After hanging out in Lenakel for a bit I decided it was time to try and catch a truck back on top to middle bush. The truck dropped me off at the bush market about 45 minutes from my house. As I walked up the bush trail I ran into some locals who told me that my village had something going on. It turns out it was the one year dead for my brother James father.
I walked into the Nakamal at about 2 pm and was immediately handed a shell of kava. We drank kava all afternoon and storied about life, until it was time to drink our custom shell when we would all go wan wan. I kept seeing one man who I had no idea who he was, but he never came to shake my hand so I assumed we had met before. Finally after about 40 minutes of him making busy work in the Nakamal he came over to shake my hand and when he said “oh yes brata blo mi.” I realized it was my brother James.
One custom here is that when your father dies you can not shave for one year. I have only known James to have a very full beard. He always looked liked some shady character that you would not want to mess with. That day being the one year mark of his fathers death he could finally shave. What a difference, I never would of known it was him if he hadn’t spoke to me.
My village was very interested in my journey to Futuna and Aniwa. I told them all about the adventures and everything that had happened there. I then told them that Peace Corps was going to change my site and man that did not go over well at all. Some people were pissed off. Some people were sad. It was very hard. I mean I have broken up with girlfriends before and that is hard, but to break up with an entire village. Ouch.
Yesterday, Relvie from Peace Corps came and gave a toktok to my community about me leaving. It was very hard. Some of the men cried while trying to explain their thoughts. In the end they decided that it was custom to pull out my custom name and that because Peace Corps had broken the contract that they would be responsible to buy a bullock for us to eat at my last kakae. Peace Corps has no intention of buying us a bullock but it was nice try.
It is a strange feeling to know that I am almost out of here. How will I get my stuff to Vila? When does the ship come again? What will it be like to say goodbye to these people that I call brother, sister, mama, dada, tawi, and uncle too? It is going to be hard I am sure. Well it is finally a suny day so I think I am going to walk down and see Noa and if he is not there just go swim at the waterfall.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Vila
There is a feeling that comes over you when you first get to Vila, Oh man do I smell like the islands. When you are at site, especially on Tanna, you tend to let go of some of our usual hygiene. It is so cold here in Tanna right now that only showering once a week is normal. So when I got into Vila after being in Futuna and Aniwa for a week all I wanted to do was take a shower. Of course as is usual with life on the islands this did not go as planned.
I got on the wrong bus at the airport. This is not to say there is a bus route or anything of that nature, but I should know better to get on a bus that already has people on it and not ask where it is going. What usually takes only 15 minutes took me over an hour. By the time I made it to the Peace Corps office I found out that Micahel, Roxy, Jade, and Bridge were all meeting for dinner at La Casa Pizzeria. So I marched my way down to them and had some pizza with them. The Pizza was alright, but the company was awesome. It is so nice to come in and talk with people of your same culture.
The plan was that I was only going to come into Vila for 5 days. I wanted to be back to Tanna for our Fourth of July celebration. Well After storian with my Country Director about my site visits, I explained to him I was worried that we were only looking in the TAFFEA Province and that maybe the perfect job was elsewhere. He agreed and we discussed some other options. After which he decided to send me to Emao for another site visit. My time on Emao was very short as I had to be back in Vila by 1pm. If I was going to miss my Tanna Party I surely was not going to miss the Vila celebration.
My trip to Emao was short but the place is beautiful. I did not feel the same attraction to the people as I did on Futuna, but I the job sounds very exciting to me. I mean after all I will be able to snorkel almost everyday and call it work! If only I was being paid for it. My time in Emao was also ahrd because I was so excited about who was in Vila and mean while I was pulled out to go to a different island. Oh well alls well that ends well.
I made it back to Vila in time to see Lizzie and Bridget heading out to Pango, where Lizzie lives. I decided to just stay at the Cyber Café until they came back. While I was on Emao they had all got together and had a small party and made Jello Shots for the party that night. Our party was our at sea and we had to be to the wharf at 1430. There was about 15 of us who went out on the ship.
The ship resembles a pirate ship and in fact usually when people hire this ship the captain and all the guests dress up like pirates and sail around the island. We had different plans. The captain is from America and along with him and two other Americans we set out to celebrate America. We had food and drinks and of course the Jello shots. My friend Jack who is on Malekula had sent me a Cuban Romeo y Julieta cigar, so I had tried asking the captain if there was a smoking section. Well the Captain did not hear me but one of the young girls, maybe 9, did.
She told me it was a non-smoking ship and then gave me a lecture on why smoking is bad. I was kind of teasing her about it and finally she said well wait… You can smoke if…… lets see here….. Okay you have to go swimming with us and do anything I tell you! I asked anything? She then thought about it and said okay you have to let me push off the boat and into the water. I agreed to the conditions and told her I would even pretend I did not know she was going to push me in.
Well we never anchored off to go swimming until we got back to the harbor. At this time it was already dark but I had made a promise to her so I pulled off my shirt and climbed over the rope and just hung around until she came running across from the other side of the boat and gave me a push. This lead to everyone else jumping in and we played in the water for about an hour or so. We had the music blasting and when we were not swimming we were dancing.
After hanging out on the ship and talking with Josh, man America on another ship, I decided that sailing around the world is a very economical and responsible way to see the world. Right now it is just day dreaming but when I am done with Peace Corps you never know what will happen. I think a sailing from west coast to east coast via the Panama Canal would be a good start. The night came to an end and we climbed in the dingy and set off for the main land. It had been a long day so we just went back to Susan’s house and hung out and made dinner.
This trip to Vila has been much quieter than my previous trips. We never went to Voodoo to go dancing, even though we did dance a few times at waterfront. It was nice to just have quiet nights and sharing stories with each other. We were staying at Susan’s house with a full kitchen so we took full advantage of it. One night Susan made a big pot of Popcorn and she put me in charge of the butter. Well I decided that butter was not enough so I made a caramel sauce to put on it. Mmmm… it was soooo good. Well that turned into me making fudge and chocolate and various other surgery treats. On one of the mornings I got up and made us all Scrambled eggs with cheese and onions fried up in the grease from the real bacon I had just cooked up. Man I miss American food. I love my Tanna soup but, nothing compares to the tastes of America.
I ended up being in Vila for two weeks. Man time flies around here sometimes. As always it is hard to say good bye to everyone. We have such strange relationships here. We make these wonderful friends and then we only see them every two or three or six months. It is really hard. I gave Susan a hug goodbye as this is the last time I will see her in Vanuatu. She goes home well I think she is already out of this country. I waved goodbye to Bridget at the airport and climbed on my plane back to Tanna. I had only gotten two hours sleep the night before so when they plane took off, I passed out.
Coming back to Tanna knowing that I only have two weeks left here was very strange. I felt sad as I hung out at the Mama’s market in Lenakel. Seeing Sultan and Tim and Nathan made me realize how lucky I am to have other volunteers on the islands. I am really going to miss Sultan. We always have a good time hanging out making fun of each other.
I got on the wrong bus at the airport. This is not to say there is a bus route or anything of that nature, but I should know better to get on a bus that already has people on it and not ask where it is going. What usually takes only 15 minutes took me over an hour. By the time I made it to the Peace Corps office I found out that Micahel, Roxy, Jade, and Bridge were all meeting for dinner at La Casa Pizzeria. So I marched my way down to them and had some pizza with them. The Pizza was alright, but the company was awesome. It is so nice to come in and talk with people of your same culture.
The plan was that I was only going to come into Vila for 5 days. I wanted to be back to Tanna for our Fourth of July celebration. Well After storian with my Country Director about my site visits, I explained to him I was worried that we were only looking in the TAFFEA Province and that maybe the perfect job was elsewhere. He agreed and we discussed some other options. After which he decided to send me to Emao for another site visit. My time on Emao was very short as I had to be back in Vila by 1pm. If I was going to miss my Tanna Party I surely was not going to miss the Vila celebration.
