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.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
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
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
Sunday, March 11, 2012
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.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
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
Sunday, January 1, 2012
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
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
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Pictures
My new home! Plus, hand-made clothes line
Inside: 2 bedrooms, living area, kitchen area: not sure about the measurements but I can walk 20 steps width and length wise
Duplex style but I don't have a neighbor yet, it's still being built
Seperate swim house with toilet
Sandy beaches only a few minutes walk
My "Most Likely Award", let's hope this doesn't come true
Island Style
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