Today, Ann and I were recruited by Batai, the village (male) nurse to go to the second village and help do a health screening day.

So…up at 0545, into the beach by 0645 and in the village at 0700 for the 20 minute walk down to the second village to do the screenings. Part of the screening is a blood sugar test and Batai wanted to try and do that before folks had their breakfast.

So, off we went. On the way, we passed some of the kids from the second village who (as we are continually amazed) remembered our names from last year. “Bula Bob, bula Ann” we heard as we walked along the trail. We haven’t been down there yet this year. How do they remember…?

Once in the village, we started setting up stations for various health measurements. Larry and Lisa from “Lisa Kay” also were with us. We had a weighing station where I took weight (in kilograms) then Larry measured height and calculated BMI while I recorded all the numbers in their personal health booklets. After us, Lisa did a pin prick diabetes test, then on to Batai who measured blood pressure and finally to Ann who recorded all the information in the official log and helped the villagers understand some of their readings. It was a fun and rewarding morning. We were finished by 1100 at which point they had some breakfast for us. Plates of goodies and hot tea were the reward for a job well done. Tomorrow we’re taking a small boat (in Mexico it’s a panga, here they call it a fiber) over to the third village to do the same thing.

After doing the clinic, we were walking back to Charisma when two distractions presented. One, Jasmine said that Joe (the Patriarch of our host family) was out getting clams for the dinner we were going to have on Charisma tonight. Huh?! Well, we did mention something about maybe doing that when we were in on Sunday. Whatever. If Joe was getting the clams, I was going to cook them. The second distraction was Ann got caught up with the weaving/quilting/sewing ladies. I now add sewing since Cindy on Bravo brought in a dress pattern and the ladies asked Ann to help them learn how to sew a dress. Ann is now in the seamstress consulting business and my understanding is the dress is about 80% done.

So, Ann stayed on to sew and I went back to Charisma to prepare for dinner with our host family. I thought that they were going to bring COOKED clams. Wrong. As I was cleaning up the boat a bit I happened to look outside and saw Joe coming by in a kayak. I went out to say “Bula” and after our appropriate bulas back and forth, Joe said he had the clams. He then handed me a burlap rice sack with about 40 lbs of clams in it. Joe’s English is a little challenged, but after some back and forth I learned that I was to cook said clams and he would see me later when I was to pick up him and family on the beach. OK. I took the big bag of clams and he happily paddled off toward the beach.

Now I’m presented with a dilemma. I’ve never seen clams like these and had no real clue how to cook them. I did know that I should clean them by soaking them in salt water, so I dumped about a third of them into a 5 gallon bucket and filled it with sea water. Good thing. They were really sandy. They were also a bit hairy so I scrubbed them with a brush to clean them off before piling them high (after an hour of soaking) in our biggest pot and throwing them on the stove. I read that they should open up after about 10 minutes. Right on time, they popped open almost like they were on springs and I thought, “You know, this just might work”. In the meantime Ann showed up on the beach with Jasmine and Samu (Tau and Joe’s 9-year old son) so I dinghied in and picked them up. Then Tau, Joe and their older son (we never get his name right) showed and I ferried them out as well. Long story short(er) I made spaghetti and after cooking the clams chopped them and sautéed them in a butter, garlic, onion and wine sauce then combined it all. Seconds and thirds were had by all and Tau, who makes the best coconut clam dish in existence pronounced the dinner, “Maleka!” Delicious. Success! To top dinner off, Ann offered up her cherished bag of peanut M&M’s for dessert. They were a big hit with the boys and I was able to discreetly saved some for later.

So, all in all a good day. The only problem is we have 2/3s of the clams still hanging in the burlap sack off Charisma’s stern. Tau says they will last fine that way if we just keep them out of the sun. I guess I’ll have to figure out another clam recipe for tomorrow night. Stay tuned. Sewing update from Ann- As Bob mentioned I was recruited to work on the dress again. God bless these patient women. The hand-cranked machine was acting difficult yesterday so we decided we would try the treadle machine. Actually I have always wanted to see one in operation so I was thrilled. Until we tried to get it to give us a good stitch. No bueno. Back to the temperamental hand-cranked machine.

As we started back into the project Jasmine joined us with a guitar. “How nice”, I thought. What I didn’t know was that the village women’s group was going to be practicing for the “Women’s Day Event” that they had invited the yachties to on Friday. Imagine if you can, three women fighting with a temperamental sewing machine while ten silly Fijian women laugh and giggle as they try to remember dance steps and words to songs and hand motions. Many of the steps took them around the room circling us with laughter. Add to this joyful scene four toddlers under two. None of them were crying. They were dancing and pounding on anything to keep the beat. And they were good. Sure wish I could keep a beat like that. Some were even trying to sing. All were smiling. The music for this practice consisted of Ba, the owner of the biggest smile on Fulunga, seated on the floor with her legs straight out and a box between them. She used a machete and her hands to pound her “drum”. She later was joined by Rebecca who picked up a pair of scissors (cote in Fijian) and a pen and flipped over a low wooden box that said Money Till on the side, to use as a drum. And top it all off with their lovely voices. Wow.

Oh, and then the school kids joined us when school let out. First it was the younger girls but soon it was a room full of boys and girls, some dancing, some drumming, all singing and smiling. I looked up at the whir of music and laughter around me and could not imagine any place lovelier. I can’t wait for the real performances on Friday. I bet we will all be learning some Fijian dances steps and songs!