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.
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