Holiday to Tanna

Almost as soon as term 1 finished I