Training is Finished!

Sunday, November 7, 2010,

Our eight weeks of training is over and I am now a Peace Corps volunteer. Let's begin and the beginning. My group of 41 trainees left Los Angeles on September 10 and arrived in Port Villa, Vanuatu on September 12, having missed the 11^th when flying over the international dateline. After a warm (literally) welcome, we were shuffled off to a IDS camp in the nearby town of Pango on the edge of Port Villa. There, we lived barracks style for a week while attending the first of what would become many classes, workshops, and training sessions. That's also when my metabolism started to kick in to high gear, but more on that latter.

After a week at the IDS camp facilities, Group 23, as we're called, was sent to training villages in North Efate. The five villages were about as far from Port Villa as you can get while staying on the same island. They included the well established Paunangisu and Epau as well as the small and seemingly more distant Ekipe as well as Takara A and my village, the smaller, newer encampment of Takara B. Only 5 of our group of 41 were sent to Takara B and we had a great time of it. Under the tutelage of George, our language instructor from Ambae, and with the help of my host parents Thomas and Fatima, I was able to learn a good deal about the culture and custom of Vanuatu as well as pick up a significant amount of Bislama.

The stories we five have from Takara B could fill a few pages by themselves. Just a few worth mentioning include the time when we became surprise guests of honor at the opening of the new road-side market and the official renaming of the village to Natakoma Komuniti. After repeated suggestions from the villagers, we took a small boat over to the nearby island of Emau, where the residents of the Takaras hail from originally. Then there was the time Andrew, my Mama, Chief Sam, and I climbed nearby Quinn Hill overlooking the whole area so that we could view the remnants of the old US military installation on top. It was an excellent place to put a “bigfalla musket” to shoot at approaching ships, as we learned from the chief. Of course, Andrew and I were referred to by the kustom names we had received on our second week in the village. He is Caul Fal (New Man) while I'm Tai Wia (Good Brother).

In between lessons and on the weekends, we tried to learn as much as we could from the villagers. I think I have a handle of taro and yam growing and look forward to making my own garden at my new site. Cleaning clothes with a basin of soapy water, a board, and a stiff brush is a time consuming task that I'll just have to get used to. I've drank enough kava now to know I should avoid it and I think I have good handle on how it's made.

The kava bars in the village cut the root and grind it in a mince meet grinder before adding the water and squeezing it, while the folks on Tanna used a noticeably different approach. At about week 5, all the trainees were sent on host-volunteer visits on different islands where we could see how a current volunteer lived and worked. I was set to go to Tanna with one other business volunteer, but he was medically separated just before so it was just me with Arthur in Middle Bush, Tanna followed by a day with Marion in Lenekel, Tanna. In addition to kustom dancing until dawn, roasting coffee in a metal drum, collected and eating wild pumkin, chasing horses in a truck, bathing in a waterfall, inspecting water pumps, chewing on whole vanilla beans, and eating, eating, eating, I was treated to some homebrew kava, Tanna style. First, the adult men (far away from the women who are forbidden from participating) chew the peeled kava root for a long time and spit the softened mush onto banana leaves. Next you have to get a boy. On Tanna, the men are forbidden from squeezing coconut shavings or kava so a boy must do it for you. The watered, squeezed kava juice was enough to fill four small bowls. We didn't have actual coconut shells this time. That stuff really makes the evening cicadas seem like a racket.

Back in Natakoma, we prepared to go to our new sites and say our goodbyes to our host village. The last night in the village got more emotional than we were prepared for. The village mamas had prepared a big “lask kakae” feast for everyone. Speeches were made and gifts given and the slightly formal manner of the islands. My fellow trainees more or less “volunteered” me to make a little speech on our behalf and then the hand shakes, hugs, and crying began.

The next morning we were off to Port Villa where I am now, preparing to go to site. 39 of us will be heading out, having lost one more person who I am led to believe quit for here own reasons. Swearing in last Thursday, was a great even from what I've been told. I was there, sworn in, and am now a fully fledged volunteer, but I was so sick that I wasn't really concentrating much on the speeches and presentations. Bit of a shame to, as I was supposed to give the big Bislama speech on behalf of our class, but was unable to. I'm glad I got to attend. I'm fine now. It was just another weird bug in a long list of ailments I've had here. They come and go fast.

So, here's the big news. On Wednesday, I'm going to the island of Epi. I will be living in a thatched roof house in the village of Alek near Rovo Bay. My job is to work with a few counterparts in the Shefa Provincial council to conduct community surveys and assessments on the island as well as help build the business capacity of the people in the area as well as the council itself. Yes, it's a bit vague, but most of the positions are. I'm a frontier capitalist riding through the territories with a fistful of ideas, squaring off with any and all comers who want help.

For those wondering about creature comforts: I will be growing a garden, but buying localing grown food until that comes in. There is no electricity in my village, but there usually is in Lamon Bay, a one and a half hour walk North. There is a potable water tap close to my little house. My host parents, whom I believe are in their thirties live nearby. My “smol haos” is seperate and bucket showers will continue to be the norm. I bough a small gas stove for about 9,000 Vatu ($90) and will be cooking with gas when I don't want to collect firewood. Lastly, I guess I'll be eating a lot of the local peanuts and pumpkins.

More to Come.

- Daniel

Sorry, I can't get any more pictures up.

I think we find out what our site assignments will be on October 28. I'm hoping for Tanna as I've taken a liking to bush life.

