Uncle Frank

Met an Uncle from the Tahisa nakamal in Tahi at 24 Haoa last night.  He has been in Vila since 1960-something, and is a heavy drinker.  But doesn't touch kava.  And he used a lot of English phrases when he spoke to me.  Ni-Vans that do that remind me of this one student at SAIS who would speak French with us outside the classroom because she wanted to practice, but deep inside I'm pretty sure she wanted other people to hear her speak French.  Or this one Aussie d-bag I met once at a nakamal in Vila in 2007 who refused to speak English to us, so we had to have an awkward interaction in Bislama even though there were no ni-Vans around to include in the conversation.

I think 24 Haoa needs better management, but they have a lot going for them.  The kava is good, there are only two stalls to choose from so people don't get too confused, the washem-mouth is cooked by Paama mamas (which is a bonus for everyone, trust me), and they are in a good location.  They don't try to entertain customers with loud video (like Labor, Islanders, Green Lite, and a couple others) which I appreciate.  And they have their own grinder, but they could use someone to better orchestrate when the kava is actually made.  It's embarrassing that they are known as "24 Haoa" but run out of kava frequently and customers have to wait 20-30 minutes for more to come.  Not cool.  If the two stalls rotated more efficiently between buckets I think the whole problem could be avoided.

I was talking to Noe the other day about how I would like to manage a kava bar here in Vila somewhere.  If it was a full-time gig I think I could do a good job.  Still just a dream though.  He just opened one up in Freshwater 5 that only serves Malo Malo, so I'm going to go check that out the next time the ship comes in with more kava.