So today in Vanuatu is the 31st of December. Its crazy to me that 2009 is over and I am going to see 2010 in another country. This time last year, I was in a plane on the way to Nigeria after being stuck at the airport for about three days. I look back on this year and it was really so eventful in so many ways for me. I graduated College, went back to my country of origin after an 8 year absence, joined the peace corps, turned 21, ran away from a potential tsunami and so many other things. Just reflecting on my life so far, in many ways I have being blessed.
So Merry belated christmas and a happy new year 2010.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Bae mi Kros
In my everlasting quest to bring you my faithful readers, my unfiltered experience in Vanuatu, I am starting a couple of categories.
This one, Bae mi Kross is about things that have happened in Vanuatu that pissed me off.
Have you ever had experiences that just make you grind your teeth? Well, I've had a couple here in Vanuatu.
The question --yu blo Africa? is starting to really irritate me. Yu blo Africa means, are you from Africa?
Now, I very happy to answer people's questions and if people ask me, I tell them I am a Nigerian who immigrated to the United States at 12 years of age and we talk about Nigeria and I tell them all about it and we have a jolly good time. However, imagine having to answer this question literally hundreds of times, and I am not exaggerating. The first question when a lot of people talk to me is yu blo Africa? I have talked to over a hundred people in Vanuatu already and have had to answer this question that many times.
Imagine, you're sitting in a bus minding your own business, chilling. Then the man beside you looks at you, you smile at him and he looks away. Then he looks at you again. Again, you smile. Again he looks at you, then he says hello, you say hello, then he asks..yu blo Africa? I wanna yell. I mean, at least let us have a freaking conversation first before you ask me where I am from you know? Hello, how are you doing, nice weather we are having, this bus driver is a horrible driver isn't he? After good will has been established, then you can ask me, yu blo Africa? And I will smile and explain exactly where I am from.
Not everybody I meet does this, but a good number of people do it. It is starting to really irritate me.
This one, Bae mi Kross is about things that have happened in Vanuatu that pissed me off.
Have you ever had experiences that just make you grind your teeth? Well, I've had a couple here in Vanuatu.
The question --yu blo Africa? is starting to really irritate me. Yu blo Africa means, are you from Africa?
Now, I very happy to answer people's questions and if people ask me, I tell them I am a Nigerian who immigrated to the United States at 12 years of age and we talk about Nigeria and I tell them all about it and we have a jolly good time. However, imagine having to answer this question literally hundreds of times, and I am not exaggerating. The first question when a lot of people talk to me is yu blo Africa? I have talked to over a hundred people in Vanuatu already and have had to answer this question that many times.
Imagine, you're sitting in a bus minding your own business, chilling. Then the man beside you looks at you, you smile at him and he looks away. Then he looks at you again. Again, you smile. Again he looks at you, then he says hello, you say hello, then he asks..yu blo Africa? I wanna yell. I mean, at least let us have a freaking conversation first before you ask me where I am from you know? Hello, how are you doing, nice weather we are having, this bus driver is a horrible driver isn't he? After good will has been established, then you can ask me, yu blo Africa? And I will smile and explain exactly where I am from.
Not everybody I meet does this, but a good number of people do it. It is starting to really irritate me.
Malekula
So, it has been a little bit more than a month since I last updated my blog. My sincere apologies...when you're living the island life, chilling on the beach, drinking coconut juice and plotting the extermination of mosquitoes, updating a blog is the last thing on your mind.
What has happened in the past month? Well, I am officially a peace corps volunteer. We had our swearing in on the 5th of November and the president of Vanuatu came to the ceremony ad gave a speech which was cool. I got to shake a president's hand, which funny enough has been on my list of things to do for a while now. Funny how things work out.
I am based at a secondary school on Malekula Island. There I will be teaching computer studies when school starts back up next January. I live in the singles quarters of the school and have two rooms to myself. One serve as a bedroom and the other will serve as a small living room. There a communal bathroom and a communal kitchen. So far I lucked out and I have a fridge, a pretty decent gas stove and a shower. Among the other peace corp volunteers I am living in the lap of luxury. In fact sometime in the future I am going to make an MTV cribs - Malekula version, then y'all will see how I'm really living.
