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 

Second Year So Far...

We’ve been back in Vanuatu for nearly 2 months now and here is a what we’ve been up to!

First, here are a few links to some videos we have made recently...
Laundry Part 1
Laundry Part 2
Truck ride back to site
MOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE

And now, a work and life update...

• School started back on February 8^th. The first week was slow with students and teachers still trickling in from vacation. But now it’s back in full swing! I have been assessing students in classes 1-6 in order to determine who needs some extra help in literacy and will therefore be in my small groups. I have also been taking 2 classes a day to the library where I read them a book, we talk about it and then they get some time to read books on their reading level. They seem to love it and will get to start checking books out in term two! Cole has been working with classes 7 and 8 on some basic literacy skills in order to improve their reading and on conversational English. He is having the class 7 and 8 students answer questions about a topic and do a presentation on their findings in English. In addition to our every day school schedules-- which I assure you are not all that rigorous so don’t start thinking we are working ourselves to death over here! We have a lot of free time!-- we have been working on our secondary projects. I have started up Bottle Bricks again and Cole has been working on getting a community center at our school built that will serve as a dining hall, a place for meetings/devotions/workshops/assemblies and a disaster safe house. The Bottle Brick project is going well so far. We are in the competition/collection phase right now and will have a bench building day on May 1^st! The community center project is a lot of work and is slow going right now. It is going to take a lot of money and a lot of help and support from surrounding communities who will benefit from it. Right now we are in the fundraising/beginning construction phase. Our goal is to have it built by the end of the school year (early December) so that we can have our end of the year award ceremony in it. Fingers crossed!  Thank you again for your help and support with these two projects! More updates and pictures to come! 

• Before school started back we took a trip to West Santo with our friends Jeffery and Hannah. In order to get to West Santo you have to take a truck to the last village on the road, Tasariki, and then take a boat from there. You cannot drive the west coast of Santo because there are no truck roads.  You can only travel by foot or by boat. We took a two hour boat ride to a village called Wusi where we spent two nights. While there, we bought some locally made clay pots, walked 2 hours to another village called Kerepua, swam in the ocean and in the river and met a bunch of new people! We had a milipod incident the first night, where a milipod crawled onto Cole’s mattress and he jumped up and killed it with a bush knife. I didn’t sleep much the rest of that night! West Santo is very remote and very different from East Santo, which is not at all remote and full of tourist attractions and resorts. It is also very dry right now due to El Nino. Most of the rivers are dry or nearly dry, their gardens are ruined so they are having to eat mostly rice and tin tuna, and where grass fields used to be there is now only dirt. It was sad and eye opening. We have had some issues with water at our site due to El Nino, but nothing like what they are facing and what many people all over Vanuatu are facing.

  

  Truck ride to Tasariki 

  
  

  

  Tasariki Village 

  

  Boat Ride to Wusi 

  
  

  

  Boat Ride to Wusi 

  
  

  

  Wusi from the water 

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  The coast of West Santo 

  
  

  

  This mama walks into the bush to collect clay, brings it back to her village by the beach, mixes the clay with sand, puts the mixture on her knee and molds it into a pot, and then burns it in the fire for 1-3 months. Her husbands grandmother taught her how to make the pots. These are two of the three that we bought! 

  

  Some of her clay pot collection. The fire in the background is where she burns them. She does this in her sister's bush kitchen 

  
  

  

  Swimming in the ocean in Wusi 

  
  

  

  Some kids playing futbol...this used to be a grass field 

  
  

  

  Eating manioc out made in bamboo on a fire in Kerepua Village 

  
  

  

  Kerepua Village. All used to be covered in grass

  
  

  

  A pretty view on our walk from Wusi to Kerepua 

  
  

  

  My Sweet Charlie visits West Santo!  

• We spent all the time we could with our friends Bryan and Kate who left the country in late February and who we miss very much!

  

  Right before saying our goodbyes:( :( 

  
  

  

  A day at Oyster Island with the whole Santo Crew before these Kate and Bryan move onto their next adventures! 

• We booked tickets to New Zealand! There is a two week school break in May, which also happens to be the month I turn 30, SO we are going on a little vacay and we are so excited about it! We have been reading a New Zealand travel guide and counting down the days since we booked it 

• We spent a week battling a bad rash/allergic reaction  (Cole) and a badly infected leg wound (me). But we are all good now! Cole may or may not be allergic to a certain type of kava and has had 5 rashes/allergic reactions since we got to Vanuatu last January. They are trying to figure out now if it is indeed the kava and if not, what is causing the reactions. BUT, like I said, we are currently healthy as a horses!

