Stay or Go

With all the "IF's AND's BUT's" there was endless talk with Washington DC, DOD (Department of Defense), airlines, hotels,  staff, and us!! I was keen on NOT leaving!  The last thing I wanted to happen was for them to pull us out and then the country be so destroyed that we would be told, "sorry but you can't go back." Also how could we just leave our families and staff behind? It wasn't fair!!! How is my life as an American more important then any of theirs?  It's not!!

The news came to pack up one bag, leave the rest with the staff, and head to the airport. My heart hurt.  I've NEVER felt more ashamed in my life. I know it seems odd to some of you; but these people have become my FAMILY and here I was being told I had to leave them there to possibly die, but because I was American they would do what ever they could to preserve my life.  

Well we loaded up on the buses and as we got down the driveway a phone rang.  We were told the plane couldn't take us and we should return to the hotel immediately.  I was so dang happy!! We were told we were to wait out the storm in the conference room. In my head I saw this as amazing. I had envisioned all of us walking out the day after the storm passed, being the first ones on the scene to help rebuild Vanuatu IF Pam really did decide to come by for a visit.  I remind you through all of this it was an IF & WHEN. We had already started to adjust to the idea of games we would play, we were making play lists we would use and the blog post we would write. 

However, Pam continued to gain force and recognition.  And yet she was still enjoying her time picking up force, creeping along. We went to bed that night with mixed emotions: some scared of what was to come, some so grateful we didn't have to leave. (Side note: I am from NC & FL so hurricanes are a norm to me, which played a LARGE role in my ideology of just hunkering down and riding it out.)

The next morning we had just finished am amazing breakfast and were waiting for our meeting with our leaders. They were in meetings with our director.  I was sitting in the bar area drinking a chilled green coconut when the director's phone rang. The look on his face changed swiftly and the mood of the room changed with it. He stepped away from the group, finished the call, came back to the leaders, said 3 sentences, and then went off again.  Several of us saw the call, the face, and how the faces of our cohorts had changed--some worried, some more relaxed.  They quickly finished their meeting and by that point chatter was filling the lounge. They called the groups together in their rooms. You could have heard a pin drop when my leader said DC called. The storm has taken a turn that would make the eye of the storm land directly onto Port Villa and they have chartered a flight that we are to be on before 3 today in order to leave before the storm lands.

All I can say is the emotions were real and strong. My heart sank and I went to my room, crawled into the hotel closet, called a dear friend, and cried my eyes out for a solid 10 minutes.  I screamed, I cussed, I sobbed. If the eye came over this island, deaths were going to happen. What if they were our staff? Our office could be destroyed. But coming from a military background I knew orders were orders so I finished packing and crying.  I made some calls and then headed to the lobby for what would become the beginning of one of the longest waits of my life. (Or so it felt at that point)

The hard moments of the journey began.  The Peace Corps staff was there to gather what we couldn't take and secure it in the office.  They went back to work on VISA's; we loaded up on the bus and headed to the airport.  Destination: Sydney, Australia. How I hated that ride. Oh how I hated the storm. BUT deep down I kept saying, "it could always turn away and spin out in the ocean and Vanuatu would be fine. I mean it's not even raining hard. Besides it's named after a woman and we all know how often women change their minds."  These were some of my thoughts as I headed out of the country I had come to love.

I hadn't cried outside of the hotel room until I walked on the tarmac towards the plane.  I saw our staff on the over look deck where they had waited two hours, unknown to us, to wave goodbye.  Oh, how that moment broke my heart! I barely could see the stairs to load the plane.  Luckily most of everyone elses' eyes were blurry too so they didn't mention mine. I wanted nothing more than for them to board that plane with us.  But no, they were staying so that they could do everything possible to bring us back as soon as possible. How much love and respect I have for them!! We arrived in Sydney tired, beaten down, and honestly I felt broken. Little did I know that night was going to be one of the easiest ones we would have for weeks.

