Got a message from my guy Nick, went like this:
"Javi-
got your last couple of emails. sounds as though things are....i don't know, consistent? i still have a pretty hazy idea of how things go for you out there. specific questions on my part are probably key to understanding just what the fuck goes on in your lives at this point.
how can you even begin to paint a picture, anyway?
so, here are a few, if you have the time:
-what did you eat for breakfast?
-what do you wear on your feet?
-name 3 people, besides krissy, whom you spoke with throughout your day today?
-what time did you go to bed?
-wear did you go poop today?"
got your last couple of emails. sounds as though things are....i don't know, consistent? i still have a pretty hazy idea of how things go for you out there. specific questions on my part are probably key to understanding just what the fuck goes on in your lives at this point.
how can you even begin to paint a picture, anyway?
so, here are a few, if you have the time:
-what did you eat for breakfast?
-what do you wear on your feet?
-name 3 people, besides krissy, whom you spoke with throughout your day today?
-what time did you go to bed?
-wear did you go poop today?"
So here's my day in the life:
First there are actually two different styles of life here. Out in the village and here in Vila. They are totally different so if I just told you based on what I did today it would not accurately reflect my life here. So Each question will have a Vila answer and a village answer.
-what did you eat for breakfast?
Today like many days I did not eat breakfast, when I'm in Vila I gorge myself on unhealthy food. at around 11am (woke up at 7) I ate a Heaven Bar (Cookies & Cream Ice Cream Bar) Afta, I went to AU BON MARCHE (the local supermarket) and paid 300 vatu for a small (not small) dish of Spaghetti bolognese. In addition I ate a Tootsie roll and a Tootsie pop that Jeff Rice sent, I also ate some Big League Chew, and a handful of M & M's
village: On a normal day I usually wake up between 8-9am. well after the sun has risen. I get up from our mattress on the floor and emerge from my mosquito net covered in sweat (even though its the cold season). A slight breeze cools me down on my walk to the smolhaos (outhouse). Then I come back and spread some Peanut butter and Jelly on three Breakfast Crackers A uniquely South Pacific creation. White hearty cracker with a slghtly sweet taste. Usually there are a couple bananas involved since we almost always have a bundle of one of the many varieties in our house.
-what do you wear on your feet?
Great Question
I brought three pairs of footwear with me to Vanuatu.
Their fates:
1. My good Teva all purpose-sandals. These are sturdy velcro that I used for hiking, running, swimming, and everything else. Their drawbacks- they gave me blisters on various parts of my feet. In Vanuatu blisters are dangerous because every open sore gets infected, I've been pretty hearty and have only had 1 infected sore (on my hand). Most volunteers get many more. Maybe one per week?
[Here's one from my favorite Alabaman]
The TEVA's got so worn out in 6 months that their straps came out of the bottom leather part. I recently found superglue and have repaired them, I probably will not be able to run or swim in them any more however.
2. Flip Flops: My pair of relatively cheap sandals with no straps just the normal slip ons were my favorite footwear because they did not give me blisters. One of them ripped at the fibrous toe part and is awaiting creative repair on my part.
3. Merrill Running/Hiking shoes: I bought these on our honeymoon last year in Utah.
In a long tradition of leaving things places I left them on a bus and made a Ni-Vanuatu bus driver very happy.
I now have four replacement pairs
Their current condition:
1. I bought a pair of flip flops for 150 Vatu ($1.50) These are the same kind as most of the locals wear. So I bought them to see how long a pair of $1.50 sandals would last me. The answer is one week. They too are awaiting creative repair.
2. Replacement Sandals pair number 2. I spent a little bit more and these have been adequate footwear for the past three weeks or so. Except when they get wet, then they are slippery and my feet slide off them and onto the muddy rocks, gravel, coral, or whatever I happen to be standing in at the time. Obviously these are unsuitable for swimming.
3. NEW SANDALS! Krissy's parents sent a pair in their most recent package, I am trying them out for the first time today. They seem to work out fine, but they are a little tight, so we'll see about blisters.
