SingSing Bakagean (Concert Again)

 It seems my village is always putting on performances either by the Sunday School, Youth, or Ol Mama/Papa groups, and in July we had another event called ‘Talent Night’. Oh, yes this is exactly what you think it is. Different groups or single acts spent a night showing off their wonderful talents. I decided not to do a one-man performance, even though I was asked numerous times to sing a few solo’s, and I joined Group Purple!! This time, I was not forced to be in the front but was allowed to stand in the back, since 1#: I am taller than everyone else, so I don’t want to block anyone and 2#: Ni-Van’s like to put dance movements to their songs, which is alright, but to literally every, EVERY word, so I got put in the back because I couldn’t remember them all. But that didn’t matter since I stick out like a sore thumb anyway.

As always, the night was fun, filled with a bunch of laughs (mostly those on my part with all my mistakes) and incredible talent. Not to be biased, but I think my students have the most talent in all of Vanuatu. J

Group Purple. My Group

                                          Song with a Dance

Bugs, Animals, Insects... Oh My

So, Vanuatu is filled with some of the largest and most weird looking bugs I’ve ever seen. Some look the same as the ones we have back in the States, but others I swear are just unique to this diverse country. I think this will be a continuous blog post, and as I see new and interesting bugs/insects, I will be uploading them along with the others.

In addition, to the common animals, which are encountered practically every day, such as: the foul, anorexic dogs and cats, rats, geckos, lizards (various sizes and colors), mosquitos, flies, ants, roaches, worms, centipedes, millipedes, grubs, moths (mutant ones that are the size of your hands), grasshoppers, snakes, and wasps; there are much, much more that I either don’t know their names or maybe are just local residents to Vanuatu alone. Some look like they have been dropped in from space, mutated in some way or another, or to me are characters out of popular television shows. For example, last month I saw a lizard with green skin and purple pok-a-dots…now who does that sound like? Baby Barney?

Luckily, I have been told that all the animals, bugs, insects, and some that I don’t think are even classified under a scientific name, here in Vanuatu are all NON-Poisonous. Yes, the centipede bite and wasps can cause immense pain and swelling, the flies will surround you even if your clean or dirty, geckos who will never leave your house even if you have a pussy cat, crabs who just wander in and hide in the corners of your shower, beetles who hiss, and Giant grubs, and those pesky mosquitos that are ever present are just day-day life here, from the sand beaches to the dark bush of every island in Vanuatu. But there are plusses to these interesting 'things'. For instance, you could have a animal lawn mower, like my new nani (goat).

Me and my host sister, Evelyn, have gotten into taking photos of interesting bugs in and around my house, so here is a small photo album of the mini/mutant wonders, at last in my community.

·         Don’t let this post scare you into coming here, just think of it as an added bonus to the adventure!!

     Some Local Grubs (P.S. I ate the Big Mama Jamma on the right)

Woman blo TAFEA

Beginning of May, the Youth in my village put on a weeklong ‘Cultural Week’, similar to our International Day’s in school. Cultural Week celebrated the various provinces in Vanuatu and brought to life the different customs and local traditions, which are different even on the smallest of islands. Every student was assigned to a province, I was put in TAFEA, the last 5 islands of Vanuatu; Tanna, Arrow, Fortuna, Erromango, and Aneityum. The event was a weeklong celebration that had different activities each night such as: Monday- IceBreakers and Singing, Tuesday- Custom Dancing and Food, Wednesday: Local Language Songs and Skits, Thursday: Dramas, and Friday- was a closing ceremony with province parades. Each group/ province was required to participate and prepare activities for each of the nights events.

    Coconut Husk Hats, Grass Skirts, and Bamboo Spears

Community Mosh Pit

Group TAFEA

 By far, this has been my favorite event/activity in my community! I not only learned so much about TAFEA but all the other provinces, as well. And being the only group with ‘white misses’ meant that I was put in the front row for all the activities and our group received the loudest applause, because let’s face it… I’m Awesome… just kidding. Vanuatu is such an Amazing Country, and I am just so lucky to be here.

