Trip to Ambrym Part II January 18, 2009

The next day, we found out that we were being charged the equivalent of $50/night to stay in this dirty guesthouse and receive meals we didn't ask for. When we said we were gonna camp instead of pay that rate for another night, the owner quickly revised the price to $25. Oh Vanuatu.

Our first day there, we walked up to the kastom village where Steve's parents had spent some time during their Peace Corps service. The walk was short, but took us up several steep climbs through gardens. We ran into a family working in the garden who was happy to tell us about what they were growing, then offered us a green coconut to drink. It was so hot, we were very grateful for the hydration.

The village was probably the most kastom village I've ever seen. Men were making carvings, and we were taken on a walking tour and got to see the taboo nakamal (for men only), the chief's burial grounds, and a nasara, or sacred ground.
We also saw the chief's house, which was built high up on stilts so no one could come into his house at night to kill him or put nakaimas (a curse) on him while he slept. I'm not sure how the village believes that the chief died, but it was his death that had brought us to Ambrym to pay our respects. We heard some interesting stories about how a man becomes a chief, including one where he must stand on a balcony-type of structure, while people throw stones at him. We also heard about how, if something bad happens in the village, it usually means that someone has stolen bones from the chief's burial grounds, and that a team must be assembled to investigate and recover the missing bones. Crazy.

We realized that because the ship had taken so long to deposit us on Ambrym, we had missed the boat that would've taken us to the West. So we decided, in our infinite wisdom, that we would just walk. But first we wanted to see another village called Ranvetlam. At this point, Steve was feeling pretty ill, so instead of walking, we took a 10 minute speed boat ride and climbed up to the village. People stared a lot, but once they realized who Steve was, welcomed us with open arms. Isaiah has a guest house and let us camp there for the night. It was a beautiful setting looking out over the ocean and sunset. Although he and his wife were busy caring for Isaiah's ailing brother, they still found time to bring us food.

Steve shivered and sweat all night long, but the next morning was ready to go. We packed up our stuff, collected our supplies, and set off to meet our guide. The chief had put a taboo on going to the summit of the volcano because it was time to plant the yams, a very important crop on Ambrym. Sometimes, they have kastom yams up to ten feet long! Maybe even longer! So we decided that we would climb over the volcano, then go back on top from the west, where the taboo wasn't in place.

Chief Louie was our guide, and man, was he fit. Because Steve was still a little weak, the chief carried our heaviest pack (about 60 pounds). Steve carried one that was about 30-40 pounds, and mine was only 10-20. We climbed and descended, walked, and rested for about six hours, covering about 10 miles. Steve and I each went through at least a couple of liters of water and Powerade, but Chief Louie had barely touched the liter that he had brought. He charged ahead, stopping every now and again to light a cigarette and wait for us to catch up.

It was my first day of backpacking, and it kicked my ass. I was starting to hear ringing in my ears. We were running out of water and the afternoon was quickly running away from us. When we got to the Western side of the volcanos, we convinced the chief that we would be fine from here on out. We wanted to camp and walk around a bit. He was reluctant to leave us, but eventually did, and we set up camp. It was deafeningly quiet. I never understood that expression before that day. I'm talking about total silence. We were on the ash plain. No birds, no nothing. Here and there were tiny flying insects and small shrubs growing in the cracks of rocks where water had collected, but for the most part this place looked like Mars. We were the only people around for miles...

To Be Continued...

Peace Corps Does Care! (Sometimes) January 18, 2009

Hey All-

So I've been pretty quiet about what's been going on the last week because I wasn't exactly sure what actually was going on. But I guess I'll go ahead and throw another post out here.

Peace Corps decided to remove me from my site for safety and security issues. If anybody wants the gritty details, I'll be happy to email you, but it's just a lot of drama and craziness so I won't bore you all here.

The point is, I'm back in Port Vila just kinda twiddling my thumbs. They're actually trying to find me a new site, which is really cool because I didn't think that would be a possibility. Right now they're talking about this island called Maewo, and it's supposedly one of the most beautiful islands in Vanuatu, with waterfalls and nice roads and even a lazy river! I would be teaching at a Rural Training Center RTC, which would be great because I would have something constructive to do with my time. There have been a lot of volunteers there before me, including Gwen, a volunteer who completed her service there and had a great time. She was replaced by a new volunteer last month, who quickly decided that it wasn't for her and is already Stateside again. That worries me slightly, but not enough to deter me. But alas, it is only a possibility at this point. The phones on Maewo are down, and PC can't seem to get a hold of the village. So I'm here waiting. It's not so bad. I have a hotel room and a modest allowance and plenty of people to hang out with. My birthday is coming up and it looks like I'll be here for that too.