On my first day in Takara B, I sat down with my host Papa and had a long chat in broken Bislama under his large mango tree. I learned more of the language and maybe more about Vanuatu in that one evening than I had during the week before. Twice a week I travel to Epau for technical training which just happens to be under another mango tree. That's not uncommon for Vanuatu so I've decided to use that concept for my web-log title.

Technical training is vague for business volunteers. Vanuatu is in a unique situation in that while it suffers from "poverty of opportunity" it also benefits from "subsitence oppulence". You can't starve on Vanuatu. Food, clothing, and shelter, are readily available and if you can't manage on your own, your extended family or village will take of you. If your a local with your own garden, a few animals, and access to the abundance of the sea and the bush, you don't need much cash just to live. If you do want or need some money, however, there's not much opportunity to make it. Money is needed to pay school fees to educate your children, to pay doctor bills at the clinic, and to buy fuel for your kerosene lamp or diesel generator if your well-to-do. There are also all sorts of nice consumer goods you can "pem" (buy) from Villa or your local store, but you can live without instant coffee and canned meat.

I think we are helping people with their business largely so they can afford adequate medical care and send their children to school. With that said, we business volunteers have been discussing a bit of a philosophical problem. Port Villa is experiencing a host of social problems that are facing Ni-Vanuatu for the first time. As young people come to Villa to make money and live the "flash life" they leave behind any community support and their own rural self-sufficiency. Some of them don't make it and fall in to poverty, prostitution, crime, or other problems.

We business volunteers are going to into rural communities and introducing efficiency, sometimes at the cost of self-sufficiency. It's sometimes hard to see why they even need us. We Americans have a had a few revelatory conversations with the Ni-Vanuatu and discovered that in rural Vanuatu, there isn't poverty as American's know it. Like I said, no one starves, no one freezes at night, and people get by. The surveys say this is the happiest place on Earth. They could benefit from some schools, inoculations, and knowledge about dengue and AIDS, but the case for the business volunteer is less concrete.

Okay, back to facts. I've started taking to local business people like the store ownere, the kava bar operator, and the bread maker. These businesses make your American Mom & Pop shop look advanced in some ways, but the Ni-Vanuatu I've met have the basics down. They have shown an understanding of basic accounting and margins, but don't seem to mind having a strained supply line or having to shut down for a few days because they just ran out of flour and haven't purchased any more from Villa yet. It's only been a few weeks though, so I am by no means an expert on Vanuatu enterprise.

My time is almost up. I've doing very well and adjusting to island life. Miraculously, we haven't lost any volunteers from my group yet, which was unexpected for a group our size. My fellow volunteers seem upbeat and happy and our biggest gripes are only that we can't get ice cream and sometimes creepy crawlies get into your room at night. We'll be fine. I'll stay in touch.

Lastly, the Ni-Vanuatu now call me Taewia. the emphasis is on "Thai", like Thailand, followed by "wee-ah". It means "good brother" in the language of Emau.

-- Daniel --

Training in Takara

My room.

The coconut trees at the edge of the yard at the Faratia household.

My daily commute to town takes me through the dry, flat grassland of the "American Airport." I live part way up the hill on the left.

Good Morning,

It is 9:30 in the morning and I am sitting in a French cafe by the bay watching the yacths sail through the bay by Port Villa. There's an Australian crusie ship here today so Villa town has s few red-lanyered tourists milling about. I have a short amount of internet time so excuse me if this is messy. Also, I'm probably going to stick to facts for now (where I am, what I do...). The gushing about how nice everything is will come later.

After a week at the IDS camp in Pango near Port Villa, the 41 Peace Corps Trainees of Group 23 were wisked away to five seperate villages in North Efate. I am staying in Takara B while the rest are in Takara A, Epau, Paunangisu, and Ekipe. There are five of us in Takara B which is the smallest of the villages. It is probably also the most remote. Last year, Efate island completed the Ring Road which runs all the way around the island. If Port Villa, the capital and urban center of the island is the start and end of the ring, Takara B is the middle. There is a sign in town indicating the middle of the ring and telling passers by that the project was funded by the US Millenium Challenge Account. For what it's worth, the locals here are well aware of which projects where funded by what countries.

I live in a farmhouse uphill from Takara B in what even the villagers call "the bush". I was confused at first as they would often ask if I was going back "antap". "Antap" (on top) is the Bislama word for not only the top of something like a hill or table, but also more generally refers to uphill, inland, and sometimes up.

My host parents are Thomas and Fatima Faratia. Papa Thomas is 65 while Fatima is somewhat younger. Sometimes Anthony (13) is around, but usually he stays with his sister on the nearby island of Emau, where he goes to school. The people of Takara A and B orginally come from Emau, a smaller island visible from the northern tip of Efate. Takara A is a well established community while Takara B probably has only 80 people and still has a transient look to it. With the exception of my Papa's house, the rest of the homes in Takara look like they where recently built with whatever metal sheeting and wood was available and aren't meant to last.

This is partly because Takara B is actually a rather new settlement. So new that is is not even getting a proper name until this Saturday when it will be rechristened as Natakoma Komuniti. There's going to be a celebration coinciding with the opening of the new road-side market this weekend.

Each morning I wake up under my mosquito netting sometime between 4:30 and 5:30. That's when the sun comes up and the birds go crazy anyway, so there is not much chance of sleeping late. My host parents are often up a little earlier. In the morning gray, I wander over the "smol haos" for my morning "swim" or bracing bucket bath. Gently chilled, I breakfast with the parents and whatever children are visiting for heading "daon" to "taon" for class at 7:30 or 8:00. At the bottom of the hill, past Uncle Simon's homestead is the "Amerikan Aepot", a flat expanse of grass land that Americans denuded of tress and buldozed during the second World War to build an airstrip. Simon's house is built on a flat slab on concrete left by the Americans.

