Going back to site after my super long vacation was easier than I thought. It felt like I was going home in a way, because it’s where my life is (stuff, friends, job…). I don’t have too much to share, but I’ll give a short update.
I am no longer teaching this year, so I’ve been able to spend all my time training teachers. This has given me more freedom to travel around my island and to other islands to work at other schools. It’s made the last few months fly by. I enjoy the change. I think I would be unhappy doing the same thing as last year.
For those of you who are curious as to how I feel this year compared to last year, the change is phenomenal. My first year was really difficult, although it was easy to write in letters and e-mails that I was having a great time and because I’m optimistic I always put a positive spin on everything. It literally took me a full year to adjust and I’m still adjusting, it never ends. I thought two years was long, but now I’m realizing it’s probably not enough time. The first year no one knew anything about me and I was apprehensive in sharing certain things. I didn’t know how to balance being myself and the responsible volunteer that everyone expected me to be. Everyone was always watching me and I felt a bit suffocated. This year has been a little different. I’ve let my guard down and no long care too much whether I’m doing the right thing or not. I’ve started sharing dance with my students and people in the community. I started a hip-hop class at school and a country line dancing club with some girls in the community. Hip-hop and country line dancing are not exactly my specialty, but I make it up as I go along.
This past week I visited some friends on the island of Pentecost. South Pentecost is known for their land diving and custom villages. I was able to see both. Land diving is a custom done during the months of yam harvesting. A man in a namba and with vines tied around his ankles jumps head first off a rickety tower into a pile of dirt. It was cool and I think can be seen on the travel channel if anyone is interested. I also visited Bunlap, a custom village where the women still wear grass skirts and the men wear nambas (leaves or a small mat wrapped around their…). There is a show called Tribal Life on the travel channel that is filmed in Bunlap if anyone is interested in seeing it.
This week I’m in Vila for our annual all volunteer conference. It’s at Iriki resort again. Swimming, hot tubs, hot showers, comfortable bed, and the best part a washer and dryer!
I'm on my way to see Tanna Island. There is a very active volcano there (supposedly with lava shooting out) and as long they agree it's safe to go up I'm going to go see it.
It’s weird to be in my last 6 months of service and thinking about what my next step in life will be. I have lots of options (grad school, getting a job, traveling, extending another year…) but just choosing the best one is on my mind constantly. Hopefully something will push me a direction. We’ll see.
Hope all is well. I miss everyone and look forward to hearing from you!

Sadly, I’m at the end of my vacation but I’m looking forward to getting back to the island. New Zealand was more beautiful than I ever imagined. With the help of my high school friend Matt Bruno, I was able to see the whole South Island in two weeks. Matt has been working on a dairy farm outside Oamaru for the past 9 months, so he was a great tour guide. I also traveled with two other girls from Peace Corps Vanuatu (Teresa and Amy). I commend Matt for his efforts of putting up with three girls for two weeks; luckily he brought a book and has the patience of a saint.

I’ll just give a quick list of what we saw.
We began in Christchurch and then took a detour to see Mt. Cook and Lake Tekapo, both spectacular. We stayed on Matt’s farm in Georgetown for a night, which was very peaceful. Then we drove down and stayed in Dunedin for a night, my favorite sight there was the train station, oh and we also climbed the world’s steepest street, not too impossible.We drove out to Te Anau and took a boat out through Milford Sounds and by good fortune saw a pod of dolphins as well as sea lions. We also took a tour of the glow worm caves, which we’re okay. They just look like a bunch of tiny stars, not too exciting.
We then drove out to Queenstown, which was my one of my favorite towns. Tons of tourists, but it was the town with the most things to do and the only town with decent night life. I conquered my deathly fear of heights by jumping off a cliff attached to a parachute otherwise known as paragliding. The scariest part was running of the cliff. All I could think of as I was running was, “what if I end up tripping?” For all of you who know me, you know that unless I’m dancing, I’m one of the clumsiest people ever. I just kept envisioning myself tripping, the guide running/tripping over me and then getting dragged down the cliff on my face. Luckily, none of this happened. It was a smooth flying experience and lasted about 10 minutes. After Queenstown, we drove up to the glaciers. We were running out of money so we didn’t take the glacier walk, but we were able to get some nice photos. We then drove up along the west coast, which was interesting because of how topographically different it was from the east; much more rainy and greener. We stayed in Nelson for a couple nights which was my other favorite town, very artsy! We took an afternoon and toured seven wineries and were feeling pretty good after the seventh and had acquired several bottles of wine in the process. We then made our way down to Kaikora and saw several seal lions colonies and finally finished again in Christchurch. We caught the beginning of the Busker’s festival, a festival with all sorts of wacky street performances.
It was a fabulous vacation. It was a very safe and easy place to travel in, ideal for backpackers and hitchhikers. I wish I could do it all over again...someday.