My trip to Emao was short but the place is beautiful. I did not feel the same attraction to the people as I did on Futuna, but I the job sounds very exciting to me. I mean after all I will be able to snorkel almost everyday and call it work! If only I was being paid for it. My time in Emao was also ahrd because I was so excited about who was in Vila and mean while I was pulled out to go to a different island. Oh well alls well that ends well.
I made it back to Vila in time to see Lizzie and Bridget heading out to Pango, where Lizzie lives. I decided to just stay at the Cyber Café until they came back. While I was on Emao they had all got together and had a small party and made Jello Shots for the party that night. Our party was our at sea and we had to be to the wharf at 1430. There was about 15 of us who went out on the ship.
The ship resembles a pirate ship and in fact usually when people hire this ship the captain and all the guests dress up like pirates and sail around the island. We had different plans. The captain is from America and along with him and two other Americans we set out to celebrate America. We had food and drinks and of course the Jello shots. My friend Jack who is on Malekula had sent me a Cuban Romeo y Julieta cigar, so I had tried asking the captain if there was a smoking section. Well the Captain did not hear me but one of the young girls, maybe 9, did.
She told me it was a non-smoking ship and then gave me a lecture on why smoking is bad. I was kind of teasing her about it and finally she said well wait… You can smoke if…… lets see here….. Okay you have to go swimming with us and do anything I tell you! I asked anything? She then thought about it and said okay you have to let me push off the boat and into the water. I agreed to the conditions and told her I would even pretend I did not know she was going to push me in.
Well we never anchored off to go swimming until we got back to the harbor. At this time it was already dark but I had made a promise to her so I pulled off my shirt and climbed over the rope and just hung around until she came running across from the other side of the boat and gave me a push. This lead to everyone else jumping in and we played in the water for about an hour or so. We had the music blasting and when we were not swimming we were dancing.
After hanging out on the ship and talking with Josh, man America on another ship, I decided that sailing around the world is a very economical and responsible way to see the world. Right now it is just day dreaming but when I am done with Peace Corps you never know what will happen. I think a sailing from west coast to east coast via the Panama Canal would be a good start. The night came to an end and we climbed in the dingy and set off for the main land. It had been a long day so we just went back to Susan’s house and hung out and made dinner.
This trip to Vila has been much quieter than my previous trips. We never went to Voodoo to go dancing, even though we did dance a few times at waterfront. It was nice to just have quiet nights and sharing stories with each other. We were staying at Susan’s house with a full kitchen so we took full advantage of it. One night Susan made a big pot of Popcorn and she put me in charge of the butter. Well I decided that butter was not enough so I made a caramel sauce to put on it. Mmmm… it was soooo good. Well that turned into me making fudge and chocolate and various other surgery treats. On one of the mornings I got up and made us all Scrambled eggs with cheese and onions fried up in the grease from the real bacon I had just cooked up. Man I miss American food. I love my Tanna soup but, nothing compares to the tastes of America.
I ended up being in Vila for two weeks. Man time flies around here sometimes. As always it is hard to say good bye to everyone. We have such strange relationships here. We make these wonderful friends and then we only see them every two or three or six months. It is really hard. I gave Susan a hug goodbye as this is the last time I will see her in Vanuatu. She goes home well I think she is already out of this country. I waved goodbye to Bridget at the airport and climbed on my plane back to Tanna. I had only gotten two hours sleep the night before so when they plane took off, I passed out.
Coming back to Tanna knowing that I only have two weeks left here was very strange. I felt sad as I hung out at the Mama’s market in Lenakel. Seeing Sultan and Tim and Nathan made me realize how lucky I am to have other volunteers on the islands. I am really going to miss Sultan. We always have a good time hanging out making fun of each other.
Futuna, Aniwa, and Customer Service
It has been three weeks since I last updated my journal. I have so much to write and share and I have a feeling I am going to forget most of it. I had left my laptop in Tanna thinking I would not have power in Futuna and Aniwa. Well I started my journey by heading back to Futuna to try this site development back again. I was happy to see that my luggage made it with me this time. I had been given a name to ask for when I got there, so I asked for the headmaster, nini.
Nini? Oh sori hem I stap long plaen. (Sorry he just got on the plane.) So the one of the people I was so supposed to meet with would not be back until I was leaving. Awe Vanuatu! Well I met Brian who is a teacher at the school and he took care of me. Before making the 45 minute hike up to the village we stopped and had some lunch at Ruth’s house. I tell you these people are amazing. They had no idea I was coming and yet in ten minutes I was eating a good lunch and have a good stori with these guys.
The hike up to Harold bay was pretty intense. There are no trucks on this island. There is only one bush road that goes around the edge of the island. When I mean edge I really mean the edge. The island is built like a cake. So on one side of the road is straight up and the other side is straight down about 350-500’. It was pretty intense. They arraigned to have a meeting with me and the key people of the village the next day. So the first night I just hung out with everyone. I had so much fun with these guys.
I was only there for three nights, but felt I made better friends there then I have in Tanna in 7 months. For one thing Brian is very well educated so we talked politics and the future of Vanuatu. It was great. WE stayed up till about 11 pm every night talking, playing the guitar, and singing songs, while drinking fresh lemon grass tea. I did go to church there more then I have since Mangaliliu. It was worth it to be able to eat with them. We ate nawita (octopus) with rice and soup. Mmmm… I could go for a bowl right now!
The terrain of Futuna reminds me of northern California, rocky coast line with shear cliffs and beautiful waves breaking in. On the second to last day, Brian and I walked down to Mission Bay which is where the airport is located. After dropping my stuff off at Ruth’s house, Brian and I met up with a few girls and walked down to the sand beach. Once there they asked if we wanted to go to the swim hole. We both were indifferent because we did not want to swim, but finally they said come on lets go.
So we ended up at this swim hole that was so incredible. I wish I had my Nikon with me to try and capture it. It is almost like a natural infinity pool. It is a like a huge tide pool, deep enough o dive head first into it. During high tide the water comes up high enough o put water into the pool. Water runs off on one side into the ocean and when big waves come they dump into the pool. I ended up swimming for about 30 minutes in the water, jumping and diving off of the rocks. I can not tell you how beautiful this place is.
Well the next day I had to get on the plane to go to Aniwa. I was really sad to leave all of these great people I had just met. They gave me a beautiful mat and a Futuna Basket. I said my goodbyes and then jumped on the plane to head to Aniwa. In Aniwa I ran into David Stein and two Italians there working on a wind power project. I ended up eating my meals with all of them. The one Italian, Antonio, was great to talk too. He has worked with many world organizations and has lived in various African and Middle Eastern countries along with South America.
The people in Aniwa were nice as well but I did not have the same feeling as I did in Futuna. The people in Futuna seemed really eager to have a volunteer to help them with various projects; where as in, Aniwa they seemed eager just to have a volunteer. I got to snorkel a few times in Aniwa which was really nice. It has been a long time since I have been in the water. Of course this is all going to change with my new site.
Well on Sunday I found the public phone and called the Peace Corps resource room to find out who was in town. I got to talk to Elin and Jade from my group. They informed me of the murders that just took place in Vila. We had 19 prisoners escape and they are now armed. They murdered two people in town after they had escaped. I believe half of them have been captured. The prison system here is a joke. People get weekend passes to go home and at four pm when the guards go home, so do some of the prisoners!
After talking with them I called up to Tongoa to see if I could talk with Bridget. She has had to put up with me and all my stressed about my site and moving sites. It has been nice to have someone to help me get these things out of my head. After making the site visits I felt sure I was making the right choice by leaving Tanna, but was left confused about where to go. She said she was heading to Vila the next day and that I should try and come in.
Well the next day we had a Custom ceremony in Aniwa. It was from the boys coming out from hiding. After they circumcise the boys, they must hide in the Nakamal for 30 days or so. After they come out they have a big feast and custom dance. It was really cool to see it. I then packed up my stuff and headed to the airport. At the airport I decided that maybe I would go into Vila. This way I could talk with other volunteers about my decision and also talk with Kevin George, my Country Director.
