Flying on a 5 Seater Plane

Going to Ambae, I flew on a 5 seater plane which was awesome!  The views were gorgeous as we flew by many islands. The plane flew lower than a regular plane so views were clear.

Photos: the plane, view from the back seat, view of Ambae from the air

Wokabaot Week

2/24/16

Vanuatu is unique among other Peace Corps countries in that we found out our site placements before we arrived in Vanuatu. This allowed us to have a week at our permanent site during training, which is where I'm writing this from now (In anticipation of internet usage this weekend as I'm going to the capital for the first time). I'll set the scene as I'm writing this: sitting on the porch of what will be my house for the next 2 years, looking at the ocean, the school, and birds flying,  listening to chicks chirp, flies buzz, and leaves rustle. 

I flew to Ambae with a few others on a 5 seater plane, landed on an unpaved runway and was greeted by some current volunteers at the tiny airport. We hung out for a while all together, then me and a current volunteer got on the back of a truck with the headmaster of the school I'll be at and went to the village I'll be at for the next 2 years. I got taken to my house which is really nice! It's cement with a tin roof. It has a porch from which I can see so much greenery, the ocean, and 2 islands. It's on a hill behind the school and overlooking the village. I have a separate building with my toilet (I have a real toilet which I feel very lucky about! ) and place to shower (bucket bath). Next to my bathroom I have a tap with running water so I don't have to carry water far! The school has a rain tank for drinking water which is convenient. There's a separate building for a kitchen, where I could build a fire, but I think I'll splurge and buy a small gas stovetop. There's no electricity but I have a solar light.

I'm spending my days during this week hanging out with my host family, meeting the community, and  seeing the school. The school is a small primary school, almost entirely boys. A few days after I arrived I was welcomed into the village. The students sang some songs and I got given a lot of fabric,  which I've been told is given often. It was a little overwhelming,  but everyone seems friendly. The village is very small, although there are apparently a bunch of villages surrounding it. I think I'll be doing a lot of walking here!I have a couple more days here and then I will finish training with everyone else during the month of March,  and I'll return to this village as an actual volunteer early April. I'm sure I'll write a lot more about this village once I actually am living here!

Things that are driving me crazy so far: flies and mosquito bites.

Beginning of Peace Corps Training

2/16/16

I am hoping to get internet in a few days, so I'm writing this in anticipation of that! I'm typing on a phone as my laptop is in storage, so I'll see how this works.

Let me set the scene: I'm currently writing this in bed under my mosquito net, listening to the sound of the ocean waves, and watching two lizards scurry around on my wall.

I have now been in Vanuatu for 3.5 weeks. I've been living in a village on the east coast of Efate, an island of Vanuatu, with a host family although by the time I post this I'll have moved.  Days have been spent having classes on things like Bislama,  medical, safety, and education. Evenings and weekends have been spent talking Bislama with my host family and learning things such as making simboro, a common food here. There are a total of 38 volunteers in G28, the group I came with. We are split between 4 training villages,  and in a week and a half we will switch villages and host families. It will be good to experience another village here, but it will be sad to leave my current host family as they have been extremely good to me. I have two host mamas and there are always at least 5 or 6 (or more!) kids running around the yard. The house is small (there are actually 2 houses- 1 mama in each) and are made of tin, so very hot. The kitchen is a seperate building (they cook over a fire) as is the toilet and bathing area. There is no electricity, but there is a solar panal so there are a few lights at night. I brush my teeth looking up at the stars every night- the view of the stars from here is incredible. 

The weather here is very hot and humid. I don't think I've stopped sweating since I stepped out of the plane! There are a lot of bugs everywhere- mosquitoes, ants, spiders (which left some gross bites on my legs), huge flying red cockroaches, milipods, and just lots of little different bugs everywhere. I feel like I constantly have bugs crawling on me!  There are fruit trees everywhere here. Papaya and coconut are especially plentiful in this village, but I've also had pineapple, bananas, mangos, and watermelon.I'm really liking eating fruit every day! 

Many of my fellow volunteers have been getting sick, but so far I've stayed healthy. I know my time will come eventually! We had a whole medical session on fun things we can get such as worms and other things that can go wrong medically- not very pleasant. 

This was just a big mishmosh of what came to my head as I was writing it. Sorry if it's all over the place!