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Pape’ete

Topics of the day: radio, sponsors, more networking and writing, Pomare XI

At 8:00 I met Roti in front of “Radio Fara” (one of the local radio stations) for our interview. Actually Raurani was supposed to join us but she called Roti to let us know that she was sick (I hope it’s not the swine flu… on the other hand it’s not much worse than a standard flu – but it’s probably just a “dumbass media storm” to quote an eloquent friend of mine who is about to become a doctor – guess writing this will wreck his reputation if H1N1 ends up wiping out a third of the world population ;).

I was quite disappointed when the radio-reporter announced that sports were more important and he couldn’t fit us in. Roti convinced him to find a free slot so we went to look for sponsors (fruitless attempts – guess we need to change our strategy) and picked up Raphael who went with her son Vaitua to scan the logo for the leaflets, before we went back to the radio station at 11:30.

Roti was interviewed in Tahitian and I believe she made some very relevant points (at least judging by her gestures and the energy resonating in her voice). When it was my turn I apologized for not speaking Tahitian, talked a bit about the depletion of resources, the “dépendance énergétique” and said that I’m concerned about the future of our planet and the generations to come. I also had to admit that Germany isn’t as progressive and ideal when it comes to renewable energy as we’d like to make the world believe – that lobbyists of multinational corporations still have too much influence on politicians and that we’re building new coal power plants although we should set an example for other countries (thanks to the forward-looking research that is being conducted in our country), that the local government had announced energy autonomy for 2030 but that we believed it is possible (and necessary) to become self-sufficient a lot faster than that, if the citizens put (more) pressure on their decision makers!

Unfortunately my French is still quite far from perfect but I hope at least a few people got the message. Speaking to so many people does make me quite nervous – but I guess that’s a price I’m willing to pay for the greater cause…

Then we went over to Roti’s again – we actually wanted to print the leaflets (bicycle driver’s licenses which Raphael made, that have a postcard to Oscar Temaru with our demands and the details for our demonstration on them) but the logo wasn’t ready yet and then Roti had an appointment… so I went networking again. I’m sick of sitting in front of the screen all day (that was probably not a very nice thing to write – considering that’s probably what most readers do all day every day – I should be more grateful)… but I really want to go out there and infect every cyclist I see (and everyone else too).

The rightful king of Tahiti, Pomare XI just came by to visit Roti – she’ll be his chancellor (Raphael the energy minister and I’ll take care of brainwashing - I mean education ;) once he’s in power. I am obviously just kidding – but the descendant of the last queen really just went out the front door (well the little gate – Roti doesn’t really have a proper door on her house ;)

Now the three of us are still sitting in front of our laptops…

Final thoughts of the day: We still don’t have any sponsors yet – maybe writing the Toa Times was a waste of time and we should just make this demonstration cheap…

Wonder how many people listened to Roti on the radio and what they thought…

I wish I could stay longer and learn Tahitian… I guess one can’t have everything at once – there’s so much to do and so little time!

What would Tahiti be like with a king ?

I now have 67 “friends” on Facebook – don’t people have real lives?

“Mytsuru just took the "Quel genre de mecs attires-tu ?" quiz and the result is Tu les attires tous !.“
“Hina recherche l'amour. Voulez vous envoyer de l'amour?“
This is so sad... Should I be using facebook - does the end justify the means?