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.
