Expectations vs. Reality: Modern Conveniences

I was inspired by my friend Sydney’s recent blog post about how the life she’s living as a PCV in Vanuatu is not what she’d expected in terms of modernity. She doesn’t live in a hut and she doesn’t scrub her pots using sand from the beach. Our pre-conceived notions of Vanuatu, along with our complete unawareness of the local lifestyle, as well as our experiences in training all prepared an image in our minds of what Peace Corps Vanuatu would be like. 

We were told that PC Vanuatu is most like what PC used to be when it first started in the 1960s. We (and by “we” I mean not just myself and Sydney, but most volunteers here) Googled pictures and read up on the culture. We messaged current PCVs to ask about their experiences. We received photos of our sites and lists of challenges we may face based on traditions and gender norms.

But like I said in my very first post, I had no idea what I would encounter.

Friends and family back home are often surprised to hear about the Western conveniences and experiences I have here in Vanuatu. I myself am sometimes surprised at the Western conveniences and experiences that I have here in Vanuatu.

While Sydney lives in a more modern community than I do, I’d be remiss to say that my site isn’t more Western than I’d expected. Since I am located fairly close to the country's capital of Port Vila and sometimes make trips there, I am including the town in my breakdown of modern conveniences. 

Mind you, this list is to make you aware that people here are aware of the world outside of their country, and I am not making this list to poke fun at their access to modern conveniences by any means. We are in the 21st century, and globalization is definitely a thing, which you may not think would be the case in such a remote island nation, but it is. 

In Port Vila:

• Once, a bus I was on had to take a detour because a construction crew was pouring a new concrete curb around a stretch of freshly-paved road.
• There’s a massive hardware store called Wilco that’s just like Lowe’s or Home Depot.
• There’s a store called Uncle Bill’s Variety shop (which clearly gears towards the ex-pat crowd) that sells the most random yet convenient Western items, like a magnetized mosquito net for your front door (purchased), battery-powered twinkle lights (purchased) and little reuseable silicon toiletry bottles (purchased). If I so wish, I could also get little plastic appetizer spoons for the next cocktail party I host (ha!), or silicon cupcake liners for sustainable baking.
• I usually eat American food (or, rather, “food from back home”) while I’m in town, just because it’s variety that I miss while at site. This readily available cuisine includes, and is not limited to: cheeseburgers, french fries, falafel wraps, cupcakes, BBQ chicken pizzas, quesadillas, burritos, tacos, or breaded chicken fingers. Unfortunately, these meals can break the bank ($17 USD for a 9-inch pizza, $12 for a fully-loaded burger, $14 for a falafel wrap).
• On Thursdays, one bar in town has karaoke night.
• The PC office has several big, comfy leather couches and super-fast internet.
• If I want WIFI on the go, I can pop over to Jungle Cafe and check my email while I order an espresso and Croque Madame as I sit in cool air conditioning.
• There’s a Billabong store.
• I can order a milkshake at most places, but they are pricey (like NYC pricey, as in, $7 for a 16 oz milkshake).
• Uncle Bill’s Pharmacy is more like an American pharmacy in that it sells all sorts of convenient items as well as medical ones. There, you can purchase random things such as colored hair chalk, Australian Cosmopolitan magazine, or a giant tub of vanilla-flavored protein powder.
• There are a handful of spas where you can get manicures, pedicures, Swedish massages or facials.

At site (on Nguna):

• Everyone has a cell phone, and most have 2 SIM cards.
• Almost every family has a boombox, and strangely, they are all the exact same model. People who own these boomboxes play music off of their MP3 players.
• At the wedding last week, I witnessed at least a dozen people running up to take pictures of the bride and groom with their smart phones or tablets.
• One neighbor has a foosball table (which is covered with a bunch of clothes, but tell me you haven’t been to someone’s house where their pool or foosball table isn’t covered in clothes)
• One neighbor has a massive freezer and sells ice cream. Once, when I was gifted a chocolate bar from a visitor, my neighbor stuck it in the freezer for a few hours to harden it for me.
• I have a lighting system in my home, powered by a solar box. I have a panel on my roof that gives power to an inverter, and I plug in my house lights to run them or portable battery into it to charge it. It has 2 USB ports and I can charge my phone or camera batteries or my headlamp.
• At most, I’ve gone 24 hours without power in my laptop.
• My house is concrete and has a giant covered concrete veranda.
• I have a gas stove, which runs on a propane tank, which I use for most of my cooking. I use the outdoor bush kitchen for baking only.
• One neighbor has a gas-powered oven and 4-burner stove. Sometimes we bake cakes at her house because it’s just easier.
• A couple weeks ago at the loved, I watched a couple guys use power drills to set up fluorescent lighting in the shelter.
• Several neighbors trim their yards with gas-powered weed-whackers. 
• My school has a computer lab with a dozen desktop computers and a few laptops. 
• There is Wifi in the school's computer lab. 

So as you can see, I don't live in a hut, and there are roads and hardware stores in the capital city.

My first week at site, I remember thinking that I felt like I was in a quiet American suburb as I sat on my veranda at night, looking at the back of my neighbor's lit-up porch.

Each village is different in Vanuatu, and it's interesting to hear about other volunteers' experiences at their sites. Their houses are different, their villages are smaller and larger, and they are more or less remote. There's a variety here just like there is in the USA. You'll have variety in a big city but less so in a small rural town.