26 December

I promised myself to try and write something on the 25 December but Christmas was  fun and a bit crazy and I ran out of time.

At first it wasn't fun, we spent the 23 December getting the house ready for everyone. I think I have already mentioned dad setting up tarps for a full day (drilling holes and all) to have a set up ready in case of rain, Well, we woke up in  so much rain he had to spend 2 hours outside with a broom making sure his tarp was going to hold and the water was not accumulating in the wrong place, poor thing. Mum and I, who had sworn we would not set foot in a supermarket on the 24 December, were stuck having to go just there (to get a couple of things and, namely, some new tarps); the only way to do this and remain sane being to rock up BEFORE it opens and wait at the door. After that, don't go without your prozac.

We spent the afternoon finishing the prep barely sitting down: cutlery, furniture placement, sleeping arrangement (I'm still paying in cramps now).

It was chaos at first, I confess, and for the first 3 hours I was thinking of standing on the table and asking everyone to leave.  My godmother rocked up with 2 extra people,  not family, which was really fine by my parents, but not by me. So that threw our whole sleeping arrangements a bit, and I realised my cousin whom I really love, and who always cooks  for us on the night and the day after, might not sleep comfortably. Not happy Jane. The thing is, most of the 37 + 2 of them arrived within 10 minutes so it was a bit much, we did not even have time to think. After that there was never less than 6 people in the kitchen, always needing to know where things were, and with the dishwasher having gone to dishwasher heaven a couple of days before.....
For christmas here everybody brings something. Usually the person hosting would have a "menu" in mind and call people to allocate different things. This year we have no oven (it's for baking plates you see- my mum's creative streak has no end and if mum says she needs the oven to set the paint on plates, then, we use the oven to set the paint on plates) and you can't  ask people to prepare aperitives etc in advance and then transport it for hours in tropical heat in their cars on top of whatever they can bring that vaguely resembles a mattress...

Nevertheless, in mid evening, when everything was under way and we had had time to sit down and catch up a bit, I started to really enjoy myself, avoiding people who ramble a bit, like me,  and catching up with my cousin I had not seen for 11 years. Dad had set up some sort of karaoke, mostly older French songs.
So we ate and danced a little bit, not much, and occasionally  had a good laugh at whoever was singing, especially the cook, my cousin's husband, who recently discovered karaoke and had a ball.

So we had : aperitives, salads, mains (fish "carry", pig's feet "carry" and roast pork), litchis and desserts (ice cream buches). The mains were served at 1.10, desserts around 2.30, 3 am. The kids were by then starting to fall asleep in corners, exhausted by the pool (although one of the 2 year olds was still not asleep by 4 am). At 4 dad managed to get the kids to let the hardcore karaoke people know they were tired and everyone went to bed (the living room was a bedroom to someone you see). 2 years ago I remember dad cutting off the electricity to get them to stop (some of then would not even let go of the microphone if it gets into their hands).

We woke up mostly between 7 and 8 am.  The kids went straight to the pool, we cleaned out a good deal of coffee and around mid-morning started to get lunch on the way for the 30 of us or so remaining.  I also had a very nice chat with Australia. The morning is always spent with lots to do but in pleasant chatter and roaring laughter at whatever was said or filmed the night before (this time it was my cousin's husband singing and dancing...). It was refreshing to hear my cousin Christine laugh (the one I have not seen for 11 years). I had forgotten her slight husky straightforward laugh and it felt like she had never left. My godmother is having a ball this year. I think it is the first time in 11 years that she has all her children with her for christmas.

After everyone leaves, mid afternoon, the rest of the day is spent in a semi comatose state where you know, no matter how much people have helped you clean up, you will have to tidy everything up at some stage. You are too tired to sleep, too tired to think, too tired to move and you certainly would no eat either..... even at night I still felt too tired to sleep. I could not find anything I wanted to watch on the 60 or 70 TV channels downstairs....

Today is a bit better. Mum slept in until 7am! I can't go ride with dad as I'm meeting a friend and I'm still crampy anyway. If you stuck by reading this that long you deserve a couple of pictures so here's a few for you.

Firstly, a gecko. There are less of them now but I think it is impossible to eradicate them from a house and creol people will not put fly screens unless there is a dangerous mosquito disease lurking
or, possibly, zombies outside. They are called margouillats and are cute little lizards, as opposed to the 2 who have taken to guarding the vegie patch at the back and that I see so often I have named them Eugene and Rene.