The lab I am going to work in has solar panels so the computers can be used anytime which is actually really great. Most places in Vanuatu do not have electricity, so most schools have to use generators for electricity. As anybody who has ever used generators know, it eats up a lot of gas or diesel and they are expensive in Vanuatu, about 3 dollars per liter. Because of this, schools only turn on the generator three hours in the morning and sometimes three hours in the afternoon. This makes a computer lab not all that useful because people can only use the computers briefly and students do not get nearly enough time on the computer to become really comfortable and productive on them. However, my situation will be different because of the 24 hour power supplied to the computer lab. So here's hoping that I am a good teacher.
I think I have rambled on enough. Asta luego.
What has happened in the past month? Well, I am officially a peace corps volunteer. We had our swearing in on the 5th of November and the president of Vanuatu came to the ceremony ad gave a speech which was cool. I got to shake a president's hand, which funny enough has been on my list of things to do for a while now. Funny how things work out.
I am based at a secondary school on Malekula Island. There I will be teaching computer studies when school starts back up next January. I live in the singles quarters of the school and have two rooms to myself. One serve as a bedroom and the other will serve as a small living room. There a communal bathroom and a communal kitchen. So far I lucked out and I have a fridge, a pretty decent gas stove and a shower. Among the other peace corp volunteers I am living in the lap of luxury. In fact sometime in the future I am going to make an MTV cribs - Malekula version, then y'all will see how I'm really living.
The lab I am going to work in has solar panels so the computers can be used anytime which is actually really great. Most places in Vanuatu do not have electricity, so most schools have to use generators for electricity. As anybody who has ever used generators know, it eats up a lot of gas or diesel and they are expensive in Vanuatu, about 3 dollars per liter. Because of this, schools only turn on the generator three hours in the morning and sometimes three hours in the afternoon. This makes a computer lab not all that useful because people can only use the computers briefly and students do not get nearly enough time on the computer to become really comfortable and productive on them. However, my situation will be different because of the 24 hour power supplied to the computer lab. So here's hoping that I am a good teacher.
I think I have rambled on enough. Asta luego.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
What is Pentecost? and what am I going to do to Roosters?
What is Pentecost?
(a) A church denomination (b) The name of an Island (c) A type of food (d) How should I know?
If you chose (b) then give yourself a pat on the back. Pentecost is an island in Vanuatu. In case you don't know, Vanuatu is comprised of about 81 islands and Pentecost is one of the larger ones. I went to Pentecost for my "wokabout" which is basically a site visit. The purpose of this is to go to another island and stay with a volunteer for a couple of days to get an experience of what life on another Island is like. In an ideal world, you should stay with a Volunteer who is going to work in a field that you will be working in.
In my case, I lucked out and was placed with one of the coolest volunteers in the peace corps. He is also an IT teacher at a secondary school, something that I will be also. I got the opportunity to teach a couple of IT classes to some class 9,10 and 11 students which was a cool and eye opening experience for me.
Pentecost is an interesting island. It is very beautiful but extremely hilly. Everywhere you go on this Island, you have to climb a hill. I think I lost a couple of pounds just in the five days that I stayed there. I returned to my training village and my host family were shocked at the way I looked. Of course I managed to gain it all back due to the cooking of my host mama. Pentecost, being so hilly, has a lot of waterfalls. My host and I took a trip to one a day before I left. We hiked through bush, crossed a couple of rivers, climbed a small hill and came face to face with a beautiful waterfall which was totally worth the very real danger we had getting there. Then on our way back, we discovered a very shorter and infinitely easier path to the main road. Go figure.
Pentecost is known for two things and they are: water taro, which is a root crop that right now to me tastes like papier marche, but I am sure that I will grow to love it. They are also known for their kava, my thoughts, theories and general opinion about kava will have to be an entire post because it deserves it. But in brief, kava is the national/cultural drink of Vanuatu. It is used in custom ceremonies and any other type of event. It might be considered similar to the use of kolanuts in certain societies.
