Hello Class

Hello all!......I finally got the blog up and running. It is much easier to do from the capital city, Port Vila, where there is reliable internet services. I am sure Mr. Bridges has already told you a little about me, but just in case I will sum it up again. I am 25 years old and grew up in Spokane, Washington (in your neck of the woods!). I went to college at the University of Montana in Missoula, where I studied Environmental Studies and Sustainable Agriculture. I have always known that I wanted to eventually do the Peace Corps. So when I graduated college thats just what I did, I filled out the application and got the ball rolling. The entire process took me around 10 months, for some it takes longer and for some it takes less. Originally I was supposed to be stationed somewhere in Latin America, but for some unknown reason that fell through at the last minute. They then offered me a post in the South Pacific......and of course I said yes....who could pass up a tropical island? So I was sent to good old Vanuatu. When I recieved my post description I had no idea where Vanuatu was, or what it was all about. But now that I am here, I love it.

My group, which consisted of 23 to begin with, came in April of last year (2006). And immediately started training. Peace Corps. does a training of about 10 weeks (depending on where your stationed) to teach language and cultural lessons. This is to help the volunteer integrate better into their future community. This training takes place in country, and with our group we were put on a small island on the north of Efate (where the capital is located), named Lelepa. In those 10 weeks we adjusted to what would be our "new" lives, and at the same time learned customs of Vanuatu and their language. The national language in Vanuatu is Bislama....it is a Pidgin language similar to that of PNG. Then about half the population was schooled in French and half in English. So there is always people around that can speak english to an extent. So once training is completed the group gets to be sworn in by the Country Director. Basically it is just taking an oath to become a volunteer. So on June 26th of last year my group did just that. In Vanuatu the Mamas wear what they call "island dresses." But what we would call them in the U.S. is a MooMoo of sorts. So anyways, for our swearing in ceremony, the Mamas on Lelepa made all the girls matching island dresses and all the boys matching island shirts. (I am including a picture for your amusement.....can you pick out which one is me?.....I'll give you a hint: I am in the middle).

Once a Volunteer is sworn in you are now "officially" a volunteer for the U.S. Government. So then it was time to go our seperate ways. Each of us had been assigned to a different island, and my island of future residence was to be Malo. It is a small island off the south of Santo, and I was to be the only volunteer on it. So to make a long story short I went, stayed about six months and Peace Corps had to pull me because of some issues in my village. So after many more months and a lot of frustration, I now have a new island to call home, and that island is Tanna. Before, on Malo, I was working as a village volunteer, which basically means I lived in the village and would try to start projects with them once I saw the need for a specific project. Now in Tanna I am working with the Vanuatu Department of Agriculture. So this job is shaping up to be a very different experience. It suits my background better, and I am not the only volunteer on the island, so that makes the adjustment much easier. Right now we are working on a few projects....I believe I emailed Mr. Bridges some descriptions about those....but I will make a post at a later time to explain them in more detail.

Well, for now I will leave it at that. I am leaving to go home for a small vacation in a few days, so I will be back in the states until the begining of May. I am not sure when your school year is finished, but I hope that some of you who are lucky enough to get Mr. Bridges next year will continue sharing my experience with me. Like I said I will try and post more pictures and stories in the next few days.