Busy Busy

(written in mid-April and tried to get the blog up a few weeks ago but this site doesn't like Vanuatu. I'll try to get a new blog up here in a couple days as I'll be in town)

So I realize its been a while since I’ve blogged and I apologize that I’ve not been communicating lately. Our solar regulator blew out and we had to fix our system, but we’re back in business now. I’ve been into Vila here and there, but have not had time to sit and write. Much easier to blog out at site. Can't tell you how glad I am to have power again. It makes work, communication easier and I can have music again! Phew!
Here’s some of the stuff that’s been going on:
Work
Hmm…where to start? Works been pretty busy lately. The MPA is giving a environmental awareness every couple of weeks so that has kept me busy finding material for them. Participation and community support has really been crap lately (last few months) so we have a meeting at the end of the month with all the chiefs and chairmen of all the Nguna and Pele villages to discuss these issues. We’ll see what happens. We’ve also been going back and forth trying to get the boat mooring stuff ( provided in the grant we're carrying out) squared away. When the grant was written about two years ago we had equipment more capable of carrying out the task of constructing yacht moorings. We finally opted to build moorings for local boats and dive boats. Much easier and more needed for conservation and tourism purposes than yacht moorings.
A lot of time is spent running around to different villages and reminding people to do things they know they should be doing. It can be very tiring at times and just reinforces how much this program is held together by volunteers at times. A couple weeks ago I hijacked some kids bike because I didn’t feel like walking to two nearby villages for the third time to tell them to write a simple letter to the MPA as this was now the deadline for the letters. I did ask the kid that was riding the bike in my village if I could use it even though I knew it belonged to some other kid in the village I was going to. So I pedaled my ass off down the road inviting laughs by passing villagers (you know giant white man on a little kids bike, pretty funny right?). I got to the last village, grabbed the letters, and started pedaling out of town and heard some kid in the distance yelling something. I thought, Probably the owner yelling. Not going to hang around to find out, I’m outta here!, and pedaled back to my village and returned the bike. It was the first time I rode a bike in over a year and it made me miss my bike and general ease of transport.
O.K. so if I didn’t have to make sure the activities in the grant were carried out I would not be running all over the place checking up on people and such, but without me doing these things they just wouldn’t get done at the speed the grant requires them to be done. I’ll be better off around the end of August when the grant is over with and I can get more into the programs and projects I want to do.
One thing I'd like to have more time to do is work on the Universe Blong Yumi that I started before but haven’t had time for lately. I am slowly cranking away at the library/ rechargeable battery project and we should be surveying households very soon to get a good idea of the scope and direction of the project. I’m also working on trying to get some kind of standardized Vanuatu bird and coconut crab surveys going (you know the type of thing I actually went to school for and am more passionate about than marine science). Also the individual village conservation management plans project has been on the back burner as of late too, but I would like that to change as I see them as very important. Last but not least I am trying to get a two island-wide waste management program including things like separating trash and composting going.
Reef Check, etc.
A couple of weeks ago the Nguna-Pele MPA hosted a Reef Check Workshop to teach locals how to carry out Reef Check, an international, standardized, and locally appropriate way of surveying reef ecosystem health. The workshop went very well and two Reef Check teams (one on Nguna and one on Pele) were formed. At the end of the workshop participants were given gifts by their workshop host families. You go up and shake hands with them and they give you a gift. Typical gifts that you receive are woven mats and baskets (what I got). Ismael from my village was given a live chicken! The guy just handed it to him and I had no idea that’s what happened as he was behind me in line and the chicken was very quiet. Once in a while the chicken would pipe up during the rest of the closing ceremony. Very funny to say the least.
Forming these Reef Check teams and carrying out these surveys is one of my projects here so it’s good to see it rolling along. Nguna’s team has already made one survey and Pele should make one this week. My hope is that even in the event of a future collapse of the MPA organization each island will still have reef surveying groups that are rather independent of the MPA. I guess that fail safe is in a lot of my projects as I am not hopeful for the future of the MPA. The two islands have trouble at times even coming together for chief and church session meetings. So when you take an organization that’s basis, conservation, is much lower priority than the afore mentioned groups and couple that with a history of over-dependence on volunteers and foreign aid, the outlook can be a little bleak.
