Ahh I’ve fallen behind on my blogging. Happy Thanksgiving! I had a pretty good one compared to my depressingly uneventful Halloween. A bunch of Peace Corps from my island, Malekula and the neighboring island Santo got together to celebrate. We made tons of American food that people’s moms had sent from the states. We had our feast at Dan’s house, which was interesting because Dan lives in the middle of a school closing. Since it’s summer break now all the schools have big school closing parties. Now remember I’m in the middle of nowhere rural Vanuatu so this school closing is the happening thing in town. As Justine pointed out it’s sort of like little house on the prairie with huge rented speakers pointed directly at Dan’s house. Music started around 11am and ricocheted off the walls of Dan’s cinder block house and into our ears blocking out the ability to hold a conversation. Around 3 pm I began to feel a bit insane as I kept having circular thoughts of turning down the music and then realizing I couldn’t and then wanting to turn it down again. By 9 o’clock we gave in and went and danced our hearts out with all the 13 year olds in front of the speakers.

Since then I’ve been two other school closings, a school fundraiser and a wedding. And I danced with all the 13 year olds or all the mama’s every time. All the Mamas like string band music, folky ukulele, guitar songs with big wooden box, a string, and a stick providing the bass. All the 13 year olds prefer hip-hop remixed in with their string band. And there’s war on the dance floor. when string band comes on all the kids slow down their dancing and when hip hop comes on a the mama’s stand there and wait for the next song. I think both types of music are atrocious but I really just want to dance. I kind of prefer dancing with the kids because they are really good dancers and the Sean Kingston lyrics make it a bit less foreign to my ears but I can’t help thinking I should be dancing with the mamas cause they are my age. I feel like I’m supposed to be a role model and people treat me with a lot of respect but I frequently find myself sympathizing with the youngfala over my authority figure allies. When the MC got on the loud speaker and reminded all the girls that they are not to be wearing trousers, all the girls I was dancing with ashamedly covered up their baggy jean shorts with big pieces of fabric that were passed around the crowd by an old man. Another announcement came on that a few young men had snuck some beers in and I couldn’t help thinking they had a great idea and I wish I could be doing that instead. Fricken missionaries ruin everything.

So I’m at my permanent site here in Lamap, Malekula. On my first day my rural training center counterpart, James, took me to harvest the kava of Jack, the previous volunteer who was spending his last week here during my first week. So I went to plant my kava from the stalks of his which will be ready to harvest in about two years when I’ll be heading out. It was actually quite a trek. Lamap is like a big village with about 1000 people living in natangura and bamboo huts all clustered together. But their farm land is a few miles away. It takes about an hour to walk to the farms. An unnecessary two hour commute just seems a bit crazy to me. But the walk was gorgeous. We walked through a coconut plantations with it’s perfect rows of column trunks reaching up to a palm fronds roof top set on top of a ridge overlooking the Port. The greeks couldn’t have planned it better. A coconut Parthenon. The rows of trunks look like they go on forever. And it’s fun to watch the optical illusion of the diagonal rows moving as you walk down the path. The big columns look like they go on forever and men walking about to collect the coconuts look tiny in comparison. The greeks however probably wouldn’t keep their cows in the Parthenon. Keeping one eye on the path to look out for cow pies. Sort of spoils the mood.

I went to a wedding yesterday though they were actually already married in church. In fact they already had three kids. This was just the dowry ceremony. My uncle tried to tell me it’s the traditional way to say thank you to the woman’s family for giving her away. However in bislama the name of the ceremony translates to “buying the woman”. So yea this woman’s price was about $1000, a ginormous pig, a couple hundred pounds of root crops and bananas, 20 mats and a basket of fish. The woman was covered and guarded by her aunts and there was a fence of palm fronds around her house. All of the man’s family came and brought gifts. The brother of the man has to remove the fence and then the woman’s family and then man’s family make speeches and except each others gift. I though it was very interesting that the man and the woman (apart from being covered in brightly colored tapestries, baby powder, leaves and flowers) were not really the center of attention. They were both well into their 20s but their parents did all the talking. After the exchange of gifts the man goes home and waits for the woman to be delivered by her family to his house in parade of singing and flowers. And after, dance backagain!

10/31/09

Happy Halloween! Oh wait nobody is celebrating that here. And I’ve been so busy finishing up training I don’t even have time to organize anything. I might have time to make macaroons though. That’s be nice. They use coconuts for everything here but nobodies thought of macaroons!