If I had only known how angry this trip was going to make me I do not know if I would of gone. To fly from Aniwa to Tanna is 4,900VT. To Fly from Tanna to Vila is 12,890VT. To fly from Aniwa (via Tanna) to Vila is only 12,900VT. I told the guy in Aniwa I wanted to change my ticket so that I was only paying the difference in price. He said no problem and that when I land in Tanna to take care of it there. Okay no big deal.
When I landed in Tanna and talked to the guy he said sorry your ticket is used so nothing I can do. I was like hey man the guy on Aniwa told me to take care of it here. He said that if the guy on Aniwa had called him first it would not have been an issue! This pissed me off and I was like hey can you call the main office in Vila and find out if there is anything they can do? He said No they are at lunch. I called him out on his blatant lie, because I knew for a fact that the Van Air office always has someone inside working.
I saw that the last truck was about to leave the airport so I thought screw it I will just go to Lenakel and deal with Sam at the Van Air office. As I got to the truck someone called me back to tell me he was on the phone with Vila. I thought great told the truck goodbye and walked back up to the man I had been dealing with. He was on the phone with Vila. Now then, having worked in service related industries for some time, I expect thing to happen a certain way. All I wanted was for him to try and help. Maybe ask them hey here is what happened, is there anything we can do for him? But this is what I heard him saying, “I already told him it is against our policy and that I won’t do it for him, so now I want you guys to tell him the same thing.” Then he hands the phone to me.
I was so livid. I talked to the lady on the phone and it sounded like she was going to make the change for me, then she asked to put him back on the phone and he once again told her he would not, and then hung up and told me they said no. Man I have never been so pissed here in Vanuatu. I called him a tipskin and that his rubbish fashion is exactly why Man Tanna has a bad name in this country and then used a few more choice words with him. I made my way to the road and started walking to town. Luckily after 30 minutes a truck came buy and picked me up.
I went in and explained everything to Sam and the office. He called up the customer help number (why the first guy never did that I do not know.) They tired helping me but nothing came of it, but a bunch of sories. By this point I was determined to go to Vila. I asked Sam to do me one favor. I told him that I would pay full price right now, but to call up the office and inform the manager that I would be in office when they opened in the morning. I could hear the girl on the other end saying, but why is he coming in? Ya but..
Well I did not go in the next day. By the time a slept on it I was like, whatever just let it go? Then I had lunch with Jani and started telling her about it and I got al fired up again. After Lunch I went into the office and sat down with the manager. She was very nice and by the time I left I had a credit for the difference of the tickets and she gave me a 20% discount on my return ticket to Tanna.
Nini? Oh sori hem I stap long plaen. (Sorry he just got on the plane.) So the one of the people I was so supposed to meet with would not be back until I was leaving. Awe Vanuatu! Well I met Brian who is a teacher at the school and he took care of me. Before making the 45 minute hike up to the village we stopped and had some lunch at Ruth’s house. I tell you these people are amazing. They had no idea I was coming and yet in ten minutes I was eating a good lunch and have a good stori with these guys.
The hike up to Harold bay was pretty intense. There are no trucks on this island. There is only one bush road that goes around the edge of the island. When I mean edge I really mean the edge. The island is built like a cake. So on one side of the road is straight up and the other side is straight down about 350-500’. It was pretty intense. They arraigned to have a meeting with me and the key people of the village the next day. So the first night I just hung out with everyone. I had so much fun with these guys.
I was only there for three nights, but felt I made better friends there then I have in Tanna in 7 months. For one thing Brian is very well educated so we talked politics and the future of Vanuatu. It was great. WE stayed up till about 11 pm every night talking, playing the guitar, and singing songs, while drinking fresh lemon grass tea. I did go to church there more then I have since Mangaliliu. It was worth it to be able to eat with them. We ate nawita (octopus) with rice and soup. Mmmm… I could go for a bowl right now!
The terrain of Futuna reminds me of northern California, rocky coast line with shear cliffs and beautiful waves breaking in. On the second to last day, Brian and I walked down to Mission Bay which is where the airport is located. After dropping my stuff off at Ruth’s house, Brian and I met up with a few girls and walked down to the sand beach. Once there they asked if we wanted to go to the swim hole. We both were indifferent because we did not want to swim, but finally they said come on lets go.
So we ended up at this swim hole that was so incredible. I wish I had my Nikon with me to try and capture it. It is almost like a natural infinity pool. It is a like a huge tide pool, deep enough o dive head first into it. During high tide the water comes up high enough o put water into the pool. Water runs off on one side into the ocean and when big waves come they dump into the pool. I ended up swimming for about 30 minutes in the water, jumping and diving off of the rocks. I can not tell you how beautiful this place is.
Well the next day I had to get on the plane to go to Aniwa. I was really sad to leave all of these great people I had just met. They gave me a beautiful mat and a Futuna Basket. I said my goodbyes and then jumped on the plane to head to Aniwa. In Aniwa I ran into David Stein and two Italians there working on a wind power project. I ended up eating my meals with all of them. The one Italian, Antonio, was great to talk too. He has worked with many world organizations and has lived in various African and Middle Eastern countries along with South America.
The people in Aniwa were nice as well but I did not have the same feeling as I did in Futuna. The people in Futuna seemed really eager to have a volunteer to help them with various projects; where as in, Aniwa they seemed eager just to have a volunteer. I got to snorkel a few times in Aniwa which was really nice. It has been a long time since I have been in the water. Of course this is all going to change with my new site.
Well on Sunday I found the public phone and called the Peace Corps resource room to find out who was in town. I got to talk to Elin and Jade from my group. They informed me of the murders that just took place in Vila. We had 19 prisoners escape and they are now armed. They murdered two people in town after they had escaped. I believe half of them have been captured. The prison system here is a joke. People get weekend passes to go home and at four pm when the guards go home, so do some of the prisoners!
After talking with them I called up to Tongoa to see if I could talk with Bridget. She has had to put up with me and all my stressed about my site and moving sites. It has been nice to have someone to help me get these things out of my head. After making the site visits I felt sure I was making the right choice by leaving Tanna, but was left confused about where to go. She said she was heading to Vila the next day and that I should try and come in.
Well the next day we had a Custom ceremony in Aniwa. It was from the boys coming out from hiding. After they circumcise the boys, they must hide in the Nakamal for 30 days or so. After they come out they have a big feast and custom dance. It was really cool to see it. I then packed up my stuff and headed to the airport. At the airport I decided that maybe I would go into Vila. This way I could talk with other volunteers about my decision and also talk with Kevin George, my Country Director.
If I had only known how angry this trip was going to make me I do not know if I would of gone. To fly from Aniwa to Tanna is 4,900VT. To Fly from Tanna to Vila is 12,890VT. To fly from Aniwa (via Tanna) to Vila is only 12,900VT. I told the guy in Aniwa I wanted to change my ticket so that I was only paying the difference in price. He said no problem and that when I land in Tanna to take care of it there. Okay no big deal.
When I landed in Tanna and talked to the guy he said sorry your ticket is used so nothing I can do. I was like hey man the guy on Aniwa told me to take care of it here. He said that if the guy on Aniwa had called him first it would not have been an issue! This pissed me off and I was like hey can you call the main office in Vila and find out if there is anything they can do? He said No they are at lunch. I called him out on his blatant lie, because I knew for a fact that the Van Air office always has someone inside working.
I saw that the last truck was about to leave the airport so I thought screw it I will just go to Lenakel and deal with Sam at the Van Air office. As I got to the truck someone called me back to tell me he was on the phone with Vila. I thought great told the truck goodbye and walked back up to the man I had been dealing with. He was on the phone with Vila. Now then, having worked in service related industries for some time, I expect thing to happen a certain way. All I wanted was for him to try and help. Maybe ask them hey here is what happened, is there anything we can do for him? But this is what I heard him saying, “I already told him it is against our policy and that I won’t do it for him, so now I want you guys to tell him the same thing.” Then he hands the phone to me.
