Tonight I made a chicken pot pie. I know, I know...chicken is not a fruit. The only explanation as to why I've done this: I've gone mad. I have no idea why I made a chicken pot pie. To be honest, I've never in my life actually even tasted chicken pot pie. I don't even think I've ever seen one in real life. I've always thought it to be one of those horrible cafeteria foods up there line with sloppy joes (bonus if you find a hair in it) and expired milk (double bonus if you actually have to chew the milk to get it down). But I pursued this often shunned dish and in the end it turned out delicious and even looked great. Plus it was quick. I made the crust from scratch and it was still cooked and on the dinner table in about an hour. And just to keep with the cafeteria theme, I garnished it with a few hairs.

One of the greatest feelings in the world is taking a bunch of crap that tastes like crap when it's by itself, throwing it all together, and creating more crap! No, no. Creating real food, people. Real food! (and of course by "real food" i mean junk that will eventually give you a heart attack but in the meantime tastes DELICIOUS!)

So far my two favorite examples are Gravy and Barbeque Sauce.

Did you know if you add vegetable oil, flour, salt, pepper and milk in a bowl and then heat it up you can make delicious gravy?? Sure it's HORRIBLE for you, especially when you slather it over fried chicken, mashed potatoes and buttered biscuits, but after you've made it you can, by law, make everyone start calling you Colonel.

And did you know, if you add ketchup, onion, hot sauce, garlic and a can of cola together you can make BBQ sauce?! And if you are feeling daring you can even add honey! Sweet Baby Elin, that was easy!

Muahahahaha!

Bridget just paid me a visit from Ohio. She was here for 5 days and we stayed in a really hip hotel in downtown Seattle. It was an unforgettable trip full of great adventures. I never wanted her to leave and I never wanted to leave Seattle and I especially never wanted to leave the queen size cloud-like hotel bed. But alas, here I am back in Tacoma and back to the old grind.

I'm going to Oregon this week. I will be staying at the Mount Angel Abbey, a benedictine monastery where the goal is to re-energize and center myself in a sacred surrounding. AKA: chilling with monks. According to the monks, a monastery should be "a place on earth that points to heaven."

The retreat house I will be staying in has a prayer chapel, conference rooms for spiritual counseling, an outdoor garden for reflection, a meditation path through the woods, a library stocked with theological and historical works and my personal favorite, the 24 hour coffee and tea bar.

I will be in heaven all right - chai heaven.

It was easy because someone else cooked the pork.

A few days ago one of the residents' sisters came over because we've been pretty stressed out with her darling little angel of a brother and she felt bad for us, so she offered to prepare dinner for us. You don't have to ask us twice, lady....kitchen is thatta way.

She ended up cooking barbecue boneless pork ribs, baked potatoes, corn and a great big salad. It was awesome. We all had seconds (and thirds) and STILL ended up with leftovers. Conveniently enough for me, I was cooking the next night and decided to use the leftover meat. I was just going to nuke it and heat up some of those frozen mashed potatoes someone donated at Thanksgiving, but someone "suggested" (ie: whined, cried and threw a tantrum) because he wanted pulled pork sandwiches like RED REBON instead. Damn you Red Robin for planting the seed of deliciousness in the minds of the feeble. At first I clenched my teeth and rolled my eyes, but then I thought, "Why not." So I shredded the leftover pork by hand and steamed it, which kept it nice and moist instead of drying it out like the microwave would. I know it sounds like I am a cooking genius with coming up with the idea to steam the pork, but really, I googled "best way to reheat pork" and that's what came up first. Then I went to google images and searched "how to steam" and looked at the nice little picture of some metal cage contraption, then went to the cupboard and found what i saw in the picture. So really, I'm just a google genius.

Anyway, when it was just about hot enough I wanted to add more of the BBQ sauce to it to bring back some of the flavor but a bottle of Soy Ginger sauce caught my eye and a new idea was born. So I poured some of the sauce over the meat, stirred it up and when it was nice and hot, I scooped some of the pork onto buns that I had loaded up with cheddar cheese, then I put them in the oven at 350 or some temperature and toasted them.

Meanwhile, back at the farm....I made two side dishes to go along with the pulled pork sandiwches.

To go alone with my Soy Ginger Pulled Pork Sandwiches, I decided to make the infamous Ramen Cabbage salad we all know and love, but give it a little twist. I also renamed it Sesame Ginger Cabbage Salad. Normally we had been shredding our own cabbage and carrots, but having just went to the store, I had a bag of the pre-packaged stuff on hand. So I simply threw it in a bowl, crushed up one package of ramen noodles, chopped up some celery stalks, tossed in some sesame seeds and slivered almonds and then put a few capfuls of Newman's Sesame Ginger salad dressing over it and just kept tasting it until I thought it had enough. So easy and DELICIOUS!! The last time I made the ramen salad I had to use salt, pepper, MSG, etc. to make the dressing and it came out too salty for me to eat (okay that's a lie...i ate a ton of it), but this dressing was the perfect fit for this salad.

Then, I decided to make a 3 bean salad. It happened to be a gorgeous day and I was driving home from the grocery store with my window down, and "Sunny Afternoon" by the Kinks was on the radio and I thought, "I'm going to make a cold 3-bean salad for dinner". There you have the weird, yet true, inspiration behind this dish. Also very easy...lots of cracking open cans, which you can usually never go wrong with. I added a can of kidney beans, a can of black beans and a can of garbanzo beans in a bowl - draining all (or most) of the juices. Then i chopped up a yellow bell pepper, a red bell pepper and an orange bell pepper which gave the salad great color. And as we all know, presentation is everything. Then I diced up 1 or 2 plum tomatoes and like 5 or so green onions and mixed it into the beans. In a separate bowl I mixed 3/4 cup or so of fresh chunky salsa, a handful of freshly chopped cilantro, and 1/2 cup red wine vinegar. After stirring well I poured it over the mean mixture, mixed enough to coat evenly, and threw it in the fridge for an hour or so to soak in the flavors. So easy!

Overall the meal was a huge hit. Everyone ate two sandwiches and had two helping of each salad. I did have some salad leftover, and was happy because they are great to eat the next day. Sadly though, when I stumbled to the fridge the next afternoon on my day off, the leftovers were already gone.

A lot more than one would imagine.

Tonight I was feeling somewhat lazy and not so creative.....probably due to the fact that I had eaten a Mondo Burrito from Taco Del Mar just hours before I was supposed to be serving dinner. Mondos are roughly the same length and width of an average size newborn baby. Oddly enough you also feel just moments away from going into labor after completing the feat of finishing a Mondo. So as I wiped the last hints of sour cream from my face, unbuttoned my pants with a satisfying, but somewhat painful, groan, and started practicing my Lamaze breathing (I knew those free classes the Y offered would come in handy sooner or later), I had an idea. Why not make burritos for dinner so everyone else can feel as wonderfully awful as me? So in a selfish, yet amusing attempt to make others wallow in the same misery as me, I created the following:

The Pseudo-Mediterranean Lentil Burrito, because come on, I had to eat too (amazingly) and wanted to at least mix it up a little.

