The good, the bad and the vacay

Let me start this post by saying that I love Vanuatu. There are times where I feel very content and happy here in this little island paradise I temporarily call home.  As I have said plenty of times in the past, the country is beautiful, the people are beautiful and we are lucky to be here. I know that. This has been quite an adventure so far and we have had some amazing experiences which I will not soon forget.

There are positives, lots of them, more than I could name in this post.  Here a just a few of them…

We have made incredible friends here. Lifelong, incredible friends.

We have plenty of island family members who take good care of us and would do anything for us. People who consider us true members of their family and always will. People who are so very kind and generous.   

We have learned a lot: Bislama, Vanuatu custom, how to live more simply, how to spend 24 hours a day together and not murder one another, etc, etc.

We have had some successful projects: world maps, bottle brick benches, a kick ass library, pen pals…

Cole is currently busting his butt working on a community center project that has been something our school has wanted for a very long time and it is coming along. He has written a grant and we have had some successful fundraisers and raised a good amount of money. Cole has worked closely with many Ni-Vans and has managed to make some good progress. We currently have 1, 000 cement blocks stacked nicely and neatly on our school grounds, ready to be made into this fabulous community center that is currently just a drawing on a piece of paper. Believe me, getting those cement blocks bought and delivered is a huge deal and one that he should be very proud of.  There is money in the bank and there is a plan in place. This community center is a BIG project and is one that has taken a lot of time and work, by Cole and by several staff members at our school and people from surrounding villages. There is a LONG way to go and we may not see the finished product in person, but it is getting somewhere and that is far better than no where.

I just assessed all of the kids in the small groups that I work with on a daily basis and I am proud to say that all of them have made some sort of progress. Now, I admit some of that progress is small and there is a long way to go for some of these kids, but it’s something and I’ll take it.

This past week each class, one through eight, checked books out of the library for the first time. They freaking loved it and I freaking loved how much they loved it!

This next thing Cole may not consider a positive, but we are bound to have some differences of opinion, right? We have 4 cats that keep our rat problem to a minimum. Okay, I admit 4 may be an excessive number of cats. Whatever, I love them.

It is getting cooler.

Mangos are delicious.

It takes me wayyyyy less time to get ready in the morning here because there is no electricity for a hairdryer and if I attempted to wear makeup it would melt off. 

We have had the opportunity to travel a bit around Vanuatu and to Fiji and New Zealand.…

There are positives.

BUT also, this shit is hard.

I want our family and friends to read this blog and get a glimpse into our crazy life here. I want potential Peace Corps volunteers to read it and know what they may be getting themselves into. I want it to be real and true and honest. So, after stating some of the positive things about life here, let me say again, really, truly and honestly, that sometimes this shit is hard. 

I cant tell you how many times I have said to Cole or to one of our friends or family members that I wish I was there. And I do, I really really do. I wish I was there for that wedding or that bachelorette party, for that friend who needs me because she just broke up with her boyfriend, for that dinner party with those best friends, for that 1^st birthday party for my precious god daughter who is now walking and talking and pointing to her belly button on demand. We have missed so much, and it’s true that we knew when we signed up for this that we would miss things, but I didn’t know how missing all of those things would make me feel. It's hard to miss things. 

I cant tell you how many times I have wanted so badly to cuddle Murray or run to Target really quickly, or lay on the couch and watch Ellen, or call one of my friends, or go to Sunday brunch. 1st world probs. 

Sometimes I compare myself to other Peace Corps volunteers who are more integrated or speak better Bislama, who have more successful projects or don’t seem to ever think that this shit is hard. And that makes this shit even harder. (However, I am doing better with that thanks to a quote I recently read by Theodore Roosevelt which says that “Comparison is the thief of joy” I know that I need to stop comparing my service to the service of others, and I know that I am doing the best that I can, and that I need to be okay with that. Easier said than done, Theo, but I’m workin on it) 

Sometimes I would give my right ear to press a magical little button on the greatest machine ever invented instead of walking to the river in the scorching sun to wash my clothes. Sometimes the sweat or the boredom or the flies get to me and I just want to go home. I just want to get on the next flight and watch 4 movies and take a rest and then be home. 

