A few weekends ago when a Friday nakamal evening was winding down, Roger, Ygit, and I filled a plastic bottle with the last of Densly’s kava and headed back to Roger’s kitchen to drink it late into the night. Roger and Ygit are two of my favorite people in Vanuatu. I actually have no idea [...]
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It’s hard sometimes to be in a place where there are 4 different development volunteers. People assume that you’re all best friends, or even that you’re essentially all the same person. It’s even made me less inclined to visit my host family, because all they talk about is the other volunteers. I mean, call me [...]
Click here to see the photos I’ve uploaded onto Facebook this week!
Warning: super long entry! In February I returned to site from Vila on the first day of school. A lot has changed in the office… First, ZCA Madame Georgeline has officially taken over as Acting PEO until interviews for the position begin. Supposedly we’re going to have a new PEO as early as August, but [...]
There are wild horses on Tanna. They used to be on more islands but humans have taken their toll. There are also tourist places that offer horse riding on Santo and in Vila. As far as I know, those are the only places in the country where there are horses. So you can imagine my [...]
So we don’t have internet in Torba right now. The solar panel that runs the system has a dead part, and the new part had to be ordered from Australia, which can take anywhere from two months to two years. I’m keeping my expectations low. Anyway. I am now in Luganville town on Espiritu Santo [...]
So Monday morning we all went to the airport and waited for our flight. Because of rain, we hadn’t had a flight in over a week, and people were stressing out. I’ve never seen so many people at the airport – everyone was trying to get onto one flight (a plane with 17 seats, of [...]
This post was written in several parts, between 31 January and 5 February. So, I’m pretty sure the apocalypse has started. It is 2012 now, after all. In the past two weeks, we in Vanuatu have had three “tropical lows” move through the country, a 7.1 earthquake, and ridiculous flooding (in Sola, at least). At [...]
Saturday my papa took us alligator hunting. Vanualava is the only island in Vanuatu with alligators – they were brought down by Bishop Patteson and live in a river (Alligator River) and a swamp near Port Patteson (settled by said bishop). Sometimes they sunbathe on the beach, sometimes they swim out to the tiny uninhabited [...]
(continued from Christmas blog) I headed back to Gene’s on Santo on the 28th to find our Pentecost friends already here for New Years. The 29th was Champagne Beach, a perfect white-sand beach on the northern end of the East coast of Santo. It was AMAZING. But of course I got really sunburned. Then I [...]
So my vacation started with some panic (as all good vacations do, right?). My inept Air Vanuatu agent had written 12:30pm on my ticket, so my check-in time was 11:30am. Jimmy Jones, our good old semi-senile truck driver came to my house to get me at 11 to take me to the airport. The first [...]
Not too much going on around here because it’s almost Christmas. Everything shuts down around Christmas. Partly for the holiday, and partly because of the heat. Plus Sola turns into a ghost town. No one is actually FROM Sola. Sola has only existed for about ten years to accommodate provincial government, and everyone is from [...]
Many of you who read this blog are friends of mine from various camps in Michigan. Therefore, many of you who read this blog know that the following is true: Every good camp starts with catastrophe. The biggest issue for me going into camp was the complete lack of support. The first issue is being [...]
December 1 was World AIDS Day. Lucy had a great program lined up, opening with a parade through the village, continuing with sports events, a community feast, and all sorts of entertainment, and concluding with a Mother Hubbard dress/dance contest. Lucy and I entered under one entry. We decided to be a little unorthodox, and [...]
Last weekend I took a long weekend and went to Motalava for all of Kerry’s farewell festivities. Friday afternoon was her farewell kakae (feast) at her school. They combined it with the 8th grade recognition ceremony (the school is grades 1-8). There was lots of salusalu-ing and speech making, and they even gave me a [...]
