. The conductor says the name of the next stop, and you signal your intention to disembark by hissing at him. It ends up being a fairly constant monologue as he says the name a few times, waits for any hisses, then lets the driver know whether anyone wants to get off and whether there’s any room to let others on. I’ve also befriended a reliable taxi driver (apparently some of them will try to rip you off or make sleezy comments). Very handy for when I’m really loaded down with shopping and don’t feel able to struggle up the hill. I’m also planning a strategic trip to a small shop nearby which is open later than most selling western goods (most close at 5), and which also has ICE-CREAM. I dropped in the other day when I had the taxi, but they were down to strawberry flavour so no joy there. I’m sure it will all have been melted and refrozen numerous times unless I go to the really swanky shopping centre right at the other end of town (haven’t made it there yet), but beggars can’t be choosers, and even on a volunteer wage I’m certainly not really among the beggars here.

Victoria, one of the people who runs the guest house on Savo Island, came to town on Friday. She mentioned that she might be coming to Honiara, so I left my phone number for her at the SI Visitor’s Bureau. I was feeling sick on Friday and stayed home in the morning, then was woken up by a phone call from her father letting me know that she’d meet me in town at 12. After a very confused start to the conversation I finally woke up and worked out what was going on. I met up with her and bought us some lunch at the stall owned by Steve’s (who taught us pidgin) mum (the photo called pc-mall is a shot of the numerous food stalls near point cruz where you can buy tuna and vegie rotis – very exotic – as well as the usual fish and chips, sweet potato, yam, banana, greens, egg rolls, and the odd curry), and she brought me a couple of megapod eggs from the island.

Today I ventured out into town to do some shopping in the morning, and struggled back with bags full from the market. I took a few photos on the way in and will try to get some of Chinatown and work next week. Other than that it’s been a day of taking it easy, and I’m also making the most of this house while I’ve got it; burning CDs onto my computer, watching crappy movies on DVD, and generally flaking around in comfort. Tomorrow I’m going to the beach with the other vollies, which should be nice.