It was nice to see everyone while I was home. Keep writing me and giving me updates about what’s going on at home. I’ll do my best to keep everyone updated as well. I’ll be going back to Gaua in about a week. Unfortunately, last week Gaua was slightly scarred be a cyclone. Many of their gardens, houses and some buildings as the school were damaged. Fortunately, no one was injured and hopefully we won’t get anymore, but we still have several more months of cyclone season so we’ll see.

Thank you for everyone who has been sending me letters and packages. I just started a wish list on Amazon so people have a good idea of what I like to read.

I’m in Vila for a week break. Island life is good as usual, simple and not too much has happened. Last month a couple people from my group came to visit me. I think they enjoyed it, but they decided that Gaua is ideal if you enjoy hiking through the bush all day in the rain, sleeping in a puddle, then hiking the whole next day to the waterfall which was so strong because of the recent rain that Blake’s dog (the other volunteer) got swept away and was found days later dead. So yea, unfortunately, the weather wasn’t cooperating so I’m not sure how great of a time they had. Afterwards we traveled to Mota Lava for a relaxing week. Mota Lava is a small island north of me and has one other volunteer from my group. Mota Lava is probably what you might picture when you think of me living on an island in the South Pacific. It has long white sand beaches, beautiful palm trees and reefs, and I ate lots of delicious seafood all week. We were also fortunate to visit the Reef Islands. They are I think about 5 or 6 small islands which are uninhabited. It was the most beautiful beach I’ve ever been to in my entire life. No exaggeration in the least. The sand was so soft, we caught enough fish to eat for 2 days in 10 minutes, and the water that divine blue, green color that you might see on the web shots desk top photos. So I don’t live in a tropical paradise all the time, but I’m not too far from it if I need a small break.

School is going well. We are in our third and last term. I’ve given several workshops for the teachers and am still teaching class 5/6 English. The most rewarding part is the significant progress I’ve seen in my students. They have become such proficient readers and writers compared to the beginning of the year. They are no longer afraid to participate, although they still hide under their desks if they say a wrong answer.

My community projects are not really moving at the moment which has been a bit frustrating. I helped to starts a Women’s Club in my community, but they haven’t found the time to meet lately. I also have been trying to assist my community in starting a Kindy and that is also not really going anyplace. We have a committee now and have had several meetings and created a work plan which is a great start. But no progress has been made since. Little effort has been made as far as acting out the work plan. This has been a bit frustrating, but at the same time I know that I can only do so much and the rest is in their hands. So hopefully it will be a success and if not, I know that I did as much as I could to assist them, so either way it’s ok.

The Gaua Annual Art Festival was in mid September and was awesome. It was three days of custom dancing, singing, dressing and water music (which is a native custom to Gaua). I have several videos of each and can’t wait to show them to everyone at Christmas time.

After a year of working at it, I finally have a decent garden. Lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, spring onion, basil, island cabbage, corn and snake beans. It’s a start and I’ve been able to finally give my host family some food instead of them always giving me food. It also feels nice to know I don’t have to depend on them so much for everything, making me feel a tad more independent in that sense.