On a totally different tangent, a fellow volunteer made up a song about roosters. The song is so bad that I cannot put it here online, but let me just say that if roosters could understand English and one hears this song, it would immediately run to the witness protection program. Imagine having a nice dream. Your every fantasy is about to be fulfilled and then just when you are about to become emperor of the world, you hear a shrill noise and wake up, and its 4 in the morning. Do you know the cause of this? Roosters. They are one of the most annoying and vindictive creatures on God's green earth. They do not even have the decency to wait until around 6 or 7 to start their noise making.
Anyways, at this point in our lives, almost all of us trainees are understandably bitter towards Roosters, some have even taken to throwing stones at them every opportunity they get. Of course the stones inevitably miss and they glare at you as if to say "you will pay for that at 4 next morning" and we pay..dearly.
Enough of my rambling, until next time. Bae God I stap wetem yufala kasem taem we yumi toktok bakagan. A prize to anybody who can tell me what that phrase means.
(a) A church denomination (b) The name of an Island (c) A type of food (d) How should I know?
If you chose (b) then give yourself a pat on the back. Pentecost is an island in Vanuatu. In case you don't know, Vanuatu is comprised of about 81 islands and Pentecost is one of the larger ones. I went to Pentecost for my "wokabout" which is basically a site visit. The purpose of this is to go to another island and stay with a volunteer for a couple of days to get an experience of what life on another Island is like. In an ideal world, you should stay with a Volunteer who is going to work in a field that you will be working in.
In my case, I lucked out and was placed with one of the coolest volunteers in the peace corps. He is also an IT teacher at a secondary school, something that I will be also. I got the opportunity to teach a couple of IT classes to some class 9,10 and 11 students which was a cool and eye opening experience for me.Pentecost is an interesting island. It is very beautiful but extremely hilly. Everywhere you go on this Island, you have to climb a hill. I think I lost a couple of pounds just in the five days that I stayed there. I returned to my training village and my host family were shocked at the way I looked. Of course I managed to gain it all back due to the cooking of my host mama. Pentecost, being so hilly, has a lot of waterfalls. My host and I took a trip to one a day before I left. We hiked through bush, crossed a couple of rivers, climbed a small hill and came face to face with a beautiful waterfall which was totally worth the very real danger we had getting there. Then on our way back, we discovered a very shorter and infinitely easier path to the main road. Go figure.
Pentecost is known for two things and they are: water taro, which is a root crop that right now to me tastes like papier marche, but I am sure that I will grow to love it. They are also known for their kava, my thoughts, theories and general opinion about kava will have to be an entire post because it deserves it. But in brief, kava is the national/cultural drink of Vanuatu. It is used in custom ceremonies and any other type of event. It might be considered similar to the use of kolanuts in certain societies.
On a totally different tangent, a fellow volunteer made up a song about roosters. The song is so bad that I cannot put it here online, but let me just say that if roosters could understand English and one hears this song, it would immediately run to the witness protection program. Imagine having a nice dream. Your every fantasy is about to be fulfilled and then just when you are about to become emperor of the world, you hear a shrill noise and wake up, and its 4 in the morning. Do you know the cause of this? Roosters. They are one of the most annoying and vindictive creatures on God's green earth. They do not even have the decency to wait until around 6 or 7 to start their noise making.
Anyways, at this point in our lives, almost all of us trainees are understandably bitter towards Roosters, some have even taken to throwing stones at them every opportunity they get. Of course the stones inevitably miss and they glare at you as if to say "you will pay for that at 4 next morning" and we pay..dearly.
Enough of my rambling, until next time. Bae God I stap wetem yufala kasem taem we yumi toktok bakagan. A prize to anybody who can tell me what that phrase means.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
I will survive..a Tsunami
Hello good people, sorry updating has been so long but I really have no internet and when I get internet it is extremely slow...in fact right now it is so slow that I am tearing my hair out in frustration, next time you see me and I have bald patches blame it on the internet in Vanuatu. America has really spoiled me with its broadband..
Saki em I bin kakae Joshua..nem blong mi Kalmanu means Sharks have eaten Joshua, my name now is Kalmanu. My first weekend in my training village, my host family gave me a Kastom(custom) name of Kalmanu and part of the name giving was that sharks have eaten the name Joshua, so my name now is Kalmanu, so I go by Kalmanu now.
