Week One and Two--Boot Camp

10.6.07

It’s Saturday morning and I’m two weeks in Vanuatu, six days in Managliliu. Yesterday I came down with some stomach problems so I refrained from dinner and lay down. I lay down for about twelve hours. When I finally ventured from bed and my hut I was comfortable enough to partake of bread and hot water. Totally my choice. I have spent the suing three plus hours doing the following. Reading about sixty pages of The Sex Lives of Savages (boy am I glad Peace Corps shut down Kiribati and I wasn’t sent there) and playing guard duty to the village exit. My hut is about forty feet from said exit. Thus as each truck (three or four), wheel barrow, or walker has passed I have given them a wave of passage. Okay I have also taken a couple pictures of a particular tree and its fruit, pushed Joanna, the three year old niece, in the tree swing, chased an errant wind blown wash basin, transferred pictures from camera to computer and sorted a few papers. Oh yes I had a friendly gecko drop down on me while I was reading. I flicked him or her off and used an expletive deleted.
Yesterday it rained quite a bit. Sometime drizzle, sometime torrents. It certainly kept down the flies. Not so right this minute. So I’m going to stop typing and start moving around.
So I went for a little walk. I got pikinini-nabbed by five little ones. They wanted me to take them to Survivor Beach. The beach where Survivor: Island of Fire was filmed. Just a little stroll through the bush. Thirty minutes into it we turned towards the beach and took the beach road, so to speak. Along the way we passed a few adults. Some coming from gardening. Bananas, taro leaves, island cabbage, coconuts and firewood. The children, four boys and a girl joyfully pointed out the plants. The jungle was dense as we traveled the road. Two tracks from both car wheels and walking. The children knew the way. When we arrived there were seven or eight other PCVs already there and ten or so other local children. The children immediately hit the water and swam, except on little fellow named Willie. He sat near me. He was afraid of the water. Finally after my borrowed sunscreen had time to take effect I encouraged Willie to go into the sea with me holding him. He clung tight. Eventually I loosened his grip and through encouragement he took to the water. Before the day was over he was swimming under my legs time and time again. I played in the water with five or so children. Splashing and later I became a raft that they pulled and pushed in and out. The children are all so natural and easy to play with. Most children are unless there parents have been sitting on them. Let them be and they find their way. After three hours I rounded my crew up and we began our hour trek home. We talked and made funny noises. The two older boys had caught half dozen small crabs. They gave them to me to take home for cooking. I forgot to eat them tonight.
Day before yesterday I was awaken at 5AM by a taping on the tin wall outside my bed. It went away and then a few minutes later it came back. It went away again and once more returned. I got out of bed and looked out my window. No one in sight. I returned to bed. The tapping returned again. I put on my shorts and went outside, walked around the hut. No one. Had I forgotten to get up for the days event. No other volunteers in sight at the community mango tree. We have been told of a local practice of some men where they creep around a woman’s house. “Creeping”. Was I being creeped. I told trainers I was. I was joking. Finally Richard told me it was a gecko. I have become famous for being creeped by a gecko.

10.9.07

Tuesday night. I’ve just come from my host family’s house. I had dinner and Mama and Papa worked hard with me to talk bislama. I really have little trouble hearing or reading and understanding the language. But I must work very hard to speak it. It is a matter of thinking in bislama. It is like being a three year old. I understand most of what’s said but can’t express myself. Very inhibiting. It’s not easy for someone as loquacious as me to have to struggle to talk.
Yesterday afternoon I went snorkeling with two PCVs and a couple of village boys (maybe 10-12 years old). It was a long swim, perhaps ¾ of a mile. The water was fairly clear, we had a small storm come through the night before and it had stirred the sea a bit. The water is very comfortable. I spotted a couple of interesting fish. A lion fish which looks like it has feathers all around its neck and a small dark blue fish with concentric white rings around its side. Today I asked a PCV who is part of the reef management team about it. She went to the book. It’s a type of angel fish. I stayed fairly close in to the shoreline. I had to swim to catch up with the other fellows. I had an escort in Richie (a boy). Noa, a PCV from Hawaii had a spear and we caught up to Eddie, the village sited PCV (also from Hawaii) who was on his canoe. Noa spotted a fish under some coral and Eddie speared it. It turned out to be a puffer fish. It ballooned up and was wedged in the coral. Eddie couldn’t remove his spear because of its barb. It took a good ten minutes and a number of dives by each of us to finally get the fish out. Then Eddie used his knife to carefully cut the spear from the fish. The puffer is covered with sharp thorns. As he worked at removing the spear the fish began to emit blood from its gills. It died during the process. The boys said it would be good “kakae” (food) so it was keep. The sun was close to setting and the boys were a bit cold so Noa, the boys and I went ashore to walk back to the village. As we walked for a few minutes we turn back to watch the sunset. Eddie in his canoe was on the horizon. It was a classic scene. No camera doggoneit. There will be many other opportunities I’m sure. The fish must have weighed twenty pounds. We took turns carrying it on a metal rod that John (the other village boy) had. We walked maybe five hundred yards along the shore to where the fresh water comes to the ocean. Noa and I rinsed in it, and then we turned inland and walked the rest of the way through the jungle. It is the road to survivor beach. Good workout for the day.
The training program here is excellent. Well most of the time. Today was one of the better ones. We had one of the PCMOs (medical officers) in today and they always do an excellent job. We really will need to our own doctors when we are on site. So there is lots of training in health issues, emotional as well as physical. Of course we have daily language classes. There are cultural classes. Yesterday we had a wokabout to learn island food. Trees and plants that sustain the locals. Island cabbage, papaya, bananas, taro, manioc (cassava-tapioca comes from it), other nuts and fruit. We had demonstrations on cutting down a banana tree, planting island cabbage and pulling the manioc roots out. All this on a path through the jungle. We are also getting training in teaching and development methods and strategies. Today a PCV named Susan, who has been here for three and a half years gave an excellent workshop on workshops. Workshops are the primary way to deliver assistance and training. During the session we had several very good student directed learning experiences. The finally was four different presentations on the use of visual aids. One group created a song, as did mine, did a pantomime and a third a skit. All were excellently creative. These are some very dynamic young people. We are in only our third week on training. At the end of ten weeks we will be ready. I hesitate to say it is like Marine Corps boot camp, but honestly it is, sans the mental and physical torment. We must be prepared to do the job.