I just wanted to update my wish list…

Instant pudding mix(the kind where you just add milk and stir)
Marshmallows
Chocolate as always
Anything instant that just needs milk or water
CD’s (I’m not picky, just whatever you can burn off your computer)
Card Stock (different colors)
Construction paper
Pencils/pens
Granola
Dried fruit
Almonds
A sturdy garlic press
Index cards

Notice that most of the stuff is food, I think grocery shopping in Wegmans will be one of the most exciting things about going home.

I’ll be coming home in mid December around the 15th and staying a little over two weeks. Then I’ll be traveling around New Zealand with another Peace Corps friend for a couple weeks then back to Vanuatu.

My sister just left this past weekend and I was sad to see her go. She had a real “bush” experience on Gaua for a week and a half and finished it off with an amazing island massage in Port Vila. Her impressions of my life were funny and I haven’t laughed so hard since I was home last year. She was mortified by my idea of hygiene. I guess the pit toilet and the fact that I bathe, do my dishes and laundry in or using the salt water, and a zillion people using the same glass over and over to drink juice because there is only one was a bit disturbing to her. She also was terrified of the monster spiders, irritated by the flies and mosquitoes, and was ready to not be woken up by crowing roosters, grunting pigs, and screaming kids by the time she left. Sounds like she had a rough experience, but I think she enjoyed it once she adjusted. She came to school with me everyday and absolutely loved watching my student’s bashful personalities. My village welcomed her with a large feast featuring fresh fish, 2 kinds of lap lap, boiled kumala and yams, and chicken soup (she got to witness the chicken being hunted, killed, and prepared). They “laid” her with beautiful flowers and serenaded her with a few church songs. She tried and enjoyed most of the custom food, although I think the portion sizes were a bit too much for her. I’m used to the portion sizes now, but I guess that must be why everyone calls me “fat-fat” at least once a day. She thought that was hilarious where as I am incredibly embarrassed by their “compliments.” We went on a two day bush hike. Unfortunately the first day it rained the entire day. But on the upside we both got to hike a volcano for the first time. The volcano on Gaua has 6 holes, but only one is active. We practically fell over coughing from all the smoke as we were trying to look into the live hole. Day two we spent hiking to the gorgeous waterfall (not justified by any of her photos). I think that by the end she had adjusted fairly well and enjoyed the experience. Her favorite part was how generous and kind Ni-Vanuatu people are. She felt a bit like a celebrity, because people kept coming up to her and shaking her hand and giving her food. She enjoyed all the attention. I wish she could have stayed, but it looks like I’m coming home for Christmas, so I won’t have to wait too long to see her again. I miss you all and hope all is well. Looking forward to seeing many of you around Christmas.

Hi everyone! I am at the end of my small vacation, we have a two week break between every term for school. Peace Corps sent all the volunteers for Port Vila for an All Volunteer conference. It was held at Iriki Resort, which is the most beautiful resort I’ve ever stayed at. We all had Jacuzzis on our porches, an amazing view and rooms with everything we’ve been missing from the states. I was very spoiled for 4 days, but it was much needed after living on a remote island for so long.

After the conference I hiked up the highest mountain in Vanuatu, Mount Tabwemesana. It’s 6,150 ft. It was the most physically challenging thing I’ve ever done. It was a 3 day hike through the bush. The first day we hiked 4 hours over a creek bed and then another 4 hours up hill. I used every muscle in my body to climb. That evening we camped out at a base camp. The next morning we hiked another 4 hours up hill, my body is slowly deteriorating at this point. We had to hike through white grass which if you touch it the wrong way gives you paper cuts, so I now look like I got in a fight with a cat. We spent the night at the next base camp because the summit was too cloudy. The last day we hiked a total of 14 hours. We hiked up summit, but it was still cloudy so we didn’t see much when we got to the top. Then we hiked all the way back down to the village. It was the first time in history that anyone has ever hiked up summit and all the way back down to the village in one day. I spent half of the descent on my butt (kinda like when I ski). The last 3 hours of our hike was over the creek bed in the pitch black dark. Luckily we all had small flashlights. It never felt so good to be finished with something, although I’m proud I did it.

