Mass Texts

I get numerous texts a day that are advertisements and information. It can get pretty annoying, especially when I think a text is from a friend and it’s actually from Digicel (the phone carrier) saying “NEW DATA BUNDLE for 1 hour at ONLY 25VT!” There are also informational texts that are sent out from I believe the government (but I’m not positive on that) that send information on cyclones. There are also a ton of random texts that are send from who knows who, about very random things, that sometimes make me chuckle. So here is a random sampling of texts that I have received recently. I’ll put the English below the text, but if you read the Bislama out loud you can probably figure out most of it! 

1. Sent from: Yumi Redi!

Sapos u stap klosap lo wan volkeno u mas save ol sef rod mo denja eria blo volkeno. Sapos volkeno I faeroap u mas muv aot mo protektem u lo rabis gas blo volkeno!

(If you live near a volcano, you must know all the safe roads and dangerous areas. If the volcano explodes, you must move away and protect yourself from the bad fumes of the volcano.)

2. Sent from: Bodi Fact

Yu save se nose blo yu I save rimembarem 50,000 smel! Blo save moa abaot ol bodi facts, visitim http://www.factslides.com/s-Your-Body

(Did you know that your nose can remember 50,000 smells! To learn more facts about the body, visit http://www.factslides.com/s-Your-Body)

3. Sent from: +1644

Kash Kash mo moa Kash! 200,000VT I save blo yu lo Novemba ia wetem fulap giveaways! Texam KICK iko lo 1644 naia spos no bae yu mestem! 20VT/txt.

(Cash, cash, and more cash! 200,000 vatu can be yours this November with lots of giveaways! Text kick to 1644 now before you miss it! 20 vatu/text)

4. Sent from: Fun Fact

Yu save wanem, lo wan paket blo playing card king blo heart hemi only king we emi nokat moustache! Blo moa Only Fact go lo …..

(Do you know that in one deck of cards, the king of hearts is the only king that doesn’t have a moustache! To find out more only facts, go to…)

Sometimes I forget what is normal in the US, but in the US phones don’t get multiple random texts like this a day, right? Anyways, here is a look into mass phone texts that are sent in Vanuatu.

August-December Roundup

I had thought that I would do a quick round up of what I have been doing every two months or so, but I haven’t since the end of July! So here are the main points of what has been going on and what I have been doing from August until now (mid-December).

-          -August brought about the end of the second (of three) terms at the school. During the break I did an English camp with classes 5 and 6. I basically did the same kind of English camp that I did in Korea, but I just took out or modified anything that required money or technology. It was a fun week!

Some students at camp.

  -       -At the end of August I went to Santo for vacation for a week. I already wrote about this in another blog post so I won’t elaborate on it. I also visited two volunteers on Ambae, in my quest to walk to all the volunteers on Ambae (four down, three to go). 

A blue hole in Santo

-      - September brought the start of the third and last term at school. I continued to teach English every day until the end of November, when the school year ended.

Some students playing a game during break.

-         - In the middle of September, a group of Australians came to the village for a week. They are trying to set up a partnership between their church in Australia and some of the churches on Ambae. It was an interesting week, filled with a lot of church and English.

The Australians at the school for a day.

-         - In October I went to a Project Design and Management workshop in Port Vila. The workshop itself was just alright, but the best parts of the week were being able to eat different food, see other volunteers, and go to a music festival that luckily happened to be going on that week.

Music festival in Port Vila.

-          -At the end of October a safety and security manager from Peace Corps headquarters came to Vanuatu and our country director took him to Ambae and Maewo (one of the islands I can see from my porch). I was lucky that they let me hop on the trip and I got to see all nine volunteers on Maewo! Maewo is stunning. It was a quick two day trip, but I am hoping to get a chance to go back again!

View from a hike to see a volunteer on Maewo.

-        -  In October the community had a meeting and it was decided that I will work on a solar project. In November I submitted a grant to help cover the costs, and I am hoping that that project can be successfully completed in the next few months. 

-        -  In November a friend stayed with me for a week. Luckily she was here when the presidential election happened so I didn’t have to be alone for that! We just sat on my porch staring at the view waiting for people from the US/people with internet to message us with the updates and the final result. It was surreal. 

-        -  I celebrated Thanksgiving with another volunteer and some people from the village. I’ll probably write a blog post about the holidays later, but it was a really nice Thanksgiving celebration!

Thanksgiving!

-         - In the beginning of December I went to gorgeous Nguna, an offshore island of Efate, for a Kamp GLOW/BILD (girls leading our world/boys in leadership development) training of trainers. It was a really fun and informative week, made all the better that we could swim in the ocean every day!

A view on Nguna island.

 -An old chief from the village died while I was in Nguna, but I arrived back in the village for the memorial service and the 10 day commemoration after his death. The village killed seven cows and cooked mountains of taro. It took a whole day of preparation but the food was delicious! It was interesting to see the kustom surrounding death, although it was hard to handle all the loud wailing continuously happening.

