First Few Weeks at Site

I'm currently sitting on my porch, drinking tea while listening to the rustling of the leaves of a banana tree which are slightly lit by the light of my solar lamp. It's breezy and actually slightly chilly- the cooler months are coming. I can see some stars twinkling and the easy to spot Southern Cross constellation. I feel bizarre typing on my smartphone while observing all of this. I've had some people ask me what I've been up to here, so I'll attempt to make a post about that.I've been at site now for about five and a half weeks.

After the initial setting up my house, I wasn't exactly sure what to do. Peace Corps stressed during training that integrating into the community should be our number 1 priority at the beginning- easier said than done. It's not like it was when I was in Korea and had a set job with a set schedule and I was living in a big city with a lot of other English speaking non- Koreans. Now I'm living in a small village where everyone knows what I'm doing all the time, I'm constantly speaking Bislama even though most people usually talk in the local language that I don't know, and I have a pretty open ended job description. Other education volunteers over the past few years have done a wide range of projects and activities and teaching, both inside and outside of the classroom. Some of what I've heard about sounds interesting and things that I'd think about doing, while others don't. I have ideas of things I'd like to do but it's hard to distinguish what's actually needed and wanted by the school and local community, so most of what I've been thinking about has just stayed in my head or I've talked about it with other volunteers for now. I've been reminded over and over not to jump into things here, that it's important to gain the trust of the community first. So with that winding introduction,  here's an overview of what I've been up to the past 5.5 weeks.

- I spent the first week observing at the school. It was actually pretty boring,  but it was good to see the routines of the school, how the teachers taught, and how the students responded to me being there. Which was mostly silent giggles with bowed heads- most kids at the beginning were too shy/scared/I don't know what to talk to me. That got better over the few weeks, since I would just hang out at or around the school everyday.

- I did reading assessments with classes 4-6, the main classes I will be working with at the beginning (I think). This was good to get some 1 on 1 talking time with the students and to see if they could read, and if they could if they understood what they had read. 

- I've been going to church every Sunday. Church is very important and prevalent in daily life in this community. It's good that I show my face there and chat with people. I've met a lot of the community this way. Often there is a village potluck lunch afterwards which is my favorite part of Sunday here.

- I spent last week working on the library with some teachers, high school students,  and a fellow volunteer who stayed with me for the week. We cleaned the room, rearranged the shelves, and  labeled and organized all of the books. The manual labor got done last week, and now the more soft things remain- making a system to keep it used by students and organized. 

- I got a cat, loved her, and now I think she ran away from me. I'm hoping for her return as my searching for her has turned up nothing.

- I spent a long weekend visiting another volunteer's site. It was interesting to compare mine with hers, and while there were some things I loved about her site it made me appreciate mine.

- I spend many afternoons just wandering around and saying hello to people that I pass.

- I've had a lot of free time, so I've been reading a lot. It's amazing to think of how much time before I would waste just mindlessly browsing the internet, and now I have all that open time for reading. On that note, though, I really miss googling my questions and reading the news. If anyone is reading this, please fill me in on what's going on in the world. Also, projects to reuse tin cans, how to raise chickens for eggs while letting them roam free, if mayonaise reallllllly has to be refrigerated, the difference betwern sweet potatoes and yams, if capsicum and kumala are English words, how to compost, if solar power is a major source of energy in any countries, how to cook chicken wings, and anything else interesting. 

Ambae Bound

April 8, 2016

Twelve new volunteers waited around at the Port Vila airport,  ready to head to sites on Ambae and Maewo. We were prepared to eat aelen kakae, take bucket baths, and not have electricity. All that got pushed back a few days when our flights got canceled, as we are learning they are apt to do. Instead we got put up in a nice hotel and lived the high life for two nights with food vouchers, a pool, and AC. It was not at all how any of us were expecting to spend our time, but it was a nice little surprise vacation before we all got to finally head off to our sites.

With much doubt, we lugged our things back to the airport two days later, but this time the flights actually ran and off we went. After a plane change we landed on East Ambae, the final destination for some of us. I got met at the airport by my host brother,  and we got on the back of a truck filled with people headed to the village.

There had been a small cyclone/ tropical storm a few days before and some damage was evident. Around my house was a mess, so immediately after arriving my host brother and I started cleaning debris so that there would be a good path to my door. After about 30 minutes in the village,  dirty and sweaty and my shirt torn from a wire on the truck ride, my mama came to get me. Apparently the village had been holding some workshops and I had arrived on the last day of one. She led me to a room full of people, some of whom I had met before but many who were from other places in the province and are in charge of curriculum in the schools. I met many of them, got welcomed back from some people in the community, all embarrassingly still in my torn shirt and with dirty hands.

Later,  when I finally got a moment to myself in my house,  I went to hang my mosquito net. I love sleeping in one because it makes me feel protected from the big spiders, rats, and all other gross things. Anyways, by the time I went to hang it up it was almost dark. Because the ceiling is so high, hanging it involved a table and chair and lots of sweat,  and resulted in a hung net but also a broken bed slat and some bruises added to my body.

Now comes figuring out what the heck I'm actually supposed to be doing here.

Swear-in

On April 1st, after 10 weeks of the ups and downs of training, the 28th group of Peace Corps in Vanuatu finally swore in to become volunteers! Today and tomorrow the 36 of us are headed to our sites for the next two years, overloaded with stuff, and ready to start meeting people and getting things done. Here's to the next two years!

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