TRIBUTE TO THE PEOPLE BACK HOME

**TRIBUTE TO THE PEOPLE BACK HOME**
A moving tribute by our very own Zachary , who expressed in song how we as Peace Corps volunteers feel about leaving our loved ones behind, especially during times of need... don't forget about us, as all of you are in our hearts and minds every day.. Remember that we are still with you in spirit even if we are not there in person :'-)

Halloween, Movies, & Creeping, oh my!

11/8/2012

**INTERNET**

So here's the thing about Internet here...there isn't any. At least none in the training villages. Internet is only available in the City, which we never go to except maybe once a month for a day, and maybe a few of the schools we visit. But for the most part internet is a luxury that we PCVs don't encounter very often. So ya I will only have internet for a coupla hours at a time, maybe once a month...maybe less once I get my permanent assignment. I *will* get fairy regular access to internet after 3 or 4 weeks for about 5 days, before we get shipped off to our separate assignments. But after that...best and most reliable way to contact me would be through good ol' snail mail.


**MOVIE NIGHTS**

We've had several movie nights these past coupla weeks; the PC staff has been connecting our respective laptops to a projector and showing some movies on the wall for the Pikinini (their word for children). Mostly kid stuff: Up, Mulan, Aladdin, etc. Aladdin was mine ;).  I did show Transformers The Movie (the 1986 version) to my family, which they enjoyed. We also watched a coupla Bollywood movies, just among family, and am planning to show Taare Zameen Par to the other PCVs, especially to the ESL teachers who will be working with kids, so they should be able to really connect with the fiom.

I kinda wish I had more kid-friendly movies though, as the stuff I brought are films that *I* like, which are...er...well, if you know me... ;)


**INTERVIEW WITH THE PEACE CORPS VANUATU COUNTRY DIRECTOR**

I sat down with Keith Honda, the PC CD for Vanuatu for a short chat to talk about how I've been doing, the experience so far, etc. He also told me I was one of the "stronger" candidates, which sounds good on paper, but that means I will probably be assigned to somewhere in ther boonies with subpar equipment and facilities and uncooperative faculty. Greeeeaaat...I was *trying* to hint that I wanted a facility with internet but I think it went over his head. Oh well, this should be interesting ;)


**HALLOWEEN**

So we had Halloween in Tanoliu, along with a visit from the Malafau peeps. We did as much dressing up as possible given our resources here, and set up games and such for the village kids. The PC staff was *supposed* to have provided us with speakers for a "Thriller" dance number that we practiced, but they were a no-show, so we tried to use my mp3 player and external speakers...unfortunately my batteries (and the spares) both went dead...so no dance :(.  But the pikinini had a blast anyway, got candy, and ultimately that's what matters :)


**CHURCH**

Well I went to church for the first time EVER...although Tanoliu Village is the more liberal of the two villages we PCVs are staying at (and MAN the other village is soooooo boring), they're still fialry religious, and alot (though not all) go to church on Sunday mornings.  My Papa doesn't though (he's usually hungover from too much kava the night before lol). Anyway I went to the Assembly of God church here, of whom the Pastor there is Kat's host papa. Alot of singing and dancing, bible passages and preaching. I must say, though, I've been to it twice now...I think I'll stick to going once a month ;p


**HOLY PHUQ IT'S COLD!!!**

It's been f-f-f-f-r-r-r-e-e-e-e-z-z-z-z-z-z-i-i-i-i-i-n-n-n-n-n-g-g-g-g-g the past few nights here!! The summers may be hot and humid here, but dayamn when it's COLD it's nipple-hardeningl;y cold!! Never expected this from an island in the South Pacific! I had to wear jeans and my UH sweater for the first time in weeks the other night...  The Peace Corps did provide us with a thick wool blanket for us to use, but like a dumbass I figured "pssshh when am I ever gonna need something like this??" and I left it behind at IDS. *BIG* mistake! Had to sleep in my jeans and sweater all night; thankfully the local PC Office here had extra wool blankets, so I made sure to steal one.


**BISLAMA**

So we've been going through marathon sessions of Bislama lessons here almost daily, not to mention being immersed in the language here in the village. Bislama is a fairly elementary language, similar to pidgin in that it's an emalgamation of English and a few French and Melanesian words.  Thankfully if we don't know a word in Bislama, we just need to add an "em" to the end of it to make it correct...like "Mi wantem kakae naoia" (I want to eat now). I mean it's a bit more complicated than that, but for the most part it's fairly easy. Some of us are struggling with it, but in time we'll be fluent in no time :)


**IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT**

So if it's not the roosters crowing at 2 in the morning, it's the sound of pigs running around the villages, or the dogs KILLING those same pigs. And then last week there was some drugged-out Ni-Van walking around town creeping on PCV girls here and beating up on little kids (they eventually ran him out of towbn, or arrested him, or whaveter).  That's not to mention the mosquitos waiting outside my mosquito net to literally drain me of my lifeblood.  I've basically trained myself not to go out to pee in the middle of the night anymore lol.


