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