Village Life

Hi All

Well, I'm just back from a four day village experience, basically to get an idea of village life in Vanuatu. I was lucky enough to stay with a fantastic family, Noel, Hanzel and their extended family in the village of Eretape.

Vanuatu is definitely a food basket! There is kakai (food) everywhere... if only the people on Survivor Vanuatu had known! Its been great to get a taste of all the various local produce, including manioc, taro, kumala, shellfish, many fish, banana (green and ripe) etc, and learn how to prepare them, with laplap, making coconus milk, roasting etc. Some, such as the small intestines preserved inside a bamboo pot was not quite to my taste, but I definitely didn't go hungry, as food is such a big part of life here.

We went fishing on the reef, although my techique needs some work (the one that got away eh?), planting island cabbage and coconus, go long walkabout and a lot of talking in bislama. Learning the language seems to be coming along alright... as long as people talk slow slow : )

The family I stayed with are from a couple of other islands near Santo: Pentecost and Ambae.... and so it looks like a trip to Pentecost will be planned in November, before the rainy season (and to show my cousin around). Noel is keen to show us around and I think it definitely pays to go with locals.

Also, I have aquired my first "island dress" ie a motherhubbard dress. Not sure if I'll actually wear it though...

Anyway, will be back in touch later this week.

Port Vila

Well, I've been in Port Vila for a couple of days now. Its not as hot as I expected and have been busy meeting VSA people and having a look around the town. Unfortunately my luggage didn't arrive with me, so I've been wearing the same pair of jeans for a few days now... at least its cool!

Another girl on the flight from Samoa had the same problem and she's in a next-door hotel. She's attending an aquaculture conference so I hang out with their group from various places in the pacific: PNG, Solomon Islands, Samoa etc. I've got my first Bislama (Pidgin) lesson today and am off to meet the NZ High Commissioner tomorrow, plus banking, immigration etc so am keeping busy, even if it really is all on Island time.

Am off to a custom village for four days on Thursday. Total immersion in Bislama plus learning a bit about the culture and customs etc. Should be fun!

On the road (plane) again...

Tonite is my last night in New Zealand for a while. This time tommorrow (hopefully) I'll be in the tropical climes of Port Vila.

The basic plan is to spend a few days in Port Vila getting organised, off to a village for four days then back to Port Vila till the 2nd of September, when I fly off to my new home of Luganville, Santo. A bit of a change from the North Island anyway : )

Taro recipes and Bislama (pidgeon english) tales to follow...

Home Sweet Home....

Kia ora!

I'm back in NZ now, organising gear for Vanuatu and trying to stay as warm as possible... Will be zipping between Tokoroa and Tauranga over the next week or so. If you want to get in contact, email or phone. I'll be leaving for Vanuatu on the 19th of August from Tauranga.

Green Bay Wisconsin: Pop. 102,313 plus one kiwi chick

Well, I made it safe and sound from France to Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA, home of the Green Bay Packers, Cheeseheads and of course half my family! Apparently the US is in the middle of a heatwave, so its been a good continuation of the baking heat from Europe, although there's a lot more aircon...

I'm here for a little over a week, staying with my Aunt Amy and Uncle Rick, visiting family and chilling out (not literally of course) before heading back to winter in NZ for two weeks. Its been great to relax, go to joga to stretch out the cycling muscles (I'm the most inflexible person in the class), heading to the pool and even the gym!

Over the weekend we migrated north to Amy and Rick's log cabin in the woods, situated on a small lake about an hour north of Green Bay. Plenty of activities to do, including exploring the lake and stream by kayak, swimming, cycling through the woods and a four hour ATV/quad bike mission with my cousin Brandon through the woods. Lots of wildlife to be seen, both real and plastic (deer, bears, fish, loones etc). This was all topped off by a roaring campfire (maybe just a little too close to the cabin) that included dining on "smores", an American classic. Brian and Brenda, Greg and Gretchen, and Mark and Jessica also joined us, and it was hillarious listening to the Johnson family tales of the antics that those Johnson Boys got up to in their youth.... very amusing.

Mark and Jessica invited me to go on a cycling tour of Green Bay to check out the neighbourhood that my mom/mum and family grew up in: from the Cass Street house, St Mary's, and the parks, to the various beer drinking locations and other hangouts of the Johnson Boys. A great way to see the town, even if it got up to 100 degrees F!

I also caught up with Lola and Dave Daniels, who took me on a tour of the Packer Stadium: Lambeau Field... an icon of Green Bay.

As you do, I've been teaching the cussy-bro's a few kiwi phrases to complement their burgening kiwi accents (although it sounds a lot more like clipped english accents to me): "sweet as" (sweet as what?); "criky"; "howzit"; etc. I've also tried to broaden their cultural horizons with such antipodian classics as "The Castle" and "Bro Town", just in case they head down under.

I begin the final leg of my journey tommorrow.... am about to start making Door County Cherry Pie for dessert tonite... (ummmm cherries). Then its back to the airport for another round of pleading about my bike getting through without extra charges.... as long as I'm not reduced to tears it should be okay : )