I am in Vila the capitol city of Vanuatu right now and I must say it's a bit overwhelming. To go from a village with two stores and no cars or trucks, and by no cars or trucks I mean there isn't even a road connecting my village to the rest of the island, staying in a city full of cars, trucks, and 'buses' (large vans) is a lot to handle.
No, Villa isn't exactly a large city, though it is the largest city in Vanuatu, it is considerably smaller than even Muncie, IN. which is quite small (and I don't mean population numbers though Muncie might actually be bigger in that way too, I don't know and don't feel like doing the research). So the fact that a city this size is overwhelming to me is kind of scary. Especially considering I've lived in Houston a huge city. The funniest feeling of being overwhelmed is when I went to Wilco, a hardware store here in Villa.
I went in to buy a hose clamp for my stove (as you know if you've read the post before this one) and when I walked in the door I literally stopped and stood in jaw-dropped awe at the sheer size and selection of this store. Now, you should know that while Wilco is large and has about the same set up of Home Depot it is still about a third of the size. And while I appreciate a good hardware store I am not the type of person to hang out there for hours on end or rush there on the weekends. I'll go if I have to. But, I was just shocked at how huge this store is and this worries me. How am I going to react to being back in America with it's Wal-Marts and giant two-story malls? The idea of a sky scrapper is unfathomable to me at this point, and I'm only 5 months into my service. How am I going to react after another year and a half?
I'm worried.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
The Stove Saga
As I'm sure all of you are aware I do not have electricty at my site/house. Therefore, I had to purchase a table-top gas stove. Now, you may be thinking that all table-top gas stoves are the same, but this is not the case. I learned this the hard way.
In Vanuatu there is one (maybe more, it's hard to say) gas company: Origins. At Origins they are completely awesome and very helpful but I did not know this when I bought my stove and proceeded to buy it from a random little store. Had I bought my stove from Origins it would have come with a hose to connect it to the regulator and then to the stove. However, the stove I bought did not come with a hose, so I bought one at Origins when I went to buy my regulator (a devise to make sure the gas doesn't have a surge and explode in your face). I thought I was all set to go and let for my site. When I finally moved into my house it took me about 2 hours to figure out how to connect the adaptor, regulator, and hose together (apparently righty-tighty, lefty-loosey does not apply in this country). At this point I figure out that my house will not connect to my stove and I can't just run up to the store to buy a new one, while the two stores in my village have an abundance in tinned meat and tinned fish they don't carry gas stove hoses. So, I spend the next month cooking over fire, frustrated out of my mind that I have a stove and gas tank but no way to connect the two. I talk to my host family about it and they think it would be a good idea to cut the hose and just shove it on. I had considered this and called my dad back in the U.S. to get his opinion and he said that that would be a VERY bad idea, what with the possibility of gas leaking out of the hose.
Eventually it's time to head back to Villa (the big city), so I take along my stove and hose to see what I can do with them. My plan is to return the stove and just go to Origins to buy a new one because I know that everything will connect just fine. When I get to the little store where I bought my stove and try to return it, they tell me that they will accept it for store credit but they sell 20 of these stoves a day, so there is a connection out there (that was the manager who was not very nice). Before I leave we look at the stove to make sure it has all of the parts and find that mine was missing a piece. I exchange my stove for one that doesn't suck life and I take it to the PC resource room. When I get there I try my hose on it to see if it will connect and it won't. So I decide to take a trip to Wilco, our local hardware store, to see what I can find to try to connect the two. When I get to Wilco they tell me that they don't have parts for table-top stoves only grills and that I should go to Origins. I head to Origins and after talking to them for 30mins. or so (them being extremely helpful) they tell me that I don't need to buy a new stove, I just need to cut my hose shove it on to the stove and put a hose clamp on it so the gas doesn't leak out. So back to Wilco I go to buy a hose clamp.
I think that I'm all set now, but only time will tell. Moral of the story: don't cut corners to try to find a deal go straight to the source; and buy your stove from Origins.