Preparing food for the 10 day

So that is basically what I have been up to for the past few months. When I write it down it seems like a lot has been going on, although I haven’t really accomplished anything and I still have a lot of free time. Here’s to a busy and productive 2017!

Life is Different Here

A list of some things that are normal here that are maybe not normal at home:

-Using only rainwater for all water needs- drinking, washing, cooking, etc
-Having no light pollution and being able to clearly see the night sky
-Charging everything by solar power
-Wearing skirts and flip flops everyday
- Having to go outside to use the toilet and bathe
-Eating all local and organic produce
-Walking over 2 hours (each way) through the bush to see a friend
-Stocking up on dried foods, coffee, spices, and hot sauce while in one of the two towns since they're not available on Ambae
-Taking small planes to leave the island
-Never looking at a mirror bigger than my head
-Walking 1 hour and 40 minutes (each way) to pay to use the internet
-Spending a lot of time at church and at church related activities
-Hiking in flip flops
-Watching how bananas grow
-People showing up at your house at 6 am and they're surprised that you were still in bed
-Classes being dismissed early because their teacher didn't show up
-Kids running around with big knifes
-Being really excited when apples show up in the store in town
-Waiting for the bell (an empty gas canister) to ring to know that events are starting
-Sitting and waiting hours for a truck that may or may not come

Transportation

Getting around Vanuatu can be a hassle and expensive. Consisting of 60 odd inhabited islands with a land mass the size of  but spread out over the length of California, it's pretty safe to say that many ni-Vans don't get a chance to see most of their own country. So far I've been to 5 islands- Efate (where Port Vila is and one training village), Moso (an offshore island of Efate where we had training), Ambae (where I'm living), Santo (where I went during a school break for a week), and Aore (an offshore island of Santo with a resort)- which is more than many ni-Vans from Ambae who I've spoken with. I'm hoping to go to a few more while I'm in Vanuatu, as every island is different. Even villages within the same island are very different! Anyways, back to transportation. These are the methods that I've used to get around the country since arriving in Vanuatu.

-Plane
Obviously this is how I first arrived in Vanuatu, but since then I've boarded a plane 12 times (often when going to or from Vila, there is a transfer in Santo). From Vila to Santo there is a big plane, but the planes to the outer islands seat only 18 or 20. One time I flew on a chartered flight, which only sat 5! There are flights to Ambae four days every week.

-Boat
At the second training village on Moso, we often took small boats to get around. It's the only way to get off the small island (other than swimming across). On Ambae, small boats are used to go to the Western part of the island, as the roads on either side don't connect. Small boats are also used to go across to Maewo, a nearby island that only gets flights once a week.

-Truck
The most common form of transportation around Ambae! A lot of people and things can pile into the back of truck. There are a few trucks that run at regular times into Saratamata,  the provencial capital,  but most of the time a truck has to be chartered. It can get expensive to charter a truck and I've only done it a few times.

 -Bus
The buses here are more like big vans, the same as the marshutkas in Georgia and daladalas in Tanzania. I've only taken them in Port Vila, where they are a convenient way to get around. There aren't any set schedules- you just tell the driver where you want to go and he'll tell you if he can take you or not. There are buses that go to the villages around Efate,  but I don't know anything about those as I haven't taken them.

-Taxi
I've only taken taxis in Luganville, where they are plentiful and cheap!

-Ships
I haven't yet taken a ship, but there are cargo and passenger ships that go around the islands.

-Walking
It's a tie between this and taking trucks for how I get around the most on Ambae. Often when walking on the road, if a truck passes it will pick me up. At home I would balk at walking over 2 hours to get home, but here it seems normal. Trucks don't often run on the weekends, so if I go to another volunteer's site on a weekend walking is the only way to get back on Sunday without paying a lot of money to charter a truck.

September in Numbers

I like keeping track of things, so here is a snapshot of a normal (as normal as things can be) month in numbers.

In September, the number of...

...days I wore a skirt:  30
...meals I ate a root vegetable:  31
...books I read:  6
...meals I ate peanut butter:  28
...days I taught at the school: 17
...days I saw another Peace Corps Volunteer: 6
...Vatu spent: 20,280 (about $186)
...vegetables harvested from my garden: 24 capsicum, 38 tomatoes, 50 green beans
...hours spent at church or church related activities: about 18

Letters From Students, Part 3

The schools in Vanuatu recently started their third and last term of the school year. Thanks mom for the postcard! The students love seeing pictures of Niagara Falls. Some things from the postcard that I had to explain were what "pepperoni pizza" is (although hard when most don't know what cheese is) and what is an "animal shelter".

Here is a transcript from the student's letter:

"Hello!

My name is Eddie. I am from East Ambae in Vanuatu. My teacher is Miss Elizabeth. I like to learn things from school, because when I will get old I already know everything. I like to eat laplap taro. Laplap is a food that is grated and baked with coconut milk.

I like to go to the garden to plant taro, cabbage, and banana.

 During my free time I like to read and play soccer with my friends at school.

Thank you for sending a postcard.

 Eddie"