Letters From Students, Part 2

Thanks Kate for the second letter to students! They were especially interested to learn about the Kiwi bird. I didn't include the travel brochures that were also sent- I'll use those for a lesson next term instead, since we were coming to the end of the second term. Much appreciated! Here is a picture of the student who responded and a transcript of his letter: 

"Hi teacher :)
My name is Jayden Garae. I am from Vanuatu. It's nice to meet you.

Miss Elizabeth is teaching us in English,  and I like her because she is kind to us and helps us in our work.

I live in Ambae. Our capital city of Vanuatu is Port Vila. I am a student. I'm in year 6 and my favorite subject that I love most is English and maths.

I like to play soccer and volleyball. 

My favorite sport is soccer. But I also like to watch movies and listen to music.

I have two younger brothers and one younger sister. And we all live with our parents on Ambae. 

Yours fairhfully, 
Jayden Garae"

A Trip to Santo

During the current school break, a friend and I took a trip to Santo, a nearby island, to visit some friends, do touristy things, and go shopping. Luganville, the second largest town in Vanuatu with about 16,000 people, is in Santo and where we stayed. It's a smaller and more laid-back version of Port Vila. From East Ambae it is a quick 25 minute plane ride, but the $145 plane ticket will prevent me from coming often!

Luganville, being a town, has many tourists seeking out attractions and foreigners working for aid organizations. I was in Luganville for only a week, but during that time I met people from New Zealand and Japan working for aid organizations and two Australian cruise ships docked. It was interesting to see so many foreigners walking around and to have ni-Vans assume that I am a tourist, since on Ambae people either know who I am or they assume that I am in Peace Corps and speak Bislama.

 Luganville has many stores so I went overboard on shopping,  stocking up on things that are either unavailable or more expensive on Ambae, such as lentils, spices, and school supplies. It's hard to balance buying all the things I want with the 10 kg baggage limit of the small planes! Also, with the lack of availability of many items on Ambae, when going to places such as Port Vila or Luganville there are requests from people in the village to bring things back (requests have ranged from chocolate to printer ink to a dog collar).

My friend and I were fortunate to stay the week with a Peace Corps couple who work at a large school in Luganville. Their house is similar to a small American house so it was nice to spend the week cooking meals such as pizza and pasta in a real kitchen with a fridge, to sleep without a mosquito net, and to use the internet. It is interesting to compare our sites, and to reaffirm that no two sites are the same! I'm reminded that each site has their own challenges- while the access to stores and modern amenities is enviable, they don't have a village community which has been a highlight of my time here.

It's amazing how within such a small country, each island is so different. While Ambae is very dry, Santo is filled with rivers. There are many blue holes- fresh water that is such a bright shade of blue and gets quite deep in the middle. We went to Riri blue hole, a beautiful place to picnic and swim and dive and jump off a rope swing. 

Another day we went to Palekula Point, a long land area with white sand and a very old ship. We spent the day snorkeling and picnicking. Whenever I swim in the crystal clear water here in Vanuatu, I wonder how I am ever going to swim in Lake Erie again!

A third day we went to Aore, a small offshore island with a resort. We spent the day eating western food, relaxing at the beach, and snorkeling with lots of fish. The rest of the time we helped out with a big sports tournament occuring at the school, wandered around town shopping, and ate delicious food. A perfect week during the school holiday! 

Letters From Students, Part 1

A few months ago I asked if friends and family would send letters to my students. Thanks to those that did! If you haven't but still want to, more letters is better! I'll be posting students with their responses. Here is the first one. Thank you Katie for the card! Transcript of letter:

"Hello! My name is Rowayn and I am from Ambae Island in Vanuatu. I am a student in class 6. At my house I have a fish pond. And I also have a cat named Tommy. I live with my parents and my older sister. During school break I am going to Port Vila and I can't wait. In my free time I like to play soccer and I like to go swimming in the sea. I enjoy playing with my friends. Thanks for sending a card to me.
Rowayn"

June-July Roundup

There has been a lot going on the past two months which has been great since I like keeping busy. The downside is that a lot of it was out of site, which hasn't helped with figuring out a community project that I can work on while I'm here. Anyways, here's what has been going on these past two months.

- I started a vegetable garden! At the beginning of June I planted tomatoes, peppers, and cabbage. They should be ready for picking soon! More recently I planted lettuce, beans, and lemons. This has been very satisfying and makes me feel more connected with the community, since everyone has gardens (although most people don't have a vegetable garden, mainly just root crops and island cabbage). Somehow everyone knows about my garden, even though it is behind my house in an out of the way spot, and I get asked about it a lot. A hassle has been keeping chickens out of the garden and they've dug up some plants more times than I can count. Relatedly, I recently started a compost pit to deal with my food waste.