After the "airport" which the volunteers have named "the Serengeti" is the town proper, starting with the village nakamal and a church where we have class. Bislama is going fairly well, which is mostly due to how easy the language is for English speakers. We take occasional trips to the other villages for technical training with our program groups. I'm with business.

My pictures loaded so I'm going to post this while I can. More to come soon.

First Days in Vanuatu

I'm in Port Vila right now and have a few minutes to let you know what I've been doing over the past few days. In short, I'm doing very well. It's been rather difficult to load the images above, in part because of the slow internet connection. They may be a bit jumbled and out of order, but I don't have the time to slowly fix them. I'm also writing rather fast as I don't have much time to get everything out, so excuse me for rambling.

Friday, September 10, 2010

I spent Thursday evening and most of Friday with Peace Corps, Vanuatu training class 23. 41 of us met in Los Angeles for a day of orientation and getting to know each other. These are some of the best people I've ever met and I look forward to spending the next three months with them during training. It's not surprised that would-be Peace Corps volunteers are a very outgoing and engaging lot. The people I've met have been very open and shared some great stories. I can imagine quickly becoming friends with them.

We left America from LAX on Friday evening, bound for New Zealand, eager and ready.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Our flight across the Pacific took about eleven hours and it was night the entire time. Since we flew over the international dateline, we more of less skipped September 11, 2010. By the time we arrived in Aukland for our transfer, the group had spent a lot of time with each other, sometimes in rather close situations. Spirits were high and we all kept smiling despite a few logistical bumps.

We were greeted in Vanuatu by an enthusiastic line of current volunteers and Peace Corps Staff. I was given my first coconut to drink and a lot of hugs and handshakes. Some of the volunteers greeting us had even come from the other islands.

We loaded onto some mini-buses and were off on a quick tour of Port Vila. I'll say more about the town later, but I'll say now that it is a strange combination of expatriate wealth and the local, developing world.

We are staying at a an old mission campsite in the nearby village of Pongo. The 17 single men are grouped together in what we've come to call “the barn”, a tin roofed long house with wooden bunks. We were issued our Peace Corps bed mats, scratchy sheet and blanket, pillow, plastic bucket, and solar powered lamp, among other things. Since we were all pretty useless due to jet lag, we were given some free time to go run into the ocean at the beach across the road.

Here's a few firsts for me. It was not only my first time in the Pacific Ocean, but first time South of the Equator. I stepped among my first coral and saw my first vivid blue starfish. I picked and we ate a ripe papaya (“popo”). The site is surrounded by tropical vegetation including trees I've never seen except in pictures. That evening, I slept under my first mosquito netting.

Monday, September 13, 2010

After a deep, jet lag induced sleep, we awoke at 5:00am local time to the sound of someone from the settlement next to ours banging on a suspended, empty propane tank. I think they use it instead of a bell. The birds started singing a few minutes after and then the sun was up. Life starts early in Pongo village. We are lucky that the mission site has decent facilities including electricity in the evening until 9:30pm and cold, cold, cold showers in a concrete bathroom building. There are a few other tin long houses where we met the staff and began a series of lessons and lectures. All of the buildings are more or less open to the outside temperature and breezes. Fortunately, the temperature has ranged from a frigid 73 degrees and to a near apocalyptic 80 or so.

Bislama training began and we learned the basics of introducing ourselves and asking for people's names. We've been told, that unlike at other Peace Corps sites, we will learn the local language to an intermediate level rather than beginner level. That's because of the close connection between Bislama and English.

We aren't cooking for ourselves yet and are being fed by a group of local “mamas” as the women are known. For anyone wondering about the food, we are well taken care of, starting the day with good French bread with spreads as well as instant coffee, cocoa, and tea. Lunch included all food groups, but dairy and usually the ubiquitous rice and sweet potatoes. We've even had some delicious meat curries. Of course, there is also the fruit: fresh papaya, coconut, two kinds of grapefruit, finger bananas, and what I think is an actual Michel Gros. I look forward to cooking here.

In the evening, we were taken to the house of Eddie, the Peace Corps Country Director for Vanuatu. There, we were introduced to kava and had our first shell of it. It affected everyone differently, but basically us big guys didn't notice much of anything. Others said they felt mellow. We will probably encounter kava quite a bit in our assigned villages and knowing how to deal with it appropriately will help us go a long way toward integrating ourselves there. Also, it's supposed to be fun. If you're curious, it looks like muddy water or Slim Fast and tastes like grass clippings.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

We were given a lesson in Malaria this morning where we were taught how to avoid it, what our anti-malarial medicine regime is, how to spot symptoms, and how to test ourselves for it. To test ourselves, we were asked to stab a finger with a medical lancet and drop the blood onto an instant test kit and glass slides to send in. I found that either I have very thick skin, or I just don't bleed easily. This was followed by more Bislama training, where we went through some basic dialog.

It rained lightly off and on today, but no one seems to mind. In between classes, three of us asked some staff member to take get a little join us outside to find good coconuts. I can now identify a ripe coconut, knock it down, and hack it open with a machete before drinking the fluids. We were told that green coconut in particular is a great thing to take for dehydration, diarrhea, and pretty much everything where you would need liquids. My next goal is to climb one of the higher coconut trees to get one of the good looking ones just out of reach by the beach. So, how was your Tuesday?