Until next time

JumpInTheJungle

Cyclone Pam

The cyclone that could change the face of Vanuatu and possibly change my life forever. The predictions around this cyclone were that it was going to be BIG. It was being called beast of Fiji, MONSTER of Vanuatu. As we were consolidated in the hotel you would see several people glued to maps, following the storm. The anticipation was this would turn into a category 5 cyclone,  which is where they stop counting.  It was moving VERY, VERY slow, which makes it more deadly. Also during all this there was another smaller storm forming known as Nathan.  If Pam and Nathan met, it could be one of the strongest storms the South Pacific would ever face. Structures in the USA would be damaged and demolished. This nation uses custom houses that would be demolished under the rain & winds of Pam. As the storm built there became a very tense question that had to be answered. Would the structure we were in be able to withstand what was coming, IF it came. At this point all of this was still an IF, AND, BUT, WHEN, HOW, conversation. Pam danced back and forth in the ocean from hour to hour.  She could have gone in many different directions.

This post is 2 of 3.  Next one is Stay or Go.

Until next time

JumpInTheJungle

Winds of Change

For safety and security, Peace Corps has stages in place for items that can put a volunteer's safety in jeopardy. On Saturday we were put on "stand fast" which means we were to tell our current location and we were not to take any unnecessary journeys. Why?  Well out in the South Pacific there was the perfect recipe for a devastating cyclone.  (Known as hurricanes back in the USA, but these turn the other way.)  At this point it was just that the perfect elements were there.

Sunday we received word a consolidation plan had been put into place. As I was already in Vila, fighting Giardia (which I've finally kicked! woohooo!), I was being surrounded by volunteers coming in from all the different islands. Tension was high and speculation heated. Many of us  thought the plan was a bit over kill considering nothing had formed above a tropical storm.

Monday we were all brought to the safest location to sit out a cyclone if it did form into the beast the prediction made. The HOLIDAY INN. An amazing hotel and a treat for us. American food, running water, and the amazing feeling of air conditioning!! But the stress levels were rising as the storm was now starting to form slowly but powerfully.

This post is 1 of 3 next one is Cyclone Pam

Until next time

JumpInTheJungle

Emergency Response

This article comes from a group of people that we sat and storied with for HOURS about our beloved Vanuatu.  They are at the airport now to be some of the first civilian boots on the ground. I personally am thankful for all the work they are putting into Vanuatu and helping the people there.
PLEASE take the time to read their article and find out more about their organization.   And IF you feel so inclined, donations will be used in helping them reach the people of Vanuatu.

I not a big donater because I'm often worried about how much ends up going into "management". But I've sat with this group, I've seen the supplies they are getting,I know the cost of some of the flights they will need to take to get to the outer islands, and any and all help is important in order for them to reach the people I have come to call family.

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/article/emergency-response-to-tropical-cyclone-pam/

Evacuated because of Cyclone Pam

Regular blog posts will be interrupted for a while as Vanuatu is experiencing the effects of Cyclone Pam.  It is a CAT 5 cyclone, and has left behind a lot of destruction.

My heart aches deeply.  The US embassy made the choice to evacuate all Peace Corps volunteers.  I have been in Vanuatu less than 8 weeks and my heart is hurting for those whom I know will lose all they have to Cyclone Pam.  While I, being an Americna, was being shoved on a bus to take a military plane out of the country.  We are in Sydney and we won't have much communication for a week.  So if I'm silent it means I'm safe.  This is bitter sweet.

If you need to get up with me, my number in Australia is 044-988-9416.

I've already contacted the LDS Mission office and will be talking to the mission president here in Sydney, I hope.  Also I will be able to go to the temple on Tuesday if all goes well.  Going to church made me realize how grateful I am to be LDS.  The love within our walls is amazing and comforting.

I will let you all know when we get things set up.  Prayers are still needed and wanted.  I'll be honest and say I have moments where my emotions flow over through my eyes.  so many of us are hurting for Vanuatu and we are waiting to go back and help.  It was hard on many of us to leave.  We will make the best out of being here BUT our hearts and minds are there with the people we have grown to love and call family.

Shit

Let's start the topic of something that happens for all of us: shit!