Ingredients

One cup dry lentils

1 can black beans, drained

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion

4 or 5 cloves chopped garlic

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon oregano

a big mound (one, two cups??) shredded mozzarella cheese

a small mound (1/2 cup, 1 cup?) pamresan cheese

a few dashes of fresh, chopped cilantro

lemon wedges for garnish to make you look fancy

I boiled one cup of brown lentils for approximately 40-45 minutes on med-high heat (30-35 minutes probably would have been enough, but I forgot I was cooking them, oops). Just wait until they are soft, but not mush. Then I sauteed a large onion and about 5 cloves of garlic in a little bit of extra virgin olive oil. Then I added 1/2 teaspoon of Thyme and about 1 teaspoon of Oregano. When the onions were tender, I added the mixture into the cooked lentils. I then cracked open a can of black beans (shut up) and drained them, and then added them into the lentil mixture as well. Even though I had turned the heat off of the lentil pot, they were hot enough to warm the black beans. So there I had my stuffing for inside my burritos. I then diced up two plum tomatoes and set aside a mound of mozzarella cheese and a little bit of parmesan cheese. I got out my flour tortillas and spread the lentil mixture evenly around the tortilla, threw a hearty handful of tomatoes around and then sprinkled with mozzarella cheese and just a pinch of parmesan. I think feta cheese would have been ideal to use in these burritos, but I didn't have it, so mozz and parm it was. Then I sprinkled with a dash of chopped, fresh cilantro and rolled those suckers up. I rolled 8 burritos, enough to royally stuf, err, i mean properly feed, 4 people. Looking back, I think a pinch of either chili pepper or crushed red pepper flakes would have given these a good extra oomph for people who like a little kick. I put a bottle of Tapatio on the table which was just as good.

Then I made a salad.

Ingrediants

A bowl full of fresh spinach and some mixed greens

1 large red onion, sliced into thin stripes

1 cup fresh blueberries

1/2 cup fresh, sliced strawberries

2 stalks celery, chopped

3/4 cup chopped pecans

I used half mixed greens and half fresh spinach and threw it in a medium sizes bowl (who measures anymore?). I added one chopped red onion, a few handfuls of fresh blueberries (probably about one cup), a few handfuls of sliced fresh strawberries (probably 5 large strawberries cut up), two stalks of celery, and about 3/4 cup or so of chopped pecans. Then I made a curry dressing I found online before, but had all the ingredients it called for except for one, which was honey, which I think really impacted the salad. What you SHOULD use is two tablespoons balsamic vinegar, two tablespoons rice vinegar (i had to use white wine vinegar because we didn't have rice vinegar. i have no idea if these two things are even remotely close to being the same thing, but they both have the word vinegar so i took a chance), 4 teaspoons honey, one teaspoon curry powder, 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, 1 pinch salt and 1 pinch pepper. Since I didn't have honey I really didn't know what to use to replace it. Thinking back I probably should have added a little sugar or something, but instead I just added more dijon. I don't know why. Anyway, the dressing was still pretty tasty even without the honey. I mean, we all had two helpings so that's saying something. I think with the honey it would be really, really REALLY tasty. So someone should make it and let me know how it comes out.

Dressing Ingrediants (the proper ones)

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

4 teaspoons honey

1 teaspoon curry powder

2 teaspoons dijon mustard

1 pinch salt

1 pinch pepper

So there you have it. My homemade Mondo burritos that aren't anything at ALL like real Mondo burritos, except for the fact that they both have a tortilla and both make you wish you were never born after you finish one. We all ate two well-stuffed large burritos (yes, even me...three burritos devoured over the course of just a few hours...whoopsie) and could barely move after consumption. I think my mission was accomplished tonight. I mean, I'm not going to mention any names, but someone even peed their pants before finishing the last few bites. I guess sometimes your body can only hold so much.

How are you all weathering the nation wide storm? We have definitely been snowed in for the past week and everyone in the house has serious cabin fever. We've been watching a lot of movies and playing a lot of games. It has been pretty good though. The first night we were snowed in I made loaded baked potato soup and it came out thick, hot and delicious. I also received a package that day from my Mom full of goodies, including homemade Christmas cookies. So after our hearty soup, we all sat around the fire and ate cookies and had hot tea. Saturday we had a Farm House Christmas Recital and almost all of the invited guests braved the storm and made it. We had an afternoon full of piano playing, guitar jamming, tone box tapping, Mary Poppin sing-a-long madness. It was fantastic!

I'm looking forward to Christmas. I asked Santa for long johns.

By the way, that picture above is real. Two buses lost control in downtown Seattle and both ended up dangling over the main interstate. It was the talk of the state, that's for sure. Everyone thankfully walked away unharmed.

Hi Everyone!

Well, I've been here in Tacoma, Washington for one week now! Let me just say, it's been great! I settled into the Farm House just fine and it felt like home by the second day. The people I live with are wonderful and we make a nice little family. I live with two other live-in aids, Erin and Dominic, and then there are three residents; Nancy, James Taylor, and Kai. This first week has been pretty laid back but I've been learning A LOT. Nancy has been teaching me sign language and, not to brag, I'm doing pretty well. Oh yeah, Erin happens to be from Ohio! So for Christmas we decided we are going to make buckeyes. We also have a pig, Flash, who lives in our back yard. He's my temporary replacement for Hooch and actually, there's not much of a different between the two. Both are low to the ground, fat, and black and enjoy snorting and getting their bellies and ears scratched. So far the only REAL differnce is Flash doesn't sleep in my bed, but give it time.

I haven't had much time away from the house since I arrived, which has been okay because it's giving me a chance to get to know the residents. I did go out the other day with Nancy and another volunteer. We got Mexican food at El Torro and then took a drive through Point Defiance Park. It was absolutely beautiful, although a little rainy and dark. Then yesterday a few other employees decided to take me out (without any residents this time). So we went to Katie Downs, a tavern on the water in downtown Tacoma. It was a great evening with three other girls and they even took care of my bill. It felt good to get out, see downtown and just laugh and joke and drink a beer. I am realizing that Washington has about a million different kinds of beer. At Katie Downs I got something called Snow Cap. Warm and Wintry! Yum!

So overall, not too much to report other than I am enjoying myself a lot. This week will be my first "official" work week, so I am hoping all goes well. In the meantime, here are some pictures.

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The Farm House

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My Bedroom

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The Residents AKA "Core Members"

1. Nancy

(Nancy and Dominic)

2. Kai

(Kai is on the left, pictured with friend, Rita, on the right)

3. James Taylor AKA Jimbo

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Flash the Pig

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Me on Halloween (minus the itchy clown wig)

Love,

Elin

Also, I hope everyone is celebrating history tonight with the election of our new President!