My main goal here is to do as much with conservation without the work necessitating long-term MPA involvement. It can be tricky at times because I can’t outright quit working with the MPA as that would induce ill feeling towards me and I can’t separate myself from being a MPA volunteer in local people’s minds. Working more with villages to get them to conserve for themselves should really be what the MPA is about, and the MPA would be there to give small assistance or advice when obstacles are encountered. As it is now many villages rely too much on the MPA as a do-all agency and this just isn’t possible financially and more importantly human resource-wise.
So in short I try to help the MPA with organizational support (as it needs it) but my main focus is to get individual villages to take responsibility for their own conservation plight yet encourage villages to work together, although not necessarily through the MPA medium. This area (Nguna and Pele) has a lot of potential and knowledge for initiating conservation programs but they and I by association are fighting an uphill battle to make them happen as it was mostly paid staff and volunteers (MPA) that did these things previously.
My Birthday
In other news Dom moved to Vila about a month ago is enjoying her new job in Disaster Management. I think she’s glad she’s free of the MPA when she hears my new batch of gripes when I come in to Vila. For my birthday she threw a small party at her new house. We had a great time drinking homebrew, eating a delicious pot roast Dom made, and just chilling out with friends. It's something you don’t have a whole lot of opportunities to do in the Peace Corps and its nice when you do. We had a plan to go out to a night club later but we were all content just hanging out. One of the things I miss the most about home is that corner bar or pub where good friends gather. Here, even in Vila, there isn’t such a place that really has that feel. A few skeezy ex-pat bars and a few nightclubs is most of the scene. For the most part socializing in Vila is done in nakamals (kava bars), Vila vols’ houses, and the volunteer resource center.
While I’m on the topic of my birthday I want to thank you guys that sent packages. I now have two gloves and can play catch on the island (Thanks Uncle Rick! and Mom&Dad). I also now have a bunch of DVDs to watch at site (Thanks Uncle John). Lastly my theory of how well cigars would go with kava was right on the mark (Awesome Dad! Thanks). Let’s not forget plenty of other great things received like girl scout cookies, candy, 2008 baseball book, etc. Life is rough sometimes!
So my birthday marks about the 1 year mark in Vanuatu! A year ago on the 11th I was dropped off by my brother, sister, and brother-in-law in Los Angeles to begin my journey. Man, it seems like a long time ago. It was a great send-off last year as the day before I was dropped off we were drinking Dos Equis and smoking Cuban cigars on a sunny deck in Tijuana, Mexico. I get a lot of people here giving me shit about doing so the day before I was to report. They don’t understand. I guess you have to have lived in San Diego to realize its no big deal (the Tijuana police bribe money was in the sock).
New Volunteers
So my birthday was the one year mark, but what really made it feel like one year was greeting the new volunteers that came in on the 12th at the airport. That was us one year ago! I picked up some party noise blowers at the grocery store and distributed them to some current volunteers. So anyway we were loud and obnoxious the whole ride to the airport and at the airport. We all went up to the open air observation deck to greet and yell, honk at the new group getting off the plane. Dom and I climbed up on the railing which caught the eye of the country director. He looked at us and we shrugged our shoulders. He looked back the other way and a few seconds later, in his diplomatic tone, said, “You know guys they’re probably is a rule against that here.” We laughed and got down. “Probably” is the best way to put it. There may not be rules against such things even at the international airport. Gotta love this place.
So the new group seems to have some good people within it. Some of the guys from our group pledged that we’d be more open to the new volunteers than some old vols were to us when we came in. When we got here some acted like they were better than us based on experience in the country and had a very negative attitude on certain things. Total fraternity-type bullshit held over from years passed of circular old volunteer bully syndrome. Our thinking is, This is the Peace Corps: you are taking a huge step to be here in the first place, your nerves are splayed wide open emotional wreck-style, and the last thing you need is the cold shoulder. Yeah you get jaded after being here a while and newbies seem naive as they first come in, but that was you too a year, or two ago.
So we stayed upbeat and interested when asked different questions by incoming volunteers over the new group’s first kava. Over dinner that night Amanda from our group made the comment, “Wow you guys look so clean! (sincerely amazed) Your guys’ skin seems so soft looking and your bodies aren’t marked with scars.” Pretty funny and true as we all have some good scars, especially on the feet.