- I've been teaching grades 4-6 every day that I've been at site. The headmaster wants me to do an extra class, not teaching out of their textbook, which is what I've been doing but I might have to change that eventually. This isn't really what Peace Corps wants me to be doing, since we're supposed to be co-teaching, but it's working out for now. The students are great and I've been enjoying getting to know them.

-A psychologist from D.C. along with our Peace Corps Vanuatu nurse came to Ambae for a visit. They visited my site and then I went with them to visit another site I hadn't seen yet. It's really great to visit other sites because they are all so different, even on the same island. 

-I spent a week translating for a medical ship that docked at Ambae. What a week it was! I spent the week translating during the day, swimming and eating delicious ship food in the evening, and sleeping on a friend's hammock at night. I'm not sure of the exact numbers,  but a few hundred people came to go to the dentist, get reading glasses, and see a doctor. This was something I never thought I would ever do because I am not good at languages, so I never thought I'd be translating anything, and I can't look at needles so anything medical is not in my future. However, it was really interesting and sad to see what people's common medical problems are. The following week they were supposed to go to another island,  but ended up staying in Ambae and sending out trucks to villages. A truck full of people came to my school to give checkups to the students and some members of the community. Here is a video of their time on Ambae (I'm in a few pictures): 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/5B8Zu4A8KyU

- I went to Port Vila with the headmaster of the school for reconnect, a training that happens after 3 months at site. The training was pretty good and mostly focused on working with the counterparts. The week was also good because I got to see all the education volunteers, eat pizza and yogurt, use a lot of internet, stock up on dried food such as lentils, and meet people from my village who live in Vila. I also ended up going to a diversity workshop, which was thought provoking. 

- I just finished re-reading all the Harry Potter books. Wow, what a great writer JK Rowling is!

- I ended July celebrating Vanuatu's 36th Independence Day in North Ambae. There was lots of good food, sports, and dancing.

Korea in Vanuatu

Disclaimer: I haven't actually met any Koreans in Vanuatu; these are all just random things that I have observed here.

I have a growing list of countries that I have an interest in and feel connected to. I like to follow the news of these countries (although that has been a lot harder since being in Vanuatu), meet people from those countries, and chat with people who have been to the same places that I have. When in Korea I was surprised and glad to see a plaque reading "Gamorjoba" (hello in Georgian) on the sidewalk in a foreigner populated area of Seoul. After spending two years in Korea, I am obviously interested in things related to Korea, so here are a few random things related to Korea that I've found in Vanuatu.

-KOICA in Epau
In one of the training villages, there is a garden near the school which has a sign that says it was a joint effort with KOICA. KOICA is a Korean governmental aid agency that is in many countries around the world

-Clothes donated in Sunai
In another training village, I was surprised to see a box with Korean writing on a woman's porch. I asked where the box came from, and she said that a Korean women's group had donated clothes to be sold cheaply as a fundraiser.

-Subtitles on the TV in the motel
During a stay in Port Vila, the hotel room had a TV with a USB stick filled with movies. My roommate and I chose a movie, and as it started playing, Korean subtitles came on the screen. I was pleasantly surprised that I could still read them!

-Ramen
I had never really eaten ramen before I went to Korea, but it is pretty much impossible to live there without eating it at least occasionally. I was happy to see my favorite Korean ramen being sold in the big grocery store in Port Vila. I bought a few packages to bring to Ambae, feeling weird but satisfied as I ate Korean ramen while looking out onto the Vanuatu landscape.

-Korean Embassy
I saw this weird sign in Port Vila. The Kia Motors dealership is the honorary Korean Embassy? I don't really understand it, but it makes me chuckle.

-Boy who died
To end on a more sobering note, during my first week on Ambae a teenage boy died while working on a Korean fishing boat.

Spiders

Warning: Don't scroll down if you have arachnophobia.

One thing that was difficult at first to get used to when I arrived on Ambae was the amount of large spiders that are in my house. To try to get over my fear of them, I've been taking pictures of them. Luckily, none (or so I've been told) of them are harmful. Here are some pictures of them for your enjoyment:

Luckily, Silvy likes to chase and eat the spiders. 

I sprayed this spider with so much poison until it curled up and died, and then was my bathroom decoration for about a week until it disappeared. 

Pregnant spider on the ceiling.

Spiders like to go where they don't belong.

A Tour of My House

My mom has been asking me to make a video of my house since before I even arrived in Vanuatu, so here one is.