So things are a little sketchy right now but it looks like PC is doing all they can to help me work it all out. I'll keep you all posted.

Miss you!

Silver Linings November 30, 2008

Hey Guys

It's the eve of my departure back to post. I hope. The plane ticket is very expensive back and I can't afford it until we get paid. That was supposed to happen today, but so far no money yet. So I'm finally getting my "broke, sleeping on others' couches, living on bread" experience haha. The last few days have been okay. My friend Hillary's parents came and visited her. They took us out for dinner a couple of times and were hilarious. They even let me crash in their fancy suite for a few nights. We had a great time together and they were really encouraging about my problems at site.

I just had a meeting with the Assistant Peace Corps Country Director for Vanuatu (my boss' boss). It was good in the sense that I was able to tell her about my site visit so she can do a better performance evaluation on my boss, but not so good at the same time because I gathered from her that I don't actually have that many options. I got more information from her about what my village thinks of me. Apparently my boss left out a few details when talking to me about his meeting with the village. It was good to hear the real story. Unfortunately Linda, my boss' boss, let on that it probably wouldn't be possible for me to get a site change, unless there was some sort of security issue. I feel it's a bit unfortunate because there are lots of volunteers here who get site changes for frivolous reasons. Some even lie about security issues so they can get a new site. But two girls from my group are getting site changes so I think there just isn't a place I could go to. I think one of the hardest things for me to do is just look at my situation by itself and not compare it to others'. Either way, my final decision is to go back to post and stick it out for a while. This could just be a low in my rollercoaster experience. I feel that if I just break down my service into bite sized chunks where I take short trips at the end of every month I'll be okay. Nobody can go too crazy in a month, right? Haha. I want to find a project that I can completely throw myself into. I'll have to think on that one, but I might have found something with a census-type of project. Once I complete this basic survey, I think the demographic information will help me find areas in which my village needs some help. We'll see.

On the other hand, I realized that if I'm going to stick it out I may as well make myself more comfortable. I went ahead and bought a solar panel (which is why I'm broke now haha). It was about $250 with all the cords for a 22.5 Watt panel. A friend loaned me a truck battery and inverter. I think I still need to find a regulator and then I'll be in business! The lack of sun could present a small problem, but I think I'll have enough power for a small light every night, charging my ipod and mobile phone, and maybe even charging a laptop. A friend is going back to the States and might be able to bring a relatively cheap one back for me. Having a laptop with excel and word would be a lot easier to organize project documents and whatnot (not to mention being able to show movies and play freecell hehe). I've gone without amenities for about eight months now and I feel like it's time for some luxury :) Hopefully I can figure out how to set it all up.

So all in all I'm feeling better. I'm glad I took this time to put things into perspective and start fresh again. Thank you all for your emails and advice. It's very comforting to know that I've got friends and family who care about me.

Love you guys!

Down and Out November 25, 2008

Hey Guys

Back in Vila for a week to take a break. I figured my lows are just as interesting to talk about as my highs so I'll include a (brief) summary of what's going on these days...

Things could be going better, but I'm trying to keep an optimistic outlook. Some of you already know about the problems I'm facing at site. They basically all revolve around the fact that my community has some socio-political issues such as land disputes and jealousy along with the fact that I'm a woman. My host mama and counterpart, Doris, is very controlling and tells me that certain people won't work with me in the village if I associate with other people. I was actually taken to the garden a couple times, but it was by a family with a questionable reputation. The way I see it, I'm an agricultural volunteer. Their village disputes have nothing to do with me. I'm an equal opportunity garden-goer haha. But I got into a lot of "trouble" with my host family for hanging out with that family. They chastized me for not telling them where I had gone even though I never tell them where I'm going if I ever go somewhere. They falsely claimed that they went to my house to see if I wanted to go to the garden with them (yea right!) and I wasn't there and they were so worried about me! Please. If I hadn't gone off with that one family, which they knew I had done all along, I would not have received a lecture about telling them where I was going. Several key community members have long since stopped coming to village meetings, market nights, and church due to land disputes and other petty disagreements. As a result, the cultural center committee has stopped functioning, cancelling an arts festival that I had promoted shamelessly in the province, in turn making me look like a complete idiot. The women's group has seen fewer and fewer participants. Last time we got together to work on the chicken coop we built two women showed up and one of them was Doris. She's the chairman of the women's group. I can't help but feel that she looks at me as her volunteer and that she's using me to alienate other women who don't like her so that she alone will benefit from the restaurant that we eventually will build with money we raise from the fowl project. In one sense, if she's the only one motivated enough to come and work then I don't mind that she's the only one to reap the benefits. But I can't help but feel that it's her actions and not others' lack of interest that is isolating my women's group. Every month we have a cooking group. At the first meeting about 30 women showed up. At the second, more like 10. A sign-up sheet has been up at the meeting house for two weeks now and nobody has signed their names to it. Not even Doris. So I told them all we'd wait to do another one until next year, as things "shut down" during the holiday season, as if things could actually move at a slower pace! So I'm just really bored and unhappy. I feel like my village doesn't like me or care about me. I feel ignored and tolerated.

