our world

World map project! Yahoo!

It worked! The fundraiser brought in enough vatu to support the map painting. After a day of healing from the hike, the gang got to work. 

We used Jen's projector to trace out the maps and focused on painting for 2 days, only stopping for swims in the ocean and lunch. Here are some photos, but planning on taking some nice ones once I fill in the country names and clean up the drips underneath. I think Jen Nadler stuck some photos on facebook, too!

This ended up being such a fun mark to leave on the school! Good friends and good jams made the work pass by with ease. Plenty of community members have stopped by to check it out and discuss map-like things. I'm hoping to facilitate future toktoks with the adults and I'm really looking forward to the many lessons I'll be leading with the kids. Laura and I are planning Earth Week for sometime in October, so it'll be fun to tie it all together for whoever wants to come learn. 

 

The earth without art is just 'eh'

pissa games

The week before August school break marked the 20th anniversary of the PISSA games! PISSA stands for Penama Inter-secondary School Athletics and is basically the most anticipated event of the year, minus Independence and Easter. Penama is the province that Ambae sits in with Pentecost and Maewo. Vanuatu has 6 provinces with names created by combining the names of the bigger islands in each region. From south to north -

Tafea: Tanna, Fatuna, Erramongo, and Aneityum

Shefa: Shephard Islands and Efate

Malampa: Malekula, Ambrym, and Paama

Sanma: Santo and Malo

Penama: Pentecost, Ambae, and Maewo

Torba: Torres Islands and Banks Islands

This year the PISSA games took place in Lolopweipwei (north Ambae) or about an hour walk from my house. Students from Maewo, Pentecost, and West Ambae filled up the ships and floated over to Lolopweipwei, a catholic community where the secondary school Tagaga (which means spider in local language.. odd choice) would be hosting the events. Elise, a volunteer on Pentecost, followed her community school to the games. She said the ship was packed out with 300+ students and they had to take shifts standing, sitting, and sleeping during the 10 hour float over. Yikes!

Ten secondary schools were set to compete in football, footsal, volleyball, and track & field. Nathan's school Ambaebulu was in the lineup, as was Tim's school St. Patricks. This is the last chance for many of the senior students to engage in organized sports before returning to the villages, training centers, or going on to university. A farewell to childhood in a way - one last shabang! 

Sunday was opening day, so we made the trek over to the school in the afternoon to catch the show. All of the makeshift sports fields and courts were being prepared and the food stalls lining the paths had smoke trails coming from the bush kitchens behind them. All of the visiting students would be sleeping on campus, so dozens of temporary shelters were being set up. My whole family was plopped down in a nice shaded area on a cement block that we claimed as our spot for the week. My aunts and uncles and cousins and bumbus were all there eating mandarins and getting excited for the games. My cousins from West came over to compete in the races and my brother O'Brien was set to play volleyball. 

The opening parade was extravagant! This country loves parades and I support their devotion to this pastaem. The VMF or Vanuatu Mobile Force (or the  military-clad marching band) performed and led the 10 schools holding banners around the soccer field for a good 15 minutes. Yes, my concept of parades has changed, but they are entertaining in their absurdity! My brother kept hiding his face because I'd sing out his name every time they passed. I never had a little brother to embarrass, so I'm getting it out now!

Once this settled down, the ceremony began. The community represtantive rambled on for a bit, promising all of the participants some good ol Ambae hospitality for the week. Each school was given a big laplap and cake and headmasters were salusalu'd (placing a lei of frangipani around someone's neck and a kaliko over their shoulders as a welcome or thank you)

Once this was over, the lines at the food stalls began to grow and the kava stands started opening up. My mama's sister Mami Corina had a kava stand she was running while my uncle was grinding some more down. She let me lend her a hand and we sold kava for a few hours! Kava preparation is hard, tedious work, but selling it is fun! We had a good time and raised them a lot of vatu in the mean time. Opening day ended with fireworks. Although the fireworks weren't the big spectacle that we're spoiled with at home, it was amazing. This is because I got to watch floods of people see fireworks for the first time. Watching their eyes light up in awe was one of the coolest things I've seen! And that's not just the kava buzz talking..

