Friday, November 16, 2007

Matanvat Village


Hello Everyone! Its been a really busy month! Last week I went on my "one week wokabaot" to my permenant site, to check out the village and school. I will be going to the island of Malekula, to Matanvat village on the north-west coast. It is 2 hours-by truck- away from Lakatoro, the third biggest city in Vanuatu. But don't think that it is actually a big city. It's not. Really Lakatoro is a dirt road, lined with cococut plantations, that runs along the beach, and there are 2 grocery stores, a hardware store, a post office, a bank, and some assorted offices. Basically, it contains everything I need and more. (Aka cold beer, cheese, mail, and access to money).

My village is really great- although my house isn't finished yet, the site where my house should be in 3 weeks is about 200 meters from the ocean- I can see the bright blue water through the coconut trees from my house. I will be living in my own house next to my family, who basically make up the rest of the village. There are about 50 people and I think I am related to everyone in some form or another, so I can just call all the men Uncle and all the women Auntie, which is great because I don't remember any of the names I learned.

Basically for the week I visited my school (about 100 m from my house), walked to the 2 neighboring villages, a few km down the road, went to the garden with my host mama and sister (which involved lots of bush-whacking), and read 500 pages of Fountainhead. I am the first volunteer that the community has had, so everyone was a little nervous at first but I think they will warm up to me. I am excited to go back in 3 weeks!! On 29 November, our training group has our "swearing-in ceremony" and I will be an official Peace Corps Volunteer.

I have a new address:

Laura Klatka/Peace Corps
Matanvat School
PMB 39
Lakatoro, Malekula
Republic of Vanuatu
South Pacific

Thanks for all the letters I've gotten so far!

Feel free to send me some Christmas packages :)
Here is a list of things that I could always use more of:
  • Clif bars (chocolate chip!)
  • ziplock bags
  • tupperware
  • photos (of anything!)
  • magazines/books/reading materials
  • cool pencils to give to the kids in my class
  • stickers (for my classes)
  • anything else entertaining (to help me get through the first few months of boredom and homesickness)
I miss everyone (still) and hope all is well back home!