I’m going WHERE?!?!?!

Community Based Training = OVER. Hallelujah. We left the village after lots of feasting, an all-day party, and more handshakes than anyone could possibly count. My mother hubbard dress collection has multiplied significantly over the past couple of days, and I have a ridiculously gorgeous mat to put in my new house next week. Also several sarongs and lengths of calico to use as curtains, table cloths, and interior doors.

Friday our sites were announced. Our country director went through one by one announcing islands, villages, and jobs of each volunteer. Lots of applause, lots of people getting excited about where they’ve been placed. We’re all kind of waiting to see who gets the ridiculous posts. So Eddie pulls out a folder and starts stretching out the suspense. Rather than calling out a name like he’s done for most of the others, he starts saying, “This person is going the farthest north out of all 40 of you… All the way up to Vanua Lava in the Banks…” and then he said my name, and I don’t even remember what happened next. My ears were ringing, I was shaking, I felt like I was going to cry. I remember thinking that I had heard wrong, and it couldn’t possibly be me, but somehow I walked up to the front and got my folder and shook his hand without falling over. I was just in shock for the rest of the day. Terrified in the morning, then getting sort if giddy, then by evening I was getting excited.

So, they’re sending me to the Banks. THE FREAKING BANKS. To anyone here in Vanuatu, that statement in and of itself has significant meaning. But for the rest of you, I will explain. Pull out your map of Vanuatu and look for Vanua Lava (that’s my island). Can’t find it? Look north. No, farther north. A little farther… oh THERE it is, up in no-mans-land! There are currently TWO (2) volunteers in the Banks. One of them is leaving, and I’m going, so when I get there, there will still only be two. To get there, I will be taking two planes, a speedboat (for 20km), and a truck. Two planes because you can ONLY fly there from Luganville (Santo), so I have to go there first. I could take a ship… but that would take 24 hours in good weather. And as some of you may know, today (Nov. 1) is the first official day of hurricane season! Most of my belongings will be going on the ship. Valuables will go with me, so that whatever gets stolen while on the ship won’t be missed too much. Hopefully I’ll see it all again by Christmas. Electronics will be staying in storage at the PC office in Port Vila because the humidity will kill them within a couple of months. So if I thought life was hot and humid for the past two months, I’ll be regretting my complaints during the next two years. I mean, as hurricanes go, the Banks is the Miami of Vanuatu. Oh yeah, and Gaua (a little bit south of Vanua Lava) is a ridiculously active volcano. They used to send PCVs there, but they’ve had to evacuate during the past year.

Because I’ll be so far away, I’m only coming back to Vila when Peace Corps pays for it, which is for training twice a year, plus one or two extra times if I get onto the Gender and Development Committee (which I’m crossing my fingers for). Supposedly Digicel has two brand new towers on VL, according to family and friends that have been doing google research for me since I got the news, but that doesn’t mean I’ll have phone service. This is Vanuatu… things don’t work smoothly like that. But I am one of the lucky few of the 40 of us who will receive either a SAT phone or a short wave radio so that I have hurricane/tsunami warning.

Vanua Lava does not have electricity, but they do have running water. I’m not sure about my toilet/shower situation (whether it flushes and is actually a shower head, or if it’s bucket both ways) but I DO know that both my smol haos and swim haos are inside my main house, which is AWESOME. No more going running outside in the 3am torrential rain to pee. My office is on a generator, so I’ll be able to keep my ipod charged until it dies of humidity. I’m hoping it lasts at least the first year. But that might be stretching it.

My counterpart (that’s what we call a PCV’s closest coworker) has an email address. That gives me slight hope that there’s some kind of internet once in a while. But I’m not going to hold my breath. If there is, it’s dial-up, and I’ve heard the landlines on VL only work once in a while to begin with. Other than that, you’ll just have to wait for the 2/3 times a year I’m in Vila, or vacationing in Luganville (which is closer and half as expensive to get to).

About my job: I’m stationed at the Provincial Education Office for Torba province. (Torres Islands + Banks Islands = Torba. Get it?) My job is going to be pretty cool because there will be a lot of variety. Some days I’ll be working in an office with curriculum, some days I’ll be helping at the school down the road, and once in a while I’ll be visiting other schools in the province to do observations, meetings, and teacher training stuff. I also get to do some work for Peace Corps itself because our country director wants to expand the program in the Banks, so I might get to help with site identification for Group 24. I am purposely being provided with a 2-bedroom house so that it can be used as a transition point for PC staff and volunteers who visit the Banks as the program expands.

My daily life as the job goes is yet to be determined, obviously, since I’m not there yet. But that’s the basic rundown. My English is already going down the drain (my Spanish is nil), so I apologize for all the nonsensical grammar/words within this blog. I also apologize for future blog entries which will be worse. Way worse. No gud bitim hemia. I will write again this week while I’m in Vila, no worries.