Well I've been in Vanuatu now for about a month. In many regards it seems much longer.  It is a series of ups and downs for us all as we adjust to life here- speaking Bislama, island time,Vanuatu culture, living with our host families, the never ending questions from locals, and the local favorite (and not so tasty) lap-lap.

The first week here was spent at a training camp getting accustom to living with cold showers and few ammenities, PC expectations and proceduers, and an introduction to Bislama. Then our group of 41 split in 4 groups to different training villages were we live with host families.

I'm living in a village call Panangisu which has about 700 people.  My host family lives in what we would consider a tin shack but we do have a tank of filtered rain water for drinking and a cement toilet that flushes (if you pour a bucket of water down it.)  They have chickens and roosters that run around outside and my mama just brought home a little kitten a few days ago.

At times I feel like I'm living in a fish bowl as everyone knows everything we are doing (us white people stick out like a sore thumb here) and the Ni-Vans are always asking questions.."Yu go wea?"...but that is just their culture.  They have a laid back lifestyle and have the best of intentions although seem overbearing at times.  Last Saturday my host parents went out looking for me on the main road at 8:30pm because I wasn't home yet and they were concerned.  Altough it was dark, I was coming back from hanging out with other volunteers.  I found it rather annoying, they have a tendancy to treat us like children. However, they have the best of intentions and really are kind people. 

Well, I don't have email access out in the villages.  Only when I'm in the capital which means once a month during training.   Until next time!