I brought all of this up to Peace Corps and they sent my boss out to visit. He's notoriously absent-minded and careless. Sure enough, I feel completely unsatisfied by his visit. I practically had to chase him down in the provincial capital to discuss the site visit with him. I wanted him to understand my concerns before we went up there. He was so lax about finding a truck to take us up there that we didn't get there until 3 pm, at which point my village (understandably) got tired of waiting and most of them left. We got there and the village was practically deserted. They banged the tamtam to get people to come back but very few did. Luckily my host parents came back. I wasn't supposed to be there for the meeting so I sat in my house. Occasionally I'd look out at the meeting house and see a very informal affair going on. Fine. Ni-Vans are informal. The meeting ended and my boss went and drank kava with my host papa. Guess who wasn't invited. I felt like he had some alliance with my village that he valued more than his responsibility to me as a volunteer. We finally went back to the provincial capital. Once again I had to hunt Mark down at a nakamal to talk to me. He basically told me, between getting up repeatedly and playing with his cell phone, that he asked them about the community disputes and that they said there weren't really any. He told them they should work with me. They claimed that they're afraid to work with me because I'm never there. Unless they want me to stay in my house all day every day and never go anywhere that statement is ridiculous. That made me feel very discouraged. That was it. He told me to give it a few more months because now everything would revolve around Christmas.

So I came to Vila to use the phone, internet, and eat comfort foods. It was worth the expensive plane ticket to get my head straight. I'm still on the fence about what I want to do. I'm considering every option between just trying to get through the rest of my service, quitting Peace Corps but staying in Vanuatu as a volunteer with another organization, or going to New Zealand for a while to work. We'll see. This is definitely the toughest decision I've ever had to make. If you guys have any thoughts let me know.
Sorry for the buzz kill!

♥ Justine

Trip to Ambrym Part I November 27, 2008

On a lighter note...I went to a small island called Ambrym last month. Ambrym is hat-shaped and is infamous for its black magic. I went with a friend of mine named Steve. His parents were peace corps volunteers before and lived on Ambrym. A high chief on Ambrym died and we planned to go pay our respects and possibly see one of the island's two volcanoes.

Steve caught the ship at Lolowai, on north Ambae. They rushed him and told him the ship was waiting for him, but then broke down and he ended up waiting a few hours before they headed out. Typical Vanuatu...hurry up and wait.

My host mama banged on my door at midnight. We walked down the road to the ocean and waited a few hours for the ship to come. There's no actual wharf so the ship has to send out a motorboat to drop off and pick up cargo and passengers. Because it was raining they let me go on the first trip. Steve came out on the motorboat and met me. We had to stand on top of kava on the bumpy, rainy, dark ride back to the ship. The smell of the kava was setting off my gag reflex.

I somehow got onto the ship and waded my way through sleeping Ni-Vans to my seat. Tried to sleep for a few hours. I woke up a few hours later and realized that we had only moved about six miles down the coast. Apparently one of the engines was dead again. The plan was to bypass any other stop and go straight to Vila on just the one engine. They were gonna send me and Steve out on the small boat to get to Ambrym. Our day on the ship was very interesting. Steve stayed strong but I was pretty nauseous. Going out on the deck wasn't much help as all you could smell was diesel from the engines. The ship was out of water so the bathroom was a precarious place. I'm talking can't keep your eyes open cause the ammonia smell was so strong kinda thing. A mystery liquid had collected about an inch deep on the floor but I think it was mostly seawater. It was disturbing to see a footprint in the brown ooze. Needless to say, I "held it" for the rest of the trip and drank as little water as possible.

