Peace Corps Journals / Vanuatu / all updates

2010 So Far: The Practical

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 08:03:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Amanda Abroad...)
I prefer not to think of this blog as "abandoned". Let's just say it has just been...dormant for various reasons...none of which are interesting enough to explore here. Although I suppose it must b ...
32 reads

Tsunami Warning.... Part III

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:11:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Quarter Life Crisis - Vanuatu)
The news article below details some of the panic we experienced here yesterday. I was sleeping in a village called Mele when banging on the door disturbed my sleep at 5 AM. I opened the door half-asle ...
9 reads

Probably last post before leaving Vila

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 04:05:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Vanuatu Voyage)
(from last week....so before a new site was in question)Human Touch (and a shooting star) After a long week of work...or rather lack there of...and struggling to not tick my principal off by saying n ...
20 reads

Walk to Naviso

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 02:33:16 +0800

(Vanuatu / Peace Corps Vanuatu)
I am not an experienced hiker. In fact I believe I’ve done more hiking in my service here in Vanuatu than I ever did back in the U.S. I’m not necessarily a city girl but I come from a suburb jus ...
11 reads

Music Video DVD

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:35:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Quarter Life Crisis - Vanuatu)
Over the past 6 months I have made a new hip-hop CD in Bislama the pidgin language of Vanuatu with a couple of songs in English as well. With the encouragement of friends and locals I have started ...
14 reads

The ever present volcano

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:48:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Vanuatu Voyage)
0 reads

Running with the Bulls in Spain

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:54:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Vanuatu Voyage)
February 20 2010Okay so I didn’t actually run with the bulls in Spain but yesterday morning I attempted some exercise and these three bullock (cows) started running next to me for about half a mile ...
7 reads

February 19 2010

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:53:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Vanuatu Voyage)
School has not started. The students are here but we are still down two teachers. Quite a bit has happened in the past month actually. Two GAP volunteers moved to my school from England and will be ...
8 reads

February 18 2010

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:51:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Vanuatu Voyage)
Man it’s been awhile. I don’t even remember when my last entry was. Let’s start with my two weeks in Vila in January. That first week happened to be the hottest week Vila had seen in while an ...
7 reads

Hip Hop - Vanuatu

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 01:55:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Quarter Life Crisis - Vanuatu)
I wrote the following excerpt for our Peace Corps newsletter. It details some of my musical activities here in Vanuatu...(Myself performing at Fes Naupuan the biggest music festival in Vanuatu - in f ...
17 reads

Picture Update

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 04:33:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Quarter Life Crisis - Vanuatu)
Here is the link to the my latest batch of photos:http://www.facebook.com/a lbum.php?aid=2035295&id=7580 0509&l=664b8469fb
15 reads

Introducing Super Man

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 23:44:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Quarter Life Crisis - Vanuatu)
This is my puppy "Super Man"! Even though I will not be on the island much longer I felt sorry for him and decided to take care of him while I'm here. It is probably obvious with all the recent posts ...
52 reads

Love Your Pets

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:29:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Quarter Life Crisis - Vanuatu)
A Canadian pastor and his wife came to the island and distributed free Bislama Bibles to locals this week. They were blissfully unaware of all the problems occurring here at the moment. They led a por ...
16 reads

The Man with No Shame

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:49:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Quarter Life Crisis - Vanuatu)
Considering the nature of his crimes I should not be surprised by any of my former counter-part's actions.He has shown a complete lack of remorse and shame. He walks around the village with his head ...
16 reads

To My New Filing Cabinet...

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:44:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Amanda Abroad...)
You only cost $5 on TradeMe.And though it appears I rescued you from certain destruction I don’t know how you feel about your new GL digs.It sure is a long way from Parnell.I’ll let you in on a li ...
8 reads

Suspension!?!