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

3. Follow the three R’s:

- Respect for self,

- Respect for others and

- Responsibility for all your actions.

4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.

6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.

7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

8. Spend some time alone every day.

9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.

10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.

12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.

13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.

14. Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.

15. Be gentle with the earth.

16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.

17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

19. If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.

20. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

I applied for the AmeriCorps and I was accepted. In a few weeks I will be moving to Tacoma, Washington. I will be a live-in aid at L'Arche USA, which is a community for people with developmental disabilities. This particular location in Tacoma is comprised of four different houses; one in downtown Tacoma, two in a more rural setting about 10 miles away from downtown and then one in between. I'll be living in one of the rural houses which is located on a farm. While I don't know too many details, I do know there is a garden, a greenhouse, a weekly farmer's market and craft sale, and last but not least..chickens. I owned several chickens in Vanuatu so obviously I'm going to be perfect for this position.

I will have my own room and apparently it overlooks Mt. Rainer and there is public transportation that stops at L'Arche. Also, I want to clarify a few things for my family and friends. This is another volunteer position and it's also only a one year commitment. After that, who knows what's in store.

Well I figure it's been almost two months since I left Vanuatu, so some sort of update is probably due. Most of you probably know the whole story, but for those of you don't, let me briefly fill you in;

My house was broken into three times over a period of six months and the Peace Corps staff gave me Interrupted Service, claiming that they could not provide another safe site for me to transfer to. Interrupted Service is the best way to involuntarily leave PC because it was something that was out of my control and still enables me to be considered an RPCV (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer). Being an RPCV was something that was important to me because it means that I can transfer to another country now and finish my service, or re-apply later in life. While I don't plan on transferring countries right now, I hope to apply again later in life, hopefully with a hunky husband.

So, here I am, back in Youngstown, Ohio. I was, and actually still am, very upset and disappointed by the whole series of events. I personally feel there was so much more that could have (and should have) been done to not only correct the situation but probably prevent it all together. It is, however, all in the past and I am moving on to another path in life. I think about the people and places I left behind and miss it all more and more everyday. I get very emotional looking back at old photos, talking to current volunteers or just thinking about the experience I've had over the past year. It was such an unforgettable journey and I am beyond blessed to have been given the opportunity. I'm also extremely proud of myself; something I can say for the first time in my life and believe it. I grew more during the first week of service than I could have dreamed possible and up until the moment I boarded the plane to return to America I was still being forever changed by the culture and people of Vanuatu. I learned something everyday during my time there that I will take with me forever. I truly can say I lived life to its fullest while I was there and couldn't be happier with the way I spent my time.

Leaving my village was very bittersweet. I knew it was the right thing to do because my safety was being jeopardized, but at the same time there were people that I considered family there. After a phone call saying I had to pack my things and catch the next plane to Port Vila, I only had a few brief hours to gather my belongings and say my goodbyes. It was a tearful exit and a day of my life I will never be able to forget. The love my Ni-Van family had for me was very strong and genuine and the bonds and relationships I made with everyone, young or old, are unbreakable. I just hope they all realize how much more I loved them in return and how much they have affected my life.

It just goes to show that you never know when life will take a turn and a chapter will be cut short.

gudnaet wan taem,

Elin

well, after a great few weeks in port vila i'm finally headed back to malekula. i have to admit im not that excited about it. i won't be back into town until mid October, but in the meantime, don't hesitate to get yourself an international phone card and call me!

011-678-776-7712

and vanuatu is trying to be a big boy country now so they added a "77" in front of all the mobile numbers.

love and miss you all. more to come eventually, including a blog about my dad's visit here

-elin

My email address expired while I was away at site so I no longer use my MAC account e-mail address. So, if you want to send me an e-mail please send it to ElinRR@msn.com or if you want me to actually get it sometime this year, send it to the peace coprs e-mail address at volunteer@vu.peacecorps.gov and put my name in the subject line.

Well, our All-Volunteer Conference just came to a close. My plane takes off back to Malekula in an hour and I have to say I'm a little indifferent about going back. These past few weeks have been awesome--from staying at a 5 star resort with a hot tub and panini maker in every room to dancing until 6am to just meeting some volunteers for the first time and storying on at the kava bars. But all good things must come to an end and Vila is one expensive place to live so it's time to go back to village life for a while. The good news is that my Dad comes in just a few weeks so I'll have the chance to leave my site and travel with him for a bit. I think seeing my Dad will be just the boost I need because lately I've been pretty disheartened with this country and the way things have been going with my work. So, thats about all i have to say for now. I'll be back in town in the beginning of June. I got a mobile phone and my number is 011-678-67712. But you will want to get a international calling card from CVS or something because if not it's expensive to call.

So after two weeks of straight rain the sun finally came out and gave me a chance to do some much needed laundry and to air out of suspiciously funky smelling mattress. After I pulled off my sheets and pulled back my mattress pad i discovered the source of the foul smell -- a rotting lizard carcass, flat as a pancake, stuck to my bed. It must have crawled in my bed and suffocated. But by the looks (and smell) of it, it must have been decaying under me as a I slumbered for a good 2 weeks. I think that's one of those ways to tell you've been in Peace Corps Vanuatu too long, when you've been sleeping with a dead animal and you just think the smell means you need to start showering more.

In other news, the latest village craze has been an article that appeared in Vanuatu's newspaper entitled "Man wea i gat bel" or..."A Pregnant Man". The article unfortunately came from the states so everyone in my village automatically assumes I know this "man". So for about two weeks straight, people were knocking on my door 2, 3, 4 times a day asking me to explain the story, which explaining in English ends up sounding crazy enough but try and explain it in Bislama and you're now playing a whole new ball game. The real story is something about a person was was born a girl but then decided she wanted to live as a man so she started taking hormones, but never had a full sex-change operation. I guess this person is a gay man trapped in a woman's body or something. "Hemi bin wan kel festaem, afta hemi wantem kam wan man....makem se hemi bin karem aot titi blong hem mo hemi stap takem wan meresin blong blokem sik mun blong hem...mo, tu, hemi laekem frendem ol boi..." Most responses to my explanation are "Mi tink se hemi stap smokem grass." In the same newspaper there was also another article about another U.S. man who was mentally unstable and put his two month old baby in the microwave for 20 seconds. While this was not nearly as exciting for my vlllage as a pregnant man, it still brought a lot of traffic to my house. Everyone thought that he ate the baby after putting it in the microwave.

So everyone has been writing me and asking what a normal day for me is like. People are asking what I eat, what my bathroom is like, and just everything. So now you're questions will be answered.

A typical day for me starts off like so.

