The Luau

9/03/07

A couple of nights ago, I was asked if I wanted to watch our host family clean a pig, formally Snoopy. Snoopy was being donated to their Catholic Church as part of a fund raising luau, being held by several Catholic Churches. There was going to be a lot of food, including Snoopy. Since it sounded like a great feast and we had to eat, we bought two tickets from our host family.

Before going to the luau, we stopped at the Peace Corps office in Saleleloga (the main berg, market, and ferry location) where we met some other Peace Corps Volunteers. Well, we talked and when we arrived at the luau site, it was over (times being lost in translation). The people at the luau wanted to refund our money, but we refused to accept their offer.

Upon returning home, we joked with our host family about how Snoopy was eaten so quickly that we missed eating at the luau altogether. Big mistake. We had no idea what a problem it would create by not accepting the refund.

We found ourselves hard pressed to explain that it was our fault for missing the luau and we wanted the church to keep the money. Of course, there is a lot more to this complicated story then I am prepared to write or for you to read. The moral is this seemingly simple third world country is a very complicated place.