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!