After a restless night full of shining my flashlight on scurrying rats that run across the thin beam of wood above my head, I wake up at 5:50am, pouring sweat, to the sound of a metal rod banging on an old, rusted oxygen diving tank. The sound created echoes through the village and tells the community, "time for church suckers". After, I lay in bed for a bit longer, sometimes dozing back off until the tank is rung again as a sort of last-call reminder to the village. So shortly after I then begin to hear the rustling footsteps and local language greetings of "Erasorbong" outside my window, for the church is directly next to my house. When I'm certain that everyone is pretty much packed inside the church, I peel myself off my sheets and attempt to begin my own day. If you haven't guessed, I don't go to church. So anyway, I get out of bed, make my way through my tiny bamboo hut and out the door and walk across the yard to my smol haus, or my outhouse. I go inside, grab a bucket and then make my trek to the well that it's in the middle of my village. Once I get to the well, I throw a bucket attached to a rope down a long well, and then hoist it back up and empty the contents into my own bucket. I do this several times until the bucket I brought it full. Sometimes I will make several trips, depending on my mood, because I know I will later need more water. So, then I head back to my smol haus. My bathroom is a tiny concrete building with a tin roof. Inside is a water seal toilet, AKA a bowl I go to the bathroom into and then as fast as i can dump a few buckets of water down to "flush it", and my bathroom also has a small drain, AKA my "shower". So I then go to the bathroom, wash my face and then go back into the house where I then grab a 6liter empty container, which I will fill with water too. Only this time I now make my way to a rain water tank that is on the opposite side of the village. It is in the yard of a family, so I go there and talk with them as I fill up my container that I will use for drinking water. The well water is not safe to drink because there are no lids on the wells, so the only water suitable for drinking is rain water. So I lug the container back to my house and immediately put a kettle off water on the stove to boil. As I wait for it to boil I take a look around my house to see what the rats, cockroaches and other creatures have gotten into during the night. Then I try my best to re-seal and re-bag whatever was rummaged through. I then sweep the dust, rat turds and gecko poop out of my house. This needs to be done daily, if not twice a day. After, I change my clothes and by then the water is usually boiling. I then make myself a cup of tea, get out some jam and biscuits from my food container, and sit down with some stationary. I usually work on writing a letter home or sometimes I read or do a saduko puzzle. This is my favorite part of the day so I usually have 2 cups of tea and write for a long time. As I sit in my small kitchen at a small table, I can hear the villagers singing gospel songs from the church. They actually don't sound bad. When church lets out some people stop over and chat with me for a bit. After everyone clears out I can now do some work outside my house. So I do the dishes from breakfast and any that may have been left over from the night before. So once again I head back to the well so i can have water to wash dishes. After that, I sometimes do laundry if need be. I try to do laundry a few times a week so it doesnt add up to a huge heap. Laundry here is such a chore. Again i have to go fetch massive amounts of water, enough for washing and then around two rinses. I can't believe how much I took a washing machine for granted. Scrubbing all your clothes by hand on a washboard is awful and your clothes never really get fully clean.

So anyway, Id like to say after breakfast I have an exciting, eventul day, but to be honest I pretty much just wait to eat lunch. Then after lunch I wait for it to be dinner and then after dinner I wait for it to be bedtime. I was eating lunch and dinner with my host family, which usually didn't vary too much from a few meals; lap lap, samboro, rice and beans, and eggs when you can find a few hidden around the village that the dogs didn't already eat. Lap lap is when they puree a root crop of some sort (my favorite is wild yam but it could be taro, kumala, etc.) and then they pour it onto a huge leaf, put coconut milk on top of it, wrap it up in the leaves and then cook it over hot stones for a few hours. When it comes out its like a big, congealed brick. They then unfold the leaves and everyone sit around it and eats it with their hands.

School is over 4 weeks late starting, so I have really been trying to keep myself busy over these past 3 months in Malekula. I read one novel every 2 or 3 days. I've been doing a lot of crafts and trying to make my house feel like a home. I sewed pillow cases and curtains to match my sheets and other things like that. My new thing is making books. Another volunteer taught me how to sew the pages together and add a binding and everything so I am really excited to make a bunch of books for different things and send some home as gifts, too. I spend a lot of time lounging in my hammock, or writing at the table and sometimes I go to the beach. It's nice to go to the beach because it's always windy and cool, but i can't swim deep because it's got a lot of sharks and a lot of people have been killed by shark attacks. I know it sounds like I am being a brat by saying, oh living on the beach and laying in a hammock and reading is soo hard, but it is! Some days I go without barely speaking to anyone and after awhile I just feel like I'm going a little stir crazy. So making things like books helps pass the time until school starts.

So after dinner I swim, or take a shower. And like I said, by shower i mean a bucket bath. Sometimes if I want to treat myself I will boil a little water and take a warm sponge bath. I have to say though, i really don't miss showers too much. It's amazing how quickly your body adapts and adjusts to your environment and living situations. Pooping in a a hole, bathing in a bucket, eating with your hands, it's all second nature now. So after I shower I usually get into bed and read for a half hour or hour and then go to sleep. It's all very exciting!

Some other things that people were asking.

What kinds of animals do we have here? Well, not many. Packs of mangy dogs, pusscats, flying foxes, many exotic birds. Most of the cool things are in the ocean like tiger sharks and sea cows and dolphins!

Have I learned the language? Yes, Im confident in saying that I am fluent in Bislama, but if you are familiar with bislama then you will see that such a feat is not all that difficult. I am currently working on learning the local language of my village, which is a lot more difficult. To my ears it sounds chinese, literally. But I think it's based of some african language although i am not positive. Every village has their own language. My community uses language almost always, so it's very important for me to learn it if i want to integrate into the village.

Well, i guess that's all I can think of for right now. If you have any other questions just ask and one day I'll update this thing again. Probably in May. I'm going to take a video of my house, family, school and so on and upload it to my blog next time update, too.

On another quick note, last weekend I was in my old training village for a Phonics workshop. So that means I got to stay with my host family. it was awesome! Here are a few pictures from that because i know everyone always wants to see photos. Also, just a reminder, you can click on all the pictures and make them bigger!

Well, I figured I'd write another quick update on some of the fun things I've been doing here. Recently, one of our Bolivian friends was getting ready to finish his work here and head back home so we decided to throw him a going-away party. Me, Dan, Laura and McKenzie decided to dress to the nines (or put on our cleanest and best smelling clothes) and cook Luis (the Bolivian) a meal that would impress him. So we set out to the market to purchase fresh fish, fresh crab and some other random items. With these fresh catches we headed back to McKenzie's house where we spent the night cooking the crab so the next day we could roll some sushi. That quickly turned into us trying to drop pinching crabs into a pot of boiling water but instead us getting scared and dropping them and then running from them and then eventually trying to whack them on the floor with our machetes. We had a few causalities, like when Dan aimed to hack a crab but it darted under the oven and he whacked my finger instead. It could have been very ugly but the end result just looked something like this:

So the next day we spent all morning and afternoon in Kenzie's kitchen cooking. Laura even baked a cake. But half-way through our cooking extravaganza, Kenzie's gas ran out for her oven and since it was the weekend, and Lakatoro is a ghost town on the weekends, no stores were open to refill her tank. So, we ended up packing everything we had and heading down to the guest houses where Luis lived and finishing our cooking--so much for a surprise dinner. So not only did we have to transport all the food, dishes and cooking untensils down the long dirt road, we also had to transfer the beer into Luis' fridge. Ah, yes the beer. I guess I should mention that the Malekula Crew has formed a brewing company here on the island; the Beer Corps. We brewed two batches of beer, one a Pilzner and the other a Stout- about 150 beers total. It was a a little rocky in the beginning and we lost one batch due to a bacteria invasion, but in the end we got some delicious beer. The hardest part of the process is probably finding old bottles and then cleaning them.