I was so livid. I talked to the lady on the phone and it sounded like she was going to make the change for me, then she asked to put him back on the phone and he once again told her he would not, and then hung up and told me they said no. Man I have never been so pissed here in Vanuatu. I called him a tipskin and that his rubbish fashion is exactly why Man Tanna has a bad name in this country and then used a few more choice words with him. I made my way to the road and started walking to town. Luckily after 30 minutes a truck came buy and picked me up.
I went in and explained everything to Sam and the office. He called up the customer help number (why the first guy never did that I do not know.) They tired helping me but nothing came of it, but a bunch of sories. By this point I was determined to go to Vila. I asked Sam to do me one favor. I told him that I would pay full price right now, but to call up the office and inform the manager that I would be in office when they opened in the morning. I could hear the girl on the other end saying, but why is he coming in? Ya but..
Well I did not go in the next day. By the time a slept on it I was like, whatever just let it go? Then I had lunch with Jani and started telling her about it and I got al fired up again. After Lunch I went into the office and sat down with the manager. She was very nice and by the time I left I had a credit for the difference of the tickets and she gave me a 20% discount on my return ticket to Tanna.
Day trip to Futuna
Download the original attachment
I set my alarm to 0645, something I was not very excited about doing. Unfortunately I was not sure whether my check in time was at 1000 or that the plane left at 1000. I of course had not packed yet so I needed to get an early start. As it always seems when you need a good nights sleep something interferes. For me it was the new dog living on campus. I grabbed the only thing I could find to throw at the dog, but every time ai went outside the dog was no where to be found. The alarm went off at 0546 and I felt like I only had a couple hours of sleep.
I got up and packed my bag for my week long trip. Most of what I packed was my camera gear. I left with out eating breakfast and started down the truck road. After about 15 minutes I was picked up by a passing ruck. This took a lot of pressure off me missing my flight. I got to town and got my ticket updated for the flight then the guy said check in was actually at 1100 and the flight was out at 1200. I had plenty of time so I walked down to Aunty Mary’s for lunch. It was pretty sad as I was the only one there. Not that I mind eating by myself, it is just that this is where I would always meet to the volunteers who just COS’ed/ I then went to the post office and pick up some mail. Two new magazines!!! I grabbed out some money from the bank for my trip. I hope it is enough. Peace Corps never put the money for this trip in my account so I am just guessing on how much to bring.
It was around 1100 when I began heading to the airport. In town it is easy to catch a truck heading that way. When I got to the airport the plane was already there but I had to wait to check in until all the Vila people finished checking in. I got al checked in and then I hung out with the Japanese volunteer for while. I ran into the English guy from the ther side and storied with him as well.
At around 1300 the guy finally said the plane to anychum was leaving. He would not let me go. It turns out the plane goes to anychum and then back here to tanna before going to Futuna. So I waited go go. Finally the plane came back and as I waited for them to callfor the boarding I started talking with some NiVans. I finally walked out to the plane to see what time we were going and they were just shutting the door to take off! I ran and got on the little plane. This is the smallet plane I have ever been in in my entire life.
There was only three of us on the flight and I was sitting just behnd the co-pilot seat. There was only one pilot so I could watch what she was doing and look out the front window. Futuna is pretty scary looking on the approach. There is a small landing strip near the solwota and then the island goes straight up to 330 meters. It is like a big cake, no foothills, just a straight wall of bush.
When I got out the plane I waited as they unloaded the entire plane. Then as they were beginning to load the plane I asked, Hey basket blong mi stap wea? Where is my luggage? Well turns out it was still on Tanna. I asked the pilot if there was room on the plane. She called to Aniwa and said there was one empty seat. But I would have to sit up from in the co-pilot seat. The fact that she was a beautiful 24 year girl did not make my decision very tuff.
It was really cool to sit up front. I was a little scared on the landings being able to see everything. The run ways start right on the edge of a cliff and she puts the plane down about 2 feet into the runway. We landed in Aniwa and picked up some more passengers, before heading back to Tanna. As we were landing in Tanna I looked out and saw Noa fishing on the reef. He looked up and we waved to each other. When I got off the plane the runway guy came up and said Hey we forgot to put your bag on the plane! Gee really? Why do you think I am back!
We rescheduled my flight for Monday and I will be back then. Can you imagine this in the states? You fly somewhere and they forget your luggage, so they just let you fly home and re book the flight? Only in Vanuatu! The pilot was very apologetic but I told her I had been here long enough to expect stuff like this to happen to me. Awe Tanna!!
I set my alarm to 0645, something I was not very excited about doing. Unfortunately I was not sure whether my check in time was at 1000 or that the plane left at 1000. I of course had not packed yet so I needed to get an early start. As it always seems when you need a good nights sleep something interferes. For me it was the new dog living on campus. I grabbed the only thing I could find to throw at the dog, but every time ai went outside the dog was no where to be found. The alarm went off at 0546 and I felt like I only had a couple hours of sleep.
I got up and packed my bag for my week long trip. Most of what I packed was my camera gear. I left with out eating breakfast and started down the truck road. After about 15 minutes I was picked up by a passing ruck. This took a lot of pressure off me missing my flight. I got to town and got my ticket updated for the flight then the guy said check in was actually at 1100 and the flight was out at 1200. I had plenty of time so I walked down to Aunty Mary’s for lunch. It was pretty sad as I was the only one there. Not that I mind eating by myself, it is just that this is where I would always meet to the volunteers who just COS’ed/ I then went to the post office and pick up some mail. Two new magazines!!! I grabbed out some money from the bank for my trip. I hope it is enough. Peace Corps never put the money for this trip in my account so I am just guessing on how much to bring.
It was around 1100 when I began heading to the airport. In town it is easy to catch a truck heading that way. When I got to the airport the plane was already there but I had to wait to check in until all the Vila people finished checking in. I got al checked in and then I hung out with the Japanese volunteer for while. I ran into the English guy from the ther side and storied with him as well.
At around 1300 the guy finally said the plane to anychum was leaving. He would not let me go. It turns out the plane goes to anychum and then back here to tanna before going to Futuna. So I waited go go. Finally the plane came back and as I waited for them to callfor the boarding I started talking with some NiVans. I finally walked out to the plane to see what time we were going and they were just shutting the door to take off! I ran and got on the little plane. This is the smallet plane I have ever been in in my entire life.
There was only three of us on the flight and I was sitting just behnd the co-pilot seat. There was only one pilot so I could watch what she was doing and look out the front window. Futuna is pretty scary looking on the approach. There is a small landing strip near the solwota and then the island goes straight up to 330 meters. It is like a big cake, no foothills, just a straight wall of bush.
When I got out the plane I waited as they unloaded the entire plane. Then as they were beginning to load the plane I asked, Hey basket blong mi stap wea? Where is my luggage? Well turns out it was still on Tanna. I asked the pilot if there was room on the plane. She called to Aniwa and said there was one empty seat. But I would have to sit up from in the co-pilot seat. The fact that she was a beautiful 24 year girl did not make my decision very tuff.
It was really cool to sit up front. I was a little scared on the landings being able to see everything. The run ways start right on the edge of a cliff and she puts the plane down about 2 feet into the runway. We landed in Aniwa and picked up some more passengers, before heading back to Tanna. As we were landing in Tanna I looked out and saw Noa fishing on the reef. He looked up and we waved to each other. When I got off the plane the runway guy came up and said Hey we forgot to put your bag on the plane! Gee really? Why do you think I am back!
We rescheduled my flight for Monday and I will be back then. Can you imagine this in the states? You fly somewhere and they forget your luggage, so they just let you fly home and re book the flight? Only in Vanuatu! The pilot was very apologetic but I told her I had been here long enough to expect stuff like this to happen to me. Awe Tanna!!
