Pixie Sticks

LION KING

My fellow Peace Corps Volunteer on Tanna put on the Lion King at her primary school this week. I mostly assisted with costumes and music and the small back stage stuff during the performance. It was the first musical/play ever performed on Tanna!

We took some photos before the performance and installed all of the microphone and sound equipment. Just as the performers were lining up behind stage to begin, it started to pour like it hasn't poured all year. We couldn't believe it! God really does have a sense of humor. The man holding the microphone got electrocuted a bit and then it took a good half hour to dry all the sound stuff before putting it in the hands of the narrator. The audience was patient however and once we started the rain held off until the dance finale(which added a lovely dramatical effect). It was a huge success and we are hoping to put on another one next year!

Thanksgiving 2010

Happy Late Thanksgiving!
We shared a lovely meal on Tanna as well as Vila....I got two Thanksgivings! Our new Tanna volunteer arrived a few weeks before Thanksgiving so we decided to celebrate early with him and the other Tanna volunteers. To continue the Tanna tradition we shared a meal at a village near town with a host family that hosted a volunteer many years ago. There was cobbler, pumpkin pie, stuffing, some kind of meat, fried green tomatoes...and all sorts of delicious treats.

I have been teaching French classes to Class 6 for the past week and have really enjoyed it. Just to give you a bit of culture....Ni-Vanuatu folks are extremely non-confrontational...my headmaster came to my house a few weeks ago with a French curriculum book. He explained that he had taught two French lessons to his class but had taught all he knew already(he does not speak any French). Instead of straight out asking me to teach his class, he showed me his notes and waited for me to comment. I stood there a few minutes and asked if this was all he knew. He said yes with a smile and waited for me to offer my help. This was my headmaster's first attempt at asking me for help. All year I have helped my teachers who are all women...but as a man it has been a bit difficult for him to admit that he needs help. I was happy to teach his class beginning French. We had a great time playing vocabulary games and singing old church songs I remember from growing up in France.

Most teachers have already gone on holiday in their minds. I was the only teacher actually teaching anything this past week. Last Tuesday, two teachers and about half the girls at the school spent the afternoon making bracelets. All in all the school year is ending well!

November 1, 2010

I'm finally off to Tanna...the doc has perscribed rest and no lifting or carrying...so this should be fun! I will be back on for an update on Thanksgiving hopefully. Thanks again for continuing to send prayers and thoughts my way.
Lukim yufala!

Airport Greeting!

My Peace Corps fan club greeted me at the airport and sang this rap song!
I went to Brisbane with a pain in my side
They thought it was my kidney that wasn't alright
They cut me up and found some funky stuff
And man were my next seven days rough
They took out twisted fat, a real strange fala mix
But, yo doc, where's my appendix?
All I wanted to do was hold a koala
But man, all I could think was they smell like olfala
Mi bin stap mi wan, mi bin stap all alone
Be Sara i bin kam blong help changem tone
We went on some dates and storied smol
But all I could thing was where's the closest Nakamal
Now I've come back and my friends have gone craycray
Now it's time for us to all go pleiplei

Back to Vanuatu...

Where to begin.....
I won't bore anyone with the medical specifics....but I had a whole bunch of stuff taken out and poked around in my gut. I'm back and walking slow slow still with a little pain. It turnes out that I passed my tiny kidney stones before even leaving Vanuatu....but I'm glad that I got other things taken care of. Hopefully I will return to Tanna in a few pain free!

I also found out last night that my dog, Oli passed. The story is that someone fed her fish that had cigatera....but I'm pretty sure that means that someone killed her. She was very territorial and would attack men if they came near my house so she made quite a few enemies. I'm pretty upset considering she was my little companion that went to town with me and shared my meals...anyway I will just leave it at that.

Thanks for your prayers and thoughts.

Australian Wildlife

Released from hospital

Hali is out of the hospital but still in Brisbane until Monday at least. She does have easier access to the internet so will hopefully be able to access email, etc. through the weekend.