So in the end it all turned out great. We made sushi, steak, tortillas and guacamole, and cake with REAL icing (hard to come by here, ni-vans usually use plain butter for icing) and even sprinkles. Luis and his friends about died when they saw all the great food and pretty much had a heart attack at the fact that we MADE our own beer. Luis is always questioning our lifestyles here in the Peace Corps and wondering how we do it. Once he drove an hour to bring me a cold Coke and as he looked at my bamboo hut he says, "people just shouldn't live without electricity, Elin...it's just not right."

Also, as it turned out, Luis ended up extending his project so he will be here until June. We then renamed the "going away party" to a "glad your stuck here with us on this island for another 4 months party."

Hi Everyone! I have plenty to write about since my last update. Today is February 21st, so that means I have been in Vanuatu for 5 months! Crazy! I've been in Malekula for 3 months. I would love to say it's been great, but I can't lie. It's been very, very tough!!

Okay, first off, some things to let you all know. 1. You CAN email me at the peace corps email address again. They will still deliver my emails to me and it is by far the most effective way to contact me, other than snail mail. So that address again is volunteer@vu.peacecorps.gov and please put Elin Renstrom 20B in the subject line. So start sending me emails again and lots of them! I do not have internet access on the island of Malekula! I wish I did, but I don't. People keep writing me messages online asking why i don't come on anymore. So that's why. 2. My new direct snail mail address is :

Elin Renstrom

Peace Corps Volunteer

c/o Lavalsal Primary

PMB 112

Lakatoro, Malekula

Republic of Vanuatu

South Pacific

So write to me! That's about all I can think of as far as contacting me, so onto other news...

So I guess the latest news is that my house has been broken into. Right now I'm in Vila and I have been here for a little over a week. Originally, I was scheduled to come into Vila for a workshop, but a few nights before I came in my house was ransacked. It ended up being good that I was headed into Vila anyway because that gave me the chance to speak with the Safety and Security staff members immediately and in person. So that's what I've been dealing with right now. I'm not sure what's going to happen with it all. It's going to be difficult to find out who did it and why, but on the other hand it's not something you can just let go. Also, school was scheduled to start on January 28th and my school has yet to start. So that's something else I'm trying to deal with. It's just all very frustrating. Tomorrow I have yet another meeting with PC staff to try and resolve yet another group of problems. I just want to be at a site where I am effective, wanted, SAFE and happy! We shall see.

But I HAVE been having a lot of fun. It's been really awesome having so many great volunteers on my island. We have made friends with some guys who are building mobile phone towers on the island who are from Bolivia. So we've sort of adopted them into our group because they are pretty much in the same situation as us, but only in a different line of work. So we hang out some weekends and have small get togethers, cook good meals or go to kava bars and just hang out. We had a good new years eve party with Dan's host family in Tautu with most of the volunteers on our island, too. Jack, a volunteer from South Malekula even brought a pig that we killed and roasted.

So I've been to Laura's site, who is northwest (i am northeast). She lives in Matanvat village. A few weeks ago she had a little housewarming party and McKenzie and I were able to head up there and spend some time with her family. Her mom made a HUGE lap lap that was delicious!

Lap Lap sur sur, or Volcano lap lap, is Malekula's signature form of lap lap. Lap lap is the staple food here in Vanuatu and what you can count on eating almost daily.

After we all ate we sat around and played cards until late into the night with her brothers and cousins. They are a lot of fun. Her site is very quiet and peaceful and it suites Laura perfect. The day after the housewarming party Laura, Kenzie and myself spent the afternoon up in the bush searching for fruit that was in season. We headed up into the gardens with our machetes and a bag and by the end of the day we were sweaty and tired but had a huge bag full of ripe mandarins, oranges, clemantines, grapefruits, lemons, limes, custard apples and avacodos.

That weekend we also headed even further north and explored the caves. I don't know too much about the history behind the caves or how they were formed or when, but the villagers took us on an awesome tour. Before entering the caves we had to blow in a conch shell as many times as there were visitors. There were 8 of us so Laura, Kenzie and I each got a chance to blow in the shell, which is said to clear the spirits out of the cave before we enter. Upon entering the dirt floor was scattered with the "footprints of the spirits" who has just fled the scene. I bent down and looked at the footprints a bit closer. "So these spirits wear Nikes?" I asked as I inspected the sneaker outlines marked with swoosh imprints. But after looking around more, there were a lot of cool sights inside the caves. Handprints all over the walls and symbols and tribal pictures that looked almost like hieroglyphics that are claimed to have been created in B.C. times. Regardless of the truth behind the caves, they are definitely a place I will go back to. I'm really looking forward to meeting Laura halfway on our bikes and creating workshops and other projects with our schools. She is definitely someone that I will be working very closely with over the next two years and I am looking forward to it. She is becoming like a sister to me! Actually Dan, Kenzie and Laura are pretty much my new family.

Well, I know it's been a while since I've written and I also have to apologize in advance if my English is sort of all over the place. Bislama has almost completely taken over our brains and it becomes really tough to switch back and forth between English and Bislama. I can just imagine how hard it will be to go back to English after 2 years.

Anyway, the biggest thing going on for me right now is that my site was changed. I am no longer going to Maewo. NOW, i'm going to an island called Malekula. More specifically, I'm going to a village called Lavalsal that is just across the water from a tiny island called Atchin. It's only about a ten minute canoe ride over and it's apparently gorgeous. I wish I knew more about Malekula but I did not have a walkabout so I'm sort of going to my site blind. I'm excited and all, but it was pretty frustrating for a while not knowing where I was going and hearing everyone talk all about their sites. The thing i am most sad about is not going back to my host family in Maewo. They were incredible, beautiful people and I'm really going to miss them. Not to mention my house was really nice--right on the water and concrete with 3 rooms, electricity, internet and i was even going to have a cell phone. I guess I should mention why I'm not going there anymore. I was replacing a volunteer and he decided to extend his service last minute, and although I had the option of staying in Maewo and sharing that site with him, I chose not to. I had a gut feeling that I would never have been able to fully integrate and make my own friends and my own name in Maewo. It's hard enough to follow in someone's footsteps after they leave the village, but nearly impossible to do when you are that person's shadow. He is an amazing volunteer and the village and schoool adore him, so although I will miss that site, I am glad a compromise was made. I still have plans to go back and visit my family on Maewo, so knowing that makes me feel better.