I am currently sitting in the Peace Corps office waiting to meet with the health staff and get additional shots. Then, I'll meet with Eddie, the country director, and discuss what I would like to get out of my time of service.

More will come, when I'm able.

- - Daniel - -

I am committed

September 10, 2010

I am now a Peace Corps trainee. If all goes well, in about three months, I will be sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

We are checking out of our rooms at the Radisson in Los Angeles after a morning of activities and will be leaving the country at 9:45 tonight. There's a 13 hour plane ride to Auckland followed by a short flight to Vanuatu.

We spent the morning reviewing what will be expected of us and what it means to be a volunteer. I am fully committed to this.

See you when I see you.

- - Daniel

A night in Los Angeles

September 9, 2010

Los Angeles is just like the stereotypes said it would be, full of palm trees, burger joints, and pavement. I'm writing this at 8:30pm Eastern Time which is well past my bedtime in Eastern Standard and I've had only a few hours sleep in the past day so while this entry may not be entirely lucid, know that for once, it was not intentional.

Flying from the East coast of the United States to the West in one day, during daylight gave me a chance to watch the whole country roll by before leaving it for two years. It was like living out a Bruce Springsteen song, seeing the green covered mountains of Virginia give way to hills then the ordered checkerboard of the mid-West followed by a steady browning of the terrain until the crop squares became circles and then dessert, plateau, mountains, and finally the urban sprawl of the Los Angeles valley.

I've packed up my life and am taking care of a few nagging details, surfing off of the LAX Radisson''s ubiquitous connectivity while I still can. To the extent that people are patterns, as Robert M. Pirsig might say, moving a person from one end of the world and one mode of living to another is like moving the center of a cobweb without breaking it. Many of the strands connecting the person to the world like bank accounts, credit cards, and cell phone plans can be stretched or cut and replaced. Physically moving a person is the easy part, while re-establishing new connections to allow you to go on living somewhere else is difficult and exhausting.

It turns out that my Dad and brother moved on the same day as me. Tommy has his own apartment in Minot now. Dad, as some you may now, hurt his leg about a week ago. He's home now in a cast and doing fine even if he's not terrifically mobile.

I've been in Los Angeles since 2:00pm Western Time. In that time, I've gotten to know several of my fellow Vanuatu volunteers. We range in age from the mid twenties to early sixties and come from all over America, each with a different background. There doesn't seem to be a "Peace Corps type person" except that they are all educated and American. Many of us have been having the same conversations over and again and the common themes are "I'm really excited", "I'm just now beginning to believe this is real", and "does anybody have any idea what we're doing?". For the many of you who kept asking what my last meal stateside would be, I still don't know, but some of these conversations took place at the local In And Out Burger over cheeseburgers and milkshakes. We're getting anything iced while we can. Also, the Chicago style hot dogs in during my stopover at O'Hare where spot on. Maybe tomorrow should feature a Denver omelet, New York cheesecake, Buffalo wings, and Memphis barbecue. Are you still humming the Springsteen song?

Registration took place today and tomorrow will be filled with orientation activities, ice breaker exercises, and the like. We fly from LAX at 9:30pm for Aukland, then to Port Vila, where we will hit the ground running with more training and a few days of activities before moving into the training villages.

Excuse me for not sharing more, but it's time for bed.

- - Daniel

Training Information, Mail Address

September 7, 2010

I have some more information to share about my first three months of training in Vanuatu. First, after a day of orientation in Los Angeles, my group of volunteers will fly from LAX on the morning of September 10 and arrive in Aukland at 5:25am on September 12 after flying over the international date line. Two hours later, we board an Air Vanuatu plane for a three hour flight to Port Vila, arriving at 9:25am local time. A letter from the Peace Corps gave me some some sense of what will happen next:

--

"After we have loaded all your bags, you will be driven to your orientation accommodation approximately one half hour from the airport. We will drive through Port Vila for a short tour and then on to your first home away from home. Once we arrive, there will be a short briefing and lunch will be served. After lunch we will have a short “toktok” and a bit of “walk-around” money will be given. Once you have a bit of money in your pocket a representative of the Digicel Mobile Phone Company will be there to sell you Nokia phones at a special discounted rate. You don‟t have to buy one, but you will have the option. A brief talk on phone usage during PST will be given as well. After the phone talk we will hand out your basic Peace issue gear like mosquito net, foam pad, and bush lighting apparatus. The next morning your first real pre-service training session starts at 8:00 am. Your orientation accommodation is “no frills” and the food will be island style, so keep the expectations in check and be prepared to try some new foods. There will be plenty of local vegetables and tropical fruits available and you can‟t go wrong with that cuisine. You will be sharing a room with another trainee or a same sex dorm."

--

Our orientation center will be at Pango, about 20 minutes away from Port Vila. There will no e-mail access at the orientation site or at the training village so I will be unable to provide updates except during some very brief stints in Port Vila. Snail Mail arrives at the training site once per week. My new mailing address is:

Daniel Gerszewski, PCV

Peace Corps

Private Mail Bag 9097

Port Vila, Vanuatu

Ph.# (678) 26-160

On September 17, I will move to one of five training sites on the coast of the island of Efate with about 6-10 trainees at each village. We will live with host families for the next six weeks. Again, the letter from the Peace Corps explains it better:

--

"There will be formal language sessions, but a significant amount of your training will be with your village host family and as you “live” in the village. We will be promoting self-directed learning (SDL) in your PST, confident in you as adults, and given the opportunity, you will figure things out. You will be gathering with your small cluster group for language training each day and on occasion some small group activity work. There will be two training staff living in each of the villages. Again, we believe that the best learning comes from being allowed to figure things out in a safe and supportive environment. After a few weeks in the village, you will have a chance to visit a Volunteer at his or her site. This will give you an opportunity to see how a particular Volunteer has adjusted to life in a rural Vanuatu community.