In Vanuatu there is one (maybe more, it's hard to say) gas company: Origins. At Origins they are completely awesome and very helpful but I did not know this when I bought my stove and proceeded to buy it from a random little store. Had I bought my stove from Origins it would have come with a hose to connect it to the regulator and then to the stove. However, the stove I bought did not come with a hose, so I bought one at Origins when I went to buy my regulator (a devise to make sure the gas doesn't have a surge and explode in your face). I thought I was all set to go and let for my site. When I finally moved into my house it took me about 2 hours to figure out how to connect the adaptor, regulator, and hose together (apparently righty-tighty, lefty-loosey does not apply in this country). At this point I figure out that my house will not connect to my stove and I can't just run up to the store to buy a new one, while the two stores in my village have an abundance in tinned meat and tinned fish they don't carry gas stove hoses. So, I spend the next month cooking over fire, frustrated out of my mind that I have a stove and gas tank but no way to connect the two. I talk to my host family about it and they think it would be a good idea to cut the hose and just shove it on. I had considered this and called my dad back in the U.S. to get his opinion and he said that that would be a VERY bad idea, what with the possibility of gas leaking out of the hose.
Eventually it's time to head back to Villa (the big city), so I take along my stove and hose to see what I can do with them. My plan is to return the stove and just go to Origins to buy a new one because I know that everything will connect just fine. When I get to the little store where I bought my stove and try to return it, they tell me that they will accept it for store credit but they sell 20 of these stoves a day, so there is a connection out there (that was the manager who was not very nice). Before I leave we look at the stove to make sure it has all of the parts and find that mine was missing a piece. I exchange my stove for one that doesn't suck life and I take it to the PC resource room. When I get there I try my hose on it to see if it will connect and it won't. So I decide to take a trip to Wilco, our local hardware store, to see what I can find to try to connect the two. When I get to Wilco they tell me that they don't have parts for table-top stoves only grills and that I should go to Origins. I head to Origins and after talking to them for 30mins. or so (them being extremely helpful) they tell me that I don't need to buy a new stove, I just need to cut my hose shove it on to the stove and put a hose clamp on it so the gas doesn't leak out. So back to Wilco I go to buy a hose clamp.
I think that I'm all set now, but only time will tell. Moral of the story: don't cut corners to try to find a deal go straight to the source; and buy your stove from Origins.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Bieber Fever Comes to Pentecost Island
To field any whiny comments I would like to say that I am not a fan of Justin Bieber. If you are, that's nice and I don't really care. Here we go:
As you know electricity is not something found in my village. Many families buy small generators to turn on lights and TV/DVD players once every few weeks. They don't turn them on often because you must pay for the fuel to run the generator. The co-op (a store) also has electricity due to a solar panel and a wind turbine. They will charge things (like cell phones) for 50vt or about 50cents and have a fridge but they don't keep the power on all day or all night and they don't play movies. So needless to say whenever movies are shown, usually on holidays and during celebrations, it's a big deal.
Well, one night sometime around New Years, a man carried out his TV and DVD player to a clearing in our village close up to the nokamal (meeting place) and everyone gathered on woven mats and palm leaves to watch some videos. Now, when you are going to watch a movie in the villages typically you will first watch a bunch of music videos. Mainly string band (local music) but there are also some Australian and American videos too, depending on what the person has. It was this night that I realized there are certain things to which you cannot escape even when you go to the other side of the world.
We had been watching/listening to music videos for about 30mins to an hour when a Bieb song/video begins to play. At this point I think to myself 'it won't last long it's just one song'. Soon that song ends and another comes on and then yet another. I soon discover that it is a whole DVD dedicated to The Bieb. Not only am I stuck watching a Bieber DVD but everyone is really liking it and now I have to listen to everyone singing/humming the songs proceeding in getting them stuck into my head every time (when I recognized the song). During the hour or so of Bieber videos I couldn't help thinking 'why can't they get a Chris Brown video?'.
Call it naivety or what you will, but something about living on an obscure island in the South Pacific led me to believe that I would be safe from the tween fads of America. Apparently not.
p.s. if you are wondering what the movie is that was shown it was 'The Hottie and the Nottie'. However, I did not stay to watch the movie because by then it was about 10pm and I was tired.
