NO SOCIAL GRACES

we went to the opening ceremony for the melensian cultural festival. when we arrived 30 minutes early the stadium was already full, as we had been warned. we were told to try and sit on the side, but i went around and tried to sneak in through another entrance. jp, being the ever upstanding citizen was not pleased with me, and refused to try and be discreet behind a rather large pillar and opted to stand in view of the security guard. we had however made our entrance into a seated area near the vip section with a woman and her two children. within a few minutes of our not so stealth entrance she took some seats in the back and motioned for us to do the same. we started talking at it turns out she is from papua new guinea (PNG). she had told the security guard that they were "representatives from png here for the festival". she and her family have been living in fiji for three years as her husband works for an international company. she is very nice and we started talking between various announcements and music. her name is sarea, and she is very funny with great insight into melenesian & fijian culture. i asked a bit about png, her family, and her life. i then complimented her on her purse. it is a multi colored hand tied bag. she said it is from a particular region in pgn known for its beaches. she then promptly emptied the conents of the bag into a plastic grocery bag and gave me the bag i just complimented her on. i was dumbfounded. in western culture women complement each other on personal items as a way to connect not to gain new posses ions. jp was not pleased with my social faux paus, and shook his head. he asked if i had read the section in the guide book stating that it is not unusual when giving someone a complement on something to have them give it to you. needless to say i must have skipped that paragraph. i thanked her profusely and before the festivities were over we had exchanged contact information. i also found out where she worked, so the next day i paid her office a visit where i left a necklace i have made with the receptionist. she sent a fast email response thanking me for the necklace. though i know this was not necessary, i felt better sharing something with her. who knows maybe we will bump into her again.