Again I hope this email finds everyone well,
I figured I would send out one more email while I can before I go out to the bush for a while. And this time with some pictures. So these four pictures are of our flight into the main island and a picture off the wing of the little island that looks like a hat which is very near to where they filmed survivor and the island I will be at is just past this island out of the frame. The next picture off the wing shows a coconut plantation in the very bottom and the extremely dense green of the bush just beyond it. I have never seen anything as green as these mountains here. Next are a view looking back over part of the bay at the capitol and lastly is the open market on the seafront at the center of town. Tomorrow we have an exciting day with a tour of the market in the am to practice our bislama and learn all the names of the local foods and buy necessities such as our bush knifes (machetes) for the village training. Then we go to the head nurses house for a lesson in island cooking and nutrition. From there it is back to the water for a water safety lesson (snorkeling off a catamaran) an then wrapping up the day eating what we prepared earlier. A hard job for us US government employees. Today after too long in an extremely hot classroom I went and played soccer with the husband of the head nurse and he is also the coach of the Vanuatu national Rugby team. The soccer here is probably the most unorganized I have ever seen but very fun. After the game what really struck me was how the different races segregated and even though they may have been intermixed on the field, when the game was done, the white men sat in a circle and drank beer while the ni-vans sat by themselves in their own circle and drank beer. Vanuatu's ex-pat population still has a long way to come. It is a shame that they are the only ones who can bring sustainable industry and the ni-vans can not do that independently.
Well everything so far has been better than expected. I learned more about where I am going to be staying in the training village and I think I am very close to the ocean, like my family's house is15 feet from the beach. Which leads me to the fact that I still can't believe we are all here getting paid to do this. I have met many more of the volunteers here both at the peace corps office and at the nakamals (kava bars) and they are so extremely nice and helpful as well. Anyhow, I'm off for the night and for the next few weeks. If you want to send an email that will reach me before then you can address is to this gmail account and cc: it to
volunteer@vu.peacecorps.gov\u003c/a\> and use my name in the subject line. If you do this someone here will print it out and bring it to the training village for me and I will receive it. Other than that everyone take care and I'm out, peace
April 21, 2006
April 18, 2006
Halo Long Vanuatu
Hello,
So I am in my first week of peace corps volunteer training. There are 23 of us and I am the youngest in the group. 15 guys, 8 girls, two volunteers in their 30's, a couple in their 50's. Everyone is so interesting and comes from such a diverse background. We arrived in Vanuatu on Saturday after a really long flight from LA to New Zealand and then New Zealand to Port Villa. While Vila has almost 30,000 people it is very, very small as compared to any city in Hawaii with 30,000 people. There is a huge waterfront market five days a week with awesome fruits, veggies, and prepared foods too. The bay vila is situated on is amazing with crystal clear water and lush vegetation up to the waters edge. It pretty much ridiculous. Something out of a magazine. At that the city has almost everything you can think of, Grocery stores with everything from local foods to ramen, french wine, Australian cheese, in other words it is in no way third world inside the grocery store bedsides the prices. Items that they know niVanatu (the local people) dont eat are extremely expensive. There is a hardware store, car dealerships, the like. However this week this all changes. Starting Sunday we load up in a few boats and go to a small island with one community off the coast of the main island of efate. Here we will all live with separate host familys in little bamboo huts with no sort of technology. We will collect rainwater and drink coconuts, eat from the gardens and the sea, go to class which is held at the beach under a banyan tree. I feel this is the selection period where usually 10% of volunteers will drop out. After 5 weeks of language, culture, training we have a week where we travel individually to our prospective sites and spend a week in what will become our new home. And this I mean literally. We look at the hut the community has constructed for us and talk with them about what else needs to be done before arrival. We familiarize ourselves with the community, the geography, and the schedule of cargo ships that come in and out for various transport and mail purposes. After this week it is back to the training village for 3 weeks and in these weeks I will receive my formal forestry training as well as the cross cutting health, and agricultural trainings.
All in all so far everything I have experienced and what I see for the future this whole process is like the most ultimate camp ever. We are trained so well in every aspect of everything. This weekend we learn to cook the local foods and we build an imu and roast a pig. There is a coral reef conservation group here that gives us all an in-service into reef management because part of our jobs is to snorkel and observe the fish and reefs here, this weekend we also get taken out on a catamaran for "ocean safety" and familiarity with the local marine life. I have been playing soccer nightly with the locals and they are extremely good soccer players and so friendly there is not a word to describe how friendly people here are.