  Also, in the spirit of learning new things, I taught the Youth some must-play games from the U.S.A. such as: The Limbo (a huge hit), Musical Chairs (another huge hit), Sharks and Minnows, Uno, and of course the YMCA and Water Sprinkler dances. Tuff Tumas!!

                                            Custom Dance

                                    Our 'Flas' or Very Fancy Stage

May= Mom

Mommy!!!

 I’m pretty sure everyone at the small Port Vila International Airport could hear my half squeal/scream when mom walked through the baggage claim and into Ni-Van territory. I doubt she was expecting the amazing adventure she would get before coming here, but I’m sure it’s one we both won’t ever forget. Not only was mom thrown directly into village life, something not done to many parents visiting, but she also attended a very interesting skit/drama performances directly after entering the village, as well as eating about every ‘traditional’ local dish within a span of 8 hours of being in Vanuatu.  But mom’s really tough, so she can take anything!

                I could talk on and on about our experiences and travels in my village, touring Efate, or going on a wokabaot of Tanna, but nothing, I think, show’s you readers how much fun we had except this photo.

                          Mi mi Luvluvum yu tumas Mom!

Is the World Ending?

June 6^th, we in the South Pacific, had the AMAZING, WONDERFUL, EXCITING opportunity to look at the entire Transit of Venus; or simply, Venus crossing in-between of the sun and earth. In all, I think it took about 6 hours, and that’s about all the time I needed running around my village showing people this once-in-a-lifetime event.

 NASA so graciously sent a few information packets to our Peace Corps Office, in Vanuatu, explaining what the Transit of Venus was and why it was important. Being close to the office, I was luckily one of the first to grab a packet and give my village/students a very interesting science lesson. In the information packets, was various materials, special sun-viewing glasses, and charts to figure out when the T.O.V. was going to occur. So, on the Monday before, I went around to all the classes and very briefly explained what we were going to see, preparing them for the solar event.

 After doing the lessons on Monday to Wednesday I was a nervous wreck. I kept checking the sun every hour terrified I was going to miss it, and ergo spoil the event for all the students at the school. However, with the help of some other volunteers, Wednesday morning bright and early there was a little black dot on our sun. Battling clouds, which at the time seemed like the end-of-the-world, everyone was able to take a good look at Venus on the sun. And after sharing this experience with Year 1 students- Year 8, I decided to run around and show anyone and everyone who was out and about in the village, at the time. The most common question I got was, ‘So, does this mean the world is ending?’ haha. At first, I just couldn’t help but laugh, but after having a serious discussion with my host mama about other planets in the solar system, I completely understand the fear of my villagers and their anxiety of what was taking place. And I’m almost certain my frantic running around and jabbing sunglasses over grandfathers eyes didn’t make their uneasiness any better.

   All I can say is Thanks so much NASA for sending those packets. Not only did I have a very cool experience, but I can tell you all seeing the students and even old men’s/women’s faces when they realized they were looking at another planet was just simply AMAZING! Now, I might try an Astrology activity, since you can literally see every star in the galaxy directly outside my bedroom window.

America!!

On May 10^th, the American Ambassador, who I think lives in PNG, came and celebrated an early 4^th of July and WWII Memorial. Even though it was a little early for celebrating, I can assure you there were NO complaints from anyone; especially when there were going to be ‘classic’ American food.  In Good-Ole American fashion, we had a Bar-B-Q fit for kings, or it just seemed like that since I hadn’t had tasty mounds of ‘meat’ for about 8 months. Although, LapLap and other island food are certainly delectable and have been keeping me alive so far, nothing compares to greasy, fatty ‘Southern Cookin’ from the U.S.A.     Thanks Ambassador Teddy!!

Numba wan dai blo Mai (1st of May)

Did you know on the 1^st of May Christianity arrived on the South area of Efate? I didn’t. All I was told by my community was that we would not be having school to celebrate the 1^st of May.

   Starting off the day, everyone migrated to the center of the community and patiently listen to numerous tok tok’s and speeches recounting all the past historical, local customs, and important BuBu who were vital in the preservation of Christianity in Eratap village and Efate. As these tok tok’s were being led by every Head of Tribe, or Oldfala, in my community and when I was almost ready to check out (since it had been about 2 hours)… out jumped a Ni-Van pretending to be a ‘white man’. Dressed in all white, this youngfala carefully walked through the center of the field, and then was ambushed by a group of youngfala, custom men, from long ago. Dressed in all local materials, I watched a complete reenactment of the first meeting between the ‘white’ missionaries and the Ni-Van men of Eratap; and I mean very accurate because this took almost 2 hours, as well.