We went back to the games on Monday and Tuesday. It was fun seeing all of the people from different islands gathering together in the name of high school sports. One of my favorite parts of the games was the announcements. Whoever was controlling the microphone was cracking me up. He kept stressing and over stressing that this was the 20th year, but then sometimes he'd say "it's been 20 years or so" in funny forced English, not understanding the "or so" part. He'd also relay messages from the kava stalls. "Kava Stall #9 says that they just made a new batch and this time it's stronger" or "Stall #3 wants you to know that they got more shells to drink out of." 

On Tuesday I met Jessie Rae, Emily, and Elise up there. Sydney and Ken (vols from the earlier group, G25) came, too. Everyone was filtering onto Ambae for our hike on Thursday. Honestly, it's always a little weird when there are too many Americans/white people clustered together. The announcer gave us a shoutout and thanked us for coming. Very silly! 

That night Sydney and I walked back to my site and she spent the night. Her village is farther East and no trucks were going that way, so it worked out great. We woke up early and walked to Lolowai to try and catch friends coming in from Santo on the Brisk! The Brisk is the sister ship to Tina 1, the fabulous cruise liner I rode into Santo. 

After an hour of hiking, a truck scooped us up and we pulled into the harbor just as the ship was rounding the reef in the bay! Kate, Bryan, Jen, Kelsey, and Kelsey's visiting boyfriend Bilal hopped off the ship and the next set of adventures began! 

volcano visitors

So Kelsey, Jen, and I have been planning to do an August break Manaro climb since our training daze in Nangus. It finally happened! With a few more friends in tow -

After we got supplies in town, we all followed a truck back to my house and got in some good naps and swim time. Around 4, the truck holding Ken, Emily, Elise, Tim came to Qwatuneala to grab Kelsey, Bilal, Michelle, Sydney, Jen, Kate, Bryan, and me and we headed off to Ambanga village! In order to get there, we had to pass the PISSA games and all the folks I know there. That's right. A 12-man American spectacle waving to my mama, making her both proud and embarrassed of her white man daughter!

After the steep truck ride up the hill with a full load of bodies and bags, we arrived at Ambanga, the highest village on Ambae. Ambanga has a little guesthouse (using the term guesthouse lightly) that folks stay in before they hike up. With 12 of us, it was tight quarters, but we're all pretty used to being flexible by now!

We played some frisbee as the sun was going down and enjoyed a delicious group meal. It was chilly out, so that made sharing a small room with 6 people not as daunting as it would have been in rainy season 

We woke up early, drank some coffee, and left around 7 with clear skies above us. It was 11 volunteers (Ken decided to pass due to a recently twisted ankle) plus 2 guides and a teenage Ambanga girl who wanted to tag along. A nice, long, single file trail of humans! The first 2 hours were hot and dry, but those feelings were soon forgotten when the rain came along. 

Everything green grows fast in Vanuatu, especially in the rich soil near the cone of a snoozing volcano. This made the overgrown trail quite a challenge, especially when it started pouring. Slips and falls and steep cliffs and close calls... but all were conquered with laughs between friends! I was in line behind one of my great friends here Kelsey, a chick who happens to be a geology major/nut with a focus on volcanos! You know I had a bunch of questions. I'm pretty sure Kelsey enjoyed answering the inquiries just as much as I loved asking them. 

Near the end of the 5 hour hike to the top, we came to mud walls and creeks that we had to shimmy down. If you're lucky like me, you're usually near the back of the group and end up at these obstacles when they've become soup. Not the tasty kind, though I did get a few mouthfuls. We finally arrived at the  lake where the cone is and it was eerie- like elephant graveyard eerie. Its taboo to talk when entering the crater, so that added to the excitement. The ground was warm and the hazy sky/ash plains made it feel like a horror movie lelebet (lelebet means little bit in Bislama and is one of my favorites to say/use) 

The cone of Mount Manaro sits in a lake, which makes it very dangerous if it ever explodes. The lake is sulfuric acid and has interesting qualities depending on the pH levels (thank you Kelsey for the science lessons) like it will turn super teal or pink when certain minerals shift about. There are probably pictures and much more accurate usages of scientific terms on google if you're interested. Man, the Internet can really rock sometimes! 

