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.