**CREEPING** (11/7/2012)

So there is this thing Ni-Van guys (and sometimes girls) do when they are interested in a member of the opposite sex...it's called "creeping". Basically a guy, for example, would sneak outside a prospective girl's window/house and tap on her window/door and whisper her name or ask her out...this is considered a normal way for a guy to meet up with a girl here, since PDA is a no-no, especially in the outer islands (although sometimes in more extreme cases the guy would put his hands through the window to touch her, in which case it crosses the line IMO).

Sooooo the Safety and Security Coordinator decided to have a creeping "exercise" where they had some people in the village creep on the PCVs in the village in the middle of the night and guage our reactions. Some, like Cory, was like "what? Seriously? Get out of here!"  Some, like Sydney, threatened to stab the guy with her bushknife and actually smashed her window! Me?  Well I was sleeping, and I heard a knocking at my door, which I ignored...then I heard a female voice yell out "Kalnagis! Kalnagis!" outside my window. I ignored it at first, thinking it was a dream or something. But when I heard my Custom Name being shouted again, I realized it was real...but what with the dogs barking, and the fasct that I thought it was my Host Aunty yelling out my name, I thought it was a village fire or something and they were telling everyone to wake up and evacuate. So I stumble out of bed and grab my headlamp to see who was outside....and there was no one. Now that I was creeped out (no pun intended) at this point, I quickly went inside, locked my door, grabbed my bushknife and went to bed. Next morning Lynne told me it was an exercise. We went over the responses of all the PCVs at Malafau Village that afternoon, which was HILARIOUS!

I'm sleeping with my bushknife from now on.

Oct 15-31 2012 - Tanoliu Training Village...my new home!

TANOLIU

They split us up into two groups: Teachers and Community Health Workers. So the trainers (us) went to Tanoliu Village, while the CH workers went to Malafau Village, about 5-10 minutes away. We were welcomed with a GRAND welcome; a sign over the entrance of the village saying "Welkam PisCop", and a crowd of people leading a procession singing some kinda Christian song (it was a Sunday after all).

We were then introduced to our respective Host families, and then a big feast!!  I was presented to my new home, which my Papa Kerry and Mami July (pronounced "Joo-lee") built...this worked out perfect for me, as I loves me privacy ;)). My nearest neighbor was Lynne O., who also had her own pad, and we each have our own showers, though we share toilets.  Funny thing is she is like 15 years younger than me but she is my "aunt" in Vanuatu family logic. Go figure.

Everyone else in the village were scattered about, but in relative proximity of each other. Time for as wokabout!!



**KAVA**

So Vanuatu is apparently famous for their super strong kavas. Now I've had kava before, but it was the powdered kind they sell in Hawaii. Never really got a buzz out of it. Well we had the chance to try it for the first time at Sara's house when we were still at IDS...

So I had my first shell of Vanuatu kava, freshly made. 5 minutes...not bad so far. A bit of a numbness and tingle on my lips and throat. It wasn't as horrible tasting as people said, but I thought it was aaight; personal taste I suppose. So anyway, I was like, shit I can go a night with 3 or 4 Long-Islands, what's the big deal? So I had shell number 2...BIG mistake!. First my visual light sensitivity was increased 3-fold...then I started seeing triple...then I lost all mobility. After sitting my ass down for about 20 minutes, I felt like I was talking reeeeealllyyyy slooooowwwww....another 15 and I had to puke. Me and Amanda both puked out that night. And the coconut wireless was in full swing cuz the whole PC group heard about it by the next day...aaah yes, first impressions eh lol ;p


**Cultural Activities**

So as of now I have cracked/husked/grated/milked a coconut, cut island pumpkin, attended a church service (yeah *me* attending a church, go figure lol), learned to wash clothes Vanuatu style, and spent agonizing days learning Bislama. I still have to learn how to kill a chicken, spear fish, and kill/roast pigs. Something new everyday! lol


**Reunions**

So as I mentioned our group split into two villages, but we have managed to meet up time and again...and I swear when they come to our village, it's like a renewed energy with us here. Not saying we're depressed or anything, but I think we bonded so much the first week we were together, being separated felt like we were walking around with a missing limb...so when the Malafau girls visited us it felt like we were whole again. Of course we took full advantage of it, especially as Malafau village is a dry village, which means going straight to the Nakamals!! lol  When the day was over, we said our goodbyes and hugs all around... Man, not seeing them for 2 years when we are finally assigned our individual villages is gonna be painful.


