Village Life

We're in the training village now and it is really beginning to feel like the experience I expected. It is a little bit like camping all the time. There are pit toilets and outdoor showers, mosquito nets, lots of sunscreen and a walk on the beach every morning. The papa in my family is a small chief in the village, so not the main chief, but one of severl smaller chiefs. He and his wife are in their 60's. My sister and her husband have 2 children, Junior or Choo Choo who is 10 and Leon who is almost 4. Nem blong mi papa i (my papa's name is) Michael and he retired from the Ministry of Education around 1992. He speaks good English as does his daughter, Dorana and son-in-law, Obid. And, both Dorana and Obid speak French. So, I'm learning Bislama, some traditional language AND French. Until now I did not think I remember enough Spanish to have a conversation with anyone, but it looks like I know enough to really confuse the Bislama language. My Ni-Van (pronounced nee-van) family is very patient and are good teachers.

Every morning we have breakfast together and then send me off to classes being conducted by the Peace Corps training staff. At lunch, all of the village women make lunch and we have this huge buffet lunch. Our trainers tell us that we are very lucky because all of the women are very good cooks and that the last class wasn't so lucky. I believe it! Some of the volunteers are not liking the food too much though. Getting enough protein in the training village is definitely going to be a problem though. When we came into town today, I immediately went to the store and bought a hugh chicken leg.

In the evening, we storian and toktok (tell stories and talk) and I learn more Bislama and more about Vanuatu, Ni-Vans and village life. Sometimes it seems as if there is too much information/knowledge we need to absorb and sometimes it seems as if things are not moving fast enough. I guess I'm in that in-between world all volunteers find themselves in before learning aelan taem (island time).

It is actually getting hard to not spell and write and think in English at times too. All very exciting when I'm not scared to death, but it is all becoming easier.

lukyu bekegan, tata (look you back again, bye for now),
Sandy