After a few hours of spinning we learned that the engine was working again. We moved on to Pentecost and on the way saw dozens of dolphins (how's that for alliteration mwahaha) Later that evening we reached Ambrym. We were asked over and over again where we were getting off and told repeatedly that ours was the next stop. We went out on deck to wait and fell asleep shivering on top of a crate. Around 11 pm we arrived to Ranon, our stop, and were taken to shore in the motorboat. Crowds of people met us on shore, waiting for the ship themselves. We eventually found the owner of the guesthouse and stumbled off to go sleep...

TO BE CONTINUED AHAHAHAHAHA

Six Month Update September 29, 2008

Hello All-

So I just finished my first three months at site. There's so much to tell I don't know where to begin (again). I'll try to give a brief rundown...Hopefully it won't repeat too much of what I've written home about.

After leaving Vila, I took a plane to Luganville, Santo. Espiritu Santo is the largest island in Vanuatu. Luganville is a decent sized town with lots of Chinese shops. I made a friend in training, Hillary, who came with me. We spent a couple of nights in a hotel there and just tried to relax before going to site. When we first got to Luganville we had to wait so long for a taxi that the airport closed and turned off all of its lights. We just stood there in the dark amongst all of Hillary's luggage for a while. We felt it was a very Peace Corps experience. Hillary's host family was nice enough to come meet us at the airport though, so we weren't alone. I helped Hillary take all of her luggage and new puppy to her site. It was about an hour truck ride to the dock where we took about a half hour motor boat ride to her island. It's a teeny tiny island called Araki. We hiked up the side of her island and then to her house with all of her stuff. Thank goodness we had lots of strong Ni-Van men to help us, hehe. We wanted to sit and chat for a while, but they quickly shooed us back to the shore where the boat was waiting to take us back. The chief of Hillary's village is very old and senile. He decided to come with us and repeatedly asked us for money. He actually fell backwards in the boat and hit his head pretty hard. Crazy times.

Back in Luganville Hillary and I went to a kava bar and enjoyed our last beers and steak dinner, haha. It was so delicious. We caught a plane to Ambae (my island). We stayed at this UN Volunteer Steve's house in the provencial capital, Saratamata. Vanuatu is separated into six provinces. Penama province encompasses Ambae, Pentecost, and Maewo. Luckily, the capital of the province is only a three hour walk from my site, one hour by truck. It's only about 8 miles, but the roads are so bad it takes a while to get around. We met a bunch of other volunteers there and prepared to go down to Sakao, a volunteer's village in South Ambae past my own, for a July 4th party. We were rained out the first day, but left the second. There are a lot of creeks in South Ambae, which contributes to the stark contrast in development between South and East Ambae. The creeks make for difficult crossing, especially when there is a lot of rain. Anyway we all crammed into a truck for the two hour ride to Sakao. I brought my puppy, Stuey, who got car sick and threw up all over Jackie, our 70-year old PC Volunteer. I felt pretty bad. He was known as "That Damn Stuey" for the rest of the trip, haha.

Sakao was a bit rough. I got pink eye for the first time. It rained almost every day but I got to brush up on my Spades playing. We had a party on the fourth. No fireworks, but there was a lot of alcohol :) I considered it my last party before going to site and thoroughly enjoyed myself. A couple days later we headed out. I made it to my site with pink eye in both eyes. The villagers were like, what's wrong with your face?? It was pretty embarassing. Afterwards, I got really sick. My jaw and neck swelled up and I had a high fever and sore throat/body. I called into the PC Office and they told me to take some penicillin. After about three days I was right as rain again. But for a while there people were just coming into my house to stare at the sick white lady. That was awful. I just wanted to be alone. I think a lot of people thought that I wasn't really sick, but unhappy to be there. I was happy to get better and go out into the village to talk to people.