The past month at site was good. I held my first workshop. It was planned and carried out my headmistress and I. It was a 3 day workshop and covered all the basics in teaching, lesson planning, assessment, classroom management, ideas for games and activities, and shared and guided reading strategies. 12 teachers from the 4 different Anglophone schools came. It was very successful and raised my confidence about my abilities and skills as a teacher.

Next term I’ll be teaching class 5/6 English again and team teaching with the Class 2 teacher in his English class. My goal is to hold workshops more frequently for the teachers at my school.

My little sister, April is visiting in mid-July, I can’t wait!! But that will be the next time I’ll have computer access again.

Oh yes…I have now have a Satellite phone at site given to me by Peace Corps. I can’t really use except to call Peace Corps, but I can receive text messages.
You can send a 160 character message – spaces count – through e-mail at
00881621455543@msg.iridium.com
So please send me messages! Just know that I can’t message you back.

Miss you all!

After my first four months of being on the island of Gaua I’m not exactly sure where to start. I’d like to thank everyone for all the letters and packages, especially in the beginning when I was still getting used to my environment. Your thoughts and support were much appreciated, especially on those days I was feeling frustrated or just bored out of my mind.
Now that I have been on Gaua for four months, I have integrated well into my community and my school. For the first two months I lived with my host family and shared a room with my two sisters (ages 15 and 20). I waited patiently for my hut to be built, but nothing was done for the first two months. (My hut, local kitchen, toilet and swim house were supposed to be finished before I came). At the end of the 2nd month I began to strongly feel the need for space and independence. Peace Corps also began asking questions as to why nothing was finished yet. After a frustrating week of figuring out details, they decided to change the location of where my house was going to be built. It was originally supposed to be built next to my family’s house, which is outside of the village. But they changed to location to be directly in the village of Aver. So I have been staying in a guest house for the months of February and March waiting again patiently for my house to be finished. It looks like when I get back to Gaua (on April 9th) I will be officially moving in to my house (keeping my fingers crossed). But it’s really cute!
The school I am working at, Losalava Primary School is currently on midterm break, that’s why I had the opportunity for a little vacation. School was supposed to begin on January 29th, but to no ones surprise on January 29th only two of the seven teachers were on the island. So about a week and a half later school finally started, but only classes 1, 7 and 8. The rest started a couple weeks later due to lack of classroom space and teachers waiting for approval to teach. We still currently don’t have enough desks and chairs. Classes 2 and 3 have to sit on the floor. The first week of school I taught class 1, which was a very frustrating experience because on Gaua they speak local language as well as Bislama, but the younger kids are used to their local dialect. As I am trying to give them directions in Bislama with my improper accent, they had no idea what I was saying. After a week of that, I taught class 5/6. Then I taught class 3 and class 4 English the week after that. Finally, I got to settle down for the past month and I have been teaching class 5/6 English and as well as teaching with/training the class 3 and class 4 teachers, who don’t have any formal training. I really enjoy teaching in Vanuatu. Although my class 5/6 is a bit bigger than I would like (40 students), I enjoy the freedom of teaching the way I want to teach without administration breathing down my back. The students also have so much more respect for the teachers, making my job easier!
I am working on starting a Kindy (kindergarten) in my community. The school starts at class 1, so some communities form Kindy’s as a type of pre-school program. There are about 20 pikkini’s that would be eligible for it between my community and the neighboring one. I’ve found 3 teachers and am now working on finding a building for it and getting the teachers to the training sessions. I have a feeling this project will happen on island time though.
Other than that, I feel like home in my community. I am learning the local language, which is very difficult because it’s an oral language and has never been recorded and many of the sounds my mouth just refuses to make. I am also taking some classes in French from a French teacher at my school. Hopefully when I return I’ll be able to speak close to 4 languages…we’ll see though. I’ve adjusted to island time, am learning a great deal about myself, and finally truly appreciate the slow pace of life because it gives me time to process all my thoughts and feelings, which is something I never found I could do in the States.

