Running Faol and Shooting Pijins

Walking up to my family’s bush kitchen, I heard the familiar question: “Yu sik smol?” One thing my host family and I are still working on is learning that I like having time to myself in my house: to read, watch movies, listen to music…and it doesn’t mean that I’m sick or don’t want to spend time with them. Alone time is not much of a concept here, but it’s something I insist on doing, for the sake of my sanity. “No, mi jas bin rid smol lo haos blo mi” (No, I was just reading in my house).

“Be afta lunch bae mifala i go ranem faol lo bus. Bae yu kam?” (After lunch, we’re going to go try and kill a wild chicken in the woods. Want to come?) This came from Anthony, one of the guys that works for my dad. This sounded awesome, of course, so I quickly agreed.

Shortly after lunch, Anthony, Jojo (my host brother), 4 of his friend, and I headed out. They all came equipped with slingshots, to shoot at the birds. We called out to Fido to follow us, and began our trek. We soon enough came to a small bend in the road, and rather than following the well-established (well, well-established for Ambae standards) road, it was decided to bushwhack up the hill to the water tank. We made it to the top and still had not spotted any faol yet, so after a short discussion, we headed down the other side of the hill towards a small lake. And by hill, I mean very steep slope. And by very steep, I mean probably more than 45 degrees, and covered in loose dirt. Luckily loose dirt does not mean a lack of vegetation, so I was able to slide my way down the hill safely by grabbing at branches and trees along the way.

Finally making it to the bottom, we heard the distinctive sound of a faol! About halfway back up the hill…the boys (Jojo and his friends) decided to head back up and try to scare the faol in our direction, but to no avail. They sang out to us, and I reluctantly headed back up the hill. If I thought coming down was tricky, it seemed like a stroll in the park compared to getting back up the hill. The “path” to the top from where we were was even more bushwhack-y than the way down, which while it helped with not slipping, meant we constantly had to duck under branches, jump over logs and rocks, and try not to get trapped in vines.

Sweaty and tired, we finally made it back to the top of the hill, and headed off again to go check out the TVL cell phone tower, pausing briefly on the way at a breathtaking view out over Saratamata, Maewo and Pentecost to the right, and Lolowai to the left. Making it to the tower, the boys (once again, Jojo and his friends) ran off on another bushwhack adventure after a faol, and Anthony and I walked down to a water tank to be lazy and eat pamplemousse (a yellow grapefruit-esque fruit that is less bitter than the American kind). I lay down in the grass and ate 3 or 4 of the delicious yellow fruits, before the boys caught up, once again, faol-less, and we headed back home.

While we were unsuccessful in our attempt at hunting, and despite the scratches and bruises I got on my legs from the trekking, it was still one of my favourite afternoons so far at site. Here’s to hoping I wasn’t too much of a burden to be asked back, and that one day, I too can earn my own slingshot.