The first three months have been good and bad. I have had amazing days but also really terrible days. I definitely have to learn to calm my American multi-tasking self. A few things backfired on me just because I wasn't culturally sensitive enough to appreciate the differences in how things are done in Vanuatu. So I've kindof switched gears and decided to slow down a bit. It's hard because I'm really bored most of the time and it would be a lot easier if I had work to do. But that's one of the challenges of Peace Corps. At the same time, I've gotten a lot done for a new volunteer. The women in the village practically seized me and demanded that we form a women's group. We held elections and formed a committee. Now we have monthly meetings, cooking groups, and fundraisers. Their eventual goal is to build a small restaurant in the village. People in Lolovoli (that's the name of my village) have money, but little time so I feel like a restaurant might be a good idea. We'll see how it goes. Ambae women are known for being strong and intelligent. They definitely play a bigger role in the community than do women on most other islands. In the long run, I feel like the women's group could help the community with bigger projects like water sanitation, road building, etc.

The women's group built a chicken coop the other day with all local materials. It was maybe my favorite day in Vanuatu so far. It was nice to get out and get some exercise. We used bamboo and wood for the frame, then natangura leaves for the roof and woven bamboo for the walls. I plan to buy a couple chickens and a rooster and eventually start selling eggs and meat. My village doesn't eat nearly enough protein, and it really shows in the kids. They are all very small for their ages. I think it was my bringing up the fact that it was the women's responsibility in the village to look out for the kids' nutrition that got them so motivated. I was truly amazed with how much we got built in one day. The money would go towards the women's group to build their restaurant and whatever other project they'd like to do.

There's a cultural center in the village that the previous volunteer built. There's also a committee for that cultural center. We meet roughly every month. Right now we're planning the second annual mini-arts festival for november 3. Not sure if that will actually happen either, hehe. I've had to separate myself a bit from the cultural center lately though. We charge cell phones there for about $1 each with a solar panel to raise money for the center. EVERYBODY has a cell phone here now. This company called Digicel hit Vanuatu hard with its marketing and advertising. I was charging somewhere around 10 phones a day, going back and forth between my house and the center to plug in, unplug, and/or check on phones. It started to make me feel like the village saw me only as a cell phone charger. They also started coming to my house to get change or buy things from me. At first I got excited because I thought people were coming to my house to talk, but they'd always just be asking for something. It started to put me on edge. With everyone that came to my house I became more and more frustrated. So a couple of Sundays ago I got up at the meeting house after church where everybody makes announcements and made one of my own. I announced that I was not a bank, a store, or a phone charger, and to please stop coming to my house unless you wished to talk to ME. I think they respected that. Tim, my closest volunteer neighbor, told me that Ni-Vans will take advantage of you as long as you let them. So I stopped letting them. At first I wanted so badly to help them and fit in and be liked that I did anything and everything I could for them, but now I see that it doesn't work like that. Now I feel much happier.

Now I'm trying to start a kids' group. Every Wednesday night I invite the kids to the cultural center to play. I'm trying to get them to use the cultural center. When I first got to Lolovoli, the center would stay locked all day long. People were afraid to go in, let alone touch anything inside. So I'm trying to do some easy lesson plan for an hour about their culture, and then another hour of play. So far the biggest challenge is just getting them to show up, haha. We'll see, it's still very new.

Later I'm thinking about starting a girls' group. Just a sleepover at the cultural center once a month where we can do girly things and maybe watch a movie. Maybe it will help those who might want to talk to someone about their concerns. Or just have fun. The kids are great here. There was a water project that I was trying to get started in the village, but I can't seem to find anyone to help do a survey of the water pipes in the village. So that's on hold until somebody steps up to the plate for that one.

As Lolovoli is surrounded by creeks and sits on a volcano, there are natural disaster risks. So I am beginning to work with the Vanuatu and French Red Cross to develop disaster preparedness plans for the village. One of the reasons I'm in the capital is actually to go to a couple trainings with the Red Cross. The more I see here in Vanuatu, the more interested I become with Food Security. My village relies mostly on their kava crops for income. As a result they don't plant much food and rely a lot upon rice. As everyone knows, the price of rice has greatly increased and when it gets scarce, people run low on food. They live on a lush tropical island where you can grown things even accidentally and they don't have food! It's insane.

