We made it!

Like I said in the previous post...WE HAVE MADE IT TO VANUATU! I thought for this post I would just do more of a bullet list of information, things that have happened, etc...So, here goes...

• There are 31 volunteers in our group ranging in age from 22 to in their 60's. There are four couples.
• When we arrived we were greeted with the best welcome by a band, several peace corps volunteers and staff member, coconuts, lava lava's (which are like wraps or sarongs), and leis! It was so great and got us all very excited! 
• After introductions and pictures we all loaded into 4 buses (with one more bus behind us carrying all of our luggage) and went on a quick tour of the town of Port Vila and then headed about a 20 minute drive to the IDS site where we are currently staying and will be staying until Friday. 
• On Friday, the Vitel (Education) volunteers will head to one village for training and the Community Health Vols will head to a different training village. We will be there for two weeks.
• At the end of the two weeks, we will switch, and be on the other training village for 3 weeks. 
• After being in the second village for 3 weeks, we will get to visit our site (Narango, Santo for Cole and I) for one week! 
• The place where we are staying now has running water and electricity for some of the day.
• The water is cold, but it is VERY HOT so the cold showers aren't so bad. 
• We sweat all day and all night. 
• It is strange to sleep under a mosquito net. It is also strange to sleep with no blankets. 
• We have gone to bed around 8 or 9 each night and gotten up when the roosters wake us around 5. 
• Cole and I are currently sharing a little "bungalow" with two other couples. Pictures below. 
• Johanna and Aaron (one of the couples) found a GIANT spider on their ceiling last night which Cole and Aaron trapped in two buckets and took outside. 
• Lisa, Colt (another couple), Cole and I found one HUGE hermit crab in the small common area of our bungalow. 
• I got up around 4:00 am last night to use the bathroom and saw a centipede (maybe about 6 inches) on the floor of our room when I came back in. I became immediately frozen with fear and was unable to kill it before it crawled into a hole in our closet. Terrifying. 
• The place where we are staying is beautiful.We have had time to swim once. The coral is amazing and there are some pretty fish that several people saw while snorkeling. 
• It is weird swimming in board shorts and a tank top!
• The night sky is really beautiful here. You can see a ton of stars and they are all very bright. 
• We tried Kava for the first time last night. It is disgusting. I had one shell. Cole has 3. It didnt do much other than make us feel chilled out and relaxed. 
• Other volunteers from G25 and G26 (so people who have been here for one year or who have extended and been here for over two years) have come to talk to us some and came to our first kava experience. It has been very reassuring to talk to them and have Storian (Bislama for conversations or story telling) with them. They are all so happy here and have only wonderful things to say. They have also given us some great information and advice. 
• We had our first Bislama lesson today! We learned vowel sounds, consonants, dipthongs, and some common words! We have been trying to speak it some with the local Peace Corps staff members who are training us.
• The mamas have been preparing amazing meals for us each day. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and two tea times where we are served snacks! (I have gained about 5 pounds. I know this for a fact because I was weighed today in my medical interview!) 
• We each got three shots today and got our malaria medicine which we will take daily. 
• I've been able to drink instant coffee each day and I really like it! YES!!!!
• We are doing well. Happy, healthy, overwhelmed, hot, excited, etc, etc..
• We miss you all very much (especially Murray). 
• Please email us or comment here and let us know how you are and what you are up to! After this post, we probably will not be able to get online for a ling while, but we would love to have lots of email updates, messages, etc when we check it again. Thank you to those of you who have emailed so far! I'm sorry we havent been able to email you back individually. We should be able to get online a bit more once we are at our site permanently, which will be in about 10 weeks. 
• Use this email: coleandcarooverseas@gmail.com
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  We're here!!! With our coconuts, Lava lavas and Leis!

  
  
  
  
  

  

  Group 27!

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  Some volunteers and locals playing frisbee and soccer

  
  
  
  
  

  

  About to try Kava... I was unsu

  
  

  

  Drinking Kava

  
  
  

  

  Getting rid of the GIANT spider!

  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  Our bungalow that we share with Lisa, Colt, Johanna and Aaron!