• One night I turned the corner to go into our bathroom and take a nice cold refreshing shower that I was looking oh so forward to, and saw a giant rat scurry across the floor and down the shower drain. I screamed, Cole same running and dumped a 5 gallon bucket of water down the drain in an attempt to get the rat out. Instead the rat drowned somewhere in the pipe and blocked the drain. We swam in the river for a week or so until our school handy man successfully removed the dead rat from the drain.

• The new couple that will be serving in Santo after their swearing in this April came to Santo for the week, so we met up with them and went to a blue hole called Natawa! 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• We are currently in Vila for a long weekend. Yesterday we went out to the two training villages and met the new G28 volunteers! We talked to them about the Volunteer Advisory Committee that both Cole and I are on, along with two other vols from our group. Four of them will join the committee when they swear in. They seem like such a great group of people and we were excited to meet them! Last night we went to a fire dancing show at a restaurant/bar here in Vila. It was super touristy but really cool and fun! We are spending the weekend enjoying the fast internet and air condition! We both have dermatologist appointments on Monday and will head back to our site on Tuesday!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Cat Update: We have not seen our Cat, Pepper, that we got last February since we got back from the US. A few kids have told us that they saw him in the bush and that he is a bush cat now L I’m really sad about it, but hope he’s enjoying lots of yummy rats in the bush now. We still have Black Tiger and two of her three kittens. A dog attacked one of the kittens and Cole buried him behind our bush kitchen. His name was Sirr Purr. The other two are named Cam Newton and Ron Rivera and are super cute and basically hate us! They come in the house and hang out with their mom, but when we try to pet them or pick them up they run away. We’ve been trying to butter them up with food. Hopefully they will warm up to us soon!  

• We’ve also been doing a lot of reading, watching a lot of The Big Bang Theory on the computer, sweating a lot, swimming in the river, walking to the beach (which we are not currently swimming in because there was recently a shark attack and I am not all about getting eaten by a shark), and hanging out with our family and the other teachers!

  

  The beach near our site in South Santo...COME VISIT! 

  
  
  

Vanuatu, Fiji, USA

Before leaving for Fiji on December 11^th, we did some fun stuff in Vanuatu. Here are some highlights from the end of November and beginning of December…

Break up day at school: All of the parents were welcome and the kids were given awards by their teachers. There were academic awards, behavior awards, cleanliness awards, etc. There was also a speech made by the chairman, the zone curriculum advisor (our uncle) and the headmistress (our auntie). After the awards were given, there was a feast for all

Award Ceremony Time! 

Cole helping give out awards 

In line for food with their leaf plates!  

Sweet Brenda!

Teacher Celebration/Secret Friend: On the last night we were in town, which also happened to be Thanksgiving, all of the teachers got together to eat and exchange gifts. We had drawn secret friend names the previous week. We all ate together and then each person went up and told a story about their secret friend and we all had to guess who it was. It was fun and it was really nice to have a meal with our Vanuatu family on Thanksgiving!

Us with all of the school staff and some of their children 

Lope Lope: Lope Lope is a resort outside of Luganville with a beach next to it that is usually open to tourists. We took a taxi there the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but were sad to see the gates locked. We were determined though, so we jumped into the river next to the locked gates and floated our way to the ocean. We enjoyed a nice relaxing afternoon swimming and hanging out with the Laufenburgs! That night we had dinner at their house and watched Elf!

Oyster Island: There is a resort that is a car ride and then a boat ride away from Luganville called Oyster Island and every Sunday they have a delicious lunch buffet. We have been hearing about said buffet since moving to Santo and decided to check it out the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We got to the resort in the morning and kayaked to Matevulu Blue Hole which was so fun and oh so beautiful! We spent a few hours there swimming and swinging from the giant rope swing before kayaking back and resting for a few minutes before our big meal! After we ate we hung out a while longer swimming and reading before catching the boat back to the landing and a car back to Bryan and Kate’s.

Kayaking to Matevule Blue Hole 

Kayak Party!

Rope swinging 

Delicious lunch buffet! Such a treat! 

Lounging after our huge lunch! 

Pus Cats: As I have mentioned in previous posts, our cat Black Tiger became impregnated by our other cat Pepper a few days after they met. Two days before leaving our site for our holiday, Black Tiger had 3 tiny kittens right on top of a pile of my nice clean clothes. I am sad to say that since we got back to site on January 16th we haven't seen Pepper or any of the kittens. Black Tiger came home a few hours after we arrived. We are hoping to find Pepper and the kittens soon. 

Vila: We were in Vila for about 10 days before we left for Fiji. Cole attended a Disaster Risk Reduction Workshop, we both attended meetings for the Peace Corps Volunteer Advisory Committee which we are both a part of, we hung with friends that were in town, I volunteered with UN Women for a day, we both volunteered on International Volunteer Day, we shopped for souvenirs/Christmas presents, we celebrated Lea’s birthday and we got ready for our big trip!

