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.