As you know electricity is not something found in my village. Many families buy small generators to turn on lights and TV/DVD players once every few weeks. They don't turn them on often because you must pay for the fuel to run the generator. The co-op (a store) also has electricity due to a solar panel and a wind turbine. They will charge things (like cell phones) for 50vt or about 50cents and have a fridge but they don't keep the power on all day or all night and they don't play movies. So needless to say whenever movies are shown, usually on holidays and during celebrations, it's a big deal.
Well, one night sometime around New Years, a man carried out his TV and DVD player to a clearing in our village close up to the nokamal (meeting place) and everyone gathered on woven mats and palm leaves to watch some videos. Now, when you are going to watch a movie in the villages typically you will first watch a bunch of music videos. Mainly string band (local music) but there are also some Australian and American videos too, depending on what the person has. It was this night that I realized there are certain things to which you cannot escape even when you go to the other side of the world.
We had been watching/listening to music videos for about 30mins to an hour when a Bieb song/video begins to play. At this point I think to myself 'it won't last long it's just one song'. Soon that song ends and another comes on and then yet another. I soon discover that it is a whole DVD dedicated to The Bieb. Not only am I stuck watching a Bieber DVD but everyone is really liking it and now I have to listen to everyone singing/humming the songs proceeding in getting them stuck into my head every time (when I recognized the song). During the hour or so of Bieber videos I couldn't help thinking 'why can't they get a Chris Brown video?'.
Call it naivety or what you will, but something about living on an obscure island in the South Pacific led me to believe that I would be safe from the tween fads of America. Apparently not.
p.s. if you are wondering what the movie is that was shown it was 'The Hottie and the Nottie'. However, I did not stay to watch the movie because by then it was about 10pm and I was tired.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Finally Home!
Wow, I have so much news! hopfully I won't leave too much out. This is going to be a long one, so strap yourself in!
So home is Point Cross, South Pentecost and the only way to get there is by boat or walking. For example, when I arrived to my village from the capital I took a plane to Pentecost, a truck to Pangi (another village), and a speed boat to Point Cross. It was fun. But you can actually take the speed boat directly to the airport and that takes about 2 hours with decently calm waters. If you don't want to take a boat then you're walking at least to Pangi because the 'road' does not come to Point Cross.
Village/House/Family
But my village is absolutly beautiful!! I've got a nice sand beach down at the cove and awesome cliffs on the east. The one draw back is that my village is all mountianous hills. It's such a work out to walk around and I don't leave my house when it rains. I take comfort in knowing that I'm going to have an awesome butt by the time I get back to the U.S.! My house is amazing too. I have a flush toilet and a shower INSIDE my house!! It's so nice. I do not have electricity, which is not a big deal, I would much rather have running water! I have an indoor and outdoor kitchen. My house has a cement floor with bamboo walls and thatched roof. It's pretty awesome! My neighbors are my headmaster and his family and the other male teacher and his family. But all of the teachers have left to go to their home villages for the vacation. My host family is really great and I stayed with them my first month because the volunteer I was taking up after (who was amazing!) was still living at the house. I have 5 sisters, mostly around my age, 2 younger ones, and 2 brothers both in their teens, one is my stret (straight) brother and one is adopted. My mom is very strong, she is the head Mama of the Mama's organization and my dad is really quiet but a good guy. They are a lot of fun to hang out with.
Pets
So far I have a dog named Jabu that I inherited from the volunteer before me. She is really cute and the greatest dog. Hopfully soon I will be getting a cat to keep the rats away... but more on that later.
School/Work
I have a fairly small school. The school is years 1-6, though it changes, like last year it was only 1-5. There are about 80 students and 5 teachers (not including me). I will be working in the Library primarly. Doing library classes and reading and writing activities. But I will also be doing workshops for the teachers probably on classroom management. I'm also playing around with the idea of English classes for the community. But I'm not sure yet. I'm also going to do a camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) to help empower the girls in my village.
