Community day

It’s for days like this that I am travelling those thousands of miles on the water. A day where I was able to witness the comfort and love of a community in a distant island. A day in which I experienced the generosity of a lonely elderly man in connection with his joy for having company and cooking for them, and in which I experienced seeing his eyes light up with happiness as he took the first bite of my apple pie. A day with beautiful weather and calm seas to lay down and look into a gorgeous sky full of stars.

In the morning at 9am, after having put dirty clothes into Fritz’s washing machine, I went to church to participate in the most important weekly event of the community of this island. Only at Christmas at home would I see so many people go to church. When I arrived a couple of minutes before 9 the choir was already singing. Entering the church a cold shower ran down my back from hearing them sing, it was so beautiful. Their naturally different, full voices themselves already give a beautiful harmony in the choir. Most churches I know would envy this church here for its choir, especially since the choir is added by the rest of the people in the church. Sitting there and listening to their singing prayers in Polynesian was very touching. Most of the time during this 1,5 hr service was used for singing. The rest was prayers in French, some communion and twice a speech of the pastor. In the first he wanted to draw the community’s attention to the fact that we’re only strong in the group, a lot stronger than as individuals. In the second he talked about problems in the community. The problem is not the others, it’s you and me.  Meaning we should look after each other, stop fighting each other and become a vivid group with respect towards each other. Anyway. Most people were dressed nice, but not as many as I expected. I had heard women wear hats, but only 4 did. The “good” clothing here is colorful, just as I like it. I took some pictures so you can get an impression of the islanders.

When we came to Fritz’ home, he and Regina were already preparing lunch. Vegetables, Schnitzel, Ceviche from fresh Bonito fish, potato. Quickly I found my place in the kitchen to fulfill Fritz’s biggest wish: an apple pie. I chose a classic recipe from my mom’s cookbook I carry with my on board and added a personal touch: some Rum and cinnamon in the “Streusel”, crumbles of wheat, butter and sugar which cover the cake. I have never made the cake like this, especially not without any measuring device, so I had to guess the amounts to be used. But the cake turned out to be very good. So good, that Fritz, who had cooked for us but not eaten with us, just allowed us a little piece each and has reserved the rest of the cake for himself. I am happy about that, I was able to fulfill his wish. He said “it’s just like home”, like his mother used to do it and like his sister has made it for him the last time 10 years ago. It made me happy to see him happy. We had a wonderful lunch all together (with Regine and Michael from the boat “Anico” (SYAnico.blogspot.com)) and went back to our boats in the afternoon with full stomaches and Marcus and I with all our washing done. 

No dinner cooking necessary. Til way after sunset I made my ballet and Jazz exercises enjoying the calm seas and warm night. Streching on the deck I looked up to the sky and here it was again, the beautiful sky of a million stars which I have come to love so much on this whole trip. If you’ve never had a clear night out in the desert or out on the ocean, without any background light, you have missed the most beautiful night skies so far….Under this sky, Marcus and I shared and enjoyed a coconut which Marcus had opened – one I freshly got 3 days ago. Soooooo good. Now I am looking forward to another night where I will sleep outside on my air bed. It’s already my fourth night out. Last night I moved out in the middle of the night -too warm down here and a mosquito bugged me.

Here are some pictures from today. Enjoy. 

 Traditional hat- with many flowers

Too bad I can't get a clear picture of the stars, I need a longs shutter speed and even at the quietest moments there is some movement in the boat...