Your training group is officially known as Group 23. You will be officially referred to as Peace Corps Trainees (PCTs), pending successful completion of your pre-service training. Your official swearing-in ceremony marks the status change from PCT to PCV. When you finish your service here in Vanuatu you will become an RPCV, retaining that title virtually forever."

--

The training program schedule for the next two years looks like this:

Pre-Service Training (PST)

September 12 through November 4

Arrival Orientation (September 12-17)

Community-based Training plus Host Volunteer Visit (September 18-November 4)

Official Swearing-in Ceremony (November 4)

PST Phase II

January –March 2011

You will join the members of your class that are in the same project for two weeks of technical training.

Early Mid-Service In-Service Training (EMSIST)

July-August 2011

Like the Phase II training you will gather with your project comrades for technical training.

Year 2 Self-Directed In-Service Training (SeDIST)

January-March 2012

An opportunity to design and implement project and assignment specific in-service training.

Close of Service Conference (COS)

August/September 2012

A chance to assess your service and begin preparations for departure (unless you decide to extend and even then, this is your COS Conference.

- - Daniel

Yard Sale

Good Afternoon,

Here's more shameless commerce in preparation for leaving. I will be hosting a yard sale tomorrow morning from 9:00am to 1:00pm where I will be selling lots of kitchen supplies as well as clothes, books, paintings and decorations, and even some furniture among other things. While you might not be able to come to a sale like this with so little notice, please let me know if there is anything you need before making your next trip to Ikea or K-Mart. The kitchen items in particular might be of interest to some of you. I'm also selling a wooden dresser and a box spring and mattress.

Daniel

Concert on Sunday, Aug. 22

I will be performing with the Falls Church Concert Band for the last time this Sunday. You're invited to our concert in Mason District Park at 7:30pm on Sunday, August 22. We're featuring a lot of movie music. Our play list will look something like this:

Amparito Roca
Hollywood Milestones (has good horn parts on Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, and E.T.)
James Bond
Americans We
Walt Disney Overture
Mary Poppins (Feed the Birds has turned into one of my favorites, oddly enough)
Liberty Bell
Wizard of Oz
Somewhere in Time
Three Amigos
Pirates of the Caribbean

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This page will likely be my main point of contact with America for the next two years and my access to the Internet may be limited, possibly to a few hours a month. If you're interested in hearing from me, I recommend adding this page to your RSS feed or clicking the "followers" link to the right if you haven't already done so.


- Daniel

PC letter to families and friends of volunteers

I've been asked to share this letter with you. It contains information about how to contact me in Vanuatu among other things.

-----------------------

Greetings from the Pacific Desk in Washington, D.C.! It is with great pleasure that we welcome your family member to the 2010 Vanuatu training program. We receive many questions from Volunteers and family members regarding travel plans, sending money, relaying messages and mail, etc. As we are unable to involve ourselves in the personal arrangements of Volunteers, we would like to offer you advice and assistance in advance by providing specific examples of situations and how we suggest handling them.

1. Written Communication. (Please see #3 for the mailing address to the Peace Corps office in Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu) The mail service in Vanuatu is not as efficient as the U.S. Postal Service; thus, it is important to be patient. It can take 4 to 6 weeks for mail coming from Vanuatu to arrive in the United States via the Vanuatu postal system.

We suggest that in the first few letters sent, the Volunteer family member give an estimate of how long it takes to receive the letters and then try to establish a predictable pattern of how often the volunteer will write. (Keep in mind that written correspondence sometimes wanes as the volunteer’s service progresses.) Also, try numbering your letters so that the Volunteer knows if one has been missed. Postcards should be sent in envelopes--otherwise they may be found on the wall of the local post office!

Volunteers often enjoy telling their “war” stories when they write home. This is one of the exciting and adventurous elements of serving as a Volunteer. Anecdotes in letters might describe recent illnesses, lack of good food, isolation, transportation challenges, etc. While the subject matter is good reading material, it is often misinterpreted or exaggerated on the home front. There are two Peace Corps medical officers at the Peace Corps office in Vanuatu. In the event of a serious illness, the Volunteer is sent to Port Vila and is cared for by our medical staff. If Volunteers require medical care that is not available in Vanuatu, they are medically evacuated to a nearby country (Fiji, Australia) or the United States. Fortunately, these are rare circumstances.

If for some reason your normal communication pattern is broken and you do not hear from your family member for an abnormal amount of time, you may want to contact the Office of Special Services (OSS) at Peace Corps Washington at 1-800-424-8580, extension 1470. Also, in the case of an emergency at home (death in the family, sudden illness, etc.), please do not hesitate to call OSS immediately, so that we can inform the Volunteer. You may call the above number during regular business hours, as well as after hours and weekends. Tell the operator your name, telephone number, and the nature of the emergency and the Duty Officer will return your call.

Dear Prospective Volunteer: Please give this letter to your family and

ask them to hold on to it for as long as you are in Vanuatu.