First Day
Ok so first of all getting to Pentecost was such an ordeal. We all get checked-in at the airport and they tell us that we have to down size our bags cause we were over weight so a few of us start pulling off bags. We finally get on-board when the piolet tells us over the intercom (though we could see him and the cockpit is not separated from the rest of the plane and he could have just turned around and talked to us) that we have to get off because there are electrical problems. So we all get off the plane and sit in the airport. About an hour and a half goes by we finally get on the plane and leave. When I get to my village I hang out with my family until dark and then for our dinner we have a small wlecoming dinner for me. Including me drinking a COFFEE MUG of kava infront of everyone! and I say COFFEE MUG because usually you only drink about a coconut shell's amount and they aren't very big. The next day I slept the entire day and only got up for food. But thankfully I didn't feel sick at all. And even though the taste and smell are AWFUL the effects are pretty nice to expierence every once in a while.
Christmas
So Christmas was interesting. We go to church in the morning (Anglican) and after have a big community lunch. Then all of the mamas did a gift exchange which was so cute! Unfortunately as the mamas are getting finished I look over to where a lot of young guys are sitting and I see bottles and cans of alcohol coming out of bags. The problem with this is, in this culture the men get drunk. They don't just drink the get hammered. And after they get hammered they act like idiots. So after the mamas get finished I go to my family's house to eat dinner. While we're sitting there in the kitchen a drunk guy comes in and steals one of our pineapples. Rude! After he left we proceeded to hide everything we didn't want the drunks to mess with...like our axe. We eat dinner and eventually I decided that it's time to sleep so my mama and one of my sisters walks me home. On the way one of the drunks KICKS my dog. I was so PISSED!!!! The next day my mama yelled at him and he did apologize so that was good. And I got a beautiful bag from my family for Christmas, though I'm not sure if my mom wove it or what, I think she did. She's a very talented basket weaver.
Moving in to My House/Pests
So moving in went well however, I had bought a gas table-top stove to use so that I didn't have to worry about building fires. Well at first I thought I had all the wrong parts and I couldn't hook it up at all. I eventually figured it out (took the whole day) and I realize that I just don't have the right hose for my stove, so everything is hooked up but I can't connect my hose to my stove, a crucial step. So for the past month and a half I've been cooking with fire. Because of this I haven't been cooking much and have still been eating dinner with my family. So I've brought the stove back to Vila to hopefully return and buy a new one from a more reliable source. Now, you may be thinking 'Megan do you ever get lonely at your house all by your self?' and my answer would be: no. You see I not only have my dog but I also have huge spiders, cockroaches, geckos, chickens, cows, centipedes (that fall from the ceiling), and rats. I don't mind the spiders or geckos (who I've been naming) because they eat the bugs, like the malaria spreading mosquito's, but I try to kill all of the others. For example, on more than one occasion I have chased rats around my house with my bush knife (machete). Successfully killing one who trapped himself in one of my space saver bags. I bashed in his head, surprisingly resulting in very little blood. But I'm really looking forward to getting a cat so that I don't have to deal with that at all.
But I love my village, my house, my family, and I foresee great things happening at my school! I'm very happy to be in Point Cross and cannot wait until the school year starts so that I can start working!
So home is Point Cross, South Pentecost and the only way to get there is by boat or walking. For example, when I arrived to my village from the capital I took a plane to Pentecost, a truck to Pangi (another village), and a speed boat to Point Cross. It was fun. But you can actually take the speed boat directly to the airport and that takes about 2 hours with decently calm waters. If you don't want to take a boat then you're walking at least to Pangi because the 'road' does not come to Point Cross.
Village/House/Family
But my village is absolutly beautiful!! I've got a nice sand beach down at the cove and awesome cliffs on the east. The one draw back is that my village is all mountianous hills. It's such a work out to walk around and I don't leave my house when it rains. I take comfort in knowing that I'm going to have an awesome butt by the time I get back to the U.S.! My house is amazing too. I have a flush toilet and a shower INSIDE my house!! It's so nice. I do not have electricity, which is not a big deal, I would much rather have running water! I have an indoor and outdoor kitchen. My house has a cement floor with bamboo walls and thatched roof. It's pretty awesome! My neighbors are my headmaster and his family and the other male teacher and his family. But all of the teachers have left to go to their home villages for the vacation. My host family is really great and I stayed with them my first month because the volunteer I was taking up after (who was amazing!) was still living at the house. I have 5 sisters, mostly around my age, 2 younger ones, and 2 brothers both in their teens, one is my stret (straight) brother and one is adopted. My mom is very strong, she is the head Mama of the Mama's organization and my dad is really quiet but a good guy. They are a lot of fun to hang out with.