Anyway, as you can see I'm keeping myself busy. I have a lot of little things going on, but for the most part it's the days between that are difficult. Every day I wake up around 7 am. I make the bed faithfully. My village is so humid and damp that my sheets are clammy every night when I get into bed. Making the bed helps. I sweep my house with a broom made of coconut fronds. I go fill up two buckets with water and carry them back to my house to wash dishes. Breakfast is usually oatmeal or crackers and peanut butter. I just got a coffee press and real coffee so no more instant!!!! Now I just have to figure out how to get real milk, hehe. There are cows and goats here, but nobody has an interest in dairy products. It's appalling...how can people live without cheese?!!! Maybe I'll buy my own cow, hehe. They're only about $300 here. I'll usually go wash my clothes, work, or go story on with people until lunch. I read a lot and do crossword puzzles. Write letters. Lunch is usually whatever I have lying around. People have just started bringing by the first round of veggies for me, which rocks! I just got a bunch of tomatoes and mangoes. I made a kickass tomato and onion salad the other day. The mangoes were to die for. A good thing about living without a grocery store is that you get really creative with your cooking. I love to cook now and hope that will continue after my stay in Vanuatu. After lunch I get to take a nap. Then I'll play with my dog, maybe go for a walk, or go story on a bit more. By then the kids come home from school and a few of them play in my house. Lately I've been going over to my host family's house for a few hours before dinner to help. They almost never let me help, but a couple times I get lucky and grate some lap lap or coconuts. Doing that has really helped me feel more a part of the community. Tuesday and Saturday nights are market nights, where a selected group of women bring food to the nakamal for sale. I love market nights. Lately they've been baking bread too! That means not only do I not have to cook, but I don't have to wash dishes either! It's a nice break in the monotony. I used to drink kava on market nights as well, but right now I'm taking a break from it. I go back to my house and play games with the kids or read or just chill. Around 9 pm I close my doors and go to bed. I do get a little scared at night, but most of the time I'm really tired and fall asleep quickly. Stuey is a great guard dog and I'm used to the spiders and cockroaches for the most part. The rats don't bother me as much anymore either, but it's hard to sleep when they're chewing on my walls, haha. I'm waiting for one of the village kitties to have her kittens so I can have one. Stuey loves cats and plays with them. I miss him a lot now that I'm in Vila.

I make it down to the provincial capital every two or three weeks. I like to walk, but it's not really that cool to go alone. I hate asking people to walk with me, but what can I do? Staying in Saratamata means cold drinks and meat. It also means seeing Steve, a guy that I have started to see. He has a motorcycle and is able to make it up to my village now and again with eggs and other supplies for me.

So now I'm in Port Vila for two weeks, assessing the first three months and marveling that I've now been here for six. It's a bit hard being a woman in Vanuatu. I'm told repeatedly that I can't do many things because I'm a woman, but then I'm that I shouldn't walk around alone. During the day when everyone goes to their gardens (which I'm not permitted to go to yet) I sit around. It's very boring. The longer I'm here though the more aggressive and assertive I become with the garden issue. I tell them once in a while..."you know, I am an AGRICULTURE volunteer...maybe I should go to the gardens?" But no. There is a community garden that I might get to work in eventually, but again I can't walk their alone. It's definitely going to be a challenging next 21 months for me, but I knew that going into the Peace Corps.

I got to meet the new training group. I'm not one of the newbies anymore, which is a relief! Seeing their anxious faces and answering their worried questions helped me to put my experience into perspective and feel better. Talking to them I realized that I have really learned a lot so far and that after another six months I'll feel even more comfortable here. Now I'm just doing a little work each day, then relaxing. It's nice to have the internet and air conditioning. I love the hotel room...the bed is soft, the bathroom is attached to my room, and there's running (hot) water!!! The best is ice cubes, ice cream, pizza, and CHEESE!!! I went dancing the other night but had a hard time keeping my eyes off of the tv screens haha. All the new music videos from kanye, timbaland, rihanna, etc were playing. I love the new stuff that's out and it really seems like there's more racial integration in teh music videos. Not sure if I would've noticed the changes there or in fashion if I were still in the US. I went kayaking around Iririki island the other day and got a pretty killer sunburn. It is turning into a tan though and I'm looking forward getting back out in the sun (with sunblock). We've had pretty good weather. Just kindof doing the tourist thing for the first time. It's nice to be able to be in the capital and know my way around and speak the language.

Peace Corps Vanuatu just got a new Country Director, who really seems to have his shit together. I just got done with a two-hour meeting with him and feel very confident in his ability to clean up a lot of the problems we're having here. I didn't feel too comfortable with the former CD, but Eddie puts me completely at ease. It was nice to talk to him to introduce myself and let him know what I'm up to. This weekend Steve and I are gonna rent a car and drive around the island. I wanna see my host family from my training village. My host mama had her baby and named her Justine! Should be a good time.