Happy Birthday, Lea!

 FUN IN FIJI!

Although our trip started out with a little luggage trouble-- and by a little luggage trouble I mean the people at Air Vanuatu forgot to put any luggage for any of the passengers flying from Port Vila to Fiji on the plane. Seriously, no luggage. Like, they opened the doors to get the luggage out for us and it was empty. Nada. Nothing-- it ended up being a lot of fun! We got in a little late on the first night and ended up eating fried chicken and then checking into our hostel, Bamboo. Bamboo was cool and quirky. There were backpackers everywhere, we slept in a room with 16 others and we met a few PC Fiji volunteers. We spent our first full day in the same clothes as the day before palling around Nadi Town buying secret friend presents for each other! We visited a Hindu Temple, we went to the airport and got our luggage, we ate dinner at Bamboo and then we enjoyed a fun night out on the town! The next day we traveled about an hour and a half to our next hostel, Beachhouse. We stopped at a Sand Dune National Park on our way! Beachhouse was very nice and really beautiful! Still full of backpackers, and this time us 6 girls slept in one room and the 3 guys slept in a room across from us along with 3 other travelers. We swam in the pool, met more PC Fiji volunteers, hung out by a campfire on the beach, kayaked and swam in the ocean, ate delicious food, watched the sunset, got massages, and had a grand ole time!

Fiji, Here we come! 

Hindu Temple 

Hiking to the sand dunes 

View from the top of the sand dunes 

kayaking at sunset

All of us with our secret friend gifts after our exchange :) 

On Monday December 11^th we left Fiji and started our journey to the USA!!!

We had the most amazing trip home… We cuddled Murray (a lot); we celebrated Cole’s birthday with a fun welcome home/birthday party at his house; we celebrated Christmas and spent a lot of time with both of our families; we went to visit Annma at her grave; we had dinner in Charleston with some of our college friends; we went to Charlotte, saw some family, hung out with friends there, and went to a Charlotte Hornets basketball game; we ate at the Jungle Shack (a lot); I got a manicure and pedicure…twice; we met my best friend Amanda’s sweet baby girl/our Goddaughter, Charlie and got to hang out with her and Amanda for 3 days; we went to the beach with Murr and friends a few times; I met my lifelong friend Brittany’s new baby, Lillian and hung out with her 1 and a half year old, Benjamin; we had a New Year’s party at Cole and Kathleen’s house; we celebrated Murray’s 6^th birthday; we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over a fire; we went to a Panthers game in Charlotte with some of our best friends; we cuddled and played with Murray some more; we had a Vanuatu Culture Night that ended up being a huge success that we cannot begin to thank people enough for; we hung out more with friends and family; oh and we cuddled Murray. On the way home we had a long layover in LA and got to see Matt and Meng!

So excited to see our sweet Murr at the airport!  

With Cole's family in Charlotte 

After dinner at Pacos Tacos with Charlotte friends! 

Hornets Game! 

Hornets Game! 

Hornets Game! 

Merry Christmas from Edisto Beach!  

Go Panthers!  

Go Panthers! 

Go Panthers! 

Charlie! I love that face! 

Just, you know, sharing a french fry with Uncle Cole 

Best Friends 

Future PCV! 

My first New Year's kiss 

My second New Year's kiss

Dinner with friends in Charleston! 

Birthday Boy 

Me and my nephews 

At Santa Monica Pier in LA 

Look what we found! And we only had to walk a mile to find it! 

It was hard to say goodbye and it feels a bit weird being back in Vanuatu. When we got back we spent a few days in Vila and then a few days in Luganville before coming back to site. We saw some PC friends and celebrated our friend Hannah’s birthday. When we got back our house was full of dust and bugs, so we spent a few days doing damage control, unpacking, cleaning and doing laundry. Our running water is on and off because of El Nino. We have some back up water in rain tanks, so when the running water turns of for good we'll be back to bucket baths!! Our neighbors had come back the day before we got there and were the only teachers back at school so far. They left again the next day and will be gone for the week, making us the only people on our school grounds at the moment. Since there is no one here and nothing going on, we are back in town for the day before heading to East

Santo for a few days to visit our friend Jeffery. School doesn’t start back until February 8^th so we are trying to keep ourselves busy until then! 

We are looking forward to the school year starting, working with the teachers and kids here at Ebenezer and continuing to work on our projects!

Thanks for reading! :) I'll put a lot more pictures on Facebook another day, I've had all the slow internet I can take for now!