Yesterday we ventured into town to do some shopping. Honiara has a population of about 40,000 people so it is not a very big place.

First stop was Woodford International School where the girls begin the new school year on Monday. There were lots of familiar faces to welcome us and give us hugs. We found out who the girls will have as teachers. Sarah is thrilled to know that her best buddy, Ela, is in her class. Ela is Australian and her parents are part of the business community here.

Our next stop was to Ela’s house so Sarah could spend the day with her. They had a wonderful time reconnecting and playing together. Lucky for Sarah, Ela has a nice pool to swim in and she was able to cool off there.

Tim, Emily and I spent the rest of the day shopping and stopping at various stores to take care of business. In Honiara there is no one-stop shopping. Getting the basics takes visits to numerous places. It was very hot and sticky in town. The air condtioning in the car would just start to feel cool when we would park the car at the next stop.

Everywhere we went, we ran into people we knew. We even managed to have lunch with friends and got our first taste of fish and chips – a family favorite.

One of our stops was to the business that has been treating our house for termites. Unfortunately they need to come up on Monday to spray again as we have found a new trail starting up one of the cement posts under the house. They cartainly are determined to eat us out of house and home! Now that we are back we can deligently watch for any more trails and we should be able to keep them at bay.