http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Oceania , Vanuatu , Efate en-us Sun, 03 Jan 2010 08:41:17 +0000 Sun, 03 Jan 2010 08:41:17 +0000 I am having the biggest exercise in letting go that ive ever had in my life. Learning to let go is something I think most of wish to master but few of toil to accomplish. Living in a material world with a deadly grasp on possessions who can blame usMy flashdrive went missing was lost was taken. My flashdrive that holds 600 photos of my entire peace corps experience. The first photo on there http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-445609.html Location Port VilaLength of Stay 19 DaysCost per Day 20.00 AlohellipBonjour and HellohellipThe 3 spoken languages here are Bislama Pidgeon English French and English. It is just amazing to see people switch between all three when communicating with a group of people. What a fabulous 1st destination to begin onersquos journey. Port Vila is such a gorgeous little placehellip It is off http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-425700.html On leaving Lautoka where we cleared out of Fiji we headed for the most southerly reef pass in light winds. On passing between the islands at 18.30 we encountered fairly heavy confused seas for the wind conditions which were surprising but a couple of low pressures south of us were affecting the area. Day two turned the seas a little sloppy but we had good winds and by day three it was a littl http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-424485.html I flew with Air Vanuatu from Brisbane to the capital city called Port Vila in the republic of Vanuatu. Let me first tell you something about the country Vanuatu before talking about my first experiences. The country consists of around 80 islands and has a total population of around 210.000 people. It has a tropical climate and lies in the South Pacific region. The first settlements of the French a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-413579.html Well everyone itrsquos time to start up the lsquool blog once again. I made it to Vanuatu after a couple hours in transit 37 and luckily all my luggage made it through too. There was a bit of hassle at the Brisbane airport that forced me to shill out a heap of cash that I didnrsquot want to spend but allinall things worked out in the end. I guess the airlines donrsquot like it when yo http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-408929.html Hello all Yes this one is coming to you live from Port Vila as we are back in the capital for training and heading back in about a week. Even though this will seem out of order as there are still blogs I have written and sent for my sister to post I'll go ahead with a few little news and tidbits and trust you all to put them into context with the letters yet to come via snail mail.Coming back http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-384595.html Vanuatu er en oeygruppe i Stillehavet bestaaende av 83 oeyer. Den stoerste oeya er Efate som huser hovedstaden Port Vila. Innbyggerne har et afrikansklignende utseende. Vanuatu er en tidligere fransk koloni men ble erklaert selvstendig i 1980 saa vi snakker om et ungt lite land. Kakkerlakker og skjegg Auckland skjemte oss bort med svalere klima og air condition saa varmen som slo mot oss da v http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-378326.html Sorta kinda didn't really know what to expect when I first went to Vanuatu as the online information isn't terribly extensive httpwww.vanuatutourism.comvanuatucmsindex.html so while I had made some plans as to things I wanted to do there was still the very real sense of I wonder... as we descended into Bauerfield International. The surrounding countryside was rough grazing land covere http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-375641.html Today begins the last month of the year and many things are coming to an end. Among the list of wrapups is my time here in the South Pacific. Tomorrow I head back to the states with a short stop in Fiji for a couple of hours. I love flying East over the dateline because gaining a day always makes me feel so time efficient. I'll spend 22 hours in transit and still land 34 hours before I left. Bac http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-350104.html Here is another blog to hold you over for a few months. While all of you in the States were celebrating Thanksgiving Justin and I were swearing in as official Peace Corps Volunteers before we were at the status of trainee. Everyone in our group was given a coordinating island dress or shirt to wear at the ceremony. It kind of felt like we were part of a big wedding all wearing coordinati http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-349729.html Hello All We're in the capital city of Port Vila for a few days before heading back to Maewo. It's been surprisingly hard to readjust to life in a hotel. Last night our first night back I woke up and couldn't not figure out where I was. I was cold and saw a weird light above me that was surely the moon and couldn't make out my mosquito net or dark walls that usually greet me when I wake u http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/blog-349517.html Sooooo I did it I survived PreService Training and have officially been sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I proudly took the oath last night and have full intentions of upholding my end of the deal. It was a pretty special ceremony. The whole village of Mangaliliu came together to support us as we were sworn in. It was kind of long full of speeches and thank yous. Our program manager gave http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/blog-349215.html Hey everyone Irsquom in Port Vila for the morning today since it will be the last chance before we leave for ldquowokabaot week.rdquo Itrsquos about the end of week 5 of training and sometimes I am ready for it to finish. We finally find out our sites next Wednesday and I am really looking forward to finally knowing where Irsquoll be living for the next 2 years. They have been telling http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/blog-338124.html Alright so I realized that my last entry came off as somewhat negative or that I just focused on the things that I no longer have rather than talking about the great things that are going onhellip.so this is a brighter look at what life is like People are happy. They are not in a rush. They live life on a daily basis minute to minute in the moment. When I run home from lunch to grab somethin http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/blog-338117.html Our adventures in the training village continue...This past week was probably the toughest so far for me as well as for our group. The small things are becoming routine and we're starting to settle down and grasp the vague potential of our time here. Sometimes it's overwhelming. Sometimes it is intoxicating and emotional to realize you are living your dream. Our group also passed around a viru http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/blog-338104.html Vanuatu not just the a of SurvivorWarning this entry contains a ridiculous number of photos I was going to break it up into two entries but well whatever...We arrived at the Port Vila airport on the island of Efate in the early afternoon and Chris Mattrsquos cousin was there to meet us whew. Chris is an expat Australian works for ANZ Bank and agreed to let us stay with him whi http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/blog-337566.html Don't worry about your camera the cleber or witchdoctor said. I had left it on a bus on my first day back in Port Vila. Tonight I will send my spirit out of my body and walk around town. I will listen to every conversation and find out who has your camera. The only thing is that you yourself must not be outdoors this evening. She was a fat middleaged lady in a long dirty light red dress a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-334475.html wow. so void everything i said about anything before this blog. you want to know what life as a peace corps volunteer is like please see below... ok.... the nuts and bolts of the new life i live in a traditional hut with thatched walls made of dried coconut leaves. roof made of same thing but just the leavesnot thatched and somewhat sewen together with bamboo shoots. sounds exotic and great hu http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/blog-332745.html This entry is coming hot off the press in Port Vila. Turns out we got a few hours of freedom in the capital this afternoon and I'm taking some of that precious time to keep you all updated.We are settling in to our training village and temporary house. We are trying to utilize the video sharing with this entry so hopefully you can see a tour of our house. Given the slow internet connection http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/blog-332741.html Hello Friends I have been in my training village Mangaliliu for almost 2 weeks now and today we are taking a little field trip into Port Vila so I have some time to send an update. Everything is going really well almost too well. We are really lucky to have Managaliliu as our training village. Let me backtrack a little to when we first arrived a few weeks ago on Sunday...Our group received a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/blog-332736.html