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:39:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Quarter Life Crisis - Vanuatu)
Have learned a lot more about my former counterpart of the timber project who sexually abused his step daughter. Some locals finally found the courage to share some information with me after his lates ...
20 reads

Work

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:40:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Quarter Life Crisis - Vanuatu)
Since stepping into the shoes of manager of Aneityum Forest Timber I have been very busy. Finished our End of Year Report and made a budget for 2010- since the old manager never put much stock in pla ...
6 reads

The Counterpart (1/12/10)

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 01:15:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Quarter Life Crisis - Vanuatu)
It has been a terrible week for me along with many others on the island. Some very disturbing revelations came about involving my work counterpart the manager of the timber project. To the surprise ...
60 reads

Now What?

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 01:39:24 +0800

(Vanuatu / Ed's Blog)
Sometimes things change around here because of forces beyond yourself and sometimes they just happen because of yourself. We’ve been here in Port Vila for 2 weeks now living out of a hotel ro ...
22 reads

Theft- Part II

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:41:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Quarter Life Crisis - Vanuatu)
Aneityum has a reputation for theft. Normally you can leave your door unlocked and never worry about something being stolen in rural Vanuatu. That is not the case here.Theft even occurs in the garden ...
6 reads

Beth’s view Feb.

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 03:00:58 +0800

(Vanuatu / Ed's Blog)
Well I have let Ed write all our news but I thought I should let you know I am still here with him. I am fumbling my way through. Okay I have not done any of the things I have said I would do like get a goat and chickens and build an oven to [...]
8 reads

"Theft on Aneityum" (1/11/10)

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:14:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Quarter Life Crisis - Vanuatu)
Contrary to what most tourists believe after their brief visits here Aneityum has its problems too. Yes it may look like tropical paradise but the same vices and dangers lurk here as they do most ev ...
5 reads

"Footprints" (1/10/10)

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:17:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Quarter Life Crisis - Vanuatu)
Locals here have an uncanny ability to read footprints and tell who left them. Footprints along the sand beach clay or mud paths reveal much information to a skilled observer. Shoe or no shoe width ...
5 reads

Going Back to Pentecost...

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 01:24:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Our Antarctica)
Hello everyone! Lucas and I will be going back to our beautiful island tommorow on the boat. We are happy to get back and anxious to see how the gardens are and our animals are. I had a really inte ...
9 reads

"A New Year a New Blog" (1/3/10)

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:22:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Quarter Life Crisis - Vanuatu)
I apologize for not being diligent with my blog postings lately. One factor behind the sparse updates is the terrible phone service we have been experiencing for the last few months. Dial-up internet ...
19 reads

The Girl under the Mango Tree

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:44:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Vanuatu Voyage)
On my way into town today I saw a girl sitting under a mango tree by the side of the road. Mango trees are popular places for napping socializing and so on. But this girl was sitting alone against ...
14 reads

Pictures just arrived

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:20:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Vanuatu Voyage)
...
22 reads

The Girl Under the Mango Tree

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:02:00 +0800

Air Vanuatu

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:16:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Our Antarctica)
Sometimes we can look at how pretty the water is and how everyone is living in relative harmony and how the Ni-vans political views don't include opinions on war and I could go on and on about how gr ...
5 reads

Untitled

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 02:23:07 +0800

(Vanuatu / Ed's Blog)
0 reads

Some Pics – scattered in time

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:45:28 +0800

(Vanuatu / Ed's Blog)
Note: January 31 2010 – The photos attached are random ones that go back as far as training village in October. It’s very difficult to upload pictures with the inadequate bandwidth on the ...
6 reads

Jared's Thanksgiving: Murder Most Fowl

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 01:24:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / A Vatu For My Thoughts)
On Thanksgiving me Amy and Chris assembled at the house of two married Peace Corps volunteers in nearby Lamen Bay. Their names are Pierce and Hannah. They're from Georgia and they're very nice. They ...
11 reads

rang tavuha

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 01:05:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Our Antarctica)
On probably about 5 different occasions this past week in Port Vila people have said "rang tavuha" to me as I walked by them on the street. This is the 'hello' greeting in the northern Pentecost langu ...
1 reads

Updated Her Blog

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:30:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / See Niki B...)
From November 10th to January 15th there are new posts - so check them out!!!! I'm still working on putting pics but internet is just too slow - ugh! On the boat to the airport on Tongoa and Tongariki ...
0 reads

living the Vila life

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:26:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Our Antarctica)
Alex and I are chilling in Port Vila not really chilling as much as Alex is going to class everyday for hours and hours and I'm we'll I'm pretty much chilling let's be honest. Yesterday I spent ho ...
9 reads

To answer your questions....