Places I've had to shit in a month:

~A flush toilet (just like the ones you have)
~A water seal toilet (you go and use a bucket of water to flush, but you pour from the front)
~A long drop (think outhouse) with an upside down bucket cemented on top
~A long drop shaped like a key hole
~A circular hole surrounded by concrete (hard to make the mark on that one, but all the squats from Crossfit payed off here)
~A bucket
~A hole dug in the ground with wood on top.  There is a hole cut in the wood and wood beams under to try and keep the board from breaking (also super hard one and man oh man a scary one, partly because it's on the edge of a cliff. It's also the one I'll be using until mine is built)
~An old water bottle cut flat (points for creativity here, right?)
~A piece of open ground (hole dug & once with no hole)

Things I've wiped with! 

~Toilet paper
~Cardboard from toilet rolls
~Banana leaves
~Grass
~Some random vine that I'm glad wasn't poisonous
~Some plant my host mom put in the small house
~Water
~My hand (which I washed right after really well)
~Nothing - hate that feeling

Until next time,

Jump in the Jungle

information overload

Are you reading the daily news?!? Have you written me to tell me YOUR news?!? What is going on in your life? IF you have emailed me don't worry; I'll reply, I'm bouncing all over the country.  By now I've moved 3 times. Oh how I wish I wouldn't have packed so much!!!

Well here's the link to Vanuatu Daily. You never know, I might show up in it in a year or so. :-)

http://www.dailypost.vu/

Until next week
JumpInTheJungle

An odd question I keep getting

So I've been asked four times if I'm half Ni-Van. (Ni-van is what locals are called). Reasons given so far are: I have thick heavy hair, I have high cheek bones, I have a darker skin tone, and I'm totally okay with the "who are you & where are you from, & who is your family?".  What do you think? Do I look part Ni-Van?

The picture is of my & my host sister from Meri.

Until next time

JumpInTheJungle

The Best Thing About a Medical Evacuation

So it's my life goal to find a positive out of every negative, and the positive side of my medical evacuation is that I've been able to spend a day catching up and Skyping with people back home. That has been pretty dang amazing and emotional! Also the other positive is I was able to spend some time getting to know Villa a bit more and storying with locals at the market and in the buses. It was great! I feel like I have some ways to go but that I can totally survive at the language level I am, at least in Vila, which makes me happy.

I'm sure I'll find some other amazing things out of this adventure.

Until next time

JumpInTheJungle

Odd things I miss!

So I thought you would find it funny some of the things I really truly miss, aside from all of you of course!

First and most: ALMONDS!!!! Almond butter, raw almonds, almond milk, sliced almonds, chocolate covered almonds. Oh how I miss ALMONDS!!!!

American Chicken. I have killed and cooked chickens here but oh heavens what I wouldn't give for a plump chicken with MEAT on its bones.

Non-starchy Vegetables. I swear I would ALMOST trade an organ for a grilled strawberry chicken salad from Chick-fil-a. Heck I'd take a brussel sprout right now. Vanuatu diet is HEAVY in carbs. I'm gonna try and grow a garden and see what I can grow.

Stir fry.  I know it kinda fits the above but holy cow do I freaking miss stir fry with gluten-free sauces mixed in....mmmmmmm

I miss my pretzels, I know I've said it before but man I miss them.  Mmmm pretzels dipped in almond butter,  yes PLEASE

Can you tell I'm hungry right now?  Today I've had pompous (grapefruit like) for breakfast & boiled bananas with coconut milk for lunch. I'm having starch for dinner.

Non food things I miss....

Being able to make a call without having to stare at the phone to make sure I hang up before it clicks over to the next minute.  Also having signal to make calls!! When I come home the first person who complains about not having signal or fast internet...I will punch you right in the gut.  So help me, you've been warned!

Nice toilet paper and a toilet that you can sit on! I'll write a post more on this later. Hehehe

Clothes that don't smell like mold and sweat! Its humid over here and no matter how hard you try, clothes just won't stay clean and things like PILLOWS reek of a moldy smell.

Circulating air. No power = no fans or AC's.  So sleeping can be a challenge for me as I've always, as long as I remember, slept under some form of circular wind.