Topics of the moment: - heat - water shortage - health workshop It has been UNBEARABLY hot and humid for the past two weeks. Motalava JUST reappeared through the haze for the first time in six days. (And we know it’s haze, because we have no air pollution here). It’s just ridiculous. Last weekend I [...]
The blog everyone’s been waiting for!! Disclaimer: I’m really trying hard to present all these facts as an unbiased story. I’m posting it because it is a completely different perspective than how I would have ever looked at anything, which is not saying that it is right or wrong. Take everything as you will. I [...]
So much has happened in the past week I’m not even sure what to begin with! But most of it was my trip to West Vanualava, or “narasaed” (the other side). Stanley and I headed over to do a two-day workshop on Classroom Management that I wrote using some materials Peace Corps had provided us [...]
…is it waking up at 6am on a Saturday to bushwhack with my 7-year-old neighbors? I am pleased to report that after a year, I am slightly more coordinated with my bushknife than they are with theirs. Although they’re still much more efficient garden clearers. We’re clearing a big bush area between my house and [...]
HI!!! We have internet again!!! It’s possibly a secret (here) but Lucy and I are sneaking it for now. The people who were angry with each other a few months back are still slightly angry and are discussing options with all the “big men” in Vila that should be controlling the internet rules. We’ll see [...]
My mental state has drastically improved over the past few days. The PCMO basically diagnosed me with “midservice crisis,” and prescribed the extra time in Vila and the massage, which I mentioned already. But it turned out there was actually some medical stuff going on too… The preferred anti-malarial drug used by Peace Corps is [...]
… It happens. I know most of you want to be like, “how can you be depressed when you live on a tropical island and drink coconuts for breakfast?” The isolation gets to you. The state of the education system gets to you. (The state of the health system gets to health volunteers, respectively). Work [...]
A year has passed. I thought I’d write a little summary of the roller coaster, and for those of you just joining us, here’s what you may have missed: September 9th – Leave home, sobbing through the Detroit airport. What the heck am I doing? 10th – Staging in Los Angeles. Key-phrase of the day: [...]
You know how sometimes you’re telling a story of something amazing/hilarious/ridiculous that happened, and when you’re finished, everyone just kind of looks at you like you’re an idiot? Awkward, right? And then you mumble something like, “you had to be there,” because if your audience shared your point of view, it really would be a [...]
…No, really. I am. Independence Day here is 30 July, and is the most raucous time of year. I flew back to Sola on 29 July to find that the football field was bordered by makeshift “stalls” on two sides, a stage had been set up in the middle, and one end had brand new [...]
Things that caught me off guard in Vila… - I was walking down the street when someone shouted, “Good Morning!” in the local language of Mota Lava. I didn’t recognize the guy who was waving… in fact I would have told you I’d never seen him before in my life. But apparently I had, because [...]
On 29 July my alarm rang at 5am and I was disappointed to hear a soft rain outside the hotel window. Great omen for the day. I had done quite a bit of shopping and stocking up on things to bring back with me (things you can only get in Vila or Santo) and wrestled [...]
…was excellent. When they finally got here. We started with some stupid airline agents in the U.S., forcing Mom, Steph, and Grandma to be stranded in Los Angeles for two days without their bags. I was relaying the whole story to Gaea’s mom in the PC office on Tuesday (9 hours after my family should [...]
I accidentally had a super American moment yesterday when I panicked when I thought I missed my flight. There were two flights, but they were set up so that the planes touched down 3 times – the first was Santo-Sola-MotaLava-Torres-Sola-Santo, and the second was Santo-Sola-Gaua-Santo (planes work like buses in Torba…) Leslie confirmed that I [...]
I’m in Vila! Woohoo!! After 5 months and 6 days in the Banks (but who’s counting?) I have come back to the land of supermarkets, ice cream, and terrifying traffic. During the next three weeks, I hope to enjoy fresh fruit, meat, and dairy products (really just everything that’s not rice and beans) without ending [...]
