A day in Vila...

Hey all! Just got a day in Vila today for everyone to do some shopping for gifts for our host families because we will be finished with training in less than two weeks, in which time we will be sworn in as official volunteers and begin our two years of service, awesome. It's nice to come into Vila and get things that you won't find out in village stores which are very small, usually just selling small scale household products like soap and batteries and snacks and cigarettes and maybe some drinks (unrefrigerated). And of course there is internet access in Vila, so I thought I'd take advantage, even though I'll be back in a couple of weeks after swearing in. But going into Vila also has it's frustrations, especially if you go on the weekend when most shops close after lunch time, and of course every time we seem to come into Vila to get stuff done it is on a Saturday, so people are scrambling around town to buy this or find that or use this or talk to this person. So you really start to appreciate some of the simplicities and even luxuries of the village life, especially the insignificance of money in the village life where the barter system or "custom economy" is still very prevalent. But I do like Vila, and now I don't feel like a tourist anymore while I'm here because I always speak Bislama at the markets and at the stores and I see many locals from around the villages that I know and they will take the time to call out to me or any of us and talk for a bit, in Bislama of course, so that is definitely nice. Many people who see a bunch of "white people" or anyone who looks like a tourist think that they don't know Bislama and are just here for vacation or something of the sort, which is true much of the time. But they are also familiar with PC volunteers and once you start speaking Bislama they either ask you how long you've lived here (usually meaning how many years) or they ask if you are here with the PC. Although Bislama is a relatively easy language to learn you won't see or hear many outsiders speaking it because they don't take the time to learn, which is understandable I suppose if you are only visiting for a short time, but I've seen ex-pats (usually Aussies and Kiwis) that have lived here for years and either don't take the time to learn the language that well or don't make the effort to speak the language if they know it...but I'm not speaking for all ex-pats of course, only what I've seen or heard. I think that because the language is so close to English many people who speak English just use English instead, especially in Vila because it is an urban center with much more outsider influence and more Ni-Van that speak English. And I also understand that many Ni-Van would maybe prefer English sometimes to better there language and use it if they got it. However, in my experience so far people around here, especially at the markets, really like it when you speak in Bislama and they are so thrilled sometimes to know that you have taken the time to learn Bislama and talk in it. They really seem to think of you in a different light when you take the time and effort, and that is definitely one reason why the PC is so respected and held in high regard around here and all throughout Vanuatu. And when you learn local language (there are over a hundred local languages spoken throughout Vanuatu, one of the most diverse areas of language in the world if not the most relatively speaking for its area) they will love it, I mean you can just learn a few phrases or words and they will literally go crazy sometimes, but I'm aiming to learn the language fluently down on Tanna in my village, we'll see. I already learned a few phrases during walkabout week: Ravit lakap nepin - good morning, ravit lanaeu - good night...there's a couple for you to try and pronounce.
So after a long day of shopping and talking and running around in Vila I'm now sitting here in the cyber cafe using the computer and waiting for our ride back to the village. My mama is having a fundraising tonight at our house to raise money from the community for schools fees for my brothers. So hopefully we'll be back in time for some of that food and of course, kava. I consider it a productive day in Vila and now I'm ready to return to the village and spel smol(relax, or "spill small" in English).
My next post will prob be in a couple of weeks when we come back to Vila for a week after swearing in. We'll have a week here to get things together for site and talk to various government depts. or officials and purchase materials and maybe even have some get togethers with everyone because we won't be seeing each other in a group setting like this for months, possibly up to a year, so we'll make the best of what's around as Dave Matthews once put it in a song.
So until the next post you all...Health, Love and Peace