Interesting foods I’ve tried…
Eel, all sorts of nuts and exotic fruits, pigeon (they call all birds here pigeons), our pet pig, and the most delicious lobster I’ve ever eaten (beats the lobster at the lobster fest). I’ve finally acquired a taste for lap lap and actually enjoy eating it.

Fun Stories…
My walk to school is a 25 minute hike uphill…reminiscent of the Geneseo days except with a bit more bush involved. On my first day of school it rained so hard, even under the protection of my umbrella I was completely soaked when I arrived to school. Luckily, my headmistress had some extra clothes for me to change into. Then this past week, I was walking to school and part of the walk requires crossing over a small stream on a log, which two boys decided to cut last week. Anyways, as a result of heavy rain, this small stream became a gushing river and not knowing there was alternate route I pulled up my island dress above my thighs (totally taboo, but luckily no one was watching) and with a bit of a struggle because of the strong current, I trudged across praying I wouldn’t fall down. (Luckily I didn’t fall, but I think it would have made the story funnier if I had).
When I cook sometimes I feel like I am on stage. Normally it starts out with one or two pikkini’s/Mama’s watching me and by the time I’m finished it’s a whole crowd.
Although my island is very remote and isolated, there are actually quite a few tv’s/dvd’s people run off generators. I generally refuse to watch them, because the idea of being on a remote island and watching tv is just unsettling to me.
I’ve been living in the guest house for the past couple months in my village and one day I came home to find that I’d be sharing it with 2 guests that were going to stay for a couple days and ended up staying for a week and a half. I guess that’s why a requirement of Peace Corps is to be flexible…luckily they were very nice.
I’ve hiked up 3 times to the lake on my island and have seen the volcano from the base of it. I also hiked one time to the waterfall which is the most beautiful waterfall I have ever seen, although the next two days I couldn’t walk because my ankle was so swollen from the hike.
As some of you may have heard I have or now should I say had a cat – Aranis. My community keeps saying a man killed him, but I’m just going to stick with the story that he got a little lost in the bush…hopefully I can find a new one when I get back.
I spent the past 4 months without music, except of course the church music. First my ipod charger broke then when Dad sent me a new one my ipod got Alzheimer’s and lost all the memory.

Well that about sums it up. One thing people have asked me about it what they can send, Now that I’m on my island I have a better idea of things I need or actually I have everything I need, I guess these are my wants….

Things for the School -
Easy children’s books (level K-3), brightly colored paper (computer paper or construction), pencils, pens, tape, markers, stickers, folders, notebooks, staplers, laminating materials, index cards, glue, crayons, colored pencils.

Things for the community –
Led lights, playing cards, Band-Aids

Things for myself –
Any snacks (pretzels, chocolate, trail mix, granola/bars, twizzlers, almonds, fruit snacks, anything delicious and easy to send), packets of flavored oatmeal, those “on the go” packets of crystal light or green/ice tea, chai, a long lighter, Tupperware, matches, books to read, Easy Mac, simple earrings, spices, Ziploc bags, smelly candles, a quick dry towel (micro fiber), gum, an umbrella that has a fold up handle, and whatever else you think that I may want :)

Address – Valerie Selden, Peace Corps Volunteer, PMB 9097, Port Vila, Vanuatu, Republic of the South Pacific

Love and miss you all!