Day two with Elin
We woke up at an early nine am and headed into the kitchen for breakfast. We were all kind of dragging and were looking forward to a good breakfast. We had bread and butter and jelly, along with some instant coffee and some milo. I think Sultan and I ate a loaf and half each of bread. We were having a hard time deciding what we were going to do with ourselves all day long. We decided we would head down to Port Resolution for the day.
A guy from Jungle went and waited by the road for a truck to come by. He found us a truck and having a little knowledge of how things work here asked how much? The guy said 500 each, each way. This means it was going to be 4000VT to go 30 minutes down the road. We ended up getting it down to 2250VT for the whole trip. They dropped us off near the beach and once again I became jealous of how other volunteers live. (There is a volunteer in this community)
The beach was absolutely amazing, so incredible. We hung out on the beach, swam in the water, walked down the way collecting shells and looking at cool things in the tide pools. After a few hours we decided to walk up to the Yacht Club and see if they had any cold drinks. They had cold tuskers and made us lunch. When we first asked about lunch it was egg and rice for 750VT. We were like come on who set this price you? She said it was her brother and then went and talked to him. She came back and told us 500 each but not to tell the four English speaking tourists next to us that were paying 750 for the same food.
We ended up riding back to Jungle with the Swiss couple. They were very nice and we had a good stori for a bit. By the time we made it back to jungle it was time to head up the volcano. Of course the truck that was supposed to take us was already at the top with another tourist. We waited, go go, and then finally decided just to walk to the road and try and catch another truck. When we got to the main road the Jungle truck came and picked us up.
Remember a couple of blogs back when I said I went to the volcano with Brizz and they would not let me in because I did not have a receipt. I explained that my brother smoked my receipt and the guy said well to bad so sad. And that even if I had my receipt it would only entitle me to half off of the 2250 entrance fee. Well: We pull up to the gate and the driver says Olgeta oli Pis Kops. (They are all Peace Corps.) The guy smiled and waved and we drove right in with out paying! Awe Tanna!
The volcano was only at a level two. This is the first time I had seen a level two and was kind of disappointed. Every other trip up I have been scared to death that I was going to die. But a level two I was never even worried. Well One did give me a little shake. I hauled up all my camera gear and got some decent shots. Of course even the best shot does not do justice to the volcano.
When we came back down to Jungle we went straight to dinner. It was the same gcouple form the previous night, us, and a new guy named guy. He was from England. We were going to invite them all to come hang out in our room and storian but he was on the phone and the Swiss couple disappeared. I assume running away from the crazy Americans. We shared a bottle of wine, listened to some tunes, laughed a lot, and then passed out! We had to be up early if we wanted to catch a free truck to Port in the morning. It was free because the owner had a tourist council meeting in Port so he was going there anyways.
We ate some crackers and drank some coffee with Guy while we waited for the truck. While we waited the bill for the weekend came. It was going to be 11,000 each for Sultana and I. This is for two nights. We went and talked to the owner and explained that this was not cool. We both live on Tanna, not as business men but as volunteers. We always send Peace Corps to stay there, including about 11 different people in the last month. And that mainly we just want to let him know that we look out for them and hope that they will look out good for us. The price then came down to 7,000 each and then 6,000 and then finally 5,000 each. I felt okay with this price.
It is not that we do not mind paying, but do not try and rip us off like some tourist. We know how it works around here. We both decided that from now on we are sending people to stay in Port Resolution. There are beautiful beaches, it is only and extra 500 to hire a truck to the volcano, and it does not seem like they will try and take advantage of us. Although on one of these trips I hope to stay in the tree house which looks really cool.
Guy came with us to Port and hung out all day. He was a pretty funny guy, that Guy. He had us laughing hard as we all shared stories about traveling. He was talking about his fiancé and how wonderful she is. We all agreed that a woman that says yeah you go ahead and go on holiday for 6 months while I plan our wedding is a pretty good catch. We think that this is her ace in the whole when ever she wants anything in the future. You know, remember that time I planned our entire wedding while you gallivanted around the South Pacific? Well….
After a while the truck came and picked us up. This time they found two more tourists and agreed to take them back to the airport as well. The back of the truck was already filled and we still had two more tourists to pick up along with their luggage and all of ours. We manage to fit it all in, although I was worried that we may fall out of the truck. We stopped at Tuhu and Sultan jumped down. We then drove another 10 minutes and dropped me off.
There is a bush market where my half road is so they all jumped out and looked around. One of the ladies had to go Pis-Pis (pee) so she asked if there was a toilet there. This gave Elin, Randy, and I more time to storian. They asked this is your village, No. See that road there. No? Well that little trial? Take that 45 minutes north and that is where my house was. It was hard saying goodbye to them. I had such a wonderful time. I kept telling them it was sensory overload with them there. Just too much fun!
Well I still have not packed for my trip and honestly I probably won’t until morning. Swim trunks, a blanket, and my camera. What else do I need! I am a little nervous about this trip. I have a lot of decisions to make here soon. Nobody on the two islands even knows that I am coming to do this site development work. It should be very interesting and a good learning experience for me as well. I told my brothers that I am going to Aniwa and now they have all put orders in for oranges. Apparently Aniwa has the best oranges in the South Pacific, better then AU and NZ. I think I can manage to bring a few home. I also heard that it is taem blong naora blong solwota long Futuna, (Lobster season in Futuna.) So I am hoping to eat lobster every day!!! We will see.
Ta.
A guy from Jungle went and waited by the road for a truck to come by. He found us a truck and having a little knowledge of how things work here asked how much? The guy said 500 each, each way. This means it was going to be 4000VT to go 30 minutes down the road. We ended up getting it down to 2250VT for the whole trip. They dropped us off near the beach and once again I became jealous of how other volunteers live. (There is a volunteer in this community)
The beach was absolutely amazing, so incredible. We hung out on the beach, swam in the water, walked down the way collecting shells and looking at cool things in the tide pools. After a few hours we decided to walk up to the Yacht Club and see if they had any cold drinks. They had cold tuskers and made us lunch. When we first asked about lunch it was egg and rice for 750VT. We were like come on who set this price you? She said it was her brother and then went and talked to him. She came back and told us 500 each but not to tell the four English speaking tourists next to us that were paying 750 for the same food.
We ended up riding back to Jungle with the Swiss couple. They were very nice and we had a good stori for a bit. By the time we made it back to jungle it was time to head up the volcano. Of course the truck that was supposed to take us was already at the top with another tourist. We waited, go go, and then finally decided just to walk to the road and try and catch another truck. When we got to the main road the Jungle truck came and picked us up.
Remember a couple of blogs back when I said I went to the volcano with Brizz and they would not let me in because I did not have a receipt. I explained that my brother smoked my receipt and the guy said well to bad so sad. And that even if I had my receipt it would only entitle me to half off of the 2250 entrance fee. Well: We pull up to the gate and the driver says Olgeta oli Pis Kops. (They are all Peace Corps.) The guy smiled and waved and we drove right in with out paying! Awe Tanna!
The volcano was only at a level two. This is the first time I had seen a level two and was kind of disappointed. Every other trip up I have been scared to death that I was going to die. But a level two I was never even worried. Well One did give me a little shake. I hauled up all my camera gear and got some decent shots. Of course even the best shot does not do justice to the volcano.
When we came back down to Jungle we went straight to dinner. It was the same gcouple form the previous night, us, and a new guy named guy. He was from England. We were going to invite them all to come hang out in our room and storian but he was on the phone and the Swiss couple disappeared. I assume running away from the crazy Americans. We shared a bottle of wine, listened to some tunes, laughed a lot, and then passed out! We had to be up early if we wanted to catch a free truck to Port in the morning. It was free because the owner had a tourist council meeting in Port so he was going there anyways.