  After, all the presentations were finished, everyone walked over to the ‘First Foundation’ in the village and placed Island Flowers around it. When lunch was finished, fitted with a roasted pig on a spike over a fire, the day was spent ‘spelling’ and storianing.

                                        Praying at the Village Stone

Ni-Van's meeting the first white missionary

Children's Choir

Welcome Newbies

In March-April, my community got a new Pastor for the Presbyterian Church. Along with him came 7 children, a wife, and an incredibly cute puppy, which I have named Sam. For the most part I like him. Although he talks about a mile-a-minute when speaking at the pulpit, so I am only able to catch about every 10 words he is talking about, his voice is deep, smooth and strangely reminds me of a narrator for a children’s story; I like it. He has a daughter, named Elsie, who for the longest time I didn’t know, so I just thought people were mis-prouncing my name, which I would proceed to correct them every time just to find out they were talking about her and not me. Oh well. But she is a very nice girl, who strangely enough likes to sit close, yet not close enough so I would notice her (which of course doesn’t work), and listen to my phone conversations. Peace Corps = No Privacy.

  Also, we had 3 New Vol’s come from the country of Mali, which closed down due to a new revolution and civil unrest, I believe. Greeting them at the airport and watching them go through their mini-PST, makes me feel really strange. Realizing that I have actually been here for almost a year now, and am almost a part of the ‘old’ group, makes me want to pinch myself; and yet, on the other hand, it is really exciting, and I can’t wait to see who will be joining us in the next few months.

Pastor Baptizing a Smol Nephew

White Page

Well, I can honestly this phrase has not applied to me, in the last few months. ‘White Page’ simply means, “No, I got no plans for today, or what I might do later in the day is not important.” In addition, if you didn’t want to waste your breath saying those two words, you could make the overly flamboyant jester of ‘crossing your arms in front of your chest’, which means the exact same thing; Ni-Van’s are not the most loquacious, so sign language or body movements is usually the preferred form of communication here.

  If life is getting crazy hectic, I would suggest to all of you, go… take a break and ‘white page’ it. Grab a coconut and go relax on the beach or better yet come and visit me. Actually, reading back my post, I might just go and take my own advice and do that myself. J

Fresh Coconuts

                                         Tropical Paradise

Mi Mi No Ded Jas Laz Nomo

Hi everyone! So, I know it’s been a little while since I last updated my blog, no I’m not dead just lazy, but that’s just life here in Vanuatu. Every time I seem to sit down and write about my time here, I get bombarded with small, interrupting children, who don’t understand why you would write or read outside of school, not so small children, who think the same thing but insist on sitting way to close to try and read what I’m writing, and all the other mamas, papas, and oldfala who just don’t quite know what to make of my studious activities in the first place. With all the excuses aside, I have been writing, just forgetting to bring in my computer to post them.  Sorry Dad. But I still think you’re the only one who is reading this. J

Ni-Van Fashion

Coming back from the garden

A Village Easter

Holiday's in the village is not just a one day event, its a "bigfala" affair. Starting on Palm Sunday the Presbyterian church here put on a drama of Jesus's arrival and after followed a big kakae with all the church members. After, each day during the week, the church hosted different Bible studies that also had some skits, dramas, and songs. Thursday was half day for school, and all the students/teachers left early to  prepare for the Easter Camp.

Easter Camp, let me just tell ya is huge, students go and have a lock-in at the chirch from Thursday-Sunday, Mamas and Papaes groups meet together during the day to story, learn songs, and make crafts; its a pretty big deal.

On Friday, the students put on a night concert and had a huge bonfire. On Saturday, all the student's, mama's, papa's, and string band members came together and had a mix concert; that was a blast. Finally, on Sunday we had 2 three hour church services, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, and another concert that night.

