Walkabout Week

Vanuatu is a rarity in the Peace Corps countries in which it allows for early site placement. Other volunteers don’t know at which site they will be placed for their two years of service until after they arrive in the country and after they have completed training.

I knew about my site (on the island of Mota Lava) back in March, before I departed the US. Upon arrival at staging, however, I was informed that my site had changed to a village on the island of Nguna. While I had somewhat researched my first site, I wasn’t attached to a place where I’d never been, so it was fine.

About halfway through training in Vanuatu, we do what is called wokabaot week, wherein we all go our separate ways to our individual sites, to take a sneak peek at where we will be living for the next two years. We’re each accompanied by a currently serving volunteer or a PC staff member or trainer. The purpose is to see if our site is ready, figure out what we may need to purchase for our house, and to plan ahead. Again, this is a unique opportunity granted to us as Vanuatu trainees, since other trainees of other countries don’t have this opportunity.

We were all brought into Vila from our first training villages on different days, as the flight options for the islands vary. We were in Vila for a night (we got to celebrate Colleen’s birthday, woo!) and then we were off to our sites. After walk about, we were brought back into Vila for a night before heading off to our group’s second training village (the health and education groups swapped training villages for the second half of training).

Natalie (a currently-serving PCV) and Lily (a health trainee) accompanied me. Lily is serving on Pele, which is one of our training villages, so she’s seen it plenty and wanted to tag along to see her island neighbors’ sites (mine and Natalie’s). Amy accompanied us in Vila as she is on a nearby island and would depart the same time.

Let’s start the adventure!

MONDAY

7am Wake up and shower in the first running water I’ve experiences in two weeks. The host shoots water above my head and bends, creating an inconsistent water pressure. Decide that bucket showers are better.

9am Hitch a ride on a local bus, which is like Uber pool and hitchhiking combined together.

9:15am Meet Natalie at Jungle Café. Enjoy AC while eating fries, BBQ sauce, a croquet madame and an espresso. My stomach splits between hating and loving me with every bite.

10:15am We leave to walk around Vila, our first time ever seeing it in the daylight. We see the mamas market and Amy is able to buy hand cream in a real-life pharmacy!

11:30am Get picked up in the PC van and head to the wharf. We ride on the bumpiest road that feels more like a test for the wheel axle’s durability.

11:40am We’re off the paved road onto a dirt road. Now we are on the bumpiest road.

12:30pm After dropping off Amy, we get on my host dad’s boat to Nguna. Boat rides are always cool, even while wearing a life jacket.

1:30pm Touch down at the beach in Nguna. My host mama greets me and brings me to my new home. My front porch/veranda could compete with any frat house.

2:00pm A parade of teen girls arrives at my house, one with a crowbar to unlock my outhouse.

3:00pm Take a walk through the village. Some key points: Juju is a large dog that belonged to the previous PCV and now follows Natalie around by association, stores are all co-ops, one neighbor makes great banana bread, one sells kato on Sundays, and my house is close to a woman who sells ice cream and chilled American pop.

6pm Pick up kava from one of the 3 nearby nakamals.

6:30pm We return to my house just in time for a home food delivery from my host family. We pray together.

6:45pm Drink kava, storian, and eat. I decide I need twinkle lights for my porch.

9pm Fall asleep to the sounds of my new home.

TUESDAY

6:30am Wake up to the sound of a hen out my window, steadily clucking, a sign of her attempting to lay an egg.

8:30am Tour the school and meet the headmaster. Check out the amenities of my school, including a fully-organized library and an 8-machine computer lab. The teacher’s lounge has a solar-powered Xerox machine. A XEROX MACHINE.

11:30am Eat lunch at my host family’s house. I eat my body weight in sweet grapefruit and mandarin slices.

1pm Head to Anita’s house to make a coconut cake for Lily’s birthday. I take forever to grate a coconut, but it’s okay because it allows for plenty of time for Lily and Natalie to pick bugs out of the flour.

Coconut cake time!

3pm Lily, Natalie, Juju and I depart for a hike from my village to Natalie’s. Good thing I wore my Keens.

4:30pm Arrive at Natalie’s house on Nguna, a getaway “up top,” a magical mystical aelan house, a storybook retreat, an enchanted forest. I hold one of Natalie’s not-yet-named zebra-like kitten in my arms until she loves me.

Lily's and my house for the night

5:30pm Take turns having a bucket showers in the outdoor bath house. Natalie ingeniously boils half the water. Note to self: warm bucket baths are complete luxury.

6:30pm Natalie’s mom walks in with a parade of food. One of the dishes is tuna soup, and the cats take note.

8:30pm After storian, we settle into bed. Juju sits outside the door, protecting our hut. It’s like an island/bush sleepover.

WEDNESDAY

6:15am Wake up to the sound of a rooster’s call. Juju went back down the hill early in the morning and is out of sight.

7:40am Walk up to Natalie’s school, uphill. This is also known as the 8am bun workout.

8am We look at the library that Natalie’s created at her school. It’s full of adorable posters with her trademark swirly bubble letters.

9am Natalie holds a phonemic awareness class for grades 3&4 for me to observe. I can’t get over how cute the singsong “good morning TEACHAH!” is.

10am Return to Natalie’s home, and I hold her unnamed kitten and pet her until she rolls onto her back and mews. Cat love success.

11am We hike to an ocean overlook. Dozens of indigo butterflies flutter before us and the air smells like wet dirt with a slight cherry sweetness.

the view of the ocean from up top

12pm We return to Natalie’s house and her host family gives us a feast of local kakae. It’s delicious and the cats agree.