Halo! I am now an official volunteer as of November 30th. I signed an oath promising to dedicate my next two years of my life to Peace Corps. I am excited to go off on my own but I am feeling a little apprehension. Since I arrived in L.A. I have been surrounded by a group of other volunteers. On top of that the past two months of my life has been planned out and controlled. Now it is time to act as an individual and the experience will be what I make of it. It’s a lot of pressure, but I am utimately feeling excited and ready to move on and start working projects in my community.
My last few weeks in Lelapa were bitter sweet. I had some disappointing expeeriences with my family which were the result of my Mama being sick and not being able to be around. I’d rather not discuss the details, but to sum it up I learned that no matter where you ho money is what motivates the majority of the world and as much as it can helps it can also create serious problems. At the end, I was ready to leave. But it was sad, because Lelapa has been my home for the past 2 months. Everyone knew my name, it was safe to walk around along, I was surronded by my friends making it a very confortable environment. It’s always hard to change when something is comfortable. Lelapa was also just beautiful. I could hear the ocean waves from inside my hut. Looking at the night ski was equivilant to the site you would see at a planetarium. Everything on the island was close and easily accessible.

Some highlights of the last couple weeks…

- The Wedding! It was fun to watch it all unfold. The Mamas spent days preparing the food and decorating. In Vanutatu the man traditionall “buys” the woman. His family makes hundreds of mats out of pandanas leaves, dresses, kills pigs and bullock, and purchases assorted foods and small gifts to give to her family. The morning of the weddiing there was a huge parade in which the man’s family bring all the gifts over to the woman’s family. Lots of prayers and speeches were given. The actual ceremony was done in the church and was very similar to one in the states. Afterwards there was lots of food and dancing. One fun tradition is they sprinkle baby powder on everyone as a celebration. It was a great idea because it everyone was so sweaty cause of the hot climate.
- The day after the wedding we visited Hat Aelan. An island that is about a 40 minute boat ride away from Lelapa. The island holds a great deal of historical signifigance. About 400 years ago Chief Roi Mata created peace among all the villages surronding Efate. He became famous for this and was buried on Hat Island with 50 other villagers who sacrificed their lives in his honor. Aside from learning all of the historical stuff – I also learned how to gut and cook a fish over an open fire. After you get over how gross it is, I felt it was a really empowering experience. It helped me to feel prepared to live off the natural resources of the island instead of relying on stores.
- Thanksgiving here was actually one of my most memorable thanksgivings I have ever expereinced. Each of the volunteers made a typical thanksgiving dish and then our families brought aelan kakae (food). I felt like it was what thanksgiving was all about – sharing your customs and culture with others. It was awesome and our families were excited take part in the feast. They loved trying all the new foods! I made chocolate peanut butter bars ( not really thanksgivingish but they were delicious) I thought of Shelley when I made them..miss you!
- The last 2 weeks of training was slow. It was a lot of waiting around and hanging out with a couple of educational sessions in between. It was nice to be able to relax at first, but near the end it got to be very frusterating. I get a lot of my happieness and fulfillment out of life in feeling productive. So the last 2 weeks, I began to get become unhappy and just frusterated with myself. I think I started experiencing a little bit of island fever (you were right dad). I can’t even imagine how I am going to feel when I am on Gaua and not leaving for spans of 3 months. I have been spoiled during training because we have been brought into Port Vila once a week, which is a more westernized environment.
- The night before swearing in the Mamas stayed up all night preparing a feast for us. It was flattering and delicious. We were all given matching purple island dresses, which we ended up taking for a swim because it was so hot. We spent all night dancing aelan style to the music of Lelapas string band with the Mama’s and pikkininis. The next morning for out departure the entire village lines up on the beach. We shook hands and said good bye to every villager. There were lots of tears. In Vanuatu, where they have a vistor for 1 week or 2 months, they always have a big good bye and cry as a sign of respect. Very emotional!

Sorry this has become so lengthy! It’s been a while and will be a while till I am able to update again. I have no access to computers at my sire it Gaua. Letters and phone calls will be the two best ways of communication. If anyone would like to call me while I am on my island, just mail me a letter of good times to call. I will call you first and then I would appreciate if you could call me back. You can purchase a cheap phone card at speedypin.com. The phone is located at the airport which is a 20 minute walk away. I am hoping to get to it once a week or once every two weeks. Otherwise, send letters directly to my site or packages to the Peace Corps address (the one I gave you on the contact sheet). I will do my best with writing back in a timely manner. I love you all and thank you once again for your support.