"Mother of Hali"

Wednesday and still in Brisbane

Just a quick word to say that Hali is still in the hospital in Brisbane. She had laparoscopic surgery yesterday and they removed and untwisted some things and also took out her appendix. The latter the doctor said was just because she lives in Vanuatu. The doctor hopes something he did will relieve her pain and take care of her infection. She should be up and about today and perhaps out of the hospital on Friday. Her return date to Vanuatu will depend on recovery and follow-up stuff.

I've had the chance to speak with her daily, which has been good for both of us.

Will keep you posted.

"Mother of Hali"

Still here

Since it has been determined that I don't have kidney stones the search is now on for what I do have. Showed up at the hospital on Friday for laparoscopy only to be admitted after a 9 hour wait. Spent the weekend in the hospital. Now looks like it may happen tomorrow. Will keep you posted....

Update

Highlights

-Enjoyed flirting with this attractive dude that did my xrays...until we started talking about kidney stones. He mentioned he'd heard it's like giving birth and then said "But you've already been through that." Still not sure how to interpret that one...

-Waited for the doctor for two hours yesterday evening before giving up and going back to my hotel. After showering and getting into bed the phone rang...9PM so wasn't expecting a call. The doctor was outside my hotel....creepy...he told me I didn't have kidney stones but that the pain must be due to something else...like maybe the rods in my back! He basically said I should take pain killers until I can see my orthopedic surgeon. And then he started asking me about Vanuatu...that's when I started to get uncomfortable and said I should go....it was odd.

-Saw some wildlife today: kangaroos, platapus, koalas, huge lizards and so much more. I will post pictures later.

Hospitalness

October 4, 2010
Still no doctor’s visit today as he was booked. Tomorrow wan taem. I walked around a bit today and treated myself to a hair cut. Shampoo and moisture treatment. The lady wasn’t too impressed with the way I cut my own hair a few months ago. I explained to her that I didn’t have a mirror so it was a bit difficult to cut the back…she was appalled. I met up with one of my brother-in-laws family members and we did a bit of running around and then settled at her house for the afternoon. I had a good time hanging out with her two young girls and enjoyed sitting on a couch and eating a home cooked meal. I also got to Skype with mom, dad, Whitni, Elie, and Anthony. The connection was so clear it was like we were all in the same room…no ten second delay or anything.
October 5, 2010
I took the City Cat (see pic) to South Bank Brisbane today to check out some art galleries this morning. Unfortunately the Valentino exhibit was 20 bucks which is over half of my per diem for the day…so didn’t do that. I walked around though and found some delicious gluten free pastries. I went inside the Library but immediately walked out because I was so freaked out by all of the T.V screens and flat screen computers and coffee shops…I mean what the heck happened to good old libraries where you can’t bring food or drinks and there are books everywhere….not screens. I walked back on the bike road beside the river (see pic). It’s only my second day here and I’m ready for some nature and some quiet. I can’t wait to get back to my little house on the beach.
After tests…
So I just ate sushi in a hospital…that’s right they do it gourmet style in Brisbane hospitals. As for the bad part of the day…I showed up after fasting for two hours which doesn’t sound like that much but apparently my body needs food more often than every 3 hours. I waited 30 minutes in the lab place then had to chug a pitcher of what tasted like water with a bad after taste. Then I waited 45 minutes. I finally made my way to the scan room to get some dye injecting into me. It took two nurses and a doctor to find my “small deep veins”. Three pokes later we were in business and I was told that the dye would make my mouth taste weird and I would feel like I wet myself…wow. Half the stuff was injected and then I had to go sit in a cubicle for a bit where I almost passed out and had to wait some more for the doctor to come in and make sure my body could handle some more dye. After that I had to go get some more pokes and my blood drawn and then pee in a cup. Basically it was just a grand ol’ time at the hospital. I’m sitting here in the café with my sushi waiting to see the doctor.
After doctor’s visit…
I finally saw the doctor at 6PM and the tests showed nothing so I have to do it all again tomorrow…