Okay so...Back to Malekula. If you look northeast, under TamTam Bungalows, you can see a tiny island called Atchin. I am directly across from that. Where I will be living is known as Big Atchin, and the tiny island is Small Atchin.

Some things i DO know about my site - it's an Second Day Advantist village and also a Mission School. The rules and lifestyle there are pretty strict. You aren't even allowed to swim or exercise on certain days. But the good thing about my new site is that it's got a lot of volunteers around me, including 4 from my training group alone, 3 of which are all very close to my village. Now including me, there are 14 Peace Corps volunteers on Malekula...not to mention a lot of Aussie volunteers and other organizations. So.. Dan and MacKenzie are a 30 minute truck drive away and trucks run constantly, so that's awesome. And it's about 300 vatu or around 3 dollars to take. My house won't have electricity or anything like that, but when i visit Kenzie and Dan their houses are really nice and have everything around them---even cold Tusker beer and cheese! Hemia noi. I'm replacing a really sweet and friendly girl named Melissa. She was nice enough, with the last minute changes, to leave me some things like a stove, pots, pans and even a solar shower so I can take hot showers. She also said my toilet is a real porcelain toilet bowl. She also left me a laptop computer so I can possibly continue constructing small technology classes as she did. I also know my house is on the water still and it is a blakc sand beach BUT it's full of sharks. A toursit was killed in 2005 and just last year another person was attacked but not killed. So I am not happy about that, but there are other beaches on Malekula that are safer that I can go to. I have to say after talking to her the other day I am really excited about my site and Malekula as a whole. Also, Malekula is known known as the party island. (sorry Mom)

The Malekula Crew

Here is a photo of all the volunteers from my group who are going to Malekula:

MacKenzie is on the left. She was a pilot before she came here. Then, Dan who is the youngest person in our group at 21 years old who just graduated from Princeton. Then there's Laura who is from Ohio! I had my flights from Cleveland to Chicago to LA our very first week, so she was the first person I met out of our group. Then last in the photo is Jack. He was born in Taiwan but has been all over the place since then. He will be living the farthest from me in the South...but still i think it's only about a 4 hour drive away. Dan and Kenzie will be in Lakatoro and Laura will be farther north than me.

Here are some facts about Malekula.

Malekula has more bungalows and conservation areas than neighbouring Santo, the biggest island. It's also Vanuatu's most culturally diverse island with some of the best kastom dancing. There's plenty of accommodation and transport on Malekula which makes island travel easier. The interior of Malekula is mountainous, rugged and forest-covered with good walking and bird watching. We are yet to visit the southwest which is expected to be excellent for bush walking. There are old cannibal sites hidden in the bush on north Malekula. We've heard of one that has human bones remaining (at most sites they've been removed or buried) but it's not open to tourists. The Maskelynes and the small offshore islands along the east coast of Malekula have sand beaches and coral reefs with good snorkelling and diving. Malekula is quite developed with good air links and satisfactory island transport. The island's economy is largely based on agriculture with extensive copra and cacao plantations on the eastern coastal plains around Norsup and Lakatoro. Norsup's past glory has faded and Lakatoro has taken over as the most important town in Malekula. Lakatoro has more stores, a market house, a National Bank of Vanuatu branch, an Air Vanuatu office, the main wharf and it's the administrative centre for MALAMPA province. Norsup has the provincial hospital. Both Norsup and Lakatoro have telephones and 24 hour electricity. Lamap is another faded town but important in south Malekula with a post office, medical clinic and a National Bank of Vanuatu branch. If you have to overnight at Lamap there's at least one guesthouse at Levis store, Port Sandwich (phone 48594). It's 1200 Vatu per person, per night, self catering. You can buy food at Levis store. With two airstrips, roads and regular transport, it is relatively easy and inexpensive to tour east and north Malekula. With an 'open-jaw' air ticket you can start at Lamap and finish at Lakatoro or vice versa. Starting from the south, you can visit the Maskelynes then travel north to Lakatoro. From Lakatoro you can visit Uri and Uripiv islands or continue north along the east coast to Sanwir and Vao. If you like walking it's easy to go all the way around the 'dog's head' via Wiawi. Also note that many Air Vanuatu flights between Port Vila and Santo pass via Malekula so it's easy to include Malekula with a trip to Santo.------------

Well, I'm running out of time at the cyber cafe. I just wanted to write a quick update. I'm not sure when I head off to Malekula. The rest of the group went this morning, but since I did not get to visit my site like everyone else, they are sending me with a Peace Corps staff member. He is not feeling well now and flights are booked until Sunday anyway, so I may be in Vila for a while. Which is okay with me. Right now I'm headed to Cascade Waterfalls followed by a trip to Hide-a-way Island with Jack, Ryan and probably a few other volunteers. We passed the cascades all the time when we lived in Mangaliliu and they look beautiful so I'm really excited. And Hideaway island is a resort, but PCV's get to go for free and snorkel and hang out. I would like to write about some other adventures I had here in Vila this week, so maybe tomorrow I will update backagain with pictures from the waterfalls, too.

One more thing, don't send me anymore emails to the address i gave you all before. They are done with that. I will have a new address this week so I will be sure to post it. But you can always email me at elinrenstrom@mac.com

I'll try to update again soon, hopefully with more information about my site. But other than that, everything here is really good. I have been less homesick and am more used to Vanuatu being my home. Here are a few more pictures from training. BUT, we are offically volunteers now. It's a good feeling. Sadly though, 2 people from our group went back to the states before we swore in, so now our group is 21.

L'Houstalet Pizza

(Eric, Me, Chris, Alyssa, Dan, Noa, Kenzie & Ryan)

Sanda and Dennis' house in Mangaliliu

(Jani, me, Sandra writing a workshop)

Snorkeling in Vila

Hanging out at Iririki Resort

Halloween

my host family in the training village (it was halloween thats why my face is painted)

my new puppy i am taking to site with me. im still thinking of a name....got any ideas?

me at the airport on my way to Maewo for walkabout

this is my little brother, Aldyer, and my host mom, Lily, in Maewo. they are part of my permanent family, who i will be with for the next 2 years. behind them, if you look closely, you can see one of the secondary classroom buildings--its blue with the windows.

this is my other brother Ronald.

this is my dad, Roland.

My time is almost up at the internet cafe now, so i have to close this post for now. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I wish i could be there with you all.

If anyone is dying to send me something, keep in mind the following:

-BOOKS!