The next day we invited the new group to come out to Hideaway Island with us (Me, Dom, and Steve) as we were going diving anyway. It’s a good area to hang out and snorkel too so they did that while we went diving and then we hung out with them later. On the way back to town Steve even bought a few members of the new group, riding in our taxi, a round of beers at the Saloon.
So hitting the 1 year mark definitely makes you reflect a bit. What have I done so far and plan to do yet? What have I failed to do? What next after next year?
One of my big failed to dos is writing in the journal. I wrote in it a few times when I first got here, but I feel blogging is more fun. One draw back is I obviously don’t put some of more frustrating things of the job in here and there are some things not appropriate for a blog. But, I do email some of those at times and others I will fill your ears with next year. One thing I’ve been trying to do is write down little blurbs when funny or interesting things happen so I remember to blog about them or email them. Speaking of writing another failure is writing physical letters. I’ll try to get on that one, but I’ve never been great at that one. So sorry to any of you who aren’t feeling loved. Doesn’t mean I don’t love ya, just lazy that’s all. I know, what a jerk right?
I think I’ll leave out the what have I done so far and plan to do as that’s all over my blog entries and would be repetitious… boring.
What after Peace Corps? Hmm…. I’m thinking grad school and hopefully will start studying for the GREs soon. I would like to work for a little bit before I jump straight into school though. Kicking around a few ideas: grabbing a federal job with the vet’s preference we get, trying to get a seasonal wildlife job in New Zealand or PNG before I get back, working a wildlife tech job somewhere in Latin America, Alaska?, back to Chicago or some big city? Working on it guys…..
Baseball
So I missed watching opening day of baseball for the first time in a long time. Made me a little sad. Should be able, again, to watch some games via satellite when I’m in Vila though. Everybody’s picking the Cubs to win the Central again, but where does that get them with ferocious teams like Boston and Detroit out there. We’ll see…I think it should be an interesting season though.
This weekend I am umpiring the first ever inter-area baseball game in Vanuatu. Javier’s Ekipe team will be playing our country director, Kevin’s Vila team. I think the Vila team is in it for a spanking as Javier plays a lot with those Ekipe guys. They asked me to ump as they both feel they might show favoritism toward their team. Kevin even had shirts printed for his team. I called Javier today and gave him the head’s up on Kevin’s t-shirt thing so at least the Ekipe kids can try to all wear the same color and limit the intimidation factor. It should be really fun and there will be a barbecue following the game. I’ll try to have someone take some pictures for us.
This game should be the first of hopefully many to come and we plan on using it as publicity for the sport. We’re going to send the story and pictures to the local papers. We’re still looking for ways to get equipment shipped to us as we have found some donors. Got a couple new leads on piggy backing on American shipping containers though. Will let you guys know how that pans out. Also, the football field in my village is actually, yet slowly, being cleared so hopefully we’ll be playing ball soon. I’m also going to start teaching/playing ball at a nearby school at one of the Headmaster’s request. It’s a small field but its worth starting the teaching of the game.
Javier and I are also really excited about a new North Efate Primary Schools Sports Association (NEPSSA) that just started up recently pretty much independent of us and wants to work with us regarding trainings and tournaments. This is exactly the kind of outlet we have been looking for to boost our program. We also plan on working with the already existent South Efate equivalent (SEPSSA) and the Efate Secondary Schools Sports Assoc. (ESSSA). We are both trying to squeeze time in for the sports project when we can as it is both of our secondary projects and both of our primary projects are in full gear now. It helps to have two people working on it though and Javier and his wife Krissy will be moving to Vila in June so we will have a lot better access to a lot of organizations both in-country and outside with them being in Vila.
Killing Time
So for the last two months it has been raining like crazy. We had close to a month of nonstop rain (breaks here and there but it rained everyday). Kind of like Humboldt County but at least in Arcata you can go and do indoor type things. Here: No gat! People pretty much stay in their houses and hang out which is cool, but the new conversation material runs out very quickly. Especially when you know that you and the rest around you really haven’t been doing much of anything because its raining. I had a week where I successfully killed about 6 books. I read East of Eden for the first time and really liked it. Read Metamorphosis by Kafka for the first time. Interesting. One of my favorites so far though has been The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys by Chris Fuhrman. If you haven’t read this yet I highly recommend it. Its very funny and made me think quite a bit of the trouble my friends and I used to get into in around the middle school years. Reading Guns, Germs, and Steel now as I put it down when trying to read it a few years ago.. I think before I was in school and it too closely resembled a text book, but I’m really enjoying it now.