Training will be over in a couple of weeks and then I will be able to update more frequently.
So what is a tsunami? A force of nature that you can do nothing to defend against. All you can do is go as far from the shore as humanly possible, climb a hill and prepare for your doom.
Vanuatu had a tsunami watch one week and a tsunami hit some other countries like Samoa and devastated them. So when next we had a tsunami watch everybody was scared. I was not worried at first, but when I saw villagers packing their stuff and going for the hills I was understandably worried. It was that kind of fear where if you give in to it a little bit, you will start freaking out.
Peace corps said we should go to our families and do what they do. They were not worried because it was a Tsunami watch and a tsunami has never hit where we were staying. So I went back to my family and they said we were going up the hill but first I was going to hit lunch. I was like if you want to go now, let us go, I dont need to eat..Who knows? If I stay and eat and the tsunami comes, what wil they write on my tombstone? Here lies Joshua..he stayed to eat lunch..Shoot, I was ready to go. I had my machete, my passport, batteries and everything ready.
We went up a very steep hill that was made even more painful to walk up because it was raining. However, we had a good time. People put up a tent, and we had food and music and a fellow peace corps volunteer put on an impromptu dance performance. It was a good time, once the panic and fear of imminent death was over.
After we came down, I heard that a tsunami did come, but it was only two inches...ridiculous..All that fear and excitement and all we got was two inches?
So what have I learnt about Tsunami's? Run away as far as you can or climb the tallest tree you can find and hold on fast..then prepare to meet your doom (This was actually said in an information packet given to us at a peace corps briefing). Also, don't freak out.
As before, I have to go, limited internet time..I want to reply to people's posts but I can't and I really dont what to have to wait thirty minutes again to load to blogger..so until later..tata lukim yufala
next post...What is Pentecost? and What am I going to do to Roosters?
Saki em I bin kakae Joshua..nem blong mi Kalmanu means Sharks have eaten Joshua, my name now is Kalmanu. My first weekend in my training village, my host family gave me a Kastom(custom) name of Kalmanu and part of the name giving was that sharks have eaten the name Joshua, so my name now is Kalmanu, so I go by Kalmanu now.
Training will be over in a couple of weeks and then I will be able to update more frequently.
So what is a tsunami? A force of nature that you can do nothing to defend against. All you can do is go as far from the shore as humanly possible, climb a hill and prepare for your doom.
Vanuatu had a tsunami watch one week and a tsunami hit some other countries like Samoa and devastated them. So when next we had a tsunami watch everybody was scared. I was not worried at first, but when I saw villagers packing their stuff and going for the hills I was understandably worried. It was that kind of fear where if you give in to it a little bit, you will start freaking out.
Peace corps said we should go to our families and do what they do. They were not worried because it was a Tsunami watch and a tsunami has never hit where we were staying. So I went back to my family and they said we were going up the hill but first I was going to hit lunch. I was like if you want to go now, let us go, I dont need to eat..Who knows? If I stay and eat and the tsunami comes, what wil they write on my tombstone? Here lies Joshua..he stayed to eat lunch..Shoot, I was ready to go. I had my machete, my passport, batteries and everything ready.
We went up a very steep hill that was made even more painful to walk up because it was raining. However, we had a good time. People put up a tent, and we had food and music and a fellow peace corps volunteer put on an impromptu dance performance. It was a good time, once the panic and fear of imminent death was over.
After we came down, I heard that a tsunami did come, but it was only two inches...ridiculous..All that fear and excitement and all we got was two inches?
So what have I learnt about Tsunami's? Run away as far as you can or climb the tallest tree you can find and hold on fast..then prepare to meet your doom (This was actually said in an information packet given to us at a peace corps briefing). Also, don't freak out.
As before, I have to go, limited internet time..I want to reply to people's posts but I can't and I really dont what to have to wait thirty minutes again to load to blogger..so until later..tata lukim yufala
next post...What is Pentecost? and What am I going to do to Roosters?