Not surprisingly another volunteer brought a surf board though I did not. However he happens to be one of the "inland" surfing type and actually brought a board that is too big for him and perfect for me. He is also perfectly happy to share that board. While we have not tried to surf yet we checked out the local spot and hope to head there this afternoon.
While we start language training tomorrow many of us have started looking into it ourselves and the language is extremely comical. The favorites around the training area are Bra which translates to "basket blong titi" and Seagull which translates to "Pidgin blong salt water". While it is very English influenced in actuality it has allot of french and is definitely a real language, unlike Hawaiian pidgin.
While I have so much to say and speak of my head has too many ideas going through it all at once and thus I will tell more in my next emails before I head out to the bush next week. Hope all is well and in good health. I'll try to get some pictures together for the next email and also I am gettign new insight into the mail situation.
Until then
So I am in my first week of peace corps volunteer training. There are 23 of us and I am the youngest in the group. 15 guys, 8 girls, two volunteers in their 30's, a couple in their 50's. Everyone is so interesting and comes from such a diverse background. We arrived in Vanuatu on Saturday after a really long flight from LA to New Zealand and then New Zealand to Port Villa. While Vila has almost 30,000 people it is very, very small as compared to any city in Hawaii with 30,000 people. There is a huge waterfront market five days a week with awesome fruits, veggies, and prepared foods too. The bay vila is situated on is amazing with crystal clear water and lush vegetation up to the waters edge. It pretty much ridiculous. Something out of a magazine. At that the city has almost everything you can think of, Grocery stores with everything from local foods to ramen, french wine, Australian cheese, in other words it is in no way third world inside the grocery store bedsides the prices. Items that they know niVanatu (the local people) dont eat are extremely expensive. There is a hardware store, car dealerships, the like. However this week this all changes. Starting Sunday we load up in a few boats and go to a small island with one community off the coast of the main island of efate. Here we will all live with separate host familys in little bamboo huts with no sort of technology. We will collect rainwater and drink coconuts, eat from the gardens and the sea, go to class which is held at the beach under a banyan tree. I feel this is the selection period where usually 10% of volunteers will drop out. After 5 weeks of language, culture, training we have a week where we travel individually to our prospective sites and spend a week in what will become our new home. And this I mean literally. We look at the hut the community has constructed for us and talk with them about what else needs to be done before arrival. We familiarize ourselves with the community, the geography, and the schedule of cargo ships that come in and out for various transport and mail purposes. After this week it is back to the training village for 3 weeks and in these weeks I will receive my formal forestry training as well as the cross cutting health, and agricultural trainings.
All in all so far everything I have experienced and what I see for the future this whole process is like the most ultimate camp ever. We are trained so well in every aspect of everything. This weekend we learn to cook the local foods and we build an imu and roast a pig. There is a coral reef conservation group here that gives us all an in-service into reef management because part of our jobs is to snorkel and observe the fish and reefs here, this weekend we also get taken out on a catamaran for "ocean safety" and familiarity with the local marine life. I have been playing soccer nightly with the locals and they are extremely good soccer players and so friendly there is not a word to describe how friendly people here are.
Not surprisingly another volunteer brought a surf board though I did not. However he happens to be one of the "inland" surfing type and actually brought a board that is too big for him and perfect for me. He is also perfectly happy to share that board. While we have not tried to surf yet we checked out the local spot and hope to head there this afternoon.
While we start language training tomorrow many of us have started looking into it ourselves and the language is extremely comical. The favorites around the training area are Bra which translates to "basket blong titi" and Seagull which translates to "Pidgin blong salt water". While it is very English influenced in actuality it has allot of french and is definitely a real language, unlike Hawaiian pidgin.
While I have so much to say and speak of my head has too many ideas going through it all at once and thus I will tell more in my next emails before I head out to the bush next week. Hope all is well and in good health. I'll try to get some pictures together for the next email and also I am gettign new insight into the mail situation.
Until then
April 14, 2006
Departure To Vanuatu
Hello All,
Hope this finds everyone happy and in good health. I am currently in Los Angeles attending my second day of orientation before I leave to Vanuatu tonight with a stop over in Auckland New Zealand on the way. I am one of 23 volunteers on the trip and the demographics of the group are quite interesting. Although quite surprising to everyone else I am the youngest one in the group however eight of us have just recently finished school within the last year. There are two married couples in the group with one being in their mid twenties and the other retired in their mid 50's. Three of us have been assigned to forestry and the other tasks include health care awareness and nutrition, small business advisers and sustainable developers. Also some volunteers are very different than what I imagined was the "typical" peace corps volunteer. We have one guy who has been a buyer for Saks 5th ave for 5 years, grocery clerks, small business owners, just to name a few. As I have just met everyone yesterday we are still all becoming acquainted. I learned some new facts about the peace corps and as part of our "mission" is to educate fellow Americans about the peace corps I thought I would fill you all in on a few peace corps stats: Average volunteer age is 28, median 25. minority percent=16, countries served in its history 138, countries currently served=73, active current volunteers=7,800, total volunteers to date 184,000. And how did the peace corps start? supposedly in October 1960 JFK and president Hoover showed up at the university of Michigan at 2am on the campaign trail. While the press was asleep there were 10,000 students outside the door when Kennedy arrived and he was told he had to "say something". Hoover who had proposed an idea previously of a peace corps, nudged Kennedy and said "why don't you share that peace corps idea". This is what Kennedy did and 6 months later legislation was passed enacting the peace corps.
