I've been stunted for the written word these past couple days. It feels like I'm in paradise waiting for the other shoe to drop. It can't be THIS beautiful all the time. Not every person can be THAT nice. So in the meantime of my very weary introduction to the South Pacific, I've decided to hold a Q&A for all my loyal readers. I must preface this entry by saying I have yet to spend any large amount of time outisde of Vila. This means I have been exposed to the wealthiest ni-Vans (locals) and have a VERY narrow idea of what life is like here. Enjoy, and hopefully soon I can be a bit more poetic.

Question: How are you feeling?

Answer: Nervous. It's hard to not fall into this trap of thinking this whole thing is going to be a breeze. I'm surrounded by beauty--- the ocean, volcanos, GREEN, all things I've been sorely missing the past couple months. But then I remember it is also considered to be one the most dangerous countries for natural disasters in the world, isolation is a guarantee and I'm here hiding out in a pretty nice hotel overlooking the Vila Bay.

Question: What do you eat?

Answer: Right now, being in Vila, I've been eating pretty standard food. Since this town is extremely touristy, you can find most anything here, but the prices are even more expensive that what you might find in NYC (Read: cannot afford as a Peace Corps Volunteer).

Question: Where are you living right now?

Answer: This past week I've been staying in Vila in a hotel going through 8 hour days of orientation. I've started learning Bislama which is coming along quite well as it is based off of English and requires you to think like a 3 year old. Tomorrow I head to Emua, a smaller village on the northern part of Efate (main island).

Question: Have you been to the ocean?

Answer: Yes, I live on a island where it takes about 1.5 hours to go completely around the island in a car. I see it every day, and yes, it unbelievably beautiful and I still can't believe I am going to live here.

Question: What are the people like?

Answer: So far, so good. Being in a tourist town, it's hard to differentiate yourself from the Aussies and Kiwis roaming around in short skirts, but once you start to speak Bislama, most people guess you are Peace Corps. Since we are the largest volunteer organization in Vanuatu, we are pretty well known, even in the smaller places.

Question: Where will you be living in 3 weeks?

Answer: True to Peace Corps form, I do not know yet. I know the three locations that they are sending us to, but we do not know who is going where yet. The three islands are Efate (northern part), Malekula, and Ambae. Check em' out.

Question: Lots of bugs?

Answer: Yes. Fortunately, there are no poisonous snakes or spiders on all of Vanuatu. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean there aren't a million different types of bugs to pester you.

Question: When can I come visit?

Answer: Whenever you'd like. Cyclone season is from November to April, so I'd probably recommend heading over here not around then. Most volunteers have said they can usually get flights from Los Angeles to Vanuatu for around $1800 (RT). I also plan to come home next summer for about 4-5 weeks in July/August for these two people I know getting married.. :)

Question: What is your internet situation?

Answer: Starting tomorrow (Sunday), I head to my homestay village for two weeks where I will have no internet. After that I should have internet on and off for about two weeks. Then it's off to my island and I will have to update then about the potential or lack thereof of internet. As a guideline from other volunteers, I'll probably have internet every 3 months or so.

Question: Are there are lot of fisherman and divers?

Answer: On the islands, everyone fishes. They use spears and usually eat reef fish which aren't great in taste but the deep sea fish are too expensive for the locals to enjoy. There are diving places here, and as a PCV you can do an open water dive in the pacific for about $60. You can also get PADI certified here for a grand total of $300.

Question: Was the flight in from NZ mostly Kiwis or natives?

Answer: Combination. Front of the plane was Kiwis and Aussies, back of the plane were locals and me. It was a interesting (Read: smelly) time.

Question: What is the city you live in now like? paved roads? dirt roads?  buildings made of concrete?  how big is the island?

Answer: There are paved roads in the city, but they aren't great. Buildings are pretty varied, some are tin roofs, some are concrete with glass walls looking over the ocean. Really depends on the owner. Efate is not actually the biggest island. The population of all of Vanuatu is around 280,000 with about 100,000 people living in the capital of Port Vila (where I am now).

Question: What is the drinking-water situation there? Better than Mali?

Answer: I would say as a whole, yes. There are definitely some places where people get pretty sick from the water, but it doesn't appear to be as common as in Mali. I will have an area by me that collects rain water and drink from that water source.

Question: Is it humid?

Answer: Yes. I have an Afro.

Question: What is the best and worst part of vanuatu thus far?

Answer: It's absolutely beautiful. No picture I take even comes close to the beauty that exists here. I'm not quite sure the worst part yet. I think I'll really come to know that when I am in a village on a sparsely populated island and things start to become real. I guess I'd say while Vila is nice, it's amazing how touristy and nice things can be here and know that only one island away, it's a whole other world.

Question: Is living in Vanautu (sp?) technically like living out the tv show Lost? If so, which character are you?

Answer: Kate.

More questions? Let me know! Leave a comment or e-mail me at [email protected]
Sean
5/11/2012 08:10:03 am

Awesome! I'm so glad you're blogging ... it's fun to hear what everyone is doing! Keep it up, I can't wait to hear about your adventures. Question: Feel like you're cheating on Mali at all? It's not its fault that it doesn't have a coast ... ;)

Reply
5/21/2012 06:14:12 pm

Hi Leeann! This is Cathy, from Koutiala. Glad to see you are doing well in Vanuatu. Your Q&A is great - it's nice to learn about Vanuatu from someone with a Malian perspective.

Have a good day,

Cathy

Reply
dad
6/21/2012 03:06:56 am

amazing....i was just doing a random search of your name...dont know why and saw this blog...wow..sounds like fun.
share some more.

:)

Reply



Leave a Reply.