**Halloween**

Last night was Halloween, and the PCVs decided to do a Halloween party for the kids! We had modified Halloween games using the materials available, such as: bananas, sticks, balloons, and papayas I think. And yes, we dressed up!!

The first week - at IDS

10/22/2012 - Well it's been 2 weeks since coming to Vanuatu, and I must say so far it's been a wild ride. It all started when I landed in LA and took the shuttle to the Radisson. I could overhear some chatter by some girls in the back saying they were Peace Corps volunteers assigned to Samoa. Once landing I called my folks to let them knmow I landed safely. Went to check in and started chatting it up with some girls there, when I realized the Samoa and Vanuatu groups would be sharing the same training area/agenda.

After checking in and draaaaagging my heavy-ass bags to my room I called up Ketan, who said he would come down in an hour or so to see me.  Some of the other Vanuatu vols went to see Frankenweenie as a way to intro themselves to each other, but I knew this would be my last chance to see the Doshi's since they moved from Hawai'i. So after freshning up a bit I went downstairs to see if I could register...and to my dismay I see a loooooong-ass line of other PC vols waiting to register...and the line was NOT moving.  Soooo I said fuck it and met up with Ketan and Teena...we had dinner at Chipotle and drove around Rodeo Drive, and eventually made our way to an observatory (sorry forgot the name) where we could see all of Downtown Los Angeles in her smoggy glory lol

On the way up though I got a call from Sasha (the Vanuatu PC coordinator) who asked if I was...well, alive. Apparently I misunderstood the directions when they had 2 dates for registration, and I was SUPPOSED to register that evening. Oops. Oh well, I told her I would see her early the next morning to register.

Anyway, after saying goodbye to Ketan and Teena (and receiving a DELICIOUS box of Haldiram's cookies, woohoo!), I marvelled at the thought that they would be the last familiar faces I would see for the next 27 months!!

Aaaanywho the next morning I woke up to see this bearded red-head sleeping in the bed next to me, and figured he was another Van vol. Sure enough my russling around my 3 monster bags woke him up; he introduced himself as Hunter, another Van vol. After chatting it up a bit, I went down to the registration ballroom and there was an older woman sitting there. I thought she was a PC staff member at first, but turns out she was a PC Samoa vol who also misinterpreted the rules...well at least I wasn't the only one!

Anyway eventually I finished up my registration as the other vols started trickling in for the training.  Some faces I recognized from the Peace Corps Facebook group!  We did alot of these activities where we split up into groups and do these activities where we discuss and share our expectations, feelings, anxieties, etc. about the journey we were about to embark on...  It was quite interesting to interact with people whom we "knew", but didn't really know...

Anyway the session was eye-opening in that almost everyone there had the same feelings, the same insecurities, the same fears. But there was a really positive energy there, a really supportive one. These were good people.

And it was nice to meet two other Desis in the group ;P

The plane ride to Auckland was pretty good, albeit long (13 hours); we chatted up and almost instantly bonded with each other, like we knew each other for weeks before (well I guess we did, albeit online). Anyway the flight was pretty good, got to see "MIB 3" and "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" which was pretty good. I also liked how the Air New Zealand flight safety video had Ed O'Neil and Snoop Dogg in it lol

So after a 13-hour flight from LAX to New Zealand, we land in Port Vila! It looked like a really rural version of one of the neighbor Islands of Hawai'i. And yes, it was humid. Wasn't too bad, actually, as there was a breeze. I forgot something on the plane and Hunter, my roomie, stayed with me til I got it. We also waited for Noni who forgot something, and she also carried something for Katelyn who forgot something too. I could already see how supportive and helpful everyone is...and trust me, this would be VERY important in the coming days.

The current Vanuatu PC vols and staff came to meet us at the airport, bringing us leis (aka "salusalu") and coconuts to drink! We took pictures as a group and chatted with the vols we would be replacing in the coming weeks (whom I also recognized from the Facebook group).

We all went into our respective vans and after a quick tour of the tropical paradise (lots of oohs and aahs from my fellow PC vols from the mainland), we reached IDS, our home for the next week...and holy crap we REALLY hit the ground running. Basically it was like a camp where the men and women were segregated into dorm-like buildings. We had language training, cultural training, health training, homework, reading, briefings, etc. etc. within the first couple of days!! After learning the initial ins-and-outs, getting supplies and medical kits (including several packs of condoms hehe), we all started getting sick. Like, one after the other, vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, muscle aches...when one person got better, the next person got sick. I spent prettymuch one whole day vomiting and in pain...my bunkmates were awesome tho, they made sure my water was filled up and all.