Our few days in Cali before departure

So...... right now we are in Vanutau and have been for about 3 days. It is Tuesday, January 27th. We are in Port Vila today to set up our bank accounts, have a medical interview and have another initial PC interview. I thought I would take this time being connected to post a few blog updates! We are doing well and are happy and healthy! After this, we may not be able to update for several weeks.
I'll start with our time in California...

We arrived in Cali on Jan 21st around lunch time and took a shuttle to the rental car place. We waited for about 2 hours, got our sweet minivan and headed to Newport. We stopped at Huntington Beach along the way and walked down a long pier and had lunch on the beach at a place called Sandys. After our late lunch, we headed to our hotel in Newport, freshened up and then met up with Matt and Meng for a drink and dinner.
The next day, Jan 22nd, we got up around 8:00, discovered we had a parking ticket (Thanks for taking care of that, FIL!), had some breakfast and walked around for a bit. While walking around we saw DENNIS RODMAN sitting outside of a bar. Cole didnt want to bother him, but I said YOLO and insisted! We proceeded to have the weirdest 10 minute convo of our lives! He is so strange! He gave us a lot of high fives, told us a bunch of lies and insulted us about 4 times. After a bit, we said we had to go, took a few pictures and got the heck out of there!
We then hopped in our minivan, went and said our goodbyes to Matt and headed back to LA.
Once in LA, we checked into our hotel, returned our rental and then headed to Venice Beach for a few hours. We waked up and down the board walk, had lunch, and got in about 2 hours of some of the best people watching EVER!
When we got back to the hotel, we took a little rest, freshened up and then headed down to the lobby to register and meet the other 29 volunteers who we would be spending the next few years with!
Registration went well, and afterwards we all went to eat one last delicious cheeseburger at IN and OUT!
The next morning we got up at 7, took one last LONG HOT SHOWER, and went down to the lobby for a day of staging. We had staging sessions on safety and security, anxieties and aspirations, and core expectations throughout the day. At 4 we were all done, we packed our bags and headed to the lobby to wait for the bus to arrive an take us to the airport. Lots of nerves and emotions at this point.
When we got to the airport, it was discovered that there was a little problem with our tickets, everyone's, and that we may not be able to leave that night. We ended up getting it all worked out, after 3 agonizing hours, and got to our gate just in time to board our plane at about 9:30!
The long flight from LAX went fine. We ate dinner, slept, watched movies and ate breakfast.
We got to New Zealand on Jan 25th, logged onto wifi, changed clothes and freshened up and then boarded our final flight to Port Vila!
Here are a few pics from Cali... They are not in order but have captions to explain!

Getting comfy for our flight from ATL to LAX

A quick pic with the LAX sign on our walk home from IN and OUT

Last American cheeseburger at IN and OUT! 

Walking down a little alley in Venice Beach!

High Five with Dennis Rodman!

Hand Shake with Dennis Rodman!

Venice Beach Selfie

Dinner with Matt and Meng :)

Newport Beach Sunset

Huntington Beach Selfie

Going Away Party

Thanks to our AMAZING friends, we just had the best weekend complete with the most perfect going away party that we could have ever hoped for. We had such a blast and we can't thank everyone enough for putting it together, for coming, and for supporting and encouraging us as we embark on what is sure to be quite an adventure.
I cannot believe how lucky we are to have such wonderful people in our lives, who love and care about us enough to have put on and/or attended such a fun and sweet get-together. It was a great ending to our time in the USA for a few years, and a perfect way for us to get to spend time with and say goodbye to so many of the people that we love!
We will miss everyone very much and we can't wait to see all of you when we get back....or in Vanuatu if you come and visit --which we would LOVE!
Thank you so much to everyone who was a part of it. It meant a lot to us and we appreciate it very much. Please keep in touch with us! Here are a few pictures! We love you all!

Missing Amanda!

 

The best of the group shots! Lots of closed eyes and people not looking, but I still love it!

 

 

Our Contact Information

Many of you have asked about how to keep in touch with us while we are away. We will be doing our best to update this blog as much as possible. We will also try to post updates and pictures on facebook. Also, feel free to email us.

