A church in Holamb, Malekula

New dog. Oh wait.

Yesterday, my friend Laura handed me this tiny little puppy. I've been wanting a new dog ever since Camille ran away/was stolen.

The new puppy was definitely not feeling it, and tried to run away twice that afternoon. I tied a leash up for her and gave her some tin meat and let her sit outside.

Less than six hours later ... the dog ran away!! I think this goes to show that Peace Corps puppies and I might not be meant to be together. Sori. 

Vaoleli, Paama, Disaster Photo

I went to Paama a while back. Really, really nice place. We did a joint disability/disaster program with TVET and the Malampa Disaster Committee. Went to Lulep, Vaoleli, Vutekai, and Tahi, but unfortunately I connected my camera to a virus-infected computer and all of my photos disappeared.

Still--Paama was great. Seriously nice, very pretty, very nice people, extremely hilly--but super nice. I'm looking forward to going back to Paama soon.

The Peace Corps Director Came to Vanuatu!

And don't we look nice?

My Dog Was Stolen AT A FUNERAL. :(

So I had this dog named Camille for the past few months, ever since we got back from Australia. She was very cute and tiny and kind of a jerk. You know how puppies like to bite? She was like that. Extremely nibbly. 

So small!

Anyway, I got really fond of her and I used to take her everywhere. She would follow me to the market, to the nakamal, to work, everywhere. When I first got her, she was really dirty and bony and covered in ticks, but I got her to be (relatively) fat and much cuter. Also got her tick-free thanks to a collar.

I took her up to Santo at the beginning of the month when I went to see Sam for her goodbye party. I was somewhat worried that she would get lost there, but she was totally fine. We thought that the dog in Sam’s yard, Roxie, hated Camille … but then we realized that, no, Roxie loved Camille, and so everything was fine.

I flew back to Malekula, and went to a funeral that afternoon for Mami Jacqueline’s cousin … and someone stole my dog while I went over to express my condolences. Haven’t seen Camille since. Hopefully, whoever stole her has a bunch of children who will be very happy to have a new puppy, and will treat Camille well. But once again: who steals a dog from a funeral?

Things You Wouldn't Expect In Vanuatu

I like to talk about food. So let's talk about food products that you wouldn't expect to see in Vanuatu, but which are everywhere.

Number 1. Nem. Nem are fried spring rolls, with glass noodles inside and usually some mince meat. I definitely would not have imagined that nem would be something that people in the South Pacific would eat, but in more developed parts of Vanuatu (like Lak City, natch), you can buy them as a snack. They're pretty good -- very crunchy -- no dipping sauce.

Number 2. Roti. Roti come from India by way of Fiji. The ones in Vanuatu are usually pretty thick pan bread, wrapped burrito style around some sort of filling. Usually there's potato and onion and mince inside, and sometimes they're spicy. Very nice for breakfast, especially with a chocolate milk.

Number 3. Samosas. In the urban parts of Vanuatu, you can buy samosas. Think: Indian empanadas. They usually have sweet potato, mince, curry, and onions inside. Yum yum yum.

In general, I'd say that the major foreign influences in Vanuatu cuisine are French, Australian, Chinese, and Indian. Things like soy sauce and MSG and curry powder play a big part in fancier local cooking, and then when you're in the resorts, French/Australian/Asian cuisine is really apparent. It's pretty good stuff. Too many beets, though.

I did this awareness in Amelveth village ...

My friend Kelsey and I did this disaster awareness at Amelveth Primary and Junior Secondary Schools on June 2nd, and it was seriously so so so much fun. Like, probably the most fun school disaster awareness/drills program ever to take place. 

To go to Amelveth from Lakatoro is really easy, since it's only about a half an hour away. I met a woman at the market who was going to Northwest Malekula, so I jumped on a truck with her. Kelsey and I hung out, drank kava, and tried to plan the awareness the night before. We made delicious meaty tomato sauce ... and had to eat it on ramen noodles, since Lak City was out of spaghetti. Tragic.

The next day, at the morning assembly, I gave a little speech to the kids, and explained how the earthquake and tsunami drills would take place. I told them that sometime in the morning, Kelsey and I would go to their classrooms, and when we did, they would need to hide under their desks, covering their heads. (Think atomic bomb drills). For the tsunami drill, we would come by, inform them that there is a tsunami warning, and tell them to run for the hills.

We went from class to class. For Class 1-3, Kelsey read a storybook, then we played a game about three disasters--cyclones, tsunamis, and earthquakes. For the older kids, it was more technical, and for the students in Class 5-10, we discussed disability inclusion in disasters.

BUT THE DRILLS. THE DRILLS!

For the earthquake drills, Kelsey and I banged on the walls and the doors and shouted EARTHQUAKE, EARTHQUAKE. Class 1, 2, and 4 were very good. Class 5 had a lot of students who died when things fell on them. We were like, yu ded nao! Yu yu ded nao! Samting i kilim yu lo hed!

For the tsunami drill, we just ran around saying, tsunami alert! Tsunami alert! and the kids ran for the hills. The headmaster was the only one who 'died'. 

It was super delightful.