Ah, Ambae… probably one of the best islands on Vanuatu (at least in my opinion.) I finally made it back to my site on Wednesday of last week. Leaving Vila and coming back to island life after nearly three weeks of crazy white man bliss was almost too much to handle. Unlike my first arrival on Ambae back in November of last year, this time is was troublesome to say the least. I’m not quite sure what put me into a funk when I returned, but the feeling of emptiness and loneliness crept its way into my soul and wouldn't leave.
My two evil and unwanted friends stayed with me until Friday, when I finally made it out to my family’s village, Mataravi. There, I was greeted with an abundance of kisses and handshakes from all my mommies, daddies, aunties, bubus, and pikinini. I think all I really needed was to be surrounded by happiness, and if you’ve ever been to a village in Vanautu, you know that this isn’t something hard to find.
While at my village I decided to take some time for me. I have found a favorite palm tree that sits overlooking the ocean, and from there you can see both Maewo and Pentecost. I often go to this place when I need alone time. I sit there and look out and imagine what my friends on doing on either island… are they doing the same thing, looking back at me? I always feel uplifted after I sit there for any amount of time, like it’s a mini getaway from reality. The view is amazing and always reminds me of how lucky I am to be living in such a beautiful place – Vanuatu.
I knew that these horrible feelings of homesickness and despair would eventually show their faces, I just didn’t know when. We are all too good of friends now and the relationship that we share is one that now knows it’s boundaries. The past few months leading up to my past trip to Vila was a strong sign that I’d be able to handle my time alone so far away from home. Also, I can say thank you to my friends here in Vanuatu for being so supportive. Even though my sadness showed for only a few days, talking with friends who were either experiencing the same pain or had already faced it, really helped me a lot. J
After letting you know about the struggle of my return, I’ll let you know how much fun I had while in Port Vila…
Basically, the entire first two weeks were spent at the Peace Corps office in what was called “Phase Two” training. Most of the sessions that we sat in were very informative and then information presented will definitely be handy tools for once school actually begins. For the second week of training, the IT teachers and the Teacher Trainers were separated and put into two different groups. Unlike the first leg of training back in October and September, this was actually very helpful.
Besides all the actual PC work, we did indeed find time to have a good time. I spent the majority of the time paling around with my friend Jennifer. The spark in our relationship revealed itself early on due to the fact that our minds and bellies both have similar interests. Anyway, along with Jennifer and all my other SHREPer friends here in Vanuatu, we took our time in Vila as a way to enjoy ourselves and relax from island life. I’m pretty sure I drank kava almost every night… I like kava and maybe just a little too much hehe.
Kava weekends always ended up leading to nights of dancing at Voodoo and then Maxies (a favorite of mine). After dancing and drinking, a quick bite to eat at Emile’s (a little 24/7 restaurant and then a nice stroll back to the Coconut as the sun was coming up. The end of the first crazy night in Vila, with the sun coming up, made me miss Las Vegas just a little bit. Oh, how I can still remember the many times I came home after a wonderful night of dancing with my girls… soon my friends, soon.
Ok, so now I’m back home in my lovely house at Saint Patrick’s College. After my little unhappy hiccup, I’m really to get back into things. This is the last free week until school commences next week. School is scheduled to begin on the 14th, but classes usually don’t really start until the following week. More teachers have arrived and it’ really nice to see everybody back again. My neighbor has also returned – hopefully this will aid in deterring any creepers from coming around during this next year.
I’ve started going back into my lab, cleaning and doing small repairs on what I’m able to fix. Sometimes I still feel that I’m not really fixing anything rather just moving things around, but I think I am. The lab has 13 computers in total and two that I still haven’t been able to fix… this drives me crazy! Eventually I will figure out what’s wrong with them and get them fixed, but nothing too concrete can happen until I more reliable power during the day. This is something to look forward to once school starts – POWER.
I got a glimpse of the classes I’ll be teaching next year, ouch! I have all of year 9, two hours of year 10, and two hours of year 11. I’m not really sure how everything will come together, but I have faith that things will and I’ll just be fine. I’m very nervous and can’t wait for this feeling to be over with. I’m guessing in a couple weeks things will start to settle into place and I’ll be in a routine that fits me most appropriately. I’ll try to do my best with keeping you all posted on my successes J Oh, and a big Thank You to DJ Gil Barba for supplying me with my ‘Getting Ready for School’ soundtrack, and for Jessica Rodriguez for sending me the CD… miss you guys! There is nothing like great beats to get you on the right track haha.
