here we go

hello!

we are at the peace corps office in port vila for our first medical lessons and to do a wokabaot – getting to know port vila. the internet is slow and this place is beautiful, so i don’t have much desire to try and type too much out. all is well! it is magical here! we’ve been at training village for the past few days and tomorrow (wednesday) we split up into sectors and go to our training sites. the place i’ve been at is right on the ocean! my first training site is on moso island in a small village. after a month we get to visit our permanent sites and i will be there during my birthday! I’m excited to meet my family and counterpart while i’m there and of course to see my future digs.

last night some extendee volunteers (3+ years of service here) led us in a session about kava, the national drink. it has cultural and social significance and it’s very apart of everyday life here. I’ll write much more about it once i’ve been at site. anyways, we had our first kava experience and it was awesome! heightened awareness of lights and sounds, as well as a huge interest in others and their stories. you’re super mellow and happy to “storian” all evening with friends. (storian, pronounced “story on” is a term they use here to describe those times when you talk about everything and nothing for who knows how long!) definitely looking forward to kava life.

as the older volunteers suggested, many of us are not bringing our laptops to training. It’s just another thing to worry about (theft, humidity) and the goal of training is to integrate, so having access to a computer may hinder that. So we are leaving them (safe, I promise mom) in the pc office until training ends in march! Ill be attempting to keep a journal and ill transfer those thoughts into online journal world once I’m settled at site.

everyone – have a lovely next few months! feel free to shoot me emails (alisontlevin@gmail.com) for when I check next  (probably march or so) and write some letters if communication interests you!

al