Might I add I had a small part in one of the skits. :)  I was a 'gossip girl' and stood up in the front talking about all the fake, juicy gossip I chould think of. HAHA and Everyone loved it; not anyone would have told me otherwise- one good thing about this culture.

Even though we had rain the whole weekend, it didn't matter because the energy and imagination of my village made Easter this year one that I will always remember.

Wow 6 Months Already!

I can't believe its already been 6 months already- wow the time is sure flying by. The doc's recommend we de-worm about every 6 months, so I guess I'll be celebrating that this weekend and doing. Lovely! Some other vol's have had some unpleasent, interesting, and down right scary stories- so I'm hoping mine's not going to be that memorable.

Rain. And I am not singing.

Rain and thunderstorms are not like they are in the states here in Vanuatu. Why? Well when it rains here everything is affected some for good and some not so good. In the states rain is a minor inconvenience. Hop in a car and go here... Just go walk around the mall... Stay inside the house... Rain= No big deal, but here in Vanuatu it's a little differnt.

Tink tink blo mi nomo is that there is 2 kinds of rain: Good and Bad.

Good Rain:
 - When it rains smol plants grow, the temperature cools off a little, and maybe you can fill up your rain tank just a little

Bad Rain:
 - Down pours that last hours
 - Beingliterally trapped in your house; remembering you walk everywhere here
 - Soft mud when your village is on a hill= holding hands with ni-vans so you won't fall
 - Causing small-big flooding
 - Feeling damp all the time b/c your house is not completly cealed
 - Having a tin roof which makes the sound of even light rain deaffening
 - Being in a tin house (cealing and walls) during a lightning storm. Safe?
 - Feeling the thunder vibrations shake through your house
 - Completly filling up your rain tank with ice cold water= freezing bucket showers
 - Not being able to go to the garden for food
 - Not being able to dry your clothes, towel, etc.

But after all this, I'd still take my house and village over a custom house any-day, especially in a thunder storm



 - Been raining for the last 7 days, looks like another 7 to come

Creeping: Good or Bad?

In my last blog I mentioned that I had gotten Creeped. But I forgot that most of you are not familiar with the Ni-Van culture and therefore may not understand what ‘creeping’ exactly is. Well, just think back to the story of Romeo and Juliet a long time ago. In the middle of the night, Romeo came secretly to Juliet’s window and affectingly called to her, hoping that they might have a secret rendezvous. In Shakespeare’s story, this type of action is seen as romantic since the two parties were involved with each other, but ‘creeping’ in the Ni-Van sense is thought to be romantic but in reality is not. Especially for me. Now I might be biased, but personally I think ‘Creeping’ is the rudest and most unaffectionate form of flattery EVER. The concept is simple, in the middle of the night, while you are sleeping so peacefully, a person comes to your house/window and wakes you up in hopes that you will want to come outside with him/her and “storian”.

Why, do you ask, would ‘creeping’ be something that one would want to partake in? I guess you could say there is a small danger aspect, in the event that you are caught or spotted by someone in your community, which makes it a little thrilling but I doubt very much that that is the true reason. You see, Personal Display of Affection, or most commonly known as PDA, is pretty much nonexistent here in Vanuatu. The concept of ‘dating’ and having boyfriends/girlfriends is only something that is just being introduced now. The only way that two individuals can meet together privately, seeing that a village is just basically extended, extended relatives, is to sneak away into the bush under the protection of the moon.

Now, I guess I can be a little open minded and understand that ‘creeping’ is something that is a part of the culture here, but until it happens to you I will take leave for you to make your own judgments. For the most part ‘creeping’ is a way for youngfalas to rebel and not always be under the eyes of the community, but creeping is one of the main reasons for teen pregnancies. Since birth control is practically nonexistent here, every time a ‘creeping’ occurs that’s usually one more teen mom or baby being born. As I said before, dating is only a very new concept. The idea is that if you start dating someone or if you get pregnant and others know about it then you are ‘blocked together’ and you will eventually marry. Seeing how this is really final, the concept of ‘creeping’ is still alive and well since it is something that can be casual or serious in a secret fashion, so that there is no knowledge by anyone else and no commitment…until of course a baby appears.

Have you done this...