We ate our lunch and blocked off the wind and rain as best as we could. Bilal brought us a delicious treat from America that couldn't have been more appropriate. We happily gulped down the fireball whiskey, warming up our spirits in preparation for the hike back. 

We all knew that the trail was going to be tricky. We got to the part that resembled what would be the lovechild of a mudslide and the agro crag and began the ascent. This was definitely my favorite part of the hike. Jen and I pretended like we were real life contestants on Global Guts and totally championed the agro crag like a winning team would. Complete with commentary... "now back to Mo. Mo!"

After that feat, we were all covered in slime and goo for the return trip. In fact, we each would have brought back at least 74 pounds of mud if it wasn't for the steady rain that washed it off as we hiked. How's that for a silver lining!?

After too much confusion about if a truck could carry us back to site due to the muddy road up to Ambanga, one came through and Kelsey, Bilal, Jen, Kate, Bryan, and I were soon back at my place. We peeled off our layers and soaked in the hot springs for a couple of hours. The perfect ending to the climb up Ambae's volcano? Enjoying the hot spring that was formed due to its existence. Thank you, mama nature!

Bonus ending! As you can probably imagine, there is a lot of kastom around Mt. Manaro - stories of origin, black magic, and traditions that shape the culture on Ambae. In South, one kastom is the Manaro tattoo. The design is 2 lines that represent the path to Manaro. It's believed that if you've gone to the top and get the marking, when you die, your spirit will return to the volcano and dance in it's fire forever. Okay fine, I'm in!

 

We found one of my neighbors who's from South Ambae and he gave us the tattoos. He used ash and the juice from a medicinal leaf as the ink and a thorn from the pamplemus tree as the needle (don't worry mom, we all used different thorns) It turned out great, healed properly, and will be a sweet reminder of this incredible journey for a long, long time (forever)

independence on santo

A quick post on the adventures in Luganville!

Laura and I stayed with Kate and Bryan at their house on the school grounds of Santo East. Kate teaches primary like Laura and me and Bryan is an IT vol teaching secondary students about computers. Their setup is pretty awesome. I say awesome in a nonjealous way- I'd never give up my "authentic peace corps experience" on Ambae and I genuinely mean that. There's something satisfying and rewarding about living simply- sans lights, plumbing, and other conveniences. But that being said, the Bate n' Kryan Lodge is a great place to visit! Luganville is a laid back town surrounded by beauty. Kate and Bryan have a comfortable home with 24/7 electricity, running water, tile floors, and an indoor toilet and shower! Prettttty unreal. They've painted the living room and made it feel like home. 

The week was full of fun activities. The whole country switches to celebration mode when Independence rolls around. And Luganville, being one of the two towns on Vanuatu, is a hub of excitement. Unity Park, which sits on the water in the middle of town, was packed with things going on. Food stalls lined the park, each one selling a variety of goodies. Fresh meat, laplap, corn, cake (cake!!), and endless other foods were laid out for cheap prices. You could (and we did several times) buy a hoagie roll packed with cooked-in-front-of-you killed-that-morning steak and sautéed onions for just over a buck! There were games, too. For around ten cents, you could join a game of darts or try your chances at bottle caps. We kept getting lucky and then treating ourselves to banana cake and kabobs (meatsticks!) One area of the park had a row of kava stalls with men and women selling kava from many of the surrounding islands. Oh the options! We sampled em all. There were live bands, fire dancers, water musicians, basketball games, boxing matches, and a bunch of other random happenings throughout the week. 

Other than spending ample amounts of time at Unity Park soaking in the festivities, we bounced around town checking out all the volunteers' houses and lives. 