I Won the Lottery

October 3, 2010

So as we say around here, I won the lottery and have an illness that Vanuatu is ill-equipped and unable to fix. Who knew that kidney stones (or should I say renal colic) would require a trip to Australia. Nonetheless here I am in Brisbane. I am staying at what other PCV’s have deemed the “nursing home” and hope to at least see a koala or something if time permits. On my flight over I sat next to the only two Ni-Vanuatu men, one Man Aneityum and a Man Efate. Talk about some in-flight entertainment. Neither fellas had ever flown internationally. One lad spent a solid 30 minutes going through the Safety Instruction card and every now and then would look around for the exits and check under his seat for his emergency floating device. When the meal came around, the flight attendant automatically gave them the meal with meat and a coca cola. Without thinking about it, I devoured my meat with my hands like the two men. We spent the rest of the flight joking about how we’ve been in the bush way too long. And after instructions on how to use the radio and headset, they blared string band music the rest of the flight.
I was a bit overwhelmed when I entered the huge airport full of white folks. I grabbed my bag and found my way to the taxi line. Within minutes I was in a taxi with a young man driving speeding down the highway. The young man seemed a bit nervous and was biting his nails a lot. I noticed his gas light was flashing so just figured he was nervous about running out maybe. After a couple of minutes he called someone on his phone and though he was whispering I heard the word “American”. By this point I’m completely freaked out. I almost started crying thinking about how this man could be driving me anywhere since I don’t know Brisbane at all. I seriously thought I was going to be taken somewhere and sold into prostitution like on the movie Taken. Paranoid much? I made it fine to the “nursing home” and walked a little bit to a nearby petrol station where they sold rice cakes and milk….
Frogs, huge birds, cars, people on their phones, people with headphones, not saying good morning, butt shorts, rain, the smell of pine trees, cars and more cars…these are just a few of the things that I’ve noticed so far.

Brisbane

Made it. No news yet on the kidney stones. Seeing doctor tomorrow. Blog entry to follow on details of the culture shock and adventures. For those of you who aren't too good at geography, Brisbane is in Australia : )

A Yummy Meal and My Toothbrush Rap Girls

Some more

Kastom Ceremony Pics

Kastom Ceremony

The months of August and September here on Tanna are busy months for those families involved in kastom ceremonies. My host family was one of those families this year. My nephew, Ishmael's 5 years old and attends a French Catholic Mission school but has been absent for 2 months now. Two months ago he said goodbye to his mother and other women in the family and was led to the nakamal by the men of the family. Several things happened during these 2 months, including circumcision, some healing,and a new bond between all the boys at the nakamal. They will be like brothers from now on. Every afternoon around 4 o'clock the conch shell is blown by one of my brothers and the boys and men go swim (bathe) in the ocean together. The conch shell is to inform the women that their swim time is finished and they must stay clear of the path leading to the solwota (I found this out the hard way, no explanation needed). The boys spend 2 months naked eating, bathing, and sleeping at the nakamal with the men of the family. This time is followed by a large celebration known as the Coming-Out Ceremony.

On the first day the women peel the skins off the root crops and get ready for the big kakae (food). the next day is dedicated to laplap making...which I will someday show detailed pics of that process. That night the women danced in one place and then men danced at the nakamal while burning a certain type of wood. The third day is the big day! The families get all dressed up in grass skirts, face paint, tinsel, calico and so on. The baskets, mats (which have been made by the women over the past two months), pigs, kava, laplap, calico, and so on are put into piles according to families in the nakamal. The ceremony involves killing pigs and cows with huge wooden bats, the boys coming out and walking around the piles of gifts a few times, some kastom dancing and some tears from the mamas.

I realize my description isn't very detailed but I hope these pictures will help.