Chicken free nights. LOL.  I know, ironic, but I swear they know the moment I fall asleep and they think, "hell, I'm awake!  You should be!"  Actually lets just say I miss nights with out animals screaming out. Here there are bush dogs who bark, cats who scream, flying foxea (fruit bats) who scream out and throw fruit down (and they even aren't that tasty, but they are protein, don't judge me), oh and the lovely geckos and rats.  They crap all in my house and have dance parties all night. (Ok to be fair I might be a bit cranky because I'm not sleeping through all the noise well yet)

Paved roads and walkways.  Oh man if ever get a chance to video some of my truck rides for you!  LOL

Libraries that have books!!!!

GOOGLE, YOUTUBE!!!!!!! Oh man I should have spent more time learning survival skills on those two places. By the way, anyone want to send me info on bush made solar ovens? I wanna try and make a Gluten Free bread with mannioc (yucca) flour.

I'm sure the list will grow BUT I also ABSOLUTELY love THIS place. The Sunsets, waters, fresh fruit, endless coconut water, and some of the sweetest, humblest people in the world! I'm also sure when I get back to the states I could make a longer list of things I miss about this place. But I just thought you'd all get a kick out of the simple things.

Until next time

Jump in the Jungle

A Carrot!

My, oh my, did I have an hilarious reaction to the sight of a carrot the other day! I had been in class all day and when I got home from school I went in and said hi to my host mom.  She was in the kitchen and upon entering the room what appeared in sight other than a large pile of orange, crunchy, juicy carrots. I immediately asked my mom, "where did those come from?"  She responds nonchalantly, "the store of course." I guess my papa went to the main island for something that day and went to the store.  My mom looked at me just eyeing the carrot the way some women eye purses, or men eye hunting gear. Mom said, "you can have one." Trying not to be a greedy American, I look for a knife to cut it in half. I spot one and cut it in half and slowly down the other half.  Then told my mom with the delight of a child getting some long awaited treat, "thank you!" I proceeded to lean against the wall and savor the flavor of that amazing thing. I tried so hard not to swallow it whole. I enjoyed every single bite. Once there were 2 bites left I looked up and my mom very comically said, "it's okay if you want the other half." I made a half-hearted attempt to decline as she handed it to me. I migrated to the living room full of wonderful emotions of joy. I not only got carrot today I got a WHOLE carrot. My day was made!!! Oh how my life has changed to the point where seeing a carrot can almost bring me to tears! I can only imagine what will happen the day I find an apple or a grape! lol

Until next time

Jump In The Jungle

What Goes Up Must Come Down!

Well the time has come to face the walk out of site. It's not my favorite thing BUT today was sunny, VERY sunny. Which means some of the soft mud on the path had dried. (The road is a truck road and the truck creates groves & very much gets stuck and spins out: creating very deep rivets in the road which can be knee deep. No lie one literally went up to my knee!) So at first it was gonna be my host mama walking me down. Then it turned into my host parents. Well school got cancelled (Not an uncommon thing here at all, I'll write more about that another time) so five minutes in my brother and sister join the walk. All of us walked down 2.5 hours in the burning sun, literally burning. I coated in sun block and my face still looks lobster-ish. It is a tough hike and I did it with my AMAZINGLY cool ospray weighting in at 9 kilo  19.8lbs! I'm not gonna lie, there were moments I felt weak compared to my host family walking the road barefoot.  I did walk barefoot for parts of the soft mud but man the rocks HURT so I kept taking my shoes on and off. We got to the mango tree and the view was amazing. I'll try and add the photo I took. It made the rest of the walk to meet Laura nicer. 

Laura is a VITEL volunteer who lives 3+ hours away. However, she is someone who I will be seeing every time I need to go into town over the next year because the truck runs at 5 AM into the city and I don't see me doing the hike down at 2 AM in the dark. After meeting Laura at Espicos Bay it's another 1.5ish walk to her house but the stars aligned and as we were taking a small spell, a truck came by. Laura talked him into giving us a ride to her house. We were both grateful for that.

