VANUATU

opon arriving in Vanuatu the first thing i noticed was how flat it was with just a few hills and volcano's, the humidity hit me as soon as i left the aeroplane. breathing felt different for a while, the air tasted different. anyway i passed through customs where they have a live string band. nice touch i think. they should try that in England. i met sue in the airport(the woman in charge of the volunteering placements) she took me to my accommodation, told me a Little bit about Vanuatu and then left me to explore. I had arrived a week before the other volunteers were due to arrive.


later that day i walked into town to check out the town. there wasn't really much of it and this was the biggest town in Vanuatu. there was a really nice market and lots of Chinese owned shops selling fake stuff. and some duty free shops. the main thing that shocked me was how expensive things were. everything was more highly priced than England but i guess its because of frait charges.

my room was pretty nice a single room with a fan very small with one bed with a thin mattress and a mozzy net. but it was good Enif for me. the habiscus motel (where i was staying) had a communal kitchen with a hob and a fridge so i was living off instant noodles and beens for the next week.

in the next 7 days i explored the island went snorkeling at some beaches. went running in the mornings and went on a tour of the island that took me to a worrier tribe and some really really big trees and spiders. i learnt abit about Vanuatu. turns out that most of there economy comes from coconuts. they are coconut farms everywhere both the green and brown coconuts. also if you want a wife here you need a pig. they are many wild bores in the bush.

Vanuatu has over 100 different languages and is one of the most diverse in the world. most people speak 3 or 4 languages. 1) there local tribal language 2)bislama(a pidgion english) 3)badly spoken french or badly spoken english. my job when i start teaching will be to try and improve there english skills. but i will also have to learn the national language Bislama to help interact with the locals and realy imerse my self into the culture.

on the 28th of jan the rest of the Volunteers arrived. Sue told me to meet her at the airport so i could meet all the volunteers when they arrive. i caught a buss from outside the motel. the buses here are pretty much just minivans with a big red B in the license plates taxis have a T government cars have a G etc. anyway it costs 150 Vatu to get anywhere in town. ou just tell the driver where you want to go and he takes you there *eventually* after he has dropped everyone else in the buss off.

sue arrived at the airport about 10 mins after me just as the first volunteers were arriving and going through customs and passed the live string band.

they were 2 boys and 14 girls. 7 english, 1 scottish, 1 new zealander, 1 american living in new zealand and 6 Australians. a nice mix. we all got a buss back together and sue left us at the acomadation to get to know each other. my placement partner is an english guy called pete. we have alot in common with regards to traveling, martial arts etc so im sure we will get on well in the next 6 months. the next day we decided to have abit of a party so i got a crate of beer and just got everyone to pay me after for the beer they drank. anyway we played lots of drinking games, card games etc and a weird wearwolf game. i wasn't complaining about been out numbered 1 boy to 7 girls. it was a fun night.

the next couple of days i showed everyone around the area and told them what i new about vanuatu.

a week after arrival we headed to an island called Knuna for 3 days to live with a host family and learning more about the culture and to start mastering the language Bislama. wich is not actually that hard as they have very little grammar. my name is frazer = name blong me frazer.

and to ask someone there name you simply say name blong yu?

you can see how it is derived from english. but some words are harder to see how it has derived from english.

anyway, knuna was amazing. i was put in a host family with mike, an ozzy volunteer. they taught us how to wash clothes by hand and cook using a fire. how to cook local food (bislama = kae kae) such as LapLap made from root vegetables and bannanas. i asked my host brother what he did for fun and he said fire stones at chickens and pigs, showed me his slingshot and let me have a go........it was fun. later that dayt we all had a bislama lesson in the community hall, looked more like a community hut to me. anyway. on the night the men showed me, pete and mike how they make the local intoxicating drug kava. the drug is made by grinding up the Kava root and miking it with water. the muddyish mix is then sived through tights and the muddy water that is releaced is the drinkable Kava. later that night we tried the kava in the kava hut. there version of a pub. the kava is drunk in shells and drank like a shot. it has a similar effect to alcohol, but no hangover apparently. anyway we all had a great time drinking kava wih the girls and listning to the locals play guitar. on some of the islands women are not alowed to drink or even view making of kava, here they are not allowed to be involved in the making.

in the next couple of days we checked out the island, played sports and football with the kids, tried climbing cocanut trees and tried all the fruits the bush offered. from cocanuts to wierd gient nut like fruit, i was chewing on shuger kane and drinking cocanut milk. they make this delicious food by cooking these huge nuts and covering them in cocanut milk and shredded flesh. so delicious!!! my host mum also made some home made bread dipped in cocanut milk. the best bread i have ever had. at the end of my time there i gave my host pearents a gift.(its a cultural thing to exchange gifts) i gave them an england flag, and stickers for my youngest host brother and sister. in return they gave me a collerfull bush shirt my host mum made her self.

my time on knuna was an amazing cultural experience i just love how the people living there dont need money they can just live from the bush. the whole village was like a big family with a cheif in charge. its such a relaxed way of life.

heading back to port villa was a let down i was now very excited to get to pentacost where i would be teaching english for 6 months. the next few days we got little things that would be usefukll at owr placements, stationary etc. on Monday 3/4 of the volunteers left for there placement islands (vanuatu is made up of lots of little islands) me, pete and a few of the girls were left waiting to leave on wednesday.

although on tuesday night we were told the plane was broken hmmmmm

we were told we would leave on Sunday instead

opon arriving at the airport on sunday we were told again the aeroplane had broken hmmmmm

we were told we would now leave on thursday, thats tomorrow so hopefully we go then.

i better get packing :)