Now to the view this morning from my old bedroom/ meditation room:

Now to mum's flowers. Over the last few days they have come out and as we are having lunch with someone who owns a nursery on Tuesday we are thinking of asking them what they are because we have no idea and I have not been able to find out.  If you know, write a comment please. This  is what they looked like yesterday:

I have tried to see if they smell like anything special, very gently, of course, in case they, you know,  decide to bite my nose off or something. But they don't smell like anything special, or bite anything (at least not for now). Incidentally have you seen my beautiful lettuce in the background?

This is what they looked like this morning. I think they will look more open tomorrow and then die. I don't know if they flower more than once a year. The head of the flower is now vertical:

Well, time to go! Until then.

24 december

Just a short one for now as we have some clean up to finish before our 40 guests arrive..... I just wanted to precise that now i am oscillating between mango heaven and litchis paradise. Mum and dad went to pick "some" from an acquaintance of dad.
they brought back at least 15-20 kilos :)

23 december

Yesterday I had the feeling that I had died and had woken up in mango heaven :)  We went to see some friends of my parents who live on top of the hill just above the beach of l'Ermitage at La Saline les Bains. A lovely French couple. They have an open plan house, with a swimming pool and a big veranda that has a great view of the sea and the filao trees on the beach. As the sun sets on the sea, they have a kick ass sunset every day. We went there before going to the beach and had planned to stop to drop some litchis in exchange for some mangoes. We left with a 20 litre esky full to the brim of ripe and green mangoes, a quasi full one litre bottle of freshly made mango juice (that I drank virtually by myself at the beach) and 4 freshly cut coconuts.....  
The temperature at the beach was perfect! with not too much sun, not too hot on the beach and the water was just right, and the dim sims, licthis, mango juice and crepes did not go astray at all. We even saw father christmas on a kayak in the lagoon. This was all so relaxing....

At home I did a bit of gardening, mostly pulling out more weeds. Dad made fun of me  a bit, saying I take such good care of the salads it looks like  I talk to them and they're growing out of fear to disappoint me. They do look good :) And at least  mum's patch is a bit more tidy. They're planning a thunderstorm for tomorrow so dad has been putting up the gazebo and pulling a tarp at the back of the house to give us more space. I think we have eveything we need for tomorrow (let's hope so because there are non stop queues at the supermarkets at the moment).

The supermarkets got me thinking the other day. Once you get over the fact  that you have to do some work at the cashier and bag your own stuff, and too bad if you forgot your bags, it really is quite a sight, especially at that time of year. So much variety. even if not as much in terms of cheese compared to France for instance. I mean, I even bought snacks ready to eat inside the supermarket the other day (at the back, near the meat). There is a hot food takeaway section too (dangerous for me because  even when we go early, around 8, I HAVE to buy some chinese honey pork,  or samosas and then I have eaten my daily intake of proteins by 10 am).   But what really got me yesterday were the produce ready to eat "sous vides". They even had a collection of tapas goods, little portions under plastic, ready to take home and heat up,  with exotic names like "choritos" and "emincette de volaille". There was a big alley of such produce. The fish was presented on huge open air ice blocks. The frozen good section is four times as big as the ones in safeway (you shloud see the frozen dessert section!). There is a jewellery stand inside as well. And all the discounted and specialty produce is placed right near the one and only entrance so, at the moment, to go in, you have to pass through rows of .... toys.... How do you resist buying stuff?


All right, I have to go it's breakfast now. I'll be having,,,,,, mangoes!  It will be amazing if I don't turn orange today. Pool lounging and the beach has turned me a nice shade of caramel at any rate!

I will just add that I won't be putting pictures of people on this blog because I actually think my parents and family would object to it.

21 December

Well I did not have a nap on the beach, but at least I got to say Hi to the fishes in the lagoon as the weather was just beautiful and the water delicious!
I'm back to my regular colour now :)

Today I missed my ride with dad as I wanted to let him go for hard hills if he wanted to, instead of dragging me behind. I met another old friend that I had not seen for years. A very sweet girl who is a vegetarian (there is at least one on the island!). She has a friend looking for a girlfriend and, as one of his criteria is that she be vegetarian, he's finding it a bit hard! She won't even go to the local market so as not to see the chickens being sold there. And she's found Jesus this year and sounds pretty happy.

After that I had lunch with mum's friends from the "aumonerie" (the religious office of the hospital who visit the sick). It was nice but a bit long. They all brought a little something to share and we ended up with a quite a bit of food, including 4 different desserts (one of which was letchis- they are now in full swing and I am eating as much of it as my stomach can hold morning midday and night). They were mostly women of a certain age, easy going, funny and loud.  Quite an interesting bunch of people who spend their free time volunteering to give communion, provide a catholic presence and chat with the patients of the hospital, very often the very sick patients. One of them is a nun, a bit odd really, not fitting the stereoptype of the gentle nun you might have grown up with.  I guess you'd have to be pretty tough and generous to do something like that. Especially since the Saint-Denis hospital is not an agreeable place to be as far as hospitals go. It's ugly, in constant renovation. It's like a patchwork quilt that's never been finished, with a little bit here and another added little bit there 2 years later. It's hot and there is NOWHERE to park nearby. You can come in the hospital perfectly healthy, you'll be guaranteed to come out of it depressed or sick.

