Up - down - forward - back

The past few weeks have been both uneventful and extremely interesting. 😎

'Uneventful' was probably due to Anni being flat on her back with the flu and stomach bug for two weeks. It all started right after the wild weekend (27-28 October) with 2 concerts of different kinds, exploring Nemo City while snorkeling, and a double dive. With so much commotion, the body had enough. Anyway... let's talk about our interesting experiences :)

We attended 3 concerts.
One concert was part of a three-day festival in the city center, which provided a great opportunity to try out Vanuatu cuisine.

Typical dishes include:

Laplap - grated plantain with taro or cassava (potato-like root vegetable), baked in an earth oven, unique texture but okay.

Simboro - plantain or cassava wrapped in island cabbage. Baked in an earth oven, tastes the same.

Tuluk - pulled beef with grated cassava and spring onions wrapped in a tuluk leaf (like a banana leaf) and baked in an earth oven (takes about 1 day to prepare, baked overnight and served hot for breakfast). Gets better once you get used to it.

Coleslaw - a mix of various types of cabbage for the famous coleslaw salad (very tasty)

Sweet potato with coconut cream (they put coconut cream on everything here to add a bit of flavor)

We tried everything and it tasted even better because it's healthy, organic, and local :)

The other concert was the complete opposite. A private event in a very modern cafe founded by a New Zealander. Since the band 'Moana and the Tribe'
is from New Zealand, it was a small private performance. Actually, we also randomly saw the band the night before at the local festival, but the atmosphere was completely different with only 50 guests.
We got the tickets from Vicky and met her and Charlotte there. The cafe served delicious beef or falafel burgers, wine/beer, and we watched rugby afterwards. NZ versus OZ 👌. Michel tried to get along with the Kiwis (New Zealanders) and learn the rules from a Kiwi perspective. But as the alcohol level rose and it got louder, we said goodbye and rushed home with Atu.

The third concert was a Voice Challenge at Wansmalbag, where Anni also teaches yoga. On that day, the youth center had an open day and various shows and workshops were offered. Since we only had time in the evening, we watched the Voice Show, where anyone who wanted to could perform. A jury selected a winner at the end. It was pretty cool and everyone enjoyed themselves even if not everyone had great talent. We clapped and celebrated enthusiastically. Obviously.

The following weekend (3-4 November), we had planned to go to a small island in the north of Efate and hike up a mountain. But our strength didn't allow it yet, so we relaxed at home and invited friends over for a goodbye pizza night. Charlotte and her partner Aaron, Josh and his family, and Ian and Graham were our guests. It was very nice and we showed Josh and Emma how to make pizza dough and prepare everything. They were very excited and wanted to do it again the following week. None of the Ni-Vans had made or eaten pizza before, so it was also a joy for us to invite them. For dessert, we had homemade vegan banana bread with coconut ice cream. Despite being sick, it was a great evening, although it ended earlier than expected.
The next evening, Ian invited us again for a barbecue. We enjoyed cheese, olives, and good Vanuatu organic beef from the grill in a large group. The guests included friends and long-term guests like us. This time, we had:
Three medical students from Scotland, doing a 6-week internship here
A British Swiss who is on a world trip before returning to big business in Zurich, Graham, and three other Kiwi friends who are regulars at the grill party.
The Scots entertained the audience loudly with lots of wine and beer, and it turned into a lively debate about Brexit and the current political situation. We eventually slipped away because Anni was struggling a bit through the days. The antibiotics worked, but the side effects also occurred... Well... Now it's all good again and everything was overcome and conquered during our last weekend.
On Friday evening, we celebrated our wonderful time here with Anni's patient Vicky and her partner Christoph. In Vanuatu, they are well-known, they know their way around in business matters, and they not only served us drinks and Mexican food but also gave us a plan on how to work and settle here... What will come of it, no one knows at the moment, but it sounded interesting for sure :)

The weather was perfect and so on Saturday, we visited the most beautiful waterfalls in the area - and they were really quite beautiful -
Afterwards, we went snorkeling again at Hideaway Island and ended the day.
In addition to all the farewell dinners, on Sunday evening, we had another meeting with Debbie, Chermaine (fitness trainer), and Julie (finance officer). We had a barbecue at Julie's property, which was the largest I have ever seen. The living room is as big as a tennis court, and through the open window front (5 huge adjacent windows), you have a great view of Erakor Island and the lagoons. Incredibly beautiful, but also just too much. There was champagne and delicious meat and salads. It was a very fun evening that started at 5 and by 8:30 we were already slightly drunk and tired in bed. Haha... It's always like that. Everything ends much earlier here than at home, but the sun also sets around 5:45 and on average we get up around 7 and are wide awake (even Michel 😉).

So the days go by quickly and we don't really know yet if that's a good thing or not :)
The anticipation of Australia and Michel's parents is definitely great. After 2 nights in Brisbane, we will join Antje and Sebastian with a camper and visit the national parks between Brisbane and Sydney. Then 4 days in Sydney... But we will report on the further journey later.

Oh... and we have already sold Atu with heavy hearts to a cool Australian family. We took a loss, but it was worth it for 3 months of flexibility and fun.