Pets
So far I have a dog named Jabu that I inherited from the volunteer before me. She is really cute and the greatest dog. Hopfully soon I will be getting a cat to keep the rats away... but more on that later.
School/Work
I have a fairly small school. The school is years 1-6, though it changes, like last year it was only 1-5. There are about 80 students and 5 teachers (not including me). I will be working in the Library primarly. Doing library classes and reading and writing activities. But I will also be doing workshops for the teachers probably on classroom management. I'm also playing around with the idea of English classes for the community. But I'm not sure yet. I'm also going to do a camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) to help empower the girls in my village.
First Day
Ok so first of all getting to Pentecost was such an ordeal. We all get checked-in at the airport and they tell us that we have to down size our bags cause we were over weight so a few of us start pulling off bags. We finally get on-board when the piolet tells us over the intercom (though we could see him and the cockpit is not separated from the rest of the plane and he could have just turned around and talked to us) that we have to get off because there are electrical problems. So we all get off the plane and sit in the airport. About an hour and a half goes by we finally get on the plane and leave. When I get to my village I hang out with my family until dark and then for our dinner we have a small wlecoming dinner for me. Including me drinking a COFFEE MUG of kava infront of everyone! and I say COFFEE MUG because usually you only drink about a coconut shell's amount and they aren't very big. The next day I slept the entire day and only got up for food. But thankfully I didn't feel sick at all. And even though the taste and smell are AWFUL the effects are pretty nice to expierence every once in a while.
Christmas
So Christmas was interesting. We go to church in the morning (Anglican) and after have a big community lunch. Then all of the mamas did a gift exchange which was so cute! Unfortunately as the mamas are getting finished I look over to where a lot of young guys are sitting and I see bottles and cans of alcohol coming out of bags. The problem with this is, in this culture the men get drunk. They don't just drink the get hammered. And after they get hammered they act like idiots. So after the mamas get finished I go to my family's house to eat dinner. While we're sitting there in the kitchen a drunk guy comes in and steals one of our pineapples. Rude! After he left we proceeded to hide everything we didn't want the drunks to mess with...like our axe. We eat dinner and eventually I decided that it's time to sleep so my mama and one of my sisters walks me home. On the way one of the drunks KICKS my dog. I was so PISSED!!!! The next day my mama yelled at him and he did apologize so that was good. And I got a beautiful bag from my family for Christmas, though I'm not sure if my mom wove it or what, I think she did. She's a very talented basket weaver.
Moving in to My House/Pests
So moving in went well however, I had bought a gas table-top stove to use so that I didn't have to worry about building fires. Well at first I thought I had all the wrong parts and I couldn't hook it up at all. I eventually figured it out (took the whole day) and I realize that I just don't have the right hose for my stove, so everything is hooked up but I can't connect my hose to my stove, a crucial step. So for the past month and a half I've been cooking with fire. Because of this I haven't been cooking much and have still been eating dinner with my family. So I've brought the stove back to Vila to hopefully return and buy a new one from a more reliable source. Now, you may be thinking 'Megan do you ever get lonely at your house all by your self?' and my answer would be: no. You see I not only have my dog but I also have huge spiders, cockroaches, geckos, chickens, cows, centipedes (that fall from the ceiling), and rats. I don't mind the spiders or geckos (who I've been naming) because they eat the bugs, like the malaria spreading mosquito's, but I try to kill all of the others. For example, on more than one occasion I have chased rats around my house with my bush knife (machete). Successfully killing one who trapped himself in one of my space saver bags. I bashed in his head, surprisingly resulting in very little blood. But I'm really looking forward to getting a cat so that I don't have to deal with that at all.
But I love my village, my house, my family, and I foresee great things happening at my school! I'm very happy to be in Point Cross and cannot wait until the school year starts so that I can start working!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)