One thing that happened really cemented the bond this group has...we had a bonfire (two actually, but this first one was extra special). Not just any bonfire, it was a stand-up-and-gush-about-your-inner-most-feelings-and-tell-us-how-you-got-here kinda thing. And man, we didn't hold back. We talked about our fears, our insecurities, some of us cried, we hugged each other, comforted each other. It was a total love-fest...I've never felt so vulnerable and so secure at the same time.

Oh I hafta mention this...so one day Divya was feeling really bad so I spent some time with her at thwe PC doctor's office in Vila. So after getting an IV and being treated, we head back to IDS...and there was NO ONE THERE!! Like, pitch-black and no staff...see, everyone else spent some time at Hideaway Island to drinks and pizza, which kinda sucked since we had no food, no electricity at IDS until 6pm to 9pm. One of our Bislama language trainers, Elinda, didn't want to leave Divya, Jenn (another victim to whatever has been plaguing we Group-25-ers) and I alone, so she stayed with us. I was concerned that Divya wouldn't have enough to eat, so Elinda and I went to the kitchen where the mamas cook our meals...

Oh the meals! Lemme tell u about the food here for a sec. So basically the food here is ALOT of starch...various versions of cooked potatoes, yams, taro, small midget-chickens (I swear the eggs are bigger than the birds), and lots and lots of rice.  Oh and fruit juice, consisting mostly of concentrated Passion Orange and mango juice with sugar and water.

Glad I brought my Tobasco sauce lol

But I digress...

Anyway so after trying to pry open the door to the kitchen by pulling it like crazy (which we later found out we had to PUSH...duh), we get a fire going...the only thing they had on hand was ramen noodles and eggs, so I call Brenda (one of the PC medical officers) to see if Div can have eggs; she said yes we could. So I give my headlamp to Elinda while I go to get another flashlight. I decide to call some people at Hideaway to bring something back to eat from town...so I'm fiddling with my phone trying to call people (no one was picking up) in the pitch blackness of the Vanuatu night, when WAM!! I hit a metal window awning right above my right eye...as I turned my head apparently I scratched my face on that same awning.

Well at this point Andre, who is the maintenance guy walks over and sees me walking funny and asks me what's wrong. I laughingly told him I hit my head on the window awning...honestly I didn't feel any pain, just the impact of the hit, so when he lit his phone to my face, the look on his face pretty much told me it looked UGLY...like I musta been bleeding buckets (I was sweating in the humidity so I couldn't really tell).

Anyway I get back to the kitchen when I see Divya walking around with Elinda (Elinda was freasking out in the dark by herself, and Divya didn't want to sit still) and Divya was like OMG WTH did you do to your face?? So I grabbed my med kit and she applied some antibiotics, gauze, etc. to it. So yeah she paid me back that night. Next day I went back to the PC Med Office, and they gave me some antibiotics. I got a cool scar now. ;p

Anyway after spending a rollercoaster week at IDS, we head off for one night spending time with the Mamas at Pango Village. We all got a gift, the girls got "Aelan dress" and most of the guys got "Aelan shirt". I got a basket.  Turned out to be very useful tho so all is well.  Hooray for small victories! :D

I'm pretty sure my clothes are totally wrinkled :-S

What! No Porn!!

Vanuatu says no porn allowed into the country!! Must.encrypt.hard.drive.

Masala to go!

So according to the chatter on the Peace Corps Vanuatu Group (thank the gods I have access to it, it's been a GREAT resource for preparing for what's to come!), the food in those islands are...well, pretty bland. Lots of carbs, etc. Hmmm guess I'll need to stock up on my Indian spices, pickles, and...ugh, "curry" powder. I hate using "curry powder" but from an expediency standpoint it's probably best. Then of course some Vietnamese cock sauce. Shoyu packets. I better make sure they don't leak/spill during my trip else I'm gonna have a bad time (not to mention my neighbors :-S).

Testing, testing 1, 2, 3... *ahem ahem* is this thing on?

So I will be leaving for Vanuatu in 1.5 months...for 27 months (holy crap, 27 MONTHS) starting early October, for Peace Corps service. I've been assigned to the Vanuatu Information Technology and English Literacy project, as an "Information Technology Educator." I won't know what my specific tasks will be until I get there, although the Assignment Description says I'm supposed to be teaching IT to students (children and/or adult educators) to get them up to speed on it. Volunteers usually are assigned a secondary task in addition to the main job, so it will be whatever the area needs at the time (teaching English, digging ditches, etc.).

Since I'm doing IT-related work, I assume I'll have at least a *little* online access, but we'll see ;).  I'll pop in from time to time. ;).

Think of this as my online journal while I'm there!! (til I get tired of it ;p)

And feel free to come visit!!  I'll make room in my grass hut for all of ya!! Wish me luck!!