We ate some crackers and drank some coffee with Guy while we waited for the truck. While we waited the bill for the weekend came. It was going to be 11,000 each for Sultana and I. This is for two nights. We went and talked to the owner and explained that this was not cool. We both live on Tanna, not as business men but as volunteers. We always send Peace Corps to stay there, including about 11 different people in the last month. And that mainly we just want to let him know that we look out for them and hope that they will look out good for us. The price then came down to 7,000 each and then 6,000 and then finally 5,000 each. I felt okay with this price.
It is not that we do not mind paying, but do not try and rip us off like some tourist. We know how it works around here. We both decided that from now on we are sending people to stay in Port Resolution. There are beautiful beaches, it is only and extra 500 to hire a truck to the volcano, and it does not seem like they will try and take advantage of us. Although on one of these trips I hope to stay in the tree house which looks really cool.
Guy came with us to Port and hung out all day. He was a pretty funny guy, that Guy. He had us laughing hard as we all shared stories about traveling. He was talking about his fiancé and how wonderful she is. We all agreed that a woman that says yeah you go ahead and go on holiday for 6 months while I plan our wedding is a pretty good catch. We think that this is her ace in the whole when ever she wants anything in the future. You know, remember that time I planned our entire wedding while you gallivanted around the South Pacific? Well….
After a while the truck came and picked us up. This time they found two more tourists and agreed to take them back to the airport as well. The back of the truck was already filled and we still had two more tourists to pick up along with their luggage and all of ours. We manage to fit it all in, although I was worried that we may fall out of the truck. We stopped at Tuhu and Sultan jumped down. We then drove another 10 minutes and dropped me off.
There is a bush market where my half road is so they all jumped out and looked around. One of the ladies had to go Pis-Pis (pee) so she asked if there was a toilet there. This gave Elin, Randy, and I more time to storian. They asked this is your village, No. See that road there. No? Well that little trial? Take that 45 minutes north and that is where my house was. It was hard saying goodbye to them. I had such a wonderful time. I kept telling them it was sensory overload with them there. Just too much fun!
Well I still have not packed for my trip and honestly I probably won’t until morning. Swim trunks, a blanket, and my camera. What else do I need! I am a little nervous about this trip. I have a lot of decisions to make here soon. Nobody on the two islands even knows that I am coming to do this site development work. It should be very interesting and a good learning experience for me as well. I told my brothers that I am going to Aniwa and now they have all put orders in for oranges. Apparently Aniwa has the best oranges in the South Pacific, better then AU and NZ. I think I can manage to bring a few home. I also heard that it is taem blong naora blong solwota long Futuna, (Lobster season in Futuna.) So I am hoping to eat lobster every day!!! We will see.
Ta.
Eiln and Randys first day
So I am probably not in the right mind set to be writing about these last few days right now, but I am supposed to be packing for my trip to Aniwa and Fortuna. What a better way of putting that off then by writing about my adventures. So Monday morning I woke up to my usual routine; wake up earlier then I want, annoyed by the singing pikinini, go out side and sit on my door step, someone bring me a big bowl of Tanna soup, and then storian small with some of my people. I then packed my bag and headed down to Lenakel.
When I started to walk down I sent a text message to Sultan that I was heading down and we should meet for lunch. Well on the walk there I quickly realized that a black shirt was the wrong thing to wear. While it was only about 75 out it felt like a 101 in that shirt. It did not help that I was hauling around my back pack camera bag with my tripod. I got to the main road and hoped and hoped a truck would stop and pick me up. Well a truck did stop but it was going in the opposite direction. As the truck approached I noticed it was all yungfala’s from my village. I should have expected the flying nuts heading my way, but before I could I took one right where it counts. They all got a big laugh out of this. Got to love the Tanna sense of humor!
They convinced me to jump in the truck and head all the way back to my village before heading back down. So off we went back to my village. We unloaded the sand beach and then headed back to back down to Lenakel. Riding around with my brothers is pretty fun. They are so goofy. They sing out to every girl we pass and make fun of the little kids.
When we got into town I saw Sultan and the JICA (Japanese Volunteers,) along with two random Americans. The two Americans have been in Sultans village doing some kind of church work.
Sultan and I cruised around town. I stopped into the JK Nalas store and bought and ice cream cone. It is 120VT for a generic Drumstick and I am hooked on them. I probably eat at least two on every trip to Lenakel. We ended up hanging out in front of the post office/ bank. This is our usual spot. When it was time for me to head to the airport and pick up Elin and her father, I asked if Sultan wanted to cruise to the airport with me.
We caught a truck that ended up heading down to some school right on the solwota. This school grounds are so incredible. It seems like somewhere to have a resort not a public school. Well after sitting there for ten minutes we thought we should just walk down the road and catch a different truck. Well before another truck came this guy came up again and gave us a ride the rest of the way. I tried to give him 200 for the ride but he wouldn’t take it. A lot of people treat us like we are one of there in-laws here.
When we got to the airport I found the guy from Jungle Oasis. I told him the two people he was picking up were friends of mine and that I was going to go with them. He said okay and then a few minutes later he asked a question that seemed odd to me. He did not know that Elin and her Dad, Randy, were coming, even though they had already paid, (probably more then they should of because they did it through vila.) The driver was at the airport to pick up a parcel. There plain landed and I walked out past the security, one of my brother cousins, and gave Elin a huge hug. I laughed because she said my dad is getting out our luggage. I told her Elin this is a real airport they bring it to you. Elin got to ride in the extra pilot seat of the 8 seater plain. That must have been a cool view.
We threw there stuff in the truck and headed down the road laughing at the Vanuatu. The driver only came to pick up a parcel, never got the parcel, but got some tourists by he did not even know had already paid for the truck service. Awe Tanna! We twisted Sultans arm to come with us. He gave us a bunch of excuses like he didn’t pack anything and had no change of clothes. Then we found out he bought a new tooth brush, some snacks, and some other goodies and came to the conclusion that he was well packed for the trip.
The ride out there started to get chilly as we headed through the bush. Luckily our jackets were pretty easy to get to. I loaned Randy my rain jacket and through on my fleece. If he wasn’t there I would have worn both of them. It is so cold!! We kept getting “closer” and closer and closer. We would not have known this if it was not for Sultan who kept telling us, yeah were closer now.
When we got to Jungle we could not decided if we wanted to go straight up the volcano or wait until the next night. We opted to relax and go eat dinner. We did not realize that dinner was going to be such an experience. We had a lovely smelling steak with rice and veggies. I was focused on cutting my steak into tiny bite size pieces, when I looked up and saw everyone having issues with there steak. Randy said he could not even cut his, Elin on has a butter knife, and Sultan has the whole steak in his hands trying to tear off a piece with his teeth. I felt bad for Swiss couple we were sitting with because were having fits of laughter about the steak. Elin said well Chris is eating his. I explained well you just have to cut it into a small enough piece that you can swallow it. Sultan was almost crying when he said he was afraid to even try and swallow it. Poor Randy hardly ate anything. Of course Sultan and I made sure everything but the steak did not go to waste. When the guy came to clear our plates he said yeah the mit hemi strong huh? Olgeta oli bin kutem no gud. (the meat is strong huh? Yeah they cut it the wrong way!) So this guy knew that we were eating tough steak. Awe Tanna!
After dinner we went back to the room and had a night cap of Jim Bean and coke. Elin had her ipod and speakers so we drank and listened to the sounds of the Beatles and the Beach Boys while listening to Mt Yasur rumble in the back ground. We laughed so hard and had so much fun with each other. It felt like being at summer camp. The next morning we had no idea what the day was to bring. We were just hoping it was not more of that steak!
So while I was writing this I got a knock on my door. My room service had arrived. It was a nice bowl of Tanna soup that smelled like a wet dog. Then I saw a junk of meat int eh middle. My first thought was wow I finally get to eat dog! But, then I noticed that there were also intestines in the soup as well. Ah yes, Flying Fox intestines! Yummy!! I have of course eaten everything but the intestines. I have just have not been able to bring my self to do that yet. The leg of the Flying Fox was a little bloody, I hope bats don’t have salmonella!!