Now we are awaiting the arrival of a little cousin of mine who will be spending  a few days here and I will try to finish off the planning of christmas: i will be "allocating" rooms for the night and I have decided that people I don't like will sleep in the most awkward room. I will put my cousin Christophe the pain and his girlfriend outside I think, on the veranda. ..... or near the kitchen so that we wake them up early....


I was feeling a bit "cockroachy" in the afternoon, ie had the blues a bit. I don't know if it's because I missed out on my exercise session or the heat is getting to me. Today's heat was horrendous. I truly felt like throwing every single piece of clothing that has sleeves or goes below the knee at sea (my initial thought was burning them but I was hot just thinking about fire!). No wonder buildings don't get built fast around here!

Dad has spent the whole day finishing off the shed. It had not been emptied and cleaned for a good 10 years and needed new shelves ( some of which have been marked " private space for bike stuff"). My understanding was that the new shelves were made with bits of my old bed (the one my dad built for me whem I was 3). Well, I guess at least it's still around, useful for something. It is the oldest object in the family with my parents wedding plate service, and my umbilical cordon (I know, Yuk! But I can hardly throw it , it's MY umbilical cordon).

You know, I was realising how my extended family can be such a headache at times. A wonderful thing but such a headache too. I have a feeling there are so many micro feuds on the verge of popping that I very rudely shush my parents when they talk on and on about it.
T I have decided all the men on my mother's side are absolutely hopeless. I know it sounds harsh and I have not been in their shoes, but when I look at the women, well, my theory holds truer and truer.

Anyway I keep reminding dad, without my brothers here, he's the minority (I have never been in the majority), so he better listen up to mum and me.....  more fishes tomorrow.... can't wait to start hiking.

20 december

Well, it's turning out not that easy to actually make it to the computer to write regularly. I think it's about time to apologise for typos or spelling mistakes but I have no intention whatsoever to write this with a dictionary nearby.

I won't write much now as I may or may not go to the beach soonish (it's my cousin and it's complicated, usually is).

Yesterday was another bike ride with dad, not very long but long and hot enough to make me absolytely starved by the time we finished. We went on the eastern side of the track, the more bumpy one, but more shaded too, peering through the vegetation in case a Chameleon was hiding. We cycled to the "cascade Niagara", not aptly named for this time of year. 2 years ago it had been overflowing so much you could hardly talk nearby it and this time it was just a trickle. People were climbing the rock nearby to start some work on the cliff. Dad informed me they plan to install a giant flying fox.

After that I fought off the urge to nanap as much as I could and my friend came to pick me up for a walk on the city shore. I was hoping we would make it to the abolition of slavery parade, whihc we did, but the parade, it appears, never made it to us :( We waited for close to an hour but they must have been very late. As I was due for a very very early wake up call this morning, we had to call it quits.

I went to mass with mum, at 4 am. Yes that's right. 4 am, and there was not enough seats!  There used to be a priest in Saint-Marie, Brother Scubilion, who preached to the slaves and is very much revered around here. Apparently the 10am mass on that day attracts thousands.... He used to preach at 4 am or in the evening as the masters needed the slaves in the fields by 6 am. So every year on that day at 4 am there is a mass nearby his remains outside. It was an interesting affair, with lots of singing in French, latin and creol.  There was, to my surprise, a whole hord of scout girls, who had, on top of the mass, also participated in the 12-3am commemorative walk as well and lingered after mass to sell pawpaw jam. I was quite astonished but mum informed me that the scouts are part of the parish here  and very involved in parish activities. They were so well behaved during mass, it was quite refreshing not to have to turn around at communion time to remind teenagers to be quiet.

Needless to say I will be having my nanap today! Whether at home or under the filaos on the beach.  Anyway, better get going. I do hope my cousin can go with his girlfriend's car as mum's air con is broken!

17 december

I'll have to try and write in the mornings. The afternoon heat is not intense (28-29 degrees) but  combined with the humidity it is a deadly combination for intellectual  activities. Given that's I'm still waking up at 5.30am, by mid afternoon I have no energy and by 9pm I'm really struggling to stay awake.