2. Telephone Calls. The telephone service in Vanuatu can be inconsistent at times, as well as pricey. During training, your family member may have scarce access to email, but some of the host training families may have phones in either their homes or at a nearby location. Your family member will communicate what that phone number may be.

During their service, access to email should be available—albeit not necessarily at all times. They will also be able to inform you of their telephone number once they arrive at their permanent sites in the country.

The Pacific Desk maintains regular contact with the Peace Corps office in Vanuatu through phone calls and email. However, these communications are reserved for business only and cannot be used to relay personal messages. All communication between family members and the Volunteer should be done via international mail, email, or personal phone calls, unless there is an emergency and you cannot reach your family member.

3. Sending packages. Family and friends like to send care packages through the mail. Unfortunately, sending packages can be a frustrating experience for all involved due to the high incidence of theft and heavy customs taxes. You may want to try to send inexpensive items through the mail, but there is no guarantee that these items will arrive. We do not recommend, however, that costly items be sent through the mail. You may use the following address to send letters and/or packages to your family member until he/she has informed of a different address:

[Trainee’s Name]

Peace Corps/Vanuatu

PMB 9097

Port Vila

Republic of Vanuatu

It is recommended that packages be sent in padded envelopes if possible, as boxes tend to be taxed and opened more frequently.

We hope this information is helpful to you during the time your family member is serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Vanuatu. We understand how frustrating it is to communicate with your family member overseas and we appreciate your using this information as a guideline. Please feel free to contact us at the Pacific Desk in Washington, D.C. if you have any further questions. Our phone numbers are 1-800-424-8580, ext. 2523 or 2522, or locally, 202-692-2523 or 202-692-2522.

Sincerely,

Shelley Swendiman

Pacific Desk

Country Desk Assistant

Leaving My Assignment in Virginia

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Well folks, it seems that it’s almost time to leave my assignment here in far off Virginia. I’ll admit that I didn’t know what to expect when I was first stationed here, but I’ve learned so much from the local people that I will forever be a changed person. While there was a lot to adjust to at first; a strange and bewildering people with bizarre customs, a new climate, new foods and experiences, and especially the language; it’s the little stories that will stay with me.

For example, when I woke up this morning in my small, wooden group-home, it was much darker than usual. But, I’m skipping ahead. I went to the area we use as a kitchen, fought off the ants (one thing I won’t miss is the pervasive wild fauna), and cobbled together a breakfast of leftovers. The people here are very good about using every part of their food. It’s something we should learn from them. Anyway, today’s breakfast included some “potato rolls” leftover from a recent community celebration in honor of John attaining one more year of age. The people at the event kept insisting that these hunks of bread were “potato” rolls, though I don’t know why.

As I was getting ready to go out for the day on my bicycle, one of the housemates tried to warn me about the clouds and the darkness outside. “Big rain come. Come rain soon.”

I’ll say this for the locals here in Virginia; they are just so in tune with their natural surroundings. They always seem to complain that the next bus or train will be a few minutes late, and you know what? They’re usually right! I’ve even seen car drivers sitting at red lights and they start moving forward just a second or so before the light changes even if there are people in the way. It’s like they just know.

The storm passed a few minutes later and I was off on my bike down what the locals call “Four Mile Run Trail”. For you readers, I should explain that sometimes the locals use “run” for what we would call a “stream”. This gets even more confusing when you see all of the people from the community out running on the trail, but I’ve been told that is incidental. Also, the phrase “Four Mile” has nothing to do with actual distance. It looks like the Virginians just use the number four to denote “many”.

The trail was beautiful as always, though hot and humid, in keeping with this tropical climate. The green trees reaching skyward and rampant bamboo really give you a sense of peace that you can’t always find in the more cultivated places we’re all used to. Today, though, the stream or “run” was anything but calm, having filled with rain water. A few of the small concrete bridges on the parallel trail across the stream were overrun with rushing water. Fortunately, the Virginians thought to build a separate, higher trail on my side of the stream. Something we could learn from these people is that efficiency has its price and though it may seem backwards to us, a little duplication can really come in handy when living in a hostile environment like this. You may remember my post about how some single individuals spend their money maintaining TWO cars. While anthropologists may tell you that this unnecessary and ostentatious display is probably intended to attract mates, I think it’s just a part of the native wisdom that’s been passed down through the community here.

I changed into a more appropriate costume for work, which is something I think I’ve mentioned before. The people here have an elaborate system of dress with lots of subtle and unspoken rules depending on station and environment. Currently, I’m expected to wear clothes classified as “business casual” though they are really ineffective for either type of activity. I think I’ve mentioned the “jeans” before. I’ve gathered that it’s taboo to wear these in a work environment, but they are almost required in more social occasions. I’ve even seen locals wear business clothes until the early evening when they then trade in their black or blue slacks for black or blue “jeans”. The shirts and shoes often remain the same. I can only guess that the whole ritual has something to do with the setting of the sun and the perceived dangers of oncoming darkness.

Winter clothing often includes black or navy blue jackets, which is rather striking when you see so many people crammed together all wearing the same thing. I think it must be a form of Northern Virginian camouflage passed down through the generations. Kind of like how zebras huddle together to confuse predators, a flock of Virginians can seem like one ominous organism when you see a few dozen of them with matching pea coats all reading the “Express” with their heads down.