When I started to walk down I sent a text message to Sultan that I was heading down and we should meet for lunch. Well on the walk there I quickly realized that a black shirt was the wrong thing to wear. While it was only about 75 out it felt like a 101 in that shirt. It did not help that I was hauling around my back pack camera bag with my tripod. I got to the main road and hoped and hoped a truck would stop and pick me up. Well a truck did stop but it was going in the opposite direction. As the truck approached I noticed it was all yungfala’s from my village. I should have expected the flying nuts heading my way, but before I could I took one right where it counts. They all got a big laugh out of this. Got to love the Tanna sense of humor!
They convinced me to jump in the truck and head all the way back to my village before heading back down. So off we went back to my village. We unloaded the sand beach and then headed back to back down to Lenakel. Riding around with my brothers is pretty fun. They are so goofy. They sing out to every girl we pass and make fun of the little kids.
When we got into town I saw Sultan and the JICA (Japanese Volunteers,) along with two random Americans. The two Americans have been in Sultans village doing some kind of church work.
Sultan and I cruised around town. I stopped into the JK Nalas store and bought and ice cream cone. It is 120VT for a generic Drumstick and I am hooked on them. I probably eat at least two on every trip to Lenakel. We ended up hanging out in front of the post office/ bank. This is our usual spot. When it was time for me to head to the airport and pick up Elin and her father, I asked if Sultan wanted to cruise to the airport with me.
We caught a truck that ended up heading down to some school right on the solwota. This school grounds are so incredible. It seems like somewhere to have a resort not a public school. Well after sitting there for ten minutes we thought we should just walk down the road and catch a different truck. Well before another truck came this guy came up again and gave us a ride the rest of the way. I tried to give him 200 for the ride but he wouldn’t take it. A lot of people treat us like we are one of there in-laws here.
When we got to the airport I found the guy from Jungle Oasis. I told him the two people he was picking up were friends of mine and that I was going to go with them. He said okay and then a few minutes later he asked a question that seemed odd to me. He did not know that Elin and her Dad, Randy, were coming, even though they had already paid, (probably more then they should of because they did it through vila.) The driver was at the airport to pick up a parcel. There plain landed and I walked out past the security, one of my brother cousins, and gave Elin a huge hug. I laughed because she said my dad is getting out our luggage. I told her Elin this is a real airport they bring it to you. Elin got to ride in the extra pilot seat of the 8 seater plain. That must have been a cool view.
We threw there stuff in the truck and headed down the road laughing at the Vanuatu. The driver only came to pick up a parcel, never got the parcel, but got some tourists by he did not even know had already paid for the truck service. Awe Tanna! We twisted Sultans arm to come with us. He gave us a bunch of excuses like he didn’t pack anything and had no change of clothes. Then we found out he bought a new tooth brush, some snacks, and some other goodies and came to the conclusion that he was well packed for the trip.
The ride out there started to get chilly as we headed through the bush. Luckily our jackets were pretty easy to get to. I loaned Randy my rain jacket and through on my fleece. If he wasn’t there I would have worn both of them. It is so cold!! We kept getting “closer” and closer and closer. We would not have known this if it was not for Sultan who kept telling us, yeah were closer now.
When we got to Jungle we could not decided if we wanted to go straight up the volcano or wait until the next night. We opted to relax and go eat dinner. We did not realize that dinner was going to be such an experience. We had a lovely smelling steak with rice and veggies. I was focused on cutting my steak into tiny bite size pieces, when I looked up and saw everyone having issues with there steak. Randy said he could not even cut his, Elin on has a butter knife, and Sultan has the whole steak in his hands trying to tear off a piece with his teeth. I felt bad for Swiss couple we were sitting with because were having fits of laughter about the steak. Elin said well Chris is eating his. I explained well you just have to cut it into a small enough piece that you can swallow it. Sultan was almost crying when he said he was afraid to even try and swallow it. Poor Randy hardly ate anything. Of course Sultan and I made sure everything but the steak did not go to waste. When the guy came to clear our plates he said yeah the mit hemi strong huh? Olgeta oli bin kutem no gud. (the meat is strong huh? Yeah they cut it the wrong way!) So this guy knew that we were eating tough steak. Awe Tanna!
After dinner we went back to the room and had a night cap of Jim Bean and coke. Elin had her ipod and speakers so we drank and listened to the sounds of the Beatles and the Beach Boys while listening to Mt Yasur rumble in the back ground. We laughed so hard and had so much fun with each other. It felt like being at summer camp. The next morning we had no idea what the day was to bring. We were just hoping it was not more of that steak!
So while I was writing this I got a knock on my door. My room service had arrived. It was a nice bowl of Tanna soup that smelled like a wet dog. Then I saw a junk of meat int eh middle. My first thought was wow I finally get to eat dog! But, then I noticed that there were also intestines in the soup as well. Ah yes, Flying Fox intestines! Yummy!! I have of course eaten everything but the intestines. I have just have not been able to bring my self to do that yet. The leg of the Flying Fox was a little bloody, I hope bats don’t have salmonella!!
Port resolution
Well my necklace making class went great, besides for the fact that the students flattened my role of rope. At first the boys did not seem interested. When I told people to come up and cut their rope the girls jumped right up, but the boys kind of hem hawed around. In the end the boys really dug it and wanted to know different ways to braid them. It is island bling bling I guess.
After my class I was supposed to walk to Tuhu School to meet Brizz. Brizz is a fifth year volunteer here who works in Vila. Tuhu is about a 45 minute walk from my house. Well I was feeling lazy and never made it down there. I tried calling Brizz but that was of no use. The next afternoon I was pan frying some horse in BBQ sauce, when I heard a truck pull up. I went out side and there was Brizz walking my way. Two Twix bars in hand. Yes it was nice to see him, but even better to see the Twix!! It turns out he never made it to Tuhu and was just then on his way there. I made plans to walk down Thursday after class and drink kava with him and Brett.
Thursday afternoon rolled around and I was still feeling lazy. Here in Bislama I would say “mi mi les long wokabot.” ( I am sick of walking.) So I decided that instead of walking the 1:45 to town I would walk the 45 minutes to the main road and try and catch a truck. (I do not know why I have been feeling lazy lately. I think it may be lack of protein. I have bought some peanut butter and have been feeling better.) I found Brizz in town and found out that it would be just him and I drinking kava. We Nakamal hopped to two different kava bars. The kava was decent, nothing great but decent none the less.
Friday morning, Brizz and I jumped on the office of Education truck and headed to Port Resolution. Port is on the South Eastern part of Tanna. Up to this point I had only been as far as Mt Yasur. Port is beautiful. Port Resolution is where Captain Cook first came to shore in Vanuatu. He had seen the glowing lights from Mt Yasur and came to investigate. When he got here and tried to ask the locals what this place was called, they were confused. So Captain Cook picked up some dirt and asked again what this was called. The locals finally caught on and told him Tanna. Of course that was not the name of the island that is the name of what he picked up. So the translation of Tanna is Ground.
It is a beautiful bay and I decided that while Brizz was working with the school I would go for a walk and explore the area. There were about five yachts in the bay. I saw two girls rowing their dingy into shore so I walked down and storied with them for a little while. One of the girls was from France and the other was Connecticut. I heard a truck up on top and thought it best to head back up there. The two girls came along with me.
As we were walking we talked about there journey and what they thought of Tanna so far. They had been here a few days already and said they had really enjoyed the island and the people. As we were walking we passed a Nakamal that had several men in it. One of the men came up and started talking. I thought he was talking to the two girls but it turns out that the truck had come looking for me and headed down towards Sandra’s house, (Another PC volunteer.) As we walked away the American girl asked, now what language was that in? I said wasn’t it English? She said nope. Huh it must have been Bislama then. The language is so much like English I sometimes have a hard time believing that English speakers can not figure out what the people are saying.
