september vila visit

My September Vila town visit was unplanned, but ended up being a great one. I went in because I had been feeling sick at site and the doc thought it was a good idea to get some tests done. All is well, so no worries! Probably was just a bit dehydrated (even with drinking 2 liters a day) and iron deficient. Feeling health bakagen, so no worries.

Alexis, a volunteer on Maewo, had helped organize a workshop in Vila for solar digital libraries. Because it wasn’t Peace Corps run, we’d have to pay our own roads to attend. I ended up being lucky because my medical visit was aligned with the workshop and I got to attend for only the cost of accommodation.

A class at University of California Polytech has been working on making and improving a self-contained solar digital library then call SPELL. Their goal is to create something that can withstand the tropical climate and conditions, something portable, cheap, and practical so that everyone around the world has access to information. Amazing! Two students and their teacher led the workshop. Each of us got to take home a digital library: a waterproof box with a solar panel on the back. Inside is a small banana pi computer with a memory card full of information in a beautiful interface they designed, a battery, and they gave us a tablet to use with the community. I am so very glad that I attended this workshop and in hindsight would have bought my own flight if I had known how damn cool it was. I’ve trained the teaching staff at my school and they love playing on the “website” the polytech team created.

Other than that, the Vila trip was the typical run around to different food venues and indulging in cold beer and cheese and speaking English with other volunteers. The Peace Corps Response Volunteer Kate had a birthday party and that was a fun night of games and dancing.

I got a bike! I’ve been wanting a bicycle, but have been discouraged by the state of the roads on Ambae. They’ve improved since I got to Ambae, so I started lookin’. Bikes are either really expensive or really shitty. But! My friend Thomas found a flyer for a few bikes that an ex-pat family was selling. We checked them out and I came home with a pretty cheap foldable (yes, it folds!) bike from Japan. It’s a silly little thing, but it does the trick! And it’s complemented by my super cool peace corps issued helmet. No shame!

There are yoga classes in Vila every day, so I usually take advantage of that. I practice yoga pretty much every day at site, but being in a class and having an instructor guide me is a really nice change up. On Wednesday Kelsey and I went a class and then met Thomas at this restaurant called Chill for the best dish in town, lobsterlicious pizza. I daydream of it often. We 3 way split the family size and a plate of steak and haloumi kabobs (whoa!) and were in food bliss all afternoon.

We went to a couple fundraisers and had a bunch of family style dinners at Pac Par, the motel we stay at. It was a great trip catching up with friends, but as always, by the end of the trip I am eager to get back to the sweet life on Ambae.