February 16, 2014: HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY TO MY LITTLE BRO!!
Whew.I can’t believe I’ve already been here for three weeks. By the time these blog posts go up it will be far past their creation date but in fear of falling far behind in my blogging I’ve started drafting them without Internet as I go. Once I’m somewhere with wifi they will all go up.
So yeah, been here for three weeks so far and I still have absolutely no interest in coming back to the states yet. Every day I wake up to the sounds of roosters cock-a-doodle-dooing (usually starts around 3:45am), dogs playing/fighting (all hours of the night), and finally Dane’s host papa playing the guitar and singing to welcome Jesus into the day with the sunrise at around 4:30 (most days). I generally stay in bed until about 6:45/7 and then get up for tea and crackers/bread with peanut butter and/or fried bananas.
At 8:00 I head off to a (generally) full day of Bislama class, Peace Corps safety and security/health training and a variety of cross cultural classes. Some days the group of us in Sunai trek over Tassariki which is also a village on Moso where the nine other VITEL (Vanuatu Information Technology and English Literacy) trainees live. We have made the 45 minute trek a couple of times but most times we get to take a 10 minute boat ride over beautiful deep blue, coral and sea turtle filled channel of the Pacific. On all sides you can see the fullest, rolling green hills as well as a volcano in the distance. It’s truly incredible.
My nights are filled with time to storian (story on) with my host family and spel (rest) after the eventful day. I’m usually in bed readying by 8:30/9 at the latest and I LOVE IT.
I never expected to learn so much about American history while in Vanuatu as I already have. One Sunday after church, Chief Joel led a group of us on 3.5 hour round trip hike to the top of Moso to check out an old US Army post. In 1942 the US built a road to the top of Moso and installed two machine guns that they used to keep the Japanese from closing in on Vanuatu. Today that road is overgrown for the most part but you can still make out where the trucks once drove up this very steep hill. When we got to the top we found markings where the machine guns once were, along with some perfectly preserved coca cola bottles and various other glass bottles–apparently no one ever told the army to carry in, carry out.
Kirk, Me and Kelsey mid-hike
We had a culture night in Sunai last week where we all performed songs in Bislama and/or the local Sunai language, as well as a talent we brought with us from the US. Since women aren’t allowed to wear pants, and breakdancing in a skirt would not have been a good idea, i instead went with the good ole cotton eyed joe and performed it with Alison and Kelsey. It was a great night…especially because we also made a huge bowl of guacamole and salsa to share after.
Speaking of American food, we had a feast together at Elinda’s (one of our trainers) house one night and just thinking of the meal again to write this makes me hungry. Elinda made an incredible meat sauce to put over spaghetti (we even had parmesan cheese!) and we worked together making guacamole and homemade potato chips….and for dessert….we had s’mores. Unreal delicious.
Sorry this got so long but it’s been hard to decide whether to write letters, write in my journal or write a blog post that won’t be seen for perhaps a month. I’ll try to be more frequent with my posts in the future but there’s no telling when they will actually go live on the interwebs.
On Saturday (Feb. 22) ill head to Malakula with Kelsey, Jon, Dane and Michael for our walk about week where we get to visit out figure sites and schools! I found out ill be teaching Matanvan Centre School in the village of Matanvat in north western Malakula. More to come once I’ve seen my site…for now, keep fly homies I hope you miss me!
Alison with baby turt
And here's a photo of me with a baby turt!! They hatched right on the beach in Sunai! The other morning I got really excited because someone said there was a big turtle on the beach but unfortunately, after forcing down a few more greasy slices of fried banana I ran out the door only to find that while, yes, there was a big turtly on the beach it was already dead...There are bigfala sea turtles in the water near me but I have yet to see one! We have a few more boat rides to Tassariki so I’ll have my eyes wide open -_-
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