I cant tell you how many times I’ve asked myself what the heck I am doing here and whether or not I am making any difference at all. I still don’t really know what the heck I am doing here or whether or not I have made any difference at all, but I do know that I do not regret joining the Peace Corps and coming to live here in Vanuatu. I never have. Not even when I’ve been in the midst of a dramatic little meltdown because the water is off again and I am going to have to walk down to the river to fill up bottles in order to flush down my poop. Not even when the roosters wake me up at the crack of dawn or when my chocolate cravings are at an all time high. Not even after all that hard shit. Never. Sometimes it is uncomfortable and sucky and hard, but I don’t regret being here now and I don’t think I’m going to look back and regret it 10 years from now either. 

So, if you are reading this because you are my mom or my friend or my grandfather, just know that sometimes we are happy and sometimes we are miserably uncomfortable, but that we are okay and that we are not regretful. Also, know that when we do come home we will be forever grateful for that magical little button on the best machine ever invented, that quick trip to Target, that clean clear water running consistently from the tap, the opportunity to go to that wedding or that dinner party and be there for that friend who needs us and for a million other things we would have otherwise never known we should be grateful for. 

If you are reading this because you are a potential Peace Corps volunteer who is thinking of applying and therefore stalking current PCV’s like I did, my advice is DO IT. Go for it. It will be hard. Sometimes it will suck and you might cry and you might just want to go home. But I do not think you will ever regret it.

Positives, negatives, no regrets, sunshine and rainbows, blah, blah, blah…now time to talk NEW ZEALAND!

We had a perfect trip…okay, okay maybe perfection is a bit of an exaggeration since we did have a fair share of cold rainy weather, BUT it really was a lovely little vacation! New Zealand is a beautiful country full of sheep, cows, cafes and really nice people.

We started in the south island where we rented a car and drove from place to place stopping all along the way to gawk at the scenery and take pictures. We hiked to a waterfall, walked to a glacier, luged down a track in little black carts, took a very windy boat ride through Milford sound, saw penguins and seals, gave people rides, had an interesting experience staying in an airbnb at a Cannabis Museum, ran into some guys from Vanuatu who were playing string music at a Farmer's Market in Dunedin, learned about Antarctica and froze our butts off at the International Antarctic Center and hung out with a dog named Lottie.

After our 10 days in the south we flew from Christchurch in the south island to Wellington in the north island. During our week in the north we went to the world famous Te Papa Museum, jumped out of an airplane, hiked to another waterfall, saw a custom Maori dance, visited a geothermal village, saw a geyser go off, swam in a natural hot pool,  hitchhiked, took a ferry to Devonport for the day and did A LOT of walking.

While beautiful and amazing, NZ is expensive and we were on a bit of a budget. So, we saved money by making sandwiches in the car for lunch, staying in hostels and airbnb’s, sharing meals, eating some of our meals at fine establishments such as subway and KFC, taking overnight buses and walking. However, if we wanted to do something, we did it. We ate some delicious food, drank good beer and wine, bought souvenirs and did touristy stuff. 

If you are trying to plan your next vacay and you aren’t sure where to go, I highly recommend New Zealand! In fact, while we were there we missed out on some of the things we wanted to do due to the weather and we hope to go back one day. So, if you are planning your trip let us know and maybe we’ll tag along!

Here are a few pictures. I have put so many more on facebook if you would love to check them out. There is a link to my facebook on the right. 

As always, thanks for reading and thanks for being the supportive, encouraging and wonderful people that you are. 

Cement Blocks being delivered!

Bottle Brick Benches! 

Class 5 small group 

Cole working with class 8

Afternoon swim in the river 

Class 7 library time 

Jailbirds in Christchurch 

A side of the road scenery stop on the drive from Greymouth to Wanaka 

Franz Joseph Glacier Walk 

View from Queenstown 

Rainbow in Queenstown 

Windy boat ride through Milford Sound 

Vanuatu String band in Dunedin 

Moeraki Boulders 

International Antarctic Center. Weather simulation. So COLD! 

Skydiving for my 30th bday 

Huka Falls 

Natural Hot Springs