Anyhoo hope this LONG LONG LONG (SORRY SORRY SORRY) email finds you all well. I miss you all very much! Please send your addresses if I don't already have them...i'd love to send postcards or letters.

If anybody feels like sending goodies...

Cereal
Granola
Trail Mix
Jerkey
Tea
Kraft Mac n Cheese
Add Waters

Thank you so much for the packages. I now have a year's supply of crystal light, haha. Love you guys!

Justine xoxo

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Yo June 28, 2008

Hey Guys,

So...I'm officially a Peace Corps Volunteer! Training is now over and we swore in last Thursday. It was long and rainy, but overall fun. The last two weeks of training were really hard. It was just as all the other current volunteers told us it would be...when you get back from your week visit to your future site, it's hard to sit through Bislama sessions and whatnot. We were all tired and ready to go to site and get to work. A lot of grumpiness.

I gave the speech at our swearing in on behalf of the 16 of us...in Bislama...in front of 100 people...including the president of Vanuatu and the U.S. ambassador to the South Pacific. It went well, and I was only slightly nervous...maybe my stage fright is going away, hehe. The president took the opportunity of his coming to Epau to award several community members with medals and, because this was the Peace Corps Country Director's last swearing in ceremony, a lot of the ceremony was about him. I felt bad for the invited guests, because the whole thing was about three hours long. Afterwards we drank kava, ate, and danced to string band music.

The next morning was dreary. Me and Rachel (the girl who lives out in the boonies with me) walked the mile and a half in the rain to the nakamal where everybody gathered to say goodbye. We all stood facing the villagers and they lined up to shake our hands and hug us goodbye. Everyone was crying and it was just really sad and depressing. It was kinda funny at the same time because crying is such a "thing to do" around here. There are certain events where you're required to cry, just as natural as it is to shake hands. So they just cover their faces and pretend like they're crying. A lot of them can cry on command, it's very impressive. My papa is a very religious guy and makes a point to cry whenever he prays in front of the congregation. He "cried" when he said goodbye to me, which made me feel sad, but then I saw him five minutes later cracking up with his buddies so it wasn't so bad.

I was sad to leave Epau, but very ready to move on. I've been in the capital for three days now and it's been raining in Vanuatu since Monday. Today is the first time I've seen the sun in almost a week. But I guess I'd better get used to that. It's nice to be able to chill out and take my time doing things for a change. There's a lot to do and unfortunately, now that we're not trainees anymore, PC has pretty much left us to fend for ourselves. There have been so many mistakes with flight plans and money and bank accounts. It's really frustrating. To top it all off, we got here Friday morning and no one works on weekends so there's no one to help us out until Monday. Which is when we're leaving. Long story.

Anyway I've developed a pretty good friendship with a girl named Hillary. She's from Texas but moved to California for college. She's traveled all over the world, plays rugby, and is a diving master. All around cool girl...I'm going to try to get SCUBA certified so we can go diving together. Her and I are flying out tomorrow to Santo, where we'll stay the night and then go visit her site. Then she's coming to Ambae with me for about a week. Should be fun. It was her birthday yesterday so we had lots of fun. She got me to shotgun my very first beer, hehe. I bought a guitar yesterday for $40. It's a piece of crap, but it sounds pretty good. I learned how to tune it relatively well and I borrowed a songbook from the resource center. Hopefully I'll be somewhat decent by the time I get back to the states, hehe. There's also a puppy waiting for me at site. I bought him a collar so ppl will know he has an owner. I named him Lenny, but while I was gone apparently he got himself trapped in a toilet so ppl call him Stu...short for Stupid. Great. Haha, he's really cute and all white and he's a good guard dog.

My group elected me and this other guy, Travis, to be the representatives for the Volunteer Advisory Committee. It was very flattering to know that my fellow volunteers think that I'm up for the challenge, and even better that VAC members get flown into Vila (for free) at least twice a year for meetings. That's more money I can put towards a vacation in New Zealand!!!

So this is where it gets hard. Training is over, and we're on our own now. When I get out to site, it'll just be me and my village. Wish me luck!

Justine Beaulieu
Peace Corps Volunteer
P.O. Box 33
Lolowai, Ambae
Vanuatu

Mobile: 011 678 5445706
Land: 011 678 38015

Love ya,
Justine

ps- You can all still send emails to volunteer@vu.peacecorps.gov...our resource center lady prints them out and mails them to us...it'll get to me within two weeks and is much faster than letter writing from the states : )

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