-seeds to make a garden (especially herbs because we cannot buy them here)

-Name brand candy

-something i can do as a hobby, like origami books or a book to learn magic..or anything cool

-Guitar tabs...especially songs i like...send me some Beatles tabs or other songs everyone knows and loves

-and anything else i can entertain myself with--particularly things that i dont need batteries or electric to use

Love you and miss you all!! I'll be in Vila for almost a week next week so I will be sure to be in touch.

-Elin

I'm in the cyber cafe right now. It's Saturday here, about noon. Me and another volunteer are about to head to a soccer game to meet the rest of the group. The phones are down in town so we are very bummed that we can't call home. I tried to call mom, dad, stephi and tim repeatedly but no dice. There are no other phones that allow us to make international calls for cheap. We can buy a phone card but they only last about 3-5 minutes and are stupid expensive, so for the calls i want to make it wont really be worth it. But just know that I had every intention of calling home. I will be back in Vila on Wednesday, Tuesday for everyone else, so I will try and make some calls then.

other than that, things have been Okay. i've been having lots of ups and downs. Things here are a lot harder than I could have ever imagined. Thank you so much to EVERYONE who has sent me an email. It is the fastest and easiest way to communicate with me, although I cannot easily respond. But please know I appreciate all of the emails so much and everyday I hope that I hear from my friends and family back home. I read the emails i get over and over and although they make me cry because i get very homesick, it feels so good to hear about what everyone has been up to and to just know that you thought of me! In 2 weeks I move to Maewo and I am very scared and nervous.

I don't have a lot of time now. Like I said, Ryan and I are headed to the stadium to see Vanuatu vs. New Zealand in a soccer match. It should be very exciting. The game is well beyond sold out. We had to bring our own mat to sit on in the grass. Today is also Chris and McKenzie's birthday so we are all very fortunate to be able to celebrate their birthdays in town. I have plenty photos to upload, but Wednesday I will have more time to do that. Then on Dec 1 we will all be back in Vila for a few days so I will be making a lot of phone calls and sending many emails.

I miss everyone so much. It's hard because the days here are so slow, yet it feels like we have been here for months and months. But in the states I imagine that time is a bit different. It might seem like I haven't been gone that long.

Please think of me often. In these weeks to come I plan on updating with a lot of detail about how training has been so far. I want to tell everyone at home about all the wonderful people I have met in my group and in this country. i also have pictures of my new family in Maewo.

Randy if you are reading this, Happy Birthday :)

Love you all!

Elin

Well, I finally found out where my permanent site will be after Training. I'm headed to the island of Maewo, which is pronounced My-Whoa. For sake of time, I'm copying some stats from google. But luckily 2 volunteers were at our village last night for the 5 day feast so I got to speak to 2 people that are on Maewo, one of which I will be replacing eventually. It sounds awesome. I don't want to say too much about what I've found out because nothing is set in stone.

Maewo is an island in Vanuatu in Penama province, 105 km to the east of Espiritu Santo. It is 47 km long, and 6 km wide, with an area of 269 km². Its highest point is 795 m above sea level. In 1979 the island had a population of 1,772. Maewo is the island with the highest rainfall in Vanuatu, greater than 2 500 mm per year. Because of this, the island is well-wooded and fertile. The most notable city on the island is Lakarere, on the northwest coast. It was a frequent stop for boats seeking fresh water. Maewo is a beautiful island, full of green, lush vegetation. As mentioned before, it has the highest rainfall, but this ensures that there is plenty of fresh water and many beautiful waterfalls. There is also hot springs located in the central of Maewo.

This weekend we are all headed to another island to visit another volunteer. It will give us a chance to see how another volunteer lives and how it differs from Mangaliliu. We are going on Saturday morning, arriving Saturday afternoon. There will be food, drinks, custom events and then camping. Sunday morning we are hiking in a volcano! It's 45 dollars per person though and the Peace Corps is not helping us with any of the funding. It should be worth it though. Well my time on the cyber cafe computer is almost up. Click the map above to check out where Maewo is located. The map is tiny, but when you click it it should be massive. I love and miss everyone so much.

-elin

As some of you may have heard from me or the news, a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer died here in Vanuatu one week ago. His name was John Roberts and he was a Forestry volunteer on the island of Erromango, which is in Southern Vanuatu. He was a member of group 18b, which is a few groups before mine. We are called 20b. It was a freak accident. He was working with the community doing some landscaping and gardening and a ni-van boy was up in a tree trimming branches. He cut one small branch but when it fell it hit another larger, dead branch and it came crashing down and hit John Roberts and also another older ni-van man and killed them both. It's been a very sad week. We went to the funeral in Vila. The president of Vanuatu was there along with the first lady and prime minister. My heart feels so heavy lately just thinking about John. He was due to end his service and return home on November 18th, just one month from now. He was also an only child.

John's training village was also Mangaliliu, where I am now, so our village and our cheif played a huge role in the funeral and ceremony. Last night he had a 5 day feast in honor oh John and most of the volunteers from the other islands came to our training village along with all the staff and the country director. It turns out that John and I shared the same host family so in the eyes of the ni-vans we are brother and sister. So when we came into Vila for the funeral my mama, papa, aunt and uncle also came.

Yesterday evening we got word that John's body made it back to Omaha Nebraska and soon he will be laid to rest at his home. Late last night my aunt (my mama's younger sister) had a baby and named him John Roberts.

Hi Everyone!

I only have a few minutes to write. I'm in the Cyber Cafe in Port Vila and this is costing me money. We observed schools today and then had a little bit of time to do some shopping before we go back to Mangaliliu.

Please keep the e-mails coming. Even though I can't write back right away, I read them over and over again everyday. It's so good to hear about what's going on at home. I had so much to say but now I can't think of much to type. My family is nice. This Sunday we are taking a picture together after church so next Tuesday I will have some pictures to upload of my whole host family. I got some envelopes and stamps at the post office today so expect a letter from me sometime soon if you gave me your address. I miss everyone so much. I have to go now, but I'll upload pictures soon.

Please write and send pictures. Mom, the picture you sent me of when I was born is a huge hit. Everyone can't believe I have a picture of myself from the first day I was born. And everyone thinks we look alike here, too.

And tomorrow I find out my permanent site location so when I update this next Tuesday I should be able to tell everyone where my new home will be.

Thank you Mom and Dad for sending money and packages, it all helped me out immensely. Everything is so expensive here.

I hope everyone is happy and enjoying the fall weather. Although I heard it's still hot at home. It's hotter than hell here. The humidity is already outrageous and it's still winter. We are having a Halloween party here and everyone is really excited about it.

Talk to you all soon

Love you!!

-Elin

Hi everyone!

well, we just finished up our last day of pre-service training in Port Vila. We head out tomorrow for Mangaliliu. We are all very excited!! We had a great day of classes today. Started off with a nutrition lesson which included a great meal made with all local island food. They made us pizza out of manioc, coconut cake and we even had pumpkin soup. The weirdest thing we had was the pumpkin tops...or the vines. They showed us how to boil them, add some salt and onions, and then you can eat them. They weren't too bad. I would have never guessed you could eat the leaves and vines from the pumpkin. My favorite thing was green beans with garlic, onion, salt and nuts. I could eat that everyday. We got cookbooks and things to help us, too. It was all great.