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Saki em I bin Kakae Joshua, Nem Blong me Kalmanu
What can I say about Vanuatu? It really is a remarkably beautiful country. The stars at night are amazing, the sun setting over the sea is to die for. An artist living in Vanuatu would be like a kid on a sugar high, too many things to draw. Vanuatu of course is a developing country so a lot of things we take for granted in the United States are not available here. We are also having Pre-Service Training (PST) in a village in Vanuatu, so a lot of the things we could have in the bigger towns are not even available. Some volunteers have electricity though generators and some do not. I have been in the village for a little over a week now and the generator in my house was turned on once for about an hour.
I thought that me being from Nigeria and having lived there for a good portion of my life would have prepared me a bit for the environment here, boy was I wrong. Vanuatu has many similarities to Nigeria. Both are tropical, so a lot of flora are similar, however the flora are used in different ways. For example, there is yam, but there is no pounded yam. When I heard that I was about to get back on a plane to the United States. I think I will bring pounded yam to Vanuatu. By the time I leave, it will be a staple here. Another big difference for me is the village life.
I have actually never lived in a village before. In Nigeria, I lived in fairly big towns , so for example, I have never had to use an outhouse before, except for some isolated incidents. Here in my village, outhouses or smol haos is the name of the game. They are certainly much better than I thought. When I used to think of small houses I thought of flies and maggot infested pits of disease. Fortunately they are not like that at all. They are basically toilets located outside of the house, only difference is that you have to pour water into them to flush. They might actually be more hygienic than having toilets in the house, which now that I think about it is very nasty.
There is so much to say about Vanuatu and when I have good access to the internet, I will expound at length on my thoughts. I will explain the title of this post in my next post. This is my version of a cliff hanger...(dramatic music plays)
I thought that me being from Nigeria and having lived there for a good portion of my life would have prepared me a bit for the environment here, boy was I wrong. Vanuatu has many similarities to Nigeria. Both are tropical, so a lot of flora are similar, however the flora are used in different ways. For example, there is yam, but there is no pounded yam. When I heard that I was about to get back on a plane to the United States. I think I will bring pounded yam to Vanuatu. By the time I leave, it will be a staple here. Another big difference for me is the village life.
I have actually never lived in a village before. In Nigeria, I lived in fairly big towns , so for example, I have never had to use an outhouse before, except for some isolated incidents. Here in my village, outhouses or smol haos is the name of the game. They are certainly much better than I thought. When I used to think of small houses I thought of flies and maggot infested pits of disease. Fortunately they are not like that at all. They are basically toilets located outside of the house, only difference is that you have to pour water into them to flush. They might actually be more hygienic than having toilets in the house, which now that I think about it is very nasty.
There is so much to say about Vanuatu and when I have good access to the internet, I will expound at length on my thoughts. I will explain the title of this post in my next post. This is my version of a cliff hanger...(dramatic music plays)
Thursday, September 10, 2009
California Love
Now let me welcome everybody to the wild wild west, a place that's untouchable like Elliot Ness....2Pac ft. Dr. Dre.
I'm in California right now, and it is nice. The Peace Corps put us up in a Sheraton hotel which is pretty cool. Pool, Fitness Center and all the amenities you can think of. I have met some people in my current group and they are pretty cool. We had some nice discussions by the poolside. The peace corps does have a wide range of people apply. I met someone who was a sheep farmer in Vermont which is pretty cool. I have also met a couple of people who have completed their masters and people who like me just finished their bachelors.
So far, everybody seems nice. Today seems kinda like my first night in college. In college that first night, there was a large group of people outside the freshmen dorms just hanging out just getting to know each other, which is similar to what went on tonight.
As of now, it does not seem like I am committing two years of my life to the peace corps, it feels like I am going on a vacation or something similar. At times it hits me that two years is a really long time. For example, my sister will be finishing up her first semester in high school when I get back and I'm like wow!!! This little girl is going to be in high school when I get back? Thats crazy!!! I talked to some people today about this and they feel the same way about this that I do, it still doesn't feel real to them.
We have orientation tomorrow and then we fly out. I will try to get another post in tomorrow before we leave. until then, this is my stream of thought.
I'm in California right now, and it is nice. The Peace Corps put us up in a Sheraton hotel which is pretty cool. Pool, Fitness Center and all the amenities you can think of. I have met some people in my current group and they are pretty cool. We had some nice discussions by the poolside. The peace corps does have a wide range of people apply. I met someone who was a sheep farmer in Vermont which is pretty cool. I have also met a couple of people who have completed their masters and people who like me just finished their bachelors.