For those of you who haven’t tried to carry on a conversation in Northern Virginia, especially in a work setting, I’ll warn you, it is fraught with peril. First, remember to just keeping talking as fast as you can and interject your opinions at every gap in the conversation. Don’t worry about being asked for your opinions on politics or sports. I think the locals are just too shy to ask. They just seem to throw them out at each other to avoid any embarrassment by the other person. It’s okay to bring in outside wisdom and you can even cite your sources, but be careful not to cite any news over two weeks old. It seems that political discussion here avoids any information over 14 days old as that is associated with death or possibly ancient spirits best left unperturbed.

After another day’s work, I pedaled home again and this time the rain caught me, but this misfortune turned out to be a chance at one of those cross-cultural experiences they tell you about. When the rain started, I parked under a community picnic shelter along with two others. That’s one thing I’ll miss about this place; the pace of life. The locals and I just took shelter, waited, and chatted. I’ve said it before, but the people here are just so laid back and friendly! I hope the tourists never get here and ruin it. Anyway, I spent the storm talking to this local woman who kept on looking at some of the drains nearby. She told me she was a “drainage engineer” which I guess is the person who keeps the communities received knowledge on irrigation. She bid me well (so friendly) and we were off.

When I finally got to my little group-house, I wasn’t surprised to see that a few guests were present in addition to my host-couple where there. It’s common in Northern Virginia for young adults to gather after work like this. Some people claim that this behavior is precisely what’s holding back the area’s economic development, but it seems to be an important and accepted social behavior in this community. I like to think the community has really come to accept me and today just confirmed that feeling. As I entered the house, there was the usual chorus of friendly exclamations followed by a few comments of heartfelt concern. “Hallo”, they said, and “Aye Dan”. “Dan” is what some of the locals call me. I think the diphthong at the end of the name “Daniel” is just too difficult for these people. Then, the one they call “Shea” started asking about the rain. “Big storm come, yes? You no wet-wet?”

I was able to assure him that I was okay and everyone was happy again; such a lovely, carefree people. I understand that some of them are going to throw an “ouse pah-tay” before I go, which is a ritual I’ve come to appreciate. If you ever get to attend one, don’t be pressured into drinking more than a sample of the offered “skippy”. I take it that it’s very important to the local culture, but like many things about Virginia, it’s crude, loveable, but abrasive nature will just make you miss civilization.


- Daniel

Book Sale

I was told today that all Peace Corps volunteers must get an H1N1 flu shot. I didn't know that virus was still around.

There are a few boxes of books to get rid of. Although I'll be posting these on Amazon.com, most of them will be free to you if you want them. I'll update this list as books sell on Amazon.com or I give them away. There are probably a dozen more lying around that I will add to the list later. Let me know if your want any of them.

Fiction, Novels, and the Interesting Stuff:

I Am America (And So Can You!) - I'm almost done reading it.

The Canterbury Tales: Complete

The Canterbury Tales (Cliff's Notes)

SOLD - Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making, Revised Edition

SOLD - Sarah Orne Jewett: Novels & Stories : Deephaven a Country Doctor; The Country of the Pointed Firs; Stories & Sketches (Library of America College Editions)

SOLD - The Art of War: New Translation

SOLD - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction

Sartor Resartus (Oxford World's Classics)

Waiting: A Novel

SOLD - Watchmen

SOLD - Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon

SOLD - Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community

Bone: A Novel

The School for Scandal and Other Plays (Oxford World's Classics)

The Origins of Totalitarianism

On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo

Rights Talk: The Impoverishment of Political Discourse

Text Books

American Foreign Policy: a Documentary Survey 1776-1960

Thomas' Calculus: Media Upgrade

CMMI(R): Guidelines for Process Integration and Product Improvement (2nd Edition)

Statistics (9th Edition)

Statistics for Business and Economics (8th Edition)

American Government : Institutions and Policies

Thomas' Calculus Early Transcendentals Part One (Single Variable, Chs. 1-11) Paperback Version (11th Edition)

The Practice of Social Research


My copy of "A History of the World in 7 Glasses" is floating around somewhere, which is as it should be. If I haven't forced that one on you yet, just wait.


- Daniel

FAQ Part 2

· Will you come back to America during your volunteer service?

No, probably not. I will likely only return to America during my period of service if there is a medical emergency that requires that I be sent back to receive treatment or if there is a serious family emergency.

Would you like to come to Australia for Christmas in 2011?

· What if there is a medical emergency? What if you get sick?

Unfortunately, I will get sick just like I would if I stayed in America for two years. Two years in a tropical environment with different foods, different people, and different levels of sanitation, however, means that I get to look forward to the occasional parasite, flu, cough, or skin rash. It’s just gonna’ happen, especially early on and I’ll get over it. Peace Corps will be providing shots, anti-malaria pills, a first aid kit, and anything else I could need. They will also provide medical advice during training.

If I do come down with something more serious than a small cough, there is an in-country Peace Corps health office just for Peace Corps volunteer. I’ve been told by returned volunteers that the Peace Corps health service is exceptional and will take very good care of us. In cases of severe medical problems, volunteers can be flown to Australia or even back to America to receive medical treatment of a higher caliber.

Peace Corps also has a copy of my glasses prescription in case I need a replacement pair and can provide prescription medication if needed. They take care of everything.

Now, just to set your mind at ease, I’ve recently gone through a physical examination, received up-to-date vaccinations, and have had blood work done. I’m about as fit now as I’ve ever been and we'll receive a complete run down of what not to do in country. Since it's been asked, no, Vanuatu doesn’t have any, dengerous animals. The only major threat to my health will probably be falling coconuts.