Sunday we went to David's place (an IT vol working at college de luganville) and had a movie day. We played some frisbee, cooked up some grub, and watched cosmos and human planet. It was wonderful!

Monday afternoons are reserved for ultimate frisbee between the pcv's, volunteers from other organizations, ex pats, and locals on the field at Kate and Bryan's school. Man it was fun. My plan is to get some frisbees to my site so the kids and teachers can play!

We woke up Tuesday and got ready for a bike ride. Laura, Kate, Bryan and I rode  the 20 km on beautiful country roads out to Mantevulu. Santo is home to many blue holes- swimming holes that are just what they sound like. So incredibly blue and clear! We swam around, swung on the rope swings, and headed back to the house for pizza night. Homemade pizzas were the perfect topping to a nice, exhausting day 

July 30th marked the 24th anniversary of Independence for Vanuatu! We celebrated by making Kate's family's special banana crepes for breakfast.  I think I'll celebrate every holiday with that recipe. So delicious! We had a pretty easy going day- hung out at Unity Park, drank some kava, and met up with other friends. Maureen Mike and Sara came in on the ferry from Malekula in the evening, sowe met them up at an extendee vol Sam's house. We all played catch up and listened to their entertaining stories about the trip over. 

The next day Laura and I went to Million Dollar Point with Sara, Mike, and Maureen. In an earlier post I talked about the US presence in Vanuatu during World War 2 and how we dumped all of our equipment into the ocean so that our enemies couldn't use it when we left. Well this all happened at Million Dollar Point on Santo! We snorkeled around checking out the tanks, airplanes, and rubble underwater, repurposed as homes to endless sea creatures. The beach is covered in sea glass, which was awesome! Old coca cola and medicine bottles from the wreckage were welded into the rocks creating a manmade reef. I found an old spoon engraved with "USA" on the handle! It was a day full of exploration and it ended with a gudfala meal at the beachfront cafe. 

The weekend was full of last minute errands to run in town. I bought some lumber for the bed and bench I'm building for my house and they put it on a ship to Ambae. We had a big family spaghetti dinner with sangria and charades! On Sunday Laura left and the rest of us went up to Hog Harbor and spent the day on Champagne Beach. Wow! It's an incredible white sand beach with cool reefs for snorkeling. A great end to my stay on Santo! 

My next trip back will include some scuba diving around the island. The USS Coolidge was sunk there (along with the rest of America's footprint) after WW2 and is apparently a great dive site! 

Woke up early on Momday and had a last skype with my sister before she becomes a mama in September! She was glowing and absolutely beautiful! It's hard not being there to see my first niece pop out, but hopefully coming home at the start of 2015 to meet the little nugget 

I had my last kakae - a 9 am burger at Attar. Sydney (a vol on Ambae who's in the earlier group) walked in, sat down, and told me bout her trip to Indonesia that she just came home from! Definitely putting it on the list of places to see while I'm on this side of the planet. 

I got back to my wonderful family and to animal children that are still alive! All three pups are growing up and full of energy. My papa has a new pet flying fox these days so that was a fun greeting! His last one died a few months ago after a 3 year run, so we'll see how it goes

Some pigs roam free and others are fenced in - easier to maintain a pig that way when you're raising him for his tusk. My brother was keeping his baby pig, Wala, in my parents' kitchen while he builds a fence for him. He's now moved to the tree hole by the toilets! He's such a cute little guy - his fur reminds me of a chipmunk and he loves to have his belly rubbed. Who doesn't, really?! I've been keeping him company whenever I want a blast of oinks. 

hey fam!

A short layover on Santo, just long enough to eat french fries and skype with my beautiful sister and her new joy nugget, Lyla. 

Here's to getting the word out about the fun things happening over here! Sending my love your way and hoping everyone has smooth sailing for the next 3 1/2 months! 

Bored? Send a letter. Happy? Send a letter. Let's engage in this ancient art of communication together! Long live the postal stamp

Until next time..    

The lazy kids