One of the nice things about Peace Corps is that friends discuss books a lot and trade them kind of like a big book club. Although there are some book hoarding bastards in the outer islands that form their own regional libraries. There’s good books out there that nobody’s reading. Why they don’t bring them into the PC library I don’t know? There are some good books that come in though and that is usually my first stop when I get into the PC Resource room. There is also a ton of crap congesting the shelves, and yes I’m sure some people read it so I’ll leave that to them.
Some vols and I have been talking about how nice it would be if some of the bigger publishers would donate classics to Peace Corps libraries around the world. Once in a while you encounter a classic that you’ve never read before and its cool to have the time to read it. Whatever education tract you were on growing up you only read a portion what are deemed classics. Most of us don’t have time in our busy Western lives to go back and read the one’s we missed. Although… In Peace Corps you have such an opportunity, yet the PC libraries are hodgepodge conglomerations of donated books and ones brought by volunteers. Probably be hard to get these donated as they’re going to volunteers rather than developing country nationals, but it would be nice.
Another source of entertainment that my village employs is DVD watching. The school headmaster in my village has a generator set-up and the MPA base also charges a small fee to use the solar power to watch movies. As the solar has been out its been mostly going over to the headmaster’s house for DVDs. My village (as well as many others I’ve been told) was hooked on a Filipino soap opera series and watched episode after episode of the stuff. I tried to watch it once and got up after about five minutes. I’d rather stare into empty space or read a book. I heard that Krissy, Javier’s wife though got into the soap series though, with the rational explanation, “What the hell else is there to do!”
Luckily My Uncle John’s sent DVDs came just in time. They were starting to watch the soap opera series another time through when I introduced some fresh titles. They loved the Bourne Identity trilogy and others have been hit and miss. People in my village really love action flicks and Steven Seagal movies are there favorites. They like them better than Arnold action flicks, go figure?
Other Random Happenings
I’ve changed anti-malarial medications recently. I was taken Larium, the most commonly used one in Vanuatu. The stuff was giving me crazy, vivid, life-like dreams here and there as it does to a lot of people. No big deal a few outrageous ones though like when I was hit by a car, approached my dead body, and woke up as I was shaking my listless dead body in the dream. It is also known to make some people less social and anxious. With me I think this happened gradually and I didn’t really notice it as much until I started talking to a few volunteers that had also switched from Larium to Doxycycline and realized that maybe I indeed having the same symptoms. I kept trucking on the Larium though thinking it was no big deal and maybe in my head.
Well about 2 months ago I had a crazy dream complete with over-sized babies crying in cribs over a floor of broken glass. During this dream I could tell it was a dream but couldn’t snap myself out of it. When I finally did manage to wake myself up after much effort I was laying awake scared, body was buzzing, and my mosquito net melted in green and blue swirls acid-style for a good ten minutes. Now my general thinking is that’s fine if I intended to have such effect taking a drug, but not when I wake up from sleep.
So that was turning point in my decision to switch to our other option, Doxycycline. Day to day I feel much more like myself than before and don’t have the thick medicine head thing the day after I take Doxy like Larium gave me. The only downside of Doxy is that you have to take it every day at around the same time so you have to be really on a schedule to make sure you don’t miss a dose. Also its supposed to make you more sun sensitive but it hasn’t really affected me that much. I’ve been pretty good so far and I know I’m not going back to Larium. Check out side effects of Larium on the internet, you’ll be a little surprised. I’m not a big fan.
On a lighter random happening note did you know there is a dog in Vanautu named George Bush? Sure is. I was storying with a woman from a village on Nguna the other day and she asked me if I knew that her dog was named George Bush? I couldn’t but help but let out a laugh but she was serious. When the twin towers fell their dog had two a few puppies. They named the brown dog George Bush and the black one Bin Laden. Well, Bush is still kicking, but Bin Laden was hit by a car a couple years ago near Vila. You know naming dogs after American Presidents and terrorists is a perfectly alright thing here. Thought some of you might get a kick out of that.
That's about it for now. I should blog again soon and include some details about the upcoming baseball game.