{"id":8094,"date":"2020-02-23T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-23T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/?p=8094"},"modified":"2020-09-09T14:18:21","modified_gmt":"2020-09-09T21:18:21","slug":"surprises-and-a-custom-village-on-the-island-of-tanna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/travel\/surprises-and-a-custom-village-on-the-island-of-tanna\/","title":{"rendered":"Surprises and a Custom Village on the Island of Tanna"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Surprises are a part of life. They’re what keep us from boredom and excessive routine, and for the most part, we welcome them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authors and film writers take advantage of our love of surprises by leaving us in suspense until a plot twist catches us unawares, and the more surprising the twist is, the better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you remember some of these famous classical stories with surprise endings?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pit and the Pendulum <\/em>by Edgar Allan Poe<\/p>

The Tell-Tale Heart <\/em>by Edgar Allan Poe<\/p>

The Necklace<\/em> by Maupassant<\/p>

The Ransom of Red Chief<\/em> by O. Henry<\/p>

The Gift of the Magi<\/em> by O. Henry<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I must have read The Gift of the Magi <\/em>when I was in middle school. Maybe you did too. A husband and wife, deeply in love but too poor to buy Christmas gifts for each other. Her one treasure is her beautiful hair; his, the pocket watch he inherited from his father. On Christmas, they open their gifts, and we’re surprised and dismayed to learn that she has sold her hair and bought a watch chain and he has sold his watch for some beautiful combs. A sad but beautiful story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I bring up surprises in conjunction with this trip to a custom village because I think surprises are also an integral part of travel. We leave the comfort of home partially because we want to learn and experience something new. When we travel far from home, we can be assured that, no matter how carefully we plan ahead, there will be some surprises along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Okay, I admit, the surprises my mom and I encountered on this day trip on the island of Tanna were probably more than usual. I suppose when you visit an island like Tanna, especially during the time before Google searches, big surprises are inevitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First was the volcano that roared and spit glowing lava rocks at us. (See Mom’s Trip to Yasur Volcano, Part Two.)<\/a> Then the custom village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I don’t know what I was expecting to see, but I didn’t expect our visit to be quite so intimate. Unlike Colonial Williamsburg, this village was not a showplace of times past. These were real people in their real homes, and I felt embarrassed to be gazing on them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The people seemed all right with visitors, though. In fact, visitors came every day, paying $3 per head for the privilege. We were a group of four plus Philip, our guide, so the village earned $15 from us. I don’t know what they spent it on since the whole village looked self-sufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
This banyan tree is a meeting place for the village.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When we visited Tanna, the population of the island was 22,000. The people spoke seven indigenous languages. Philip explained to us that there were groups on the island with three ways of life\/religions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Those influenced by missionaries and modern life, <\/li>
  2. The John Frum group\/religion, which is a cargo cult deserving of a long article or a whole book,<\/li>
  3. and those villages that have consciously chosen to live according to the ancient ways, their food and clothing, their houses, stories and dances, and their use of custom methods of medicine and education all remaining unchanged.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"
    The men and boys sleep in one house; the women and girls, in another<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    For our $3, they allowed us to wander around the village. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    And then they put on a show for us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    They also set up a brief little market where they sold handicrafts such as woven bags and penis wrappers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Have you had any memorable surprises on your travels?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    ****************************************************<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    (Even though Tanna is an island in Vanuatu where my next novel is set, my characters never visit a custom village.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Surprises are a part of life. They’re what keep us from boredom and excessive routine, and for the most part, we welcome them. Authors and film writers take advantage of our love of surprises by leaving us in suspense until a plot twist catches us unawares, and the more surprising the twist is, the better. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[743,253,1659,717],"tags":[1980,1981,1983,1972,1982],"class_list":["post-8094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-travel","category-vacations","category-vanuatu","tag-custom-village","tag-surprises","tag-surprises-and-travel","tag-tanna","tag-the-gift-of-the-magi-by-o-henry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Kn1e-26y","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3397,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/vanuatu\/3397\/","url_meta":{"origin":8094,"position":0},"title":"Vanuatu before Cyclone Pam, Part 2","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"March 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"VANUATU, SOUTH PACIFIC PARADISE These smiling, fun-loving ni-Vanuatu children were typical of the people my husband and I met when we lived in Vanuatu in the early 1990s. Vanuatu then was the land of everyone's dreams. A South Pacific paradise. Then on March 13, 2015, Cyclone Pam hit. With wind\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Vanuatu"","block_context":{"text":"Vanuatu","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/vanuatu\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ni-Vanuatu children playing in the surf","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Vanuatu13-001-e1426630875350.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8062,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/family\/moms-trip-to-yasur-volcano-part-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":8094,"position":1},"title":"Mom’s Trip to Yasur Volcano, Part 1","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"February 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"When your mom comes to visit you in a small developing country, you don't take her to museums and cathedrals. You take her to the beach or for a walk around town. 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