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:24:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Our Antarctica)
To answer some questions from recent emails:Are you in your little house?No sadly our house is not finished yet. We left a list of everything that needed to be finished and tried to talk strong a li ...
11 reads

My Two Lives

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 11:12:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / What's Up Amy Chan?)
Now that I have completed a year of service (plus 3 months of training) and I've had the opportunity to visit stateside I've had some time to reflect on this past year and the experiences I've had. W ...
1 reads

Random Pic Posting

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 05:29:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / A Vatu For My Thoughts)
Some more pics of the ceremony that necessitated the slaughter of the pig pictured in the previous post. One guy from Malvasi knocked up a girl from a different village and so she came to Malvasi t ...
16 reads

Trouble in Paradise; Jared's Thumb Assum ...

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:26:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / A Vatu For My Thoughts)
Okay things are getting tougher here in Malvasi. I'm not going to lie or sugar-coat it. I've had a rough couple of weeks. But of course this is what I was expecting and indeed is part of the reason ...
26 reads

Welcome to Malvasi

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:03:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / A Vatu For My Thoughts)
Well I've emerged from the steamy jungle depths for another period of basking in the sunny glow of civilization: electricity internet flushing toilets white man food refridgerated goods etc. How ...
14 reads

Untitled

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 06:01:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Our Antarctica)
hello everyone Alex and I survived our first two months on the island and are currently back in Port Vila the capital city for two and a half weeks or so. Alex has her early service training for t ...
18 reads

Back in the . . . Van - u - a - tu

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:23:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Hopeful Traveler)
It doesn't exactly have the same ring as "Back in the USSR" but it's the best I could do. Readjusting has been . . . ok. There are things that made me smile as soon as I stepped off the plane (the big ...
8 reads

"Take care of your self...

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:21:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Our Antarctica)
"Take care of your self and don't do more than you supposed to do and don't do less than you are supposed to" - I found this quote I had written it down with the plan to blog about it at some point ...
5 reads

January 15th

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:18:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Our Antarctica)
it's friday night we leave on tuesday (or wednesday depending on when the ship arrives) to head into Vila for two and a half weeks for alex's early service conference. We'll spend this weekend clea ...
6 reads

January 12

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:17:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Our Antarctica)
The last two days have been the two hottest days I've experienced in my life. It hasn't rained the last two days either making it the driest I've experienced on Pentecost Island (as we arrived after ...
6 reads

January 13

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:17:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Our Antarctica)
8 pm on a wednesday night we just finished a meal of sweet potatoes cooking bananas (I think we would call them plantains in America but I've never known much about tropical foods here we call the ...
1 reads

January 10th

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:15:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Our Antarctica)
My hand feels so much better! it's nice to be able to type. I've been taking antibiotics to stave off infection as the gash is pretty substantial and all my other injuries that have taken forever to ...
2 reads

January 10th 2nd post

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:15:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Our Antarctica)
Went to church this morning then to check progress on our house we have one window cover and both doors have been framed - getting closer.I made my fingers sore playing the guitar too much today.I t ...
0 reads

January 9th 2nd post

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:14:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Our Antarctica)
it's saturday we're doing well thanks so much for all the gifts we received in the mail today. there's a decent chance that folks worked on our house today so Alex and I are anxious to go and chec ...
0 reads

January 9th

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:13:00 +0800

(Vanuatu / Our Antarctica)
Dear blog Lucas and I got two packages today from Maggie and Jane & Obie (thank you so much everything is lovely we especially loved the chocolate) Lucas' host papa Bob brought the packages from t ...
2 reads