Where to begin? These last few months have been the longest and fastest of my life. For days on end, I have sat and literally counted the minutes until it was time to go to bed, or I never looked at my watch/phone once just to check the time. It’s too much to recap everything I have experienced since January, so I will highlight the most memberable for me.

-          Eating Cow tongue

-          Eating Sea Turtle

-          Watching a pig be slaughtered

-          Going to 2 more funerals

-          Teaching piano; working on the music notes now

-          Making about 10 ‘bandanas’ mats

-          Learning how to make different styles of fans

-          Making Custom brooms just to pass the time

-          Seeing my first centipede in my house

-          Killing my first centipede in my house; with a bush knife

-          Getting Creeped

-          Reading a large number of books

-          Going fishing, being the only person to not catch anything

-          Watching a Custom canoe be made

-          Helping made a Natangora roof for my families kitchen

-          Being in numerous earthquakes and a small cyclone

-          Experiencing a large political meeting; for the upcoming elections

-          Cleaning the church with a toothbrush size brush

Funeral Rights

December 23, 2011

When a person dies, in any culture, it is a time for families to come together and celebrate/mourn the life and death of a beloved friend.  In Vanuatu, I think the expression "Day of the Dead" is not only appropriate but fitting, as well.  It is my impression that every island and even every village has their own customs (kastom), which includes the unique processes of delivering a funeral.

Today, I was looking forward to going into town with my host family to do a little "window shopping" and "people watching" since it is very crowded due to Christmas coming up.  Sadly, our trip was cancelled when I went to drink tea with my family this morning, and my papa informed me that a cousin sister had died in her sleep last night.  Kastom, at least here in my village, is for all members of the family to stay near the home until the body is buried in the ground - no work, no nothing.  Now from what I have been told, if a person dies in the late evening or early morning, then the body is immediately buried that day, but if a person dies in the early afternoon/evening then the funeral will take place the next day.  Since my papa was a relative, we had to postpone our trip and attend the hous blo ded, funeral rights, and burial in the cemetery.  During training, in PST, we went over a simulation of what a funeral rights may look like, but from my experience today it was training x 10.  I will try and explain the events as clearly as I can.

Hous blo ded.  This is a time when all family, friends, etc. come to the house of the deceased or another family member, where the dead body is being kept and mourn the loss.  Now when you go to the hous, you bring a smol gift such as: kakae, money, mats, etc.  Then you go inside give your respects to the immediate family and mourn over the dead person yourself; if you want to: I did not want to, so I just went in and out as quickly as I could.  I don't know if it is customary in all deaths, but at least today the body was in the center of the room, lying down, and she had family sitting all around her and people were laying some flowers on top of her body and crying over her.  Then after you pay your respects, you leave and make room for the next wave of mourners.  All in all it is an experience that you can not imagine until you're in it.  Hemi depen to taem.

Next comes the funeral service.  Since this cousin sister went to church in town, we had to wait for the pastor to come here to deliver the sermon, but I have been told that if she had been a member of a local church we would have proceeded to a church; instead the pastor came to the house and gave the last rights.  This took close to 4 hours.

Afta, everyone followed the body and family to the village cemetery where some more speeches were given by friends and family, and the body was finally put into the ground.  This took another 3 hours; man blo vanuatu i likem tok tok tumas.  Kastom depends on when the family will go back to visit the body, but I have been told that the immediate family will go back 5 days, 10 days, 1 month, 6 months and 1 year for kastom reasons.  As a whole, the whole day was practically spent on the funeral.  Since they do not embalm the bodies, at least here in my village, the proceedings happen fairly quickly.  I don't know what the legal aspects are if a doctor needs to examine the body first, a death certificate is necessary, or what?  I'll try and figure out these answers.

Today was a very different day to say the least, and all I can say is TIV (This is Vanuatu).  Every day is different, but it was a very culturally eye-opening experience, which I was able to compare and explain about the funeral processes in America.  I think because families are so close in this culture, when an event such as a death occurs, you are able to see how magnifying it is on a whole community not just a single family, like in America.  Although it was disappointing to find out that the plans of the day had changed, I think the kastom here is very respectful for the dead, and I think it is just another way of showing a commitment not only for kastom but to that family member/friend by mourning the way that they do.

Love,
Elyse