Second half of Peace Corps training

3/23/16

It's almost time to swear in and finally become an actual Peace Corps Volunteer! Training has been long and has had its ups and downs, and I am ready for it to be over. It will be weird though to finally go to my site and be the only volunteer, since during most of training I've been with a core group of 9. I'm looking forward to it though!

All matching our last night in the first training village.

The first half of training, which I've written about already, consisted of living with a host family while having classes all day during the week. It culminated in wokabaot week, where I spent a week at what will be my permanent site. The second half has been similar,  although now I know more Bislama and feel more comfortable in general, so that's nice.

After wokabaot week I moved to a different training village on an island off the coast of Efate. Adjusting to a new host family was easier than I thought it would be, I think in part because this village has already hosted Peace Corps training. During this time, the education group (16 of us) worked on 2 projects- 1 made a library at the primary school on the island, and 1 made an activity guide for a book of kustom stories. I worked entirely on the library. It had its fair share of delays and mishaps, but with everything the final outcome was more than I was expecting. Once I get to site working on the library there will be one of my projects, so it was good to see how much work goes into it and what needs to be done for it to be successful.

Even though we had a lot to work on during the second half of training, it often felt like vacation because this island is so beautiful!  I've gotten to go snorkeling in crystal clear water, and see giant clams, big blue starfish, coral, lots of cool fish, dolphins, and a dugong. I've ridden on small boats almost every day. This island has a beach with a beautiful view that I went to multiple times. I've seen red sunrises and sunsets of pink clouds. Even though I've been here two months, I still can't believe I'm in the South Pacific.

530 am bathroom wake up isn't so bad when this is the view!

Lizards Everywhere

Reason to check the toilet paper before using it- It may have a lizard on it.

 (These little guys are everywhere! )

An Array of Emotions

 Time I wonder what the heck I am doing here: when I'm sitting in my room, reading the Bislama I'm supposed to say at the community meeting the next day, and a cockroach crawls on me.

Time I know why I'm here: when I have a good storian (chat) with my host family.

 Time I'm frustrated about life here: when schedules change or are non existent and I don't know what's going on.

Time I realize a childhood dream come true: when I'm organizing books to go into a new library.

Time I'm sad I'm here: when I miss life events of people from home.

Time I laugh at the absurdity of the situation: when a group of us takes a boat ride back to our training village in a complete downpour, gets drenched as if we'd just gone swimming,  but the rain lets up as soon as we reach land. 

Time I'm happy I'm here: swimming in the ocean with my 4 year old host sister, her latching onto me and  making up stories about who knows what, looking at the beautiful surroundings and remembering how lucky I am to be here.

Women's Day

3/8/16

Happy International Women's Day! 3 years ago on this date I was in Kazbegi, Georgia, hiking in the snow. Today I am on Moso Island in Vanuatu, halfway around the world,   sweating in the heat. I had never known this day was a holiday before Georgia, but apparently it is celebrated in many countries around the world.

Photos: March 2013 vs March 2016