From Wanem mi Stap long Vila

So I was sitting in my class room the other day when I got a phone call from Elin. Elin is from the island of Malekula, but had been in Vila for a week or so. She had called to let me know that she had received an email from my dad that my grandmother Flyr had passed away. She had already informed the Peace Corps medical staff who she transferred me to after talk with me for a few minutes. The Peace Corps staff was very helpful in calling my dad from their satellite phone so that he could call me back on my cell phone.

My dad called me a few minutes later and we got a chance to storian for a bit. Apparently my grandmother was watching Saturday morning cartoons and just dozed off to sleep. Not a bad way to go. Not to long ago I received a Christmas card from her. The only thing she had written on the inside was a J smiley face with an arrow pointing to it that said “That’s me.” It still makes me laugh when I look at it.

Well I decided that I did not just want to sit in Lounuotuan, so I told Pis Kops I wanted to come in so I can use some real communication devices to call home. The Pis kops nurse said she would have the country director call me. Well if I waited around for a call I would not get on a plane that day. I packed a small bag and said good bye to my village and then started hiking to the airport. I called Elin back and she was a big help by calling the airline and saving me a seat. About 2 hours into hiking a truck finally came by and I caught a ride into town to get money out of the bank and then headed straight to the airport.

Before the flight I met a guy who stopped me as I was walking by and said “So you are one of the famous Peace Corps Volunteers I keep hearing about.” I said I do not know so much as being famous but yes I am. Actually Peace Corps had an incredible name here. We are very well known for coming and living olsem (how) the Nivans live. Also, with our 3 months of training, we all speak really good Bislama. Although, I am realizing the better my Bislama gets the worse my English grammar becomes.

I had a good talk with him and actually ended up grabbing a shell of kava with him when we got to Vila. He has been here one month and has been just walking around. He said people kept confusing him for a Peace Corps Volunteer. I told him it was because he carried an aelan basket, had a beard, and smelled a little funny. He was a pretty interesting character and an amazing artist. He showed me his sketches of Tanna. They were pretty impressive. He did a great job of capturing the essence of Tanna.

Well our plane ride was exciting as always. We were on an 18 seat plane. One of the planes where the pilot literally turns around to tell you there is an emergency card in the seat pocket and how long the flight will be. There is no locked door protecting these guys from terrorist. There happens to be a Nivan girl in front of us who apparently really does not like flying. She kicked and screamed and balled the entire flight. That in its self is annoying, but I am used to pikinini crying when they wee the white man coming. So it was not big of a deal to me.

Now then because of her fit she also stunk up the place. As the Nivans would say, trousers hemi fulap, (She crapped her self.) It was so bad I could see it coming out the bottom of her diaper. I felt bad for the mama who was trying to control her. She had her hands full. Literally. It was a very welcome relief for that door to open and get some fresh air.

Once back to the peace corps office I hooked up with a bunch of 20B people. For various reasons there was 1/3 of our group here in Vila. We all went out for dinner and had a great time sharing stories and crazy tales of our sites. They are such amazing people. Group 20 B is the best group ever in Vanuatu. We get along so well. We all write letters to each other often and stay in touch more then any other volunteers do.

I was sitting on the beach in Lenakel the other day and opened up a package from Evelyn who was in Vila for a workshop. Inside the package was 4 tuskers and a note saying hey thought it was time for me to settle up on that bet. She may have once bet me a 6 pack of tusker that the next card I was about to turn over was NOT going to be her card. 6 Tuskers later, she does not bet on card tricks with me anymore. J

Well it was Elins last night and her flight back to Malekula was for 0645 in the morning so we decided we just all needed to stay up all night. Elin finally made her flight back and the rest of the day has been spent working with peace corps staff. I will be making some random calls home so if you get a cal from an unknown number it may be me!

Dawet lanaeyu