Though we are just embarking on our journey I have started to realize how much one is going to need to learn to successfully integrate into a new culture much different than their own. Patience and flexibility as the peace corps emphasises will be very key. Going in with a group of another 22 Americans also adds some complexity I think to the issue.
We are arriving in Vanuatu Saturday the 15th and will be in the capitol for about 7 days. from there we head to a small little village on the island of Lelepa in the town of Natapao (an island off the coast about an hour from the capitol, see map) where we will spend the next 9 weeks with intensive language classes and living with a host family.
As far as communication goes from this point I will let everyone know when I get there. My address is at the end of this email and this is where I can receive letters and packages. According to some of the peace corps literature from the country desk if packages are sent they should contain items of little monetary value as they are mostly all searched and if the inspectors like what they see, it becomes theirs. Supposedly padded envelopes are better and not opened and searched as frequently. Also, it is good to number your letters and envelopes so that it is possible to keep track of how many letters are received and get a feel for the accuracy of the postal system. Also, I will always be at some time able to check this email address so this is still the best way of communication. Take care all and hope to hear from you and keep in contact from Vanuatu in the very near future.
love and peace,
Eddie
Hope this finds everyone happy and in good health. I am currently in Los Angeles attending my second day of orientation before I leave to Vanuatu tonight with a stop over in Auckland New Zealand on the way. I am one of 23 volunteers on the trip and the demographics of the group are quite interesting. Although quite surprising to everyone else I am the youngest one in the group however eight of us have just recently finished school within the last year. There are two married couples in the group with one being in their mid twenties and the other retired in their mid 50's. Three of us have been assigned to forestry and the other tasks include health care awareness and nutrition, small business advisers and sustainable developers. Also some volunteers are very different than what I imagined was the "typical" peace corps volunteer. We have one guy who has been a buyer for Saks 5th ave for 5 years, grocery clerks, small business owners, just to name a few. As I have just met everyone yesterday we are still all becoming acquainted. I learned some new facts about the peace corps and as part of our "mission" is to educate fellow Americans about the peace corps I thought I would fill you all in on a few peace corps stats: Average volunteer age is 28, median 25. minority percent=16, countries served in its history 138, countries currently served=73, active current volunteers=7,800, total volunteers to date 184,000. And how did the peace corps start? supposedly in October 1960 JFK and president Hoover showed up at the university of Michigan at 2am on the campaign trail. While the press was asleep there were 10,000 students outside the door when Kennedy arrived and he was told he had to "say something". Hoover who had proposed an idea previously of a peace corps, nudged Kennedy and said "why don't you share that peace corps idea". This is what Kennedy did and 6 months later legislation was passed enacting the peace corps.
Though we are just embarking on our journey I have started to realize how much one is going to need to learn to successfully integrate into a new culture much different than their own. Patience and flexibility as the peace corps emphasises will be very key. Going in with a group of another 22 Americans also adds some complexity I think to the issue.
We are arriving in Vanuatu Saturday the 15th and will be in the capitol for about 7 days. from there we head to a small little village on the island of Lelepa in the town of Natapao (an island off the coast about an hour from the capitol, see map) where we will spend the next 9 weeks with intensive language classes and living with a host family.
As far as communication goes from this point I will let everyone know when I get there. My address is at the end of this email and this is where I can receive letters and packages. According to some of the peace corps literature from the country desk if packages are sent they should contain items of little monetary value as they are mostly all searched and if the inspectors like what they see, it becomes theirs. Supposedly padded envelopes are better and not opened and searched as frequently. Also, it is good to number your letters and envelopes so that it is possible to keep track of how many letters are received and get a feel for the accuracy of the postal system. Also, I will always be at some time able to check this email address so this is still the best way of communication. Take care all and hope to hear from you and keep in contact from Vanuatu in the very near future.
love and peace,
Eddie
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