4. NEW SHOES! One of the guys in our group went home for his sisters wedding so I ordered a pair of Merrill water shoes and had them sent to his house. He brought them back a few weeks ago and I have been running in them and using them for swimming (You have to wear footwear when you swim or your feet will get cut on coral.) They are good but give me blisters on my Achilles Heels. And I have to wear socks as a result which sucks in this country.
-name 3 people, besides krissy, whom you spoke with throughout your day today?
In Vila most of the people I talk to here are other volunteers but here's three I spoke with today
Annie Api: Our counterpart and Village Health Worker and Neighbor in Ekipe was sitting outside the Mama's Market downtown with her daughter JoAnna. We talked about when Krissy and I would be coming back in to the village.
Michael Jones: An old guy who's in the Peace Corps with his wife. I did a Blues radio show with him last night and will be trying to get my own show when we move to Vila next year.
Margot: A Volunteer from group 18B who just left for home. Stuff with her site didn't work out and she terminated her service a few months early. She was one of the few volunteers left in John Roberts group. After his death and Margot leaving, they have 7 volunteers left from that group. They will be completing their service at the end of November.
Ekipe:
On any random day most of the people I talk to in the village will be kids. Here's three peeps that I usually talk to.
Manu: Our friend Manuel is one of the yungfala (young single guys) in our village. I usually see him at least once a day cause he lives near the phone (there's only one) and he likes to play frisbee with us.
Joy and JoAnna: Two neighbor girls
First there are actually two different styles of life here. Out in the village and here in Vila. They are totally different so if I just told you based on what I did today it would not accurately reflect my life here. So Each question will have a Vila answer and a village answer.
-what did you eat for breakfast?
Today like many days I did not eat breakfast, when I'm in Vila I gorge myself on unhealthy food. at around 11am (woke up at 7) I ate a Heaven Bar (Cookies & Cream Ice Cream Bar) Afta, I went to AU BON MARCHE (the local supermarket) and paid 300 vatu for a small (not small) dish of Spaghetti bolognese. In addition I ate a Tootsie roll and a Tootsie pop that Jeff Rice sent, I also ate some Big League Chew, and a handful of M & M's
village: On a normal day I usually wake up between 8-9am. well after the sun has risen. I get up from our mattress on the floor and emerge from my mosquito net covered in sweat (even though its the cold season). A slight breeze cools me down on my walk to the smolhaos (outhouse). Then I come back and spread some Peanut butter and Jelly on three Breakfast Crackers A uniquely South Pacific creation. White hearty cracker with a slghtly sweet taste. Usually there are a couple bananas involved since we almost always have a bundle of one of the many varieties in our house.
-what do you wear on your feet?
Great Question
I brought three pairs of footwear with me to Vanuatu.
Their fates:
1. My good Teva all purpose-sandals. These are sturdy velcro that I used for hiking, running, swimming, and everything else. Their drawbacks- they gave me blisters on various parts of my feet. In Vanuatu blisters are dangerous because every open sore gets infected, I've been pretty hearty and have only had 1 infected sore (on my hand). Most volunteers get many more. Maybe one per week?
[Here's one from my favorite Alabaman]The TEVA's got so worn out in 6 months that their straps came out of the bottom leather part. I recently found superglue and have repaired them, I probably will not be able to run or swim in them any more however.
2. Flip Flops: My pair of relatively cheap sandals with no straps just the normal slip ons were my favorite footwear because they did not give me blisters. One of them ripped at the fibrous toe part and is awaiting creative repair on my part.
3. Merrill Running/Hiking shoes: I bought these on our honeymoon last year in Utah.
In a long tradition of leaving things places I left them on a bus and made a Ni-Vanuatu bus driver very happy.
I now have four replacement pairs
Their current condition:
1. I bought a pair of flip flops for 150 Vatu ($1.50) These are the same kind as most of the locals wear. So I bought them to see how long a pair of $1.50 sandals would last me. The answer is one week. They too are awaiting creative repair.