Then after that we had our water safety lesson on a yacht. We learned how to fix a boat's engine, learned about all the harmful things to steer clear of in the ocean, and then we had about 3 hours to snorkel, swim and do whatever we wanted to do on and around the boat. It was so awesome and beautiful I can't even put it into words. Snorkeling was great. I saw some clown fish, starfish and even a sword fish. After snorkeling as we got ready to head back to the shore they had a table of fresh fruit, cookies, juice, tea and coffee for us. I am so happy to have so much fresh fruit. Grapefruit, Bananas, papaya, mango, everything.

There's been a really great music festival going on here since Thursay and it ends Sunday night. Thursday night was string band night, and then Friday and tonight its rock/pop type music. Last night was amazing. There was an AWESOME band from New Zealand called the Black Seeds. All of the Peace Corps volunteers were dancing and having a blast at the front of the stage along with some folks from New Zealand. It was funny though because it's customary for the Ni-Vanuatu to just sit and watch the concert instead of dancing and clapping. They enjoyed it, but its just a sign of respect to sit and observe. So there were about 30 or so white people clapping and singing and dancing and then a sea of thousands of ni-vans sitting behind us. They were probably thinking 'crazy americas.' I took some pictures but you'll have to wait to see them because i dont have time to load them right now.

Tomorrow we leave for Mangaliliu at 2pm. The village is about 200 people I think, or maybe less. They said if you stand at one end of the island and shout you can hear it at the other end. I have some other volunteers as my neighbors all around me, too. My host Mama is named Leifau and my host Papa is named Paul. They have two kids, a boy and a girl but I dont know how old they are.

During our two month training in Mangaliliu we will be coming back into Port Vila once a week on Wednesday (tuesdays for you) and teaching. Kind of like student teaching so we can get experience. They will give us time during those days home to check email, make phone calls and go to the market to stock up on anything we need. So don't worry, Mom and Dad, I will talk to you both again soon. I miss you and love you.

We only had 2 short Bislama lessons but I know how to say several things. I can carry on a conversation with someone as a greeting. Like hi, how are you, whats your name and so on. I can also barter at the mama market and buy things.

Hallo, olsem wanem? I good?, bae yu? I good. Wanem nem blong yu? Nem blong mi, Elin. Mi glad tumas mitim yu. Ale tata.

Hemes blong ai? Wanem nem blong hemai? Wanem ai?

;-)

Oh, we also made it to the second page in the Vanuatu newspaper and our picture is in there along with a great article. I'll try to snag a few copies and send them home.

Lukem yu (see you later)

Love, Elin

(the fist picture it outside of our hotel rooms. the second one was from welcome ceremony)

getting off the plane in Vanuatu

Ok, so other people are getting letters but i haven't received anything yet. One guy even got 2 letters already. What the heck people? It's depressing.

Anyway, for the next 3 months, if you want to write me at all, email is probably the quickest way. send the email to volunteer@vu.peacecorps.gov and in the subject line write "elin renstrom 20b". they will print all my emails out and bring them to my training village every week. Our training village is on the island of Mangaliliu and there is no electricity. That's about all I know.

Please keep in touch, I really miss everyone! Check back for more updates and pics this week.

love, elin

welcomed by locals and current volunteers with coconuts, leis and lava lavas

on a bus in LA

eating papaya or paw paw at Irikiki resort

Here is the full group! Pictures from a great last night out in LA, although during dinner we couldn't all fit at one table. We enjoyed our last evening in America in a hot tub, too! Woo!

xoxo

Hey all!!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I arrived safely in LA for staging. Although I already leave tomorrow! Things are happening so fast and it's very exciting. Our hotel is really nice, the people treat us great and the PC hooked us up with some spending money. The entire group includes 23 people and they are all great! We have an awesome mix of age, assignments and geography. There's a woman who has 7 grand kids, a guy from hawaii and so many other interesting people---it's wonderful.

We depart tomorrow the 20th, at 9:30pm and head to Auckland, New Zealand. A note to my mom and dad, they made a mistake on the itinerary and we actually don't arrive in Vanuatu until Setp. 22, not the 21st. Which makes a lot more sense. Talk about a loooong flight.

Well, orientation is over for today so the group is meeting for dinner now. We've got to soak up California while we can. Yesterday the small number of us (i think 8) who arrived a day early went to Santa Monica and had dinner on the pier and then put our feet in the ocean and watched the sunset. Awesome!

I love you all and miss you so much already!

Here's a few pictures for now

xoxo

Elin

I booked my flights for the Peace Corps!

My first flight departs out of Cleveland Hopkins Airport at 10:26am on September 18th. From there, I fly to The Ohare Airport in Chicago at 10:50 where I will wait for a connecting flight to take off again at 11:30. From there the plane flies straight thru to LAX Airport in Los Angeles, California landing at 1:55pm.

In LA is where Peace Corps Staging will take place for about 2 days. I will be arriving a day early in LA though, along with some other volunteers. On our extra day we will probably get acquainted with one another. I am also lucky because Laura, a fellow volunteer, is also flying out of Cleveland and we arranged to have the same flights. We even get to sit next to each other on the planes. It will be nice having someone to talk to on the flights and to land in LA with.

During staging we will be getting to know everyone in our group, along with a lot of orientation classes. We don't receive our vaccinations until we are in-country...which makes no sense to me. Anyway, Staging ends on the 20th, which is when we fly out of LA at 9:30pm. Our flight is being routed through New Zealand, so at 5:15am on the 21st we will arrive in Auckland. I am unsure of how long we will be spending in New Zealand. From there...it's Hello Vanuatu.

From September 21 - December 1, 2007 I will be on the island of Efate for Training. While I'm in training I will be living with a host family. I will have my own room, but have to share everything else with the family such as the bathroom and kitchen. I don't know anything at all about my host family yet, but I am very anxious to meet them. It's so weird to think that in just a few weeks I'll be living with a strange family in a foreign country!

Well, after some missing papers and a bit of confusion, I finally turned in my updated resume and aspiration statement. I think my resume turned out okay but the aspiration essay gave me a bit of trouble. I wasn't exactly sure how to answer some of the questions, but I just put the response that came to mind first. I am waiting for a reply from the country desk saying that everything was filled out and answered correctly. I think it's such a pain that after you're accepted they still make you write more essays! Oh well. I guess it's supposed to help the country desk find a suitable host family for me. Now, all I have left to do is fax my final transcripts, sign for power of attorney, and get my loans deferred. I have some more supplies to buy also like a backpack, solar charger, and sandels. Things are coming along though, finally! I have about 1 month, 3 weeks to go.