I found Brizz and we got back on the road and headed towards the volcano. Brizz had never seen it and was looking forward to going. I was excited to see it in the day time, even though I know that at night it is more spectacular. We got to the gate and the gate man wanted to charge both of us 2250. I explained that I had already paid once. He asked me where my receipt was. I told him one of my brothers in my village used it to roll his tobacco. He said sorry you need a receipt. Every other time I have been here this has not been an issue. But this guy was not budging so I told Brizz to have fun and I jumped out of the truck and spent my time waiting, harassing the gate keeper for his rubbish fashion. Okay not really, there was a string band doing a benefit so I just hung out wrote some letters and listened to the string band.
When we finally got back to Lenakel I ran into the gang and got to say goodbye to Matt Dewitt. He had to head back to his village so that is the last time I will se him in Country. I met up with Sultan and we hung out with the JICA and GAP volunteers until it was time to meet Brett for kava. The Kava was horrible. I had not eaten very much all day so I was expecting the kava to really kick. No such luck. The first two Nakamals did nothing for me. The third one it started to kick.
I wish people could see this last Nakamal we went to. If this place was in the states, there is not a one of you who would dare to walk into this place. The closest I can describe it too is the seediest back alley of the worst part of Harlem. A tin shelter off in the corner with five guys huddled around a small fire. The only other light coming from one light bulb hanging high in a tree. The only sound is the guy in the bushes throwing up. We all talked about how at home none of us would ever put our selves into this kind of situation. But here in Vanuatu, well it is just our life.
Saturday morning I rode out to the airport with Brizz. I had a package waiting for me from Peace Corps. Inside the packet is site development form. Peace Corps is sending me to the islands of Fortune and Aniwa to do site development work for possible new volunteers, actually possible sites for me. Peace Corps has decided to explore the option of changing my site. This is due to the fact that I am the fourth generation and fifth volunteer here. The school runs great. I feel that I could be helping more in a place that is not already sustainable. We will see if that holds to be true.
I am very nervous about this. For one thing, I really love the people in my village and will miss all of them. Secondly, Tanna is awesome. Our weather is probably better than any other island in Vanuatu. There are nine volunteers on island that I can go see anytime I want. We meet for lunch every Friday in town and storian. We have two real restaurants and one with homemade ice cream. We have more stores then we really need. There are two flights a day, so I can get mail fairly easily.
I could end up on an island like Aniwa, where they have never had any volunteers before. The closet bank is on Tanna, there are no restaurants, and they only have two planes a week (sometimes, less depending on the weather.) Well I guess we will see what I think in a week from now.
I am excited that tomorrow Elin and her Dad are flying into Tanna and I am going to go hang out with them for two nights. Oh yeah that’s one more great thing about Tanna, everyone eventually has to come here to see Yasur!
After my class I was supposed to walk to Tuhu School to meet Brizz. Brizz is a fifth year volunteer here who works in Vila. Tuhu is about a 45 minute walk from my house. Well I was feeling lazy and never made it down there. I tried calling Brizz but that was of no use. The next afternoon I was pan frying some horse in BBQ sauce, when I heard a truck pull up. I went out side and there was Brizz walking my way. Two Twix bars in hand. Yes it was nice to see him, but even better to see the Twix!! It turns out he never made it to Tuhu and was just then on his way there. I made plans to walk down Thursday after class and drink kava with him and Brett.
Thursday afternoon rolled around and I was still feeling lazy. Here in Bislama I would say “mi mi les long wokabot.” ( I am sick of walking.) So I decided that instead of walking the 1:45 to town I would walk the 45 minutes to the main road and try and catch a truck. (I do not know why I have been feeling lazy lately. I think it may be lack of protein. I have bought some peanut butter and have been feeling better.) I found Brizz in town and found out that it would be just him and I drinking kava. We Nakamal hopped to two different kava bars. The kava was decent, nothing great but decent none the less.
Friday morning, Brizz and I jumped on the office of Education truck and headed to Port Resolution. Port is on the South Eastern part of Tanna. Up to this point I had only been as far as Mt Yasur. Port is beautiful. Port Resolution is where Captain Cook first came to shore in Vanuatu. He had seen the glowing lights from Mt Yasur and came to investigate. When he got here and tried to ask the locals what this place was called, they were confused. So Captain Cook picked up some dirt and asked again what this was called. The locals finally caught on and told him Tanna. Of course that was not the name of the island that is the name of what he picked up. So the translation of Tanna is Ground.
It is a beautiful bay and I decided that while Brizz was working with the school I would go for a walk and explore the area. There were about five yachts in the bay. I saw two girls rowing their dingy into shore so I walked down and storied with them for a little while. One of the girls was from France and the other was Connecticut. I heard a truck up on top and thought it best to head back up there. The two girls came along with me.
As we were walking we talked about there journey and what they thought of Tanna so far. They had been here a few days already and said they had really enjoyed the island and the people. As we were walking we passed a Nakamal that had several men in it. One of the men came up and started talking. I thought he was talking to the two girls but it turns out that the truck had come looking for me and headed down towards Sandra’s house, (Another PC volunteer.) As we walked away the American girl asked, now what language was that in? I said wasn’t it English? She said nope. Huh it must have been Bislama then. The language is so much like English I sometimes have a hard time believing that English speakers can not figure out what the people are saying.
I found Brizz and we got back on the road and headed towards the volcano. Brizz had never seen it and was looking forward to going. I was excited to see it in the day time, even though I know that at night it is more spectacular. We got to the gate and the gate man wanted to charge both of us 2250. I explained that I had already paid once. He asked me where my receipt was. I told him one of my brothers in my village used it to roll his tobacco. He said sorry you need a receipt. Every other time I have been here this has not been an issue. But this guy was not budging so I told Brizz to have fun and I jumped out of the truck and spent my time waiting, harassing the gate keeper for his rubbish fashion. Okay not really, there was a string band doing a benefit so I just hung out wrote some letters and listened to the string band.
When we finally got back to Lenakel I ran into the gang and got to say goodbye to Matt Dewitt. He had to head back to his village so that is the last time I will se him in Country. I met up with Sultan and we hung out with the JICA and GAP volunteers until it was time to meet Brett for kava. The Kava was horrible. I had not eaten very much all day so I was expecting the kava to really kick. No such luck. The first two Nakamals did nothing for me. The third one it started to kick.
I wish people could see this last Nakamal we went to. If this place was in the states, there is not a one of you who would dare to walk into this place. The closest I can describe it too is the seediest back alley of the worst part of Harlem. A tin shelter off in the corner with five guys huddled around a small fire. The only other light coming from one light bulb hanging high in a tree. The only sound is the guy in the bushes throwing up. We all talked about how at home none of us would ever put our selves into this kind of situation. But here in Vanuatu, well it is just our life.
Saturday morning I rode out to the airport with Brizz. I had a package waiting for me from Peace Corps. Inside the packet is site development form. Peace Corps is sending me to the islands of Fortune and Aniwa to do site development work for possible new volunteers, actually possible sites for me. Peace Corps has decided to explore the option of changing my site. This is due to the fact that I am the fourth generation and fifth volunteer here. The school runs great. I feel that I could be helping more in a place that is not already sustainable. We will see if that holds to be true.
I am very nervous about this. For one thing, I really love the people in my village and will miss all of them. Secondly, Tanna is awesome. Our weather is probably better than any other island in Vanuatu. There are nine volunteers on island that I can go see anytime I want. We meet for lunch every Friday in town and storian. We have two real restaurants and one with homemade ice cream. We have more stores then we really need. There are two flights a day, so I can get mail fairly easily.
I could end up on an island like Aniwa, where they have never had any volunteers before. The closet bank is on Tanna, there are no restaurants, and they only have two planes a week (sometimes, less depending on the weather.) Well I guess we will see what I think in a week from now.
I am excited that tomorrow Elin and her Dad are flying into Tanna and I am going to go hang out with them for two nights. Oh yeah that’s one more great thing about Tanna, everyone eventually has to come here to see Yasur!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