· Did you get to choose where you’re going?

Not really. I received an invitation and I could accept or reject it. At one point during the application process I elected two regions that I would prefer, but I didn't get much say on my invitation. Rejecting the invitation would probably have kept me stateside for a few more months at least.

· What about your home? What about your stuff?

The house mates and I have offered my room to someone already, but nothing has been finalized yet. If this new person accepts the room and signs the lease, he may also take some of my furniture. Some things like the musical instruments will go into storage, possibly in my parents' basement if they're okay with that. Dad might like to have his cornet back anyway.

I have a few dozen books that I will either try to sell or give away. I may post the list here to see if anyone wants them.

· What will you take with you?

At most, 80 pounds of essentials including a few sets of clothes and maybe a laptop computer and cell-phone. I'll need to be able to carry all of my worldly possessions at once, which is something I haven't been able to do since my first year of college.

· What do your parents think?

I’m not surprised that people have asked me this, just surprised by how many have asked. Mom and Dad have known that I’ve been preparing for this for a long time and they seem happy for me and fully supportive. They didn’t even seem that surprised when I told them. They probably don’t like that I will be unable to communicate with them as often, but they tell me that this will be a great opportunity and they know that I’ve wanted to travel for a long time.

· Are you going to grow a beard?

No. Why do people keep asking?

If you have any more questions, please post them in the comments section below.

- Daniel

FAQ Part 1

No comments and one follower? Well, I'll write for an audience of one.

Enough with superstition and incantations, the people demand facts! As I spread the news that I’m leaving for a Peace Corps mission to Vanuatu, a few common questions keep popping up. So, taking a cue from Whitney and Andrew’s journal, here is my best attempt at answering them. Please forgive me if most of my answers are of the “it depends” variety.

· Where are you going?

Ripped from the Wikipedia page on Vanuatu:

Vanuatu (vah-noo-AH-too or / van-WAH-too), officially the Republic of Vanuatu, is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some 1,750 kilometres (1,090 mi) east of northern Australia, 500 kilometres (310 mi) northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.

Vanuatu was first inhabited by Melanesian people. Europeans began to settle in the area in the late 18th century. In the 1880s France and the United Kingdom claimed parts of the country, and in 1906 they agreed on a framework for jointly managing the archipelago as the New Hebrides through a British-French Condominium. An independence movement arose in the 1970s, and the Republic of Vanuatu was created in 1980.

· What!? I’ve never heard of it.

Well, remember the musical South Pacific? That’s the place. Also, I’ve been told a season of “Survivor” was filmed on one of the islands. Think of a tropical paradise, but really poor with few roads and limited infrastructure.

· When are you going?

I leave for orientation on September 10, 2010. Training begins in Vanuatu on September 12.

· How long will you be gone?

Probably for 27 months. There will be three months of training north of the Port Villa, the capital, followed by 24 months at a site where I will be doing my actual work. There are opportunities to extend this.

Also, I can quit at any time if things are just really bad. I don’t expect THAT to happen though.

· What will you do there? What is your job?

*Ahem*. It depends. I have been invited to volunteer as a Small Enterprise Development Advisor as part of Peace Corps Vanuatu’s Provincial Economic and Community Empowerment project. The project has several parts and the Corps won’t determine which part I will be assigned to until near the end of training. To quote from my assignment packet:

Provincial Economic and Community Empowerment Project (PEACE) Volunteers work to increase the institutional capacity of organizations to meet their objectives and achieve self-sufficiency through partnership building and income generation. Volunteers partner with area secretaries, rural training centers and other local institutions. They provide hands-on training to interested community individuals and groups in business feasibility and start-up, bookkeeping, organizational management, new product development and marketing.

My limited understanding of it is that I will be “advising” the Ni-Vanuatu on business 101 concepts. I plan on brushing up on “Business for Dummies” in the meantime. If you have any books I could borrow on business basics, please let me know.

· Where will you live?

Again, this will be determined some time during my three months of in-country training. There’s a chance I could live in a provincial capital, but I’m mentally preparing for the notion of living in a thatched hut like the locals in a rural, underdeveloped, and remote coastal village. Although some volunteers want to challenge themselves and some even think their service is less authentic if they aren’t “roughing it”, I don’t have a strong opinion on the matter. Communities in Vanuatu have asked for volunteers. I’ll go to where they are and where Peace Corps thinks I can do the most good. I can always go camping later.

· Will you have electricity, plumbing, internet access, cell phone access, etc.

That depends largely on site placement. For now, I’m just assuming a very rural, unconnected existence with a corps provided kerosene lantern and stove, no internet or phone connectivity, and no plumbing. I may be surprised.

The Peace Corps does guarantee that there will be some way to communicate from my site in case of emergency.

No, Sonny, I will not have a television

· Will you be paid?

Sort of. After the three months of training are over, the Corps will add a small amount of money each month to an account that I can access when my service is over. That’s really just for readjustment upon my return so that I’m not instantly homeless. I will also be paid in local currency (the Vatu) every month during service. That money is supposed to be enough to live modestly like the locals at my site and should cover food, clothing, and other basics. I will also be given a sum for settling in when I first arrive on site so that I can by a cooking pot, stove, and things to get myself situated.

Peace Corps Vanuatu provides bedding, a lantern, a first aid kit, mosquito netting, quinine pills, multi-vitamin pills, and a few other essentials.

I'll answer more questions in the next post. If there is anything you would like to know, just ask.

- Daniel