I have decided this morning will be cleaning as both my parents are out. Maybe even gardening. To my surprise when I landed I did not find things as green as usual. It has really been dry here lately. In le Tampon there are regular water cuts now. The West Coast is similar to the African savannah. As mum's approach to gardening is just chuck it all together and hope it grows, the garden is pretty much a bit of scrub trying to remember how to be a jungle in some parts. To top it all, it is also being infested by the latest local pest that is wiping out all the papaya trees from the island, the cochenille. I had to pretty much cut down all the palm tree leaves at the front the other day, although I could see it was just painful to her to do so and  that she was just counting on spraying them. It starts with the papaya trees and spreads EVERYWHERE.

Anyway, I'm also trying to get the salads in the vegie patch going, because I intend to eat them all and in the middle of the day, with the sort of soil they have and the sun, the poor lettuces look  kind of poorly, so I'm trying to get mum into mulching (people around here don't know much about that). I told her to start with the lawn clippings and when we went to a local nursery, I asked about mulching. Apparently here it is done with coconut straw, which looks a lovely warm brown, and when we were shown the bag, I was telling mum, "oooo let's get that, it looks nice and it's all natural". Of course I quickly changed my mind when the man said : " yes, just make sure you spray it once in a while, for the little worms" (and by that I knew he did not mean the lovely brown healthy ones but probably maggots) so "forget it mum,  you don't need that, grass clippings will be just fine".
Sadly, in many parts of the isalnd at the moment, you have to spray to maintain crops even in your vegie patch. People here are awaiting a hurricane like it would be salvation for the soils, which, all of them would say, needs a good clean from the heavens.

So far I have eaten fairly well and off my list  of things to eat I have made a good indent into: mangoes, licthis, green mango rougail, pyreneens chocolate, creol samossas, sarcives, piments farcis, bananas, carry poulet, baguettes, frozen savoury crepes (don't ask) and tropical fruit sorbets that REALLY taste like fruit.
But there are still many things on my list.

I have been bike riding with dad on wednesday morning, before the heat settled in too much and that was good fun although we did not go very far. He did insist on testing me on a sneaky little hill on the way back and I was pretty happy that he was in front and I could stop every five pedal strokes to catch my breath. Unfortunately at some stage he turned around to check that I was still alive so I had to fake  managing the hill. It is a fine line between riding well enough to make dad proud (she's all right on a bike he'll tell his friends) while making sure I give him some opportunity to show he is better than me (I'll just go for a little sprint ahead and  wait for you at the next roundabout Sonia).

Anyway, I was reminded of a couple of rules when riding in Reunion island and here they are:

• Keep your mouth shut or you'll end up with more proteins than you bargained for.
• No matter how hot you think you'll be don't wear a sports singlet, unless you intend to wear the mark of it for days in your back.
• YOU owe birds and lizards priority, not the other way around, at least that's what THEY are convinced of (I was nearly thrown off my saddle with fright when a lizard managed to sneak in between my wheels  whilst I was riding full on- I guess lizards have their version of playstation then)- I'm not talking about cute little geckos either. these won't bite off your finger but I'm sure they'll be pretty happy to have  chunk of it.
• Do NOT leave the cemented road unless you intend to have a deep tissue massage on your bum. 

We did ride along the sea coast, one piece of the shore had been set up by the council to be more  family friendly with enough space for week end markets. On the other side, it is a bit more green and shaded but the track is for mountain bike riding and there is a bit of a drop to the sea. Dad was telling me somebody had built a very nice villa by the sea and fenced off part of the track until some time later somebody went "hang on a minute, that's not private land!" So he was made to take down the house and return the land. Which is a good thing because he also had dogs that would just stand in the middle of the track and prevent people from passing. Lovely.

Well I better get going. what with the promised cleaning and all (which, I think, is a more a psychological rite of passage for me each time I return- my own way of "owning" the place again: scrubbing it).

16 december

Well the heat has struck at last! The mosquitoes too, mind you. and my parents may not have a pet but there is a bird building a nest on the roof right on top of my bedroom window. He's not very good at it and keeps dropping twigs on the lower section of the roof undearneath the window. Apparently he has also tried to carry around some screws too.

I thought i'd kick things off in a fairly random fashion until I am ready to really write and think about what it means to be in Reunion island every 2 years. It always feels like putting on an old t-shirt that one had completely forgotten at the back of the wardrobe. everything around me is an old t-shirt. And sometimes it does not fit anymore...

Golly, i had even forgotten my parents have a daewoo fridge (so about as big as my car!).

Ah, mum calls for going for a drive on  the brand new spunk bit of road on the west coast.  Best not to write now anyway, seeing as I feel as alert and dynamic as a big seal soaking the sun on a rock.

Until then.