So this is my last day in Emua, the training village. The huge highlight of the week which blocks out all other memories of the past week is the site announcements. I found out where I’m going to be stationed for the next two years! I’m going to Lamap, Malekula a small town on the South East tip pf the island. It has an airport, a wharf and two stores. Wooh. This is actually a god site from what I understand. I’m actually replacing 2 volunteers. The one who left 6 months ago was working on a marine conservation project and the other who is leaving now was working at an Rural Training Center (RTC). My assignment is to work with the area secretary but my job title is RTC advisor so I think I’ll be pretty busy trying on different hats. But really I’m trying not to set any expectations because it will be undoubtedly different than I could ever imagine.

So now we are leaving the training village to head into Vila and buy everything we’ll need for the next 3 months. I should explain that although Lamap has two stores, these stores would not be nearly as equipped as your average American gas station. So if I want anything other than rice and tinned tuna for the next 3 months. I have to buy it in Vila. So it’s gunna be a busy week. Wooh shopping spree!

Earlier this week we had a really funny activity. A creeping simulation. Creeping is the culturally appropriate way to ask someone out. Because public displays of affection and public dating are frowned upon, the only option for people who want to date is to go to their lover’s house late at night and ask to come in. So if someone likes you they come to your house at night and persistently ask to come in. So they did a simulation of this at the training village because most women volunteers do have a creeping at least once in their 2 years and they want us to be ready. So basically the trainers got a bunch of young men in the village together and told them to go creep us. It was ridiculous. We didn’t know it was gunna happen and it was late at night and I was actually writing a letter. I wish I’d been asleep but no it was the one night I stayed up. Some guy came to my window and was whispering my name and asking to come in. Creepy for sure. I kept telling him to go away in Bislama and I even started yelling. Then after 10 minutes of this I told him I was just going to go to sleep and I tried to ignore him. But he wouldn’t stop and he started shining his light in the room and reaching in through a hole in the screen. That was all I could take so I went into my parents room. And then they kept calling my cellphone all night. The boys from the village apparently had so much fun with it and I knew it was a simulation but still I was freaked out. Yuck.

Last night we had our last Kakae with the host families it was really sweet. All the mamas made food and brought it at 5 pm which in aelan taem is 6ish. The program was supposed to start at 6 is 7ish. Lots of speeches and prayers. There was an opening prayer for the opening prayer, thank you papa god. We all got tons of gifts from our host families. Fist we all got matching aelan dresses. I got two baskets, a mat, a plate, a cup, a necklace, a bracelet, and earrings. It was like xmas! We gave them our presents of a huge sign with the name of their town and all its tourist attractions which was received with what looked like mixed reviews from the crowd. I hope they follow through and put it on the road.

After we could no longer hear all the speeches over our stomachs grumbling and he kids playing. Finally we had closing prayer and got to eat the food that had been staring at us frm the table for 3 hours. And dance the night away until it is no longer appropriate to play loud music in Emua which is 10 oclock.

I will miss Emua especially my host family because they have been amazingly supportive and understanding. But I seriously can’t wait to get to the next place. A hotel in Vila with my own shower, privacy, etc. Emua is like suburbia for Port Vila. I’m so glad my site is not here because its boring like a suburb and they’re spoiled with humanitarian aid here as compared to some of the outer islands. Plus there is no adventure to be had. Malekula on the other hand will be full of surprises.

10/24/09

Wow lots to report since my last post. It is now the end of the 6th week of training and I'm beginning to show signs of senioritis. It doesn't help that I just got my first real taste of Vanuatu and Peace Corps life with my visit to Justine last week. For 4 weeks we were kept in the small rural village of Emua so I was beginning to feel a little cabin fever. Its crazy to think that in no time I'll have to be spending three to six months at a time in such a very rural setting. Anyhow last Sunday we got to get out of Emua to visit some other volunteers. Getting around Vanuatu is no easy feat let me tell you. There are 83 small islands spread out over a space the size of California and not all of them have airports. Including Maewo the island where Justine lives. Well they have a landing strip but it hasn't been mowed in a while so we flew to Ambae and rode in the back of a pickup to Lolowai house while singing the Indiana Jones theme song and ducking to avoid branches. At Lolowai we took a boat, a very small aluminum boat that had by the will of god washed up on the property of our boat driver. A dinghy if you will that the 8 of us crammed onto to take out on a journey across the Pacific Ocean. Well it was only a two hour boat ride but it scared the bejesus out if me (queue Gilligans Island theme song). The sea was really rough and it was rainy and cloudy so much so that at one point we could see neither Ambae nor Maewo. I remember thinking how crazy it is that our little dinghy is like a little speck in the middle of the Pacific and how screwed we'd be out there without food or water. . . Then the engine died. The boat driver looked a little concerned as the waves pushed our boat around and crashed over us. He picked up the gas tank and shook it as if it were very light and close to empty. Then he worked on getting the engine going again. After a frightening 5 minutes of imagining us all drifting about the ocean for the rest of our short lives, the engine started backup and the driver proceeded to stand up and look 360 degrees around him for a sign of the islands. He asked us if we wanted to go back but since we didn't know which way back was, we went forward in the hopes that an island would reveal itself to us. And after several nerve wracking minutes it did. Phew, I thought, we're halfway there.

