73話 - Living in Aboriginal Tribe

After living in the Taimali's tribe for a period of time, I have noticed few things from these aboriginal friends. First of all, I think that "Where are you going" is the greeting phrase when they encounter friends in the village. Why would I think so? As I was enjoying the mountain views and stars on the roof balcony, that phrase is the most common heard from my neighbor's yard. As people were passing by, my neighbor would salute them with this phrase. For us, the non-aboriginal people, "Have you eaten your meal?" will be the greeting phrase among friends. I think that the reason for the different greeting phrase is because in old aboriginal tribes, people will share their hunted wild boars or foods. Therefore, there is no need to wonder whether their friends have eaten or not. Moreover, the neighbor told us that in the tribe, there will be no orphan as other people in the tribe would take care of this child. However, in the old non-aboriginal society, some people may not have food to eat. Therefore, the first priority will be to concern whether your friends have eaten or not when you encounter each other. However, this is my own interpretation about the greeting phrase. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Secondly, these aboriginal friends love to chitchat in their yards especially after finishing one day's work. Instead of sitting on the sofa holding TV remote control or hanging on the internet like most people do in the big cities, they choose to visit friends or neighbors to talk about their works or today's news. I think that this is their way of strengthen the relationships and gather information about big or small news. They will chat in the yard but not to invite friends to go inside the living room. I wonder why. Maybe that is because their living room is relatively smaller. On the contrary, the yard is bigger and is the opened space. The yard will provide fresh air and more comfortable feelings. Moreover, one thing has caught my attention. Most of time, people who visit my neighbor's yard at night are males. Maybe females still need to work on household chores or take care of children at night. I guess that night time is the happy hours for these men.

Thirdly, the Pacific Ocean is like their refrigerator and the mountain is like their back yard. They will go fishing if they need some seafood. But, the refrigerator won't guarantee to give them the seafood that they desire. It depends on the luck. And, of course, they need to choose the right season and timing in order to increase the chances. Moreover, there are a lot of wild vegetables grown on the mountain. They know which one can be eaten and which one can not be eaten because of poison or bad taste. These aboriginal friends have the wisdom and experiences to live in the wild and rural environment.

Below are the gifts given by these aboriginal neighbors taken from the nature
↓Wild vegetables (unknown name but taste like potherb mustard) wrapped in a leaf, instead of using plastic or paper bag

↓"Tree bean"(樹豆) grow in the neighbor's yard: need to peel off, eat only those green beans

↓See the color of those "Tree bean"(樹豆), can be cooked with rice or add spareribs to make it as soup

↓Closer shot of "tree bean"(樹豆) still growing on the tree

↓Some kind of deep-sea fish


I can not image if I need to live in the wild and rural environment. There is no way that I know how to survive. But I believe that these aboriginal friends have more chances to survive in the harsh environment when the disaster comes. Besides having the skills to find food in the wild environment, they also help and share foods with other people. I believe that it can help each other to overcome any harshness or difficulties than fighting alone by oneself.