Cole: smithnb21@gmail.com
Caroline: annecaro525@gmail.com

In addition to keeping in touch online, we would also LOVE for you to send us letters and/or packages! It is my goal to post a care package wish list after we have been there a little while and know more about what we will need/want.
Below you will see a "Letter to Families" given to us from the Peace Corps. It includes our address (which may change after training...we will update if necessary.) and information about how to reach us in case of any emergency.

Communicating With Your Peace Corps Volunteer

While Overseas

December 2014

Dear Families,

Greetings from the Pacific Desk in Washington, D.C.! It is with great pleasure that we welcome
your family member to the 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.

If you would like to correspond via regular mail, we suggest that you monitor how long it takes
the first few pieces of mail to arrive in, or from, Vanuatu so that you can have realistic
expectations of the time necessary to send or receive letters. If you are concerned about letters
being lost, you can number your letters so that the Volunteer knows if one has been missed.
We recommend that you send postcards 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. We
wholeheartedly encourage the communication, but want to share our observation that events
described by a volunteer can become misinterpreted (and intensified) by concerned readers
back home. Should you hear things that cause concern, please feel free to contact the Country
Desk at the number provided in the final paragraph of this letter. Family members should be
aware that at the Peace Corps office in Vanuatu there are two Peace Corps medical officers
who are available to provide medical care for all Volunteers. 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
(Australia, New Zealand, Thailand) or the United States.

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 Counseling and
Outreach Unit (COU) at Peace Corps Washington at 1-855-855-1961, then press 2; or
directly at 202-692-1470. Also, in the case of an emergency at home (death in the family,
sudden illness, etc.), please do not hesitate to call COU immediately so that we can inform the
Trainee or Volunteer. Use the above number at all times. After business hours, tell the operator 
your name, telephone number, and the nature of the emergency, and the Duty Officer will return
your call.

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 all trainees
will be provided with cell phones upon arrival and your family member will communicate that
phone number to you.

During their service, access to internet – at most sites – will not be available, but Volunteers will
have access while in Port Vila or most provincial centers.

The Pacific Desk maintains regular contact with the Peace Corps office in Vanuatu through
phone calls and e-mail. 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, e-mail, or personal phone call, 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
incidence of theft, heavy customs taxes, and delays in forwarding mail from the office to the
volunteer’s site. 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 you 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. Any parcel that is valued at more than 100 USD will
incur a customs fee.

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 1-855-855-1961, press 1 for the staff directory, then ext.
2502; or directly at 202-692-2502; and the email address is VanuatuDesk@peacecorps.gov.

Sincerely,
Sasha Cooper-Morrison
Desk Officer (Micronesia, Palau and Vanuatu)

Site Placement!

With exactly 2 weeks until we fly from Charleston to LAX and 16 days until we fly from LAX to Auckland and Auckland to Port Vila, we -- finally! -- got a very exciting email containing our site placement information!
So, here it is.....
Upon completion of training in Port Vila (the capital of Vanuatu) and our swearing in ceremony, we will head to the island of Espiritu Santo! It is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu. It is a Category 1 (out of 4) site, meaning that it is the least remote of the sites where Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV's) are placed.
Cole will be working at Narango School and I will be working at Tavuemai School. Cole will be the second PCV to work in his school, and I will be the first PCV to work in mine. That is all of the information we have about the schools and our placement right now.
From the little research we have done so far, it seems like a place where we will be very happy-- and hopefully very helpful!
I have attached some information about Santo, but here are some basic facts/information...

• Like I said, it is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu. It has a population of around 40,000. 
• It is in the Sanma Province 
• It is a popular tourist destination, especially for divers who travel there to explore the "SS President Coolidge" which is the largest wreck in the world accessible to divers. 
• There seem to be a lot of fun things to do there (SO START SAVING AND COME VISIT!!!) including: diving, snorkeling, caves, blue holes, hiking, waterfalls and fishing! 
• The average high year round is 82 degrees, and the average low year round is 72 degrees. 
• The rainy season starts around December and lasts until April with average rainfall ranging from 10-13 inches of rain per month. The dry season is from May until October/November. 

Wikipedia Info
Travel/Tourism Info.
Map of Espiritu Santo