Luckily life on Maewo isn't nearly as stressful as traveling to there. Maewo is a beautiful island full of waterfalls. There must be a river or creek or spring every half mile coming from the mountain. It's so green. After our harrowing journey across the ocean it was really nice to get all cozy in warm clothes and catch up with Justine. She's doing good by the way. She only has 8 more months here. She's applying to grad school now as we speak here in the same room as me. Then she's off the China for three weeks. I'm so jealous.

Anyway Maewo, on the second day we went to Big Water. And it was pretty big alright. It's a huge waterfall that cascades down the hill. It must be 50 meters wide and of course has more opportunities for cliff jumping. I didn't jump this time; I'd had enough after Saama. I thought that after jumping once I wouldn't be as frightened but having that gut wrenching fear fresh in your memory actually makes it harder to jump. So I jumped off he 40 foot cliff at Saama twice and I couldn't bring myself to do it again at Big Water. It was a gorgeous place and I'm glad two in our group were brave enough to leap.

The next day I shadowed Justine at the RTC and we ate diner at Sandy's house which was the best aelan kakae I think I’ve had so far. Water taro with aelan cabbage (which is really like spinach) and tons of strong coconut milk. The strong coconut milk is sort of like creamy cheesy sauce. It’s so good but it’s a lot of work to make. We each probly ate 2 coconuts worth and there were 10 plates. So that means mama carried, broke, scratched and milked 20 coconuts. Lots of work but so worth it. Sandy’s family also made hand ground kava. They used a grinding stone and coral to beat it to a pulp. It was much fresher and therefore a bit stronger than the stuff on Efate. Plus at least it wasn’t masticated by young boys like on a lot of islands.

The next day we went for a wokabout to visit the dispensary/ healthcenter/ birthing ward. A woman had just had a baby there 10 days before. The poor woman! The baby was too big and she had to be cut to fit him through. And all she had was Tylenol For the pain. Then we went to meet this brave woman and her new baby. She was so sweet and we all stood around cooing at her baby for a while until it was almost awkward heehee. Then we went walking about looking for some swimming holes to bath in. We hiked up the river in our flipflops trying to be careful not to step on all the water taro planted close up to the river. When we found the swim holes we decided to hike up a bit further just to see. As I hiked up I came upon a huge waterfall whose beauty was unreal to me. I was astounded by its beauty, literally breathless. Which was magnified by the fact that I had know clue that I was about to happen upon a magnificent natural feature. None of us had any idea we were about to stumble upon a 100 foot tall 10 foot wide waterfall. I’m beginning to understand why people believe in the magic here. Unexplainable natural forces are everywhere; volcanoes, cyclones, earthquakes, waterfalls, giant caves. It’s out of this world.

Oh yes and another magical place on the island that we didn’t actually get to but saw from the boat on our way out was the moon’s cave. It’s called that because the moon was born there before it came out into the sky. Yes the moon is from Vanuatu, don’t laugh. It looks big enough to drive a ship into and it has a round entrance and is the source of a deep fresh water spring so that even though it flows into the ocean you can swim in cold fresh water.

Hey so here’s my address if you want to send me treats!

For letters send them to:

Stephanie Blaufarb

Peace Corps Volunteer

Lamap Village

C/O Lamap Village Post Office

South Malekula

Vanuatu

South Pacific

For packages still send stuff to:

Stephanie Blaufarb

Peace Corps Volunteer

PMB 9097

Port Vila

Vanuatu

South Pacific