Back from "walkabout"...

Hey everyone! It's been something like 6 weeks now and just in those few weeks much has happened. We all just got back from walkabout week which is where we all go out to our future sites and get to know the village, the area and all that good stuff. I'm gonna be going to Tanna, one of the islands in the southern most province, Tafea...look it up online! I'm glad to be giong to Tanna because it's got a bunch of good stuff about it like the huge active volcano Mt. Yasur, the biggest Nabanga tree in the southern hemisphere (amazing, I got to see it just the other day because its only about 20 minute walk from my village), strong custom practices, amazingly fertile ground because of the volcano, and heaps more which I have yet to discover. We're getting into the cooler months here in Vanuatu so it's been nice, and actually a little chilly some nights, especially down in the Tafea province because it's further away from the equator. So before I tell you a little about my village in Tanna I will just say that training up until walkabout week has been going great. My Bislama is fine now and I already moved on to trying to topple some local language, which is definitely much more difficult, but more interesting too. About a week and a half ago I slashed my finger open out in the bush during tech training and now I'm going around with 6 stitches in my right pointer finger trying to nurse my wound and steer clear of infection, because in this type of climate and place it aint too hard to get an infection from even the slightest cut or scratch. It's funny because when most people see tyhe stitches they immediately assume that I was using the bush knife with my left hand and sliced my right. That would be the logical explanation most of the time, but I'm right handed, so how did I slash my own right hand while holding the bushknife in my right hand. Well, it had been raining so everything was wet of course, including the bushknife that I was using (which I had borrowed from a local b/c I lost mine, and they keep their knives sharp, whereas mine probably would not have done nearly as much damage). So while standing up in a tree and chopping some posts for a tree nursery that we were making the whole knife just slipped down through my hands and like cutting through butter it just opened up my finger like that, but I won't get into any more details than that. But its cool though, I still got 10 fingers and now I will hopefully have a permanent mark from Vanuatu. It was bound to happen to someone in our group, and I was that person, an honor indeed!

I'm really ikeing my training village, especially my family who I know I will miss when training is over and I'm down on Tanna, but I'll visit when able. My birthday's coming up too, 23 years! Exciting! I just got my first package from back in the States last week, and it was a big one, for my birthday of course. Thanks everyone, Mom, Mike, Nicole, Nana...I loved it, especially the CD you all made for me. So that was nice.

So I am beginning to realize that this blog may not be what I had hoped for or what you all had expected because after going to site on Tanna I think that my internet resources will not be that readily available. Also, I feel that I'm not such a good blogger or letter writer, but that's just me. If you all like it then great. I'm also totally down with you all emailing me with some ideas of what you'd like to know about, any thing really. This might give me a better idea of what to put up when I do make posts, because my posts will be sporatic and may have large gaps of time from one to the next, so when I do have the opportunity to post I can put up my own thoughts and experiences in my own way but also try to cater to any specific details you all might want to know...just a thought.

But my village in Tanna is called Imoklen, which is pretty much a family unit consisting of 30-40 people in a bigger village area called Lenopkamei. It's a nice area which lies up on the hill and there are some amazing lookouts just a little higher where you can see out to the ocean and much of the rest of the island, but not all the island because it's one of the bigger islands in Vanuatu, and supposedly one of the best. It's about a 45 minute trek from the main town, Lenakel, to my site. Not too far at all, especially compared to some other volunteers' site locations. So it's nice because I will have the genuine village life and experience custom ceremonies, yet I will also have somewhat of an easy access to things in town. My house is made of custom materials an was just built a couple of months ago, so it's nice. My host family seems great as well as the many other villagers that I met during my week at various times and places, especially at the Nakamals. In Tanna the kava is usually custom-made, which means that it is chewed until mush, then spit out onto a leaf, after which it can only be touched by young boys who are virgins. The youngs boys work that kava with a little water into individual shells and then you drink it...delicious! Even though it sounds a little unsettling, drinking custom kava is actually better than ready-made kava because it is smoother going down and doesn't have such a bitter aftertaste. Plus it's usually stronger because it is less diluted and more concentrated. But that's just a brief description of that, there's much more to it in a cultural sense which I can explain at a later time. Anyway I tried chewing some and I don't know if I'll do it again, but probably for special occasions or something, we'll see.

Okay I don't want this to be any longer than it is so I'm gonna stop now. Besides, my finger needs to rest, but typing is much easier to do with this finger than writing. I could go on of course, but there will be more to come. I will def put up a post after training is over because we will be here in Vila for a week to get stuff together for site. Until then I hope all of you stay happy and healthy, I'll try to do the same. Drop me an emial from time to time of you all want, they'll deliver it to me at the village. Just use the address I put on the previous post, the peace corps one. Love and Peace!