Small story that cracks me up every time.
Transportation is an issue on the islands. No one owns cars, so you depend on bus or truck drivers to take you where you need to go ( or just walk...). One day, three of us volunteer girls wanted to catch a ride to a town about 20 kilometers away for a fundraising party. My family was already there, and we wanted to join the fun. So, as we are standing on the side of the road, a rental car with a white guy passes us, then U-turns and asks us where we are headed.
My friend gets all nervous about him, but I proceed to tell him the village, assuming he is a tourist and wouldn't know that place anyway. He answers that he is headed to the same village and will give us a free ride (air conditioning included!). My nervous friend gives me the sign for 'hell no, he is creepy!' But I proceed to ask him why is going there. He says he is the director of the private school there, he comes from Australia several times a year to check on things. Well, it just so happens that some of my nieces attend that school so I knew he wasn't lying, because my dad had told me a lot about him. So then we agreed and got the free, cool ride.
It's a funny story because it is an example of how many coincidences I experienced in Vanuatu. Just when you think you're stuck somewhere, you will bump into people that you end up knowing or are related to, and everything has its way of working out.
The other reason it's funny, and this is not meant to offend anyone, but normally, when you walk down the street in the U.S. and some black guys are walking around with machetes, you'd be cautious or even petrified, and in Vanuatu, it was the opposite for us: we were scared of the white guy with the fancy car! :-)
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