So far, everybody seems nice. Today seems kinda like my first night in college. In college that first night, there was a large group of people outside the freshmen dorms just hanging out just getting to know each other, which is similar to what went on tonight.
As of now, it does not seem like I am committing two years of my life to the peace corps, it feels like I am going on a vacation or something similar. At times it hits me that two years is a really long time. For example, my sister will be finishing up her first semester in high school when I get back and I'm like wow!!! This little girl is going to be in high school when I get back? Thats crazy!!! I talked to some people today about this and they feel the same way about this that I do, it still doesn't feel real to them.
We have orientation tomorrow and then we fly out. I will try to get another post in tomorrow before we leave. until then, this is my stream of thought.
Oh! Cali??
This blog post is dedicated to the memory of Biggie and his song "going back to cali". if you haven't heard it, youtube it or something. its a good song.
I decided on something the other day. I want to put as the title of each post on here the name of a song relevant to the post.
As you can infer from the title, today, I am going to California. We meet up as a group today, have orientation tomorrow, then leave tomorrow evening for Vanuatu. I believe we lose a day during the trip because of time differences. That's cool because technically I will finally be a day older. That has the makings of a riddle. Twin brothers born 2 minutes apart, yet one is a day older..how is that possible?
I'm saying my last goodbyes to my family and friends. My area always changes whenever I go back to school and come back for the holidays, and I am very curious what two years will do to it.
I decided on something the other day. I want to put as the title of each post on here the name of a song relevant to the post.
As you can infer from the title, today, I am going to California. We meet up as a group today, have orientation tomorrow, then leave tomorrow evening for Vanuatu. I believe we lose a day during the trip because of time differences. That's cool because technically I will finally be a day older. That has the makings of a riddle. Twin brothers born 2 minutes apart, yet one is a day older..how is that possible?
I'm saying my last goodbyes to my family and friends. My area always changes whenever I go back to school and come back for the holidays, and I am very curious what two years will do to it.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Preparations
Preparing for my departure to Vanuatu is very similar in a way to my first trip off to college. What do I take, what do I not take? I am trying not to buy a lot of things, but the temptation is certainly there to just go all out and buy that radio with a solar charger that also powers laptops and connects it to the internet through radio waves. It does not help that I do not have an exact idea of conditions where I am going.
There are packing lists online of course, but its difficult to know what to pay attention to and what to disregard. Will I really need a paring knife? Or will its absence make my first couple of weeks absolute hell? Do I really need a waterproof duffel bag? I'm sure it will be convenient if I am caught out in the rain, but should I spend the extra dollars? I'm thinking I could be like MacGuyver and take some plastic sheets and attach them to a duffel bag and shazam! waterproof duffel bag ala Josh Inc.
Anyways, I am going to go get some things today, hopefully they will be on sale because of the labor day weekend. Fingers crossed.
By the way, this blogging thing is actually kinda cool.
There are packing lists online of course, but its difficult to know what to pay attention to and what to disregard. Will I really need a paring knife? Or will its absence make my first couple of weeks absolute hell? Do I really need a waterproof duffel bag? I'm sure it will be convenient if I am caught out in the rain, but should I spend the extra dollars? I'm thinking I could be like MacGuyver and take some plastic sheets and attach them to a duffel bag and shazam! waterproof duffel bag ala Josh Inc.
Anyways, I am going to go get some things today, hopefully they will be on sale because of the labor day weekend. Fingers crossed.
By the way, this blogging thing is actually kinda cool.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
New Beginnings
So, a sleepless night has managed to get to me to finally create this blog. In the spirit of following in the footsteps of previous and current peace corp volunteers who have blogs, I decided to create one also. I don't know yet what format I want this blog to take. I have seen some different blog formats on the web which seem interesting, so I might decide to implement some of them.
I quite like the idea of blogging and have been meaning to get into it for some time now. It seems fitting in a way that this adventure that I am about to embark on in the Peace Corps will also include my jump into the blogging world. Here's to hoping its as interesting as I am sure my Peace Corps experience will be.
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