Summary Part 3

In this particular section of the reading we mainly find Troost trying to adapt to the I-Kiribati culture. He struggles with the selection of music on the island, the amount of pollution, and the shark attack. We also get better acquainted with Tiabo, the household helper. She enlightens Troost regarding all the various perceptions of the I-mantag. Troost himself also dives deeper into the history of the I-mantag, and the South Pacific in general.
Troost starts out the ninth chapter of the book griping mainly about the overplaying of the song “La Macarena” on Tarawa, and how he wished so badly that he would have his CD collection. Upon some pages of griping, we encounter Tiabo, the housemaid for Troost and Sylvia. He inquires as to where some of his money went, that he seemed to have misplaced or had stolen. Troost learned one of his first major lessons about the I-Kiribati way of life at this juncture. He learned of the bubati system, in which anyone can come up to you and demand something you have, and thus, you oblige. Troost now understood why Tiabo was worried about what he said, as there was no point for her to steal, as stealing was a very punishable matter. Troost essentially gets taken advantage of by the I-Kiribati for a period of time before he makes his stand. He puts up a sign that says “No disposing of diapers on the beachfront,” and upon finally receiving his CD collection from back home, he blasts a selection of Miles Davis into the Tarawa air. Troost claims he’s finally adapted.
Chapter ten deals more with the history of Kiribati than Troost’s actual experiences there. He discusses the various pirate fleets, and colonial excursions that rummaged around the South Pacific from the early 1500’s all the way up to the 1980’s. He discusses how the I-Mantags first came to be on the island, and islands around them, and how they had essentially plagued the area with their beliefs, customs, gene pools, diseases, and supply of goods. Thanks for plaguing everything capitalism.