My family is coming to visit in July. Yayyyy! They’re only coming as far as Vila though, so I have to get myself there to see them. Travel in this country is always an adventure, and my adventure started six weeks early. I want to fly to Vila on Friday, July 8. We currently only [...]
I’ve eaten REALLY well this week. Which made me realize… I haven’t written about food yet. I lose track of what I’ve shared and what I haven’t and I’ve been here long enough that I’m starting to forget that my life is not normal by American standards. Most of the reminders of this come when [...]
So much for “dry season.” My bathroom drain is flooded. I think the pipe is plugged. But also, my neighborhood is built on a swamp and the land is not draining properly. I’m actually really lucky though – everything is still going down the toilet. My neighbors have the opposite problem – their drains are [...]
As annoying as my rat problems are, the VSO house is even worse. It has concrete walls, a tin roof, and even a separate ceiling, so there should be no trouble. But a few months back, the giant tree beside the house was chopped down and the stump was partially burned. The rats that lived [...]
Our VSO volunteer threw a small party Monday night with a bottle of wine she saved from her last trip to Vila. It was a good time – all 5 volunteers (new JICA just arrived that day) and a guy who works with the health vols. A party is almost guaranteed to be a success [...]
Brenda and Kerry came yay! Brenda brought goodies from Vila… apples and honey (which I asked for), and carrots, Mars bars, and Snickers (which were all a surprise). She brought stuff for cooking a fancy lunch too – vermicelli, rice paper, and sweet chili sauce, and we made these little veggie rolls. Brenda stayed in [...]
I’m suddenly BUSY. It’s great. The weeks are starting to fly by. Last week we had our End-of-First-Quarter meeting, and I finally got to present the Provincial Observation Form I’d made in February, and the Reading Assessment I’m going to start this month. Got to prove that I’ve actually been doing something at my desk [...]
March 23, 2011 March has been a bad month for Digicel. First Cyclone Atu took out the network for a few days, then nobody knew why the network was down for a few MORE days. The 9th and 10th it came back, the 11th it was back out (just in time for the tsunami). In [...]
To preface: yes, I am fine! The clerk (basically the one-man provincial judicial system [and also a neighbor]) came to my house at 8pm Friday (March 11) to tell me he’d just turned on his radio and heard news about an earthquake in Japan and a tsunami warning for basically the entire Pacific. Honestly, I [...]
March 10 was the six-months-since-staging mark! Six months down, twenty to go. In the past six months I have… read 20 books (13 in Nov/Dec only) made >15 friendship bracelets written ~75 pages of journal lost 10 pounds, gained back 5, and lost an unknown couple again worn socks 1 time worn long pants 0 [...]
March 10, 2011 I’ve been struggling to figure out my job here. I’m based at the PEO office, as explained in previous posts. I have a list of stuff to accomplish there in 2011. Half of the things are small though, and could be accomplished within a month if I really cracked down. In fact, [...]
February 25, 2011 The first two weeks of school have passed without much ado. The first day was the 14th – I went in the morning and I was “salusalu”ed (official cultural welcome) along with Koki, the school’s Japanese volunteer teacher. I haven’t been since then though because there’s been work in the office. Sort [...]
February 15, 2011 (posting delayed thanks to Cyclone Atu, then technical difficulties involving my laptop) Yes, I am in the Banks, and yes, I really am using the internet! It’s pretty awesome. We have internet in two places: 1. At the clinic (which I mentioned in my last post), which is about a half [...]
Letters are on the way!! Hope the wrist is not too bad. Should I send more meds?
Cool!! I had not been able to figure out how to do the links yet, so I am glad you were able to do that! I love the pictures of the really little kids - especially the mani/pedi day!!
I just looked at the country map and figured out how they named most of the provinces...thanks to your formula for Torba! Pretty sweet!
This is so much fun, learning about your adventures is a great education for me! Thank you for sharing, Amanda!
Cool photos! Love the update - I will create a link to your photos for you later today.
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