3pm Lily takes Natalie’s hula hoop off the wall and eventually it turns into a lesson of hula hoping with Natalie’s host sister. Goal 2 met. 

3:30pm We hike back to my site. The hike is good for zoning out and thinking and gaining foot blisters.

4:30pm We arrive at Anita’s house. We storian and I drink lots of homemade lemonade. Juju happily greets us.

5pm We go to the beach to enjoy the sunset. Juju, some dog named Maggie, and another dog follow us. I tell Natalie these dogs are like a couple wingment, and Maggie is the ugly one that no one actually wants to talk to. We look at the new southern hemisphere constellations with which Lily and I are unfamiliar, as well as Jupiter and a red nebula.

6:20pm We head to my house when my mama calls us informing us that dinner is ready. She and her daughter enter with a parade of fried rice and laplap.

7pm I feed Juju my leftover food scraps. I need him to stick around if I want a guard dog.

9pm We head to bed. I slowly fall asleep, fully aware of a tarantula-sized spider in the neighboring room.

THURSDAY

6am I wake up and sit on my stoop as Natalie and Lily have departed for one day to check out Lily’s site.  

7am My host mom and sister come by with food. One is fried banana sandwiches, one is a plate of something that is a cross between a pancake and doughnut made with flour and banana. They are divine.

8am I head over to the school and observe a 5^th grade class. I’m extremely lucky to be at a school with so many resources. In this class, there is a textbook for every student, and a quiet reading corner filled with books.

10am I take a second look a the library to fill out some PC walk about week homework. I also catch up on my Ripley’s Believe it or Not! reading.

11:30am I leave the school to have lunch with my host family. Juju has found me somehow and follows me there. I learn my parents are originally from Nguna. I enjoy some traditional aelan kakae.

12:15pm I walk home. This village is laid out like a perfect grid, but with Natalie having previously led me around, I don’t know how to get anywhere. I need to make a map.

12:30pm I go to my neighbor’s house and buy some ice cold Sprite. I make a refreshed “ahh!” sound after my first gulp as if I were in a commercial.

2pm I walk around the neighborhood, making a map for myself. Good thing there are colorful houses and they are a perfect grid. Some mamas gift me some freshly cut sugarcane. It’s a lovely excuse to snack on pure sugar.

3pm My host sister stops by my house, just to say hello. We quietly enjoy some tea and cookies on the stoop. It’s nice.

4pm I meet up with Natalie’s counterpart to answer some overly extensive questions I have for homework. Now I know how many grass cutters this village has.

5:15pm I go to afternoon devotion with my host mom. In Bislama, she beams as she shares that I have been leading prayer before meals. The rest of the service is in local language so I don’t know what happened.

5:45pm I eat dinner at my host family’s house. I meet all members of the family. I spend 15 minutes explaining how not all Americans are white, and that other races can and do exist in America.

7:30pm I return to my house. Juju chills by my side on the stoop.

9pm I head to bed. There are loud noises outside my room. They go away.

10pm I wake up to a crash on my stoop. Pretty sure Maggie knocked my trash over.

11pm I wake up to a sharp nibble on my toe. I decide that I was dreaming. I return to sleep.

4am I wake up to scratching noises and a scurry across the floor to a nearby wall. Nope, I wasn’t dreaming. I most definitely have a rat.

FRIDAY

6:30am I wake up to my host mom bringing me breakfast of essentially French toast. Juju waits for me outside.

7am Ugh, Maggie shows up. She is barking and flopping around, the exact opposite of Juju’s chill.

8am I head to school, with Juju as my chaperone.

8:15am On Fridays, the school has classes one through eight get together and have an assembly where each class recites poems or songs. One class 2 kid in the audience has pencils in his ears. The only song I recognize in the recital is “frere Jacques”

9:30am After everyone has presented, one teacher addresses the group to tell them not to be so shy next time. She tells them people used to be cannibals, but not anymore, so there’s nothing to be afraid of.

11:30am After getting some work done in the computer lab, I walk with my host sister to their home for lunch. Juju is NOT in sight. My host mom watches an English documentary about conjoined twins on her phone.

12:30pm I return to my home and chill on my stoop. In the neighboring yard, three naked toddlers take a bath in a giant plastic tub. One stands up (again, naked) and yells “HELLO!” to me.

2pm I return to the school’s computer lab because I forgot something. Juju is there, awaiting my return. He escorts me back home.

3pm Natalie and Lily return from Pele. We sit on my front stoop and chat while the neighboring family’s children repeatedly shout Lily and my names over and over again.

6pm We get a bottle of kava and sit on my stoop. My host family brings over our dinner. I assume it’ll be the final time I see them, but they assure me I will see them tomorrow morning upon our departure in the wee hours.

kava time.

8pm We go to bed. Natalie sleeps on the couch, the land of spiders.

11pm I wake up to the sound of drunk men howling throughout the neighborhood.

2am I wake up again to the sound of a rat scurrying. Lily also wakes up and confirms that she indeed saw a tail. I never saw the rat, but now I know for sure.

SATURDAY

5:30am I wake up and pack my things.

6am We leave for the beach. My host mama and sister are there to say goodbye. Juju and Maggie also followed us here to say their farewells.

8:10am We arrive in Port Vila at the PC office. We head into the resource room and I sink into a leather couch, the first one I’ve sat on in almost 2 months. The room is air conditioned and the toilet flushes. We’re back.

Burger, BBQ sauce, milkshake. we're back in Vila.