Highlights

August 16, 2010

1. I thought I’d experienced it all when it came to smol haoses: missing the hole, rats crawling on the walls, huge hairy spiders, almost losing a flip flop, falling on my ass when my legs gave out (terrible case of the runs)…well today topped all of those by a million. As I assumed the squatting position and began relieving my bladder, something suddenly flew up from the long drop. I jumped back, pulled up my pants, opened the door for some light…and sure enough a poor little chick had somehow fallen in my long drop. I’m not entirely sure what attracted it to such a horrid and fowl smelling place to start with…but with no means of a rescue, the poor little chick stopped squawking within minutes. It probably died of intoxication, poor thing. I never thought my excrement would cause the death of a chick…Rest In Peace.
2. Cooking grits on a fire is quite a challenge. I do not recommend trying this at home (or anywhere for that matter). “Simmer on low heat,” let me just turn my fire down to low heat. I enjoyed eating them, thanks mom and Andi.
3. A few days ago, I was sitting with my neighbors just chatting about this and that. We started talking about having children and I asked them if they wanted anymore (they are in their early 30s with 3 kids). The conversation then turned to me having children and I said I had fulap time. They then asked me if I could have a baby when I got back to the US and send it to them. I agreed jokingly but they were convinced. They said I should just “friend” a Man Tanna here and give them that baby. Still not convinced, the husband offered to go find someone and I could just make a baby today! Wow. I politely declined the offer.
4. I had a sleepover with two of my year 5 girls Friday night. They came carrying island kabij and peanuts. We watched High School Musical, ate some lollis, made pancakes and hot chocolate, made bracelets, and did some weeding. Can imagine 12 year old girls in the U.S at a sleepover begging to weed your yard? We had a blast.
5. Buying a huge cartoon of milk and sharing it with the other PCV as our calcium for the month. We had to chug it before leaving the store or else it would go bad.

Medical Encumbrance

To make a long story short I have 3 to 4 small kidney stones in both kidneys. I have been chugging water and taking pain meds (wow thanks peace corps for the ibuprofen...it really helps). I went to the hospital today to get an ultrasound and xray to see the number and size of these things. Now I have had my share of xrays and know what a typical xray is like in the United States. I walked in fully clothed and was immediately told to stand against the board. He took the picture and then said I was done. He never asked me to empty my coins from my pockets, or mentioned my buttons on my pants or anything like that. On the way out the Peace Corps Doc and I picked up the xray and took a look. The picture cut off my kidneys and only showed my spine....go Vila Hospital!

A Murderer and a Seat Buddy

(If you are a child or under the age of 13 maturity wise please do not read this story as it might make you hurl)

A few days ago an interesting event happened on the beautiful island of Tanna. Maybe I should preface this story by saying that land disputes are quite common in Vanuatu. Most disputes in fact are related to land ownership. This story started out just like any other story...2 men fighting over who owned the land. But this wasn't just any land. This land has quite a few bee hives on it and brings in a bit of money through marketing the honey. These two men argued for several days over who owned the honey and who should win the money. It just became too much for one of the men so he decided to pick up his bush knife and go at it the hard way. He started by carving on the man's face and then moved to his hands. He cut both of his hands off. Just because that wasn't enough punishment he decided to strike one last time...and chopped the man's head off...and tossed it. The last part about the tossing is extremely important here according to most Ni-Vans (I don't know why..I guess chopping the nasty bloody head off and watching it fall to the ground isn't good enough so he had to get his hands even dirtier and pick it up and throw it...

I had to come to Vila for a medical encumbrance (thank you thesaurus.com)
yesterday. Just before boarding the plane I noticed a man in zip twisty hand cuffs (Vanuatu can't afford the real deal) being led to the plane with a police officer. I asked the ladies next to me who that was...they asked if I had heard the story of the murderer because that was him. I realize that on a large airplane these things wouldn't matter much but on a 15 passenger flight...well let's just say that you get to know each other's smells quite quickly. And our little murderer friend was sitting in the seat in front of me. I never thought I would be seat buddies with someone who decapitated a man. Only in Vanuatu.