woo hoo!

hello!

back in Vila for training and able to post some pictures and stories. sorry for the jumbled mess of posts. my computer decided to finish its service early and some posts were lost. i recovered one and tried to recreate a few, but the second time around isn't always the same. training is coming to an end - can't believe this two weeks have flown by so quickly! maybe its due to the lack of computer (my roommate and great friend laura also had terminal laptop malfunction) or maybe ill just chalk it up to the grand reunion with friends and the explosions of joy that came with that.. but i haven't really felt like sitting inside and doing important things on a computer. so, next time around these posts will be better (and hopefully by then my new computer will arrive to Vanuatu) but until then.. enjoy!

So there's this term I kept hearing my family say in language so I eventually asked what it was. That's the funny thing about hearing only local language during the day and staring aimlessly as it goes on around you. You hear words repeatedly and find yourself trying to piece together this perceived gibberish. My local language (called Hatie) learning is coming along slowly.. my goal is to have enough random vocabulary and conversational skills to seem as though I know more. It's working, they're impressed!

Anyways, guqwe (goo-kway) what is it? Pretty interesting actually. Guqwe is the energy a person gives off when he or she leaves or returns from where you are. Most guqwe goes unnoticed, but when a man or woman has rubbish guqwe, you know. Your guqwe comes from your character and the closest thing I can connect it to is a person's karma. Because we live on the school grounds, the other teachers will leave for the weekend or different family members will crash for a night or two. If someone has heavy guqwe, you will be tired or weak all day. You'll feel funny and have a hard time sleeping. One of my cousins has rubbish guqwe so when we comes to stay with my aunt and uncle, we all feel it. It's funny because before I knew about guqwe, there were nights when I felt these symptoms but no one wanted me to know how strong guqwe can be. Now that I know, I'm sold on it. I'm also pretty sure that guqwe, like witchcraft, is only real to those who believe in it, so I recognize that, too. But its funny the way the world works here and what's Ambae life without guqwe? I'll take it over black magic any day.

Some more guqwe rules: guqwe affects people mainly on the day you come and the day you leave. if there is more than one person coming/leaving, the guqwe has stronger effects, even if all parties have good guqwe. if babies or young children have rubbish guqwe, they will most likely have rubbish fashion (that sounds funny in English, but it's what it's called) when they're adults. And finally, people know who has good or bad guqwe. It isn't bad etiquette to discuss it, and its a great conversation starter in the morning when you're breaking through local language barrier!

Dorina: my adorable baby cousin, but possessor of very rubbish guqwe

Most ni-Vans love eating flying fox. The little bears with wings are at their fattest right now and my dad is having a field day shooting them down whenever he’s hungry. He had a pet gwaratu (flying fox in language) for 3 years, but he died a month or so ago because the family dog got a taste. Gwaratus have a very distinct smell. This, paired with the visuals of my family slicing them open and eating every part, has deterred me from trying them. However, on Easter I agreed to have a taste. Glad I did it, not planning on doing it again, but glad I did it. The taste matches the smell, only intensified with chewiness and fried hair in my mouth. We made a deal that next Easter, I will try it bakagen. My first Easter tradition!

the family gwaratu, rip

cooking gwaratu, unrelated to the one pictured above

Speaking of pivotal dates, may 29^th marked the day that my puskats successfully hunted food larger than the small lizards that roam around. Lava ran to my porch with a mui in her mouth, paying no mind to the blue paint she ran across. Muis are these leathery skittish big black lizards that stare at you and then sprint away. Very harmless, but that doesn’t take away their creepiness. It was a great Lava victory indeed.

feelin blue

Just 15 minutes later, Kwen brought a small rat into my house to torture and eat. I had to get my brother Ogrant to remove the growling kwen who was aggressively guarding his first big kill. Don’t need those guts on my fancy concrete floor, that’s for sure. 

So there’s this concept I was introduced to when I did a summer trail work project with SCA. Our group leader Nat always talked about the “say – do gap” and it has stuck with me ever since. It’s easy to say we are going to do things, but difficult to follow through. I’m speaking for myself here. I love ideas! Ideas rock. But making them a reality has always been a challenge for me. So I’ve decided that my #1 goal here in Vanuatu is to reduce my say – do gap. There are endless possibilities for projects here and it’s easy to dismiss them with excuses about lack of resources, motivation, infrastructure, etc. And many times, that is absolutely true. But! That doesn’t include all of the very realistic things that get tossed to the side. That being said, alison levin say-do gap reduction campaign has officially started with teaching my papa to type. He already has a computer and is able to find his way to the movie section, but he’s mentioned a few times how much he’d like to make word documents.

I gave Tim, the IT volunteer close to me, a call and we set up a time for my papa and me to visit his school’s computer lab. Tim is a Masters International volunteer, meaning he gets to complete part 2 of his masters in the Peace Corps! Pretty neat. Anyways, we hiked our way over to St. Patricks College, the secondary school that Time works at. SPC is a beautiful school heavily funded by the Anglican Church. Both my parents and my oldest brother went there and my two other siblings are enrolled there now! We hiked to St. Patrick's and Tim sat with my papa and gave him a typing lesson. I got some software from him and now my dad is on the path towards quick fingers. Take that, say – do gap!

papa on the walk to spc

to spc we go

And finally - an observation I have made is how my clothing standards have changed. There are the clean clothes and the dirty clothes, per usual. But I now live with a distinct third pile that I affectionately refer to as "clean enough." These clothes could easily be confused with the dirty pile, but are given a last chance (or 3) before I put them in the bag. Doing wash isn’t the worst thing in the world, but sometimes it feels like it is. The woes of washing usually pair with laziness. But! One volunteer bought a plunger and has made a make shift washing machine, so as you can imagine, I was intrigued and looked into it. This is the next project on my list. The ultimate lazy fix.