8 days until I am an official Peace Corps Volunteer

This is the last time I will be writing on my blog as a Peace Corps Trainee. Yup, in 8 days I will be swearing in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer. What must be done before then? Well, a two day workshop to do with environmental education, a Thanksgiving dinner held in our village, a day trip to Hat Island where a chief and a bunch of men are buried, and then one last week of important, informative classes along with some "tests". Dispersed in there I'm sure will be plenty of toktok, storian, and wokabaot. Lots of Uno, Spades, Canasta, and Ultimate Frisbee.

A week from Friday we will all come back to Port Vila and stay in a hotel here for a bit to do some shopping to get ready to go to site. I still do not know when exactly I will be headed to Ambae, but sometime during the first week in December.

So, I last posted on Saturday. Since then I have done not too much. I discovered I have a very common mango allergy that two or so Volunteers from each group have. It originated as a tingling sensation around my lips (not while I was eating the mango). It progressed into an itchy rash on my face that really wasn't visible to anyone, so I just thought I was crazy. By the time the rash moved to my back and arms (a few days later), I decided it was time to tell the nurse. She talked to me for just a few seconds and decidedly told me it was a mango allergy. But have no fear, I can still eat mangoes (and that's a good thing, because they are plentiful), but it is the oil on the underneath side of the skin that causes the reaction. Basically, someone else needs to cut it for me if I want to eat it. There are 2 others in our group who have discovered their own mango allergies while here. I'm just glad it's not pineapple, because I love pineapple and I eat one (okay not a whole one) every day.

Today in Vila we checked out the Teacher's College here and listened to different speeches: one from the Kindergarten ("Kindy") co-ordinator and one from S.I.L, the Bible translating missionary group. I also ate a veggie burger, fries, and ice cream today. Those things may seem so simple to you, readers in the U.S., but they surely make my day. Tomorrow night we are having a Thanksgiving Dinner for our village, sort of potluck style, with all the volunteers bringing a traditional Thanksgiving dish. I will be helping in creating the traditional Thanksgiving nachos. Good times.

Okay, well that's all really. Continue to check out the Flikr group photo site for pictures from other volunteers if you want (the website link is posted on the right). I don't have any new pictures this week. Talk to you November 30th!

Pictures and stuff

First things first, this my dog, Saelin, and my cat, Lini, who are waiting for me on Ambae. They belong to the current volunteer who I am replacing and I am super excited to have them.

Next I want to post my link for my facebook pictures: Pictures

They are from our Halloween party that we had for the village and from my week on Ambae.

Well I am in Vila today for a futbal (soccer) game which is New Zealand vs. Vanuatu. It should be a good time. This week in training we had technical week, which means basically that we learned somewhat what our job will entail. It was also cool to talk to everyone about their sites. Everyone had completely different experiences. I am sure once we get together for All-Vol in May things we will have even cooler stories to share.

Well I compiled a list of things that you could send me, if you want to send me a package:

granola bars, oatmeal packs, any snack food, candy, photographs, books, magazines, newspapers, any other food items. Mail is great here. And I will send you a letter back.


Okay, hmm, life in the village has been pretty simple. It's funny how when I first got to Vanuatu it was really hard there, but now the village seems "flas tumas"- sort of like very fancy, especially compared to Ambae.

Well, I think I'll get going. I'll be back in Vila on Wednesday because I think we have some meetings with the education office. Then I may be heading to Ambae as early as December 5th.

I survived wokabaot

So I just got back from Ambae. I am so darn out there.

It's a lot of hills and a lot of laplap (the national dish of vanuatu which consists of mushed up root crop). The people are all really nice. I was there for a week. I live somewhat near the water. To get to my village you fly to the island, walk 30 minutes, take a boat for 2 hours, and then walk 30 minutes up hill to my house.

The boat: on the way there we went super slow because something was wrong with the engine. On the way back, we went really fast. When i asked why, they told me it was because there was a whole in the boat. But at least the boat didn't break and they had to use flipflops to paddle to shore (not that that's happened before).

There is a generator in my village at the headmaster's house. The 4 schools I will be working at are all very far apart and I'll be walking 2+ hours to get to some of them.

The people all speak a local language that I do not know, but we can communicate through Bislama, sort of.

I don't have any pictures now because I forgot my camera cord in the training village.

I'm sure there's a lot more things I should be saying, but really I am just on overload. Once the pictures come in a couple weeks, I'll explain them.

Also, I may not have internet again until December (end of training), so send emails to volunteer@vu.peacecorps.gov. and put my name on the subject line.

And if you send me any more letters, start sending them to my new address at:

my name
Vanue Marama School
PO Box 30
Lolowai, North Ambae
Vanuatu, South Pacific

And write Air Mail (it costs 90 cents).

Thanks. More later if I have time and more mental clarity. I think I'm going to go get some real food now.