Once we got back to her place we changed and went for a swim in the saltwater near her house, mainly because it was hot and I was covered in mud!

Later that day we went to her school and painted a few more countries in her world map! It was pretty cool. Then we got run off by the rain, which felt amazing.  We spent the rest of the night talking and making an amazing dinner of curry beef and quinoa, with a piece of dark chocolate for a treat.

Tomorrow I'll be up around 4 AM to repack my bags and head into town to meet other volunteers before we fly back to training.

Until next time

Jump in the Jungle

Almonds!

I got an Almond,  I got an Almond, I got an Almond hey hey hey hey.

Yeppers people!  The almighty Almond entered my life and man, oh man, was I happy. I can't wait to eat them all! They have only lasted this long due to the fact that I left them in the medical office, but believe you me, they are deliciously amazing!

I always knew I was nutty but man I never knew I was this nutty! lol

Until next time

JumpInTheJungle

Best Meal So Far!

So my youngest host brother went to the river while Mama was in the garden and brought back Naura (SHRIMP). Papa went to the small garden and brought back GREEN BEANS.  We also had laplap (I'll explain laplap another time but for this time think a mix between porridge & rice) cooked in coconut milk.  Man was it beyond good!! I have lucked out being near shrimp: great lean protein! It won't be a daily thing but it's my hope it'll be a weekly/monthly one!

Until next time

Jump in the Jungle

Surrounded But Alone

If you've ever been in a place that you don't know the language or culture, you'll know this feeling.  Imagine being constantly surrounded by people but being unable to truly communicate with them. That is what is happening to us here. We are walking by tons of people every day but man are we so different.  Things like island time, that drives some of us crazy, is natural to the locals and they just don't why it makes us a bit cross (angry).

Our world is so diverse and different. Even among each other (peace corps trainees) we are so different.  I'm one of the few in our group who is religious.  Also I come from a lower class family who have busted their ass to make middle class standing and I'm surrounded by a few who come from very very well-off families and it shows. Also, our group has a LOT who are fresh out of college and I've been working in industry for 5 years.  We also have 4 married couples. Our group is so diverse in itself.  So even though  it's rare that I'm not surrounded by someone I have found myself on a few occasions feeling completely alone. But I felt moments of that back in the states; we all have.  

My question for you all is how have you dealt with those moments in your life?

Until next time

Jump In The Jungle

A $3 Apple

Doctor's orders are that I stick to BRAT( bananas, rice, apples, toast) diet until my stomach calms down. So I went to the amazing ABM #2 (A fancy French grocery store), and bought 2 bananas,  and 2 apples,  plus some rice crackers for 1,000 vt (= $10).  Most of that was the apples! But it was sooooo worth it! If I had the money I would have bought 20! lol. It tasted amazing.  I can forsee many trips there in my future. But hopefully not because I'm on the BRAT diet lol.

Until next time

JumpInTheJungle

My First Medical Evacuation

So a medical evacuation takes place when you need to be moved for a treatment.  Intense med evacs include a visa & trip to another country. More common ones are to Villa where the Peace Corps medical staff is located.  So I'm writing this post in ....... Vila :-) I was medically evacuated for Giardia. To save you the details, feel free to Google it (Wikipedia explained it best). My situation was to the point that they had to give me several shots in my arm to slow the cramping from overactive intestines. This was followed by a complete spell of dizziness where I literally couldn't read letters on my phone to text. I looked rough, BUT I am very proud to say Peace Corps Vanuatu has an AMAZING medical staff, as well as office staff, who went above and beyond to get me drugs at sight.  And when the drugs weren't enough they came and got me. They worked amazingly well as a team and between them all I am well on my way to recovery. Here's to HOPEFULLY being smart enough to not drink the water without a filter or boiling it first.

All in all things couldn't have worked out any better if they had to. I'm so blessed because while in Vila I was able to talk/chat/Skype some of you.  This did me a world of good! And I'm not gonna lie, I cried at how much love I have felt from you all! Thank you so very, very much!

Until next time

JumpInTheJungle