2. Replacement Sandals pair number 2. I spent a little bit more and these have been adequate footwear for the past three weeks or so. Except when they get wet, then they are slippery and my feet slide off them and onto the muddy rocks, gravel, coral, or whatever I happen to be standing in at the time. Obviously these are unsuitable for swimming.
3. NEW SANDALS! Krissy's parents sent a pair in their most recent package, I am trying them out for the first time today. They seem to work out fine, but they are a little tight, so we'll see about blisters.
4. NEW SHOES! One of the guys in our group went home for his sisters wedding so I ordered a pair of Merrill water shoes and had them sent to his house. He brought them back a few weeks ago and I have been running in them and using them for swimming (You have to wear footwear when you swim or your feet will get cut on coral.) They are good but give me blisters on my Achilles Heels. And I have to wear socks as a result which sucks in this country.
-name 3 people, besides krissy, whom you spoke with throughout your day today?
In Vila most of the people I talk to here are other volunteers but here's three I spoke with today
Annie Api: Our counterpart and Village Health Worker and Neighbor in Ekipe was sitting outside the Mama's Market downtown with her daughter JoAnna. We talked about when Krissy and I would be coming back in to the village.
Michael Jones: An old guy who's in the Peace Corps with his wife. I did a Blues radio show with him last night and will be trying to get my own show when we move to Vila next year.
Margot: A Volunteer from group 18B who just left for home. Stuff with her site didn't work out and she terminated her service a few months early. She was one of the few volunteers left in John Roberts group. After his death and Margot leaving, they have 7 volunteers left from that group. They will be completing their service at the end of November.
Ekipe:
On any random day most of the people I talk to in the village will be kids. Here's three peeps that I usually talk to.
Manu: Our friend Manuel is one of the yungfala (young single guys) in our village. I usually see him at least once a day cause he lives near the phone (there's only one) and he likes to play frisbee with us.
Joy and JoAnna: Two neighbor girls
who like to come over and play games with us. 
Small John: A hyper kid who always comes over to play games and look at us. (That would be a piece of metal stabbed through some leaves and stuck into his visor. FLASS!)
-what time did you go to bed?
In Vila:
I went to bed last night at about 2am after a night of dancing at CLUB VOODOO. Where they set the bar on fire any time you order the special FLAMING VOODOO DOLL shot. I fell asleep trying to watch Eragon and woke up today at 11:45 am the latest I have ever slept in Vanuatu.
In the Village:
I usually go to bed around 10:00 and depending on my brain usually go to sleep before the first roosters crow. Sometimes I stay up for the second roosters crow. And once or twice I've been awake all the way through to the Third Roosters crow which precedes sunrise by about 10 min.
-where did you go poop today?
Today I pooped in the Peace Corps office. There is a real toilet here, with a plastic seat and it flushes, so I was very happy to do so.
In the Village: I don't poop. I've trained my body to take a crap once a week. But when I have to I use our Smalhaos. Which is a bunch of sticks with leaves as walls, a tarp as a door. The toilet is a large cement slab that forms up ino a bowl shape. On the sides of the ground you can see where dirt has fallen into the pit and the toilet looks precarious as if the whole thing could fall in at any moment. Let's hope that doesn't happen.
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2 comments:
Have you lost a lot of weight? What's your work schedule like? What did Phil say about the water source?
Weight...I was a fat ass, then I went to the village. I eat a lot less there, and get a lot more exercise, so I lose weight everytime I stay in the village. But then every time I come into Vila I go to Jill's American Cafe and order a Jill's Burger and a hot fudge brownie sundae which is the best hot fudge brownie sundae ever.
Work schedule is kind of self imposed, but you can kind of think of it in two ways, we're either always working, by always exchanging culture and connecting with locals, or we're hardly working at all, and it's only when we set up workshops that we actually work. I'll give an update on the water project next time I'm in Vila but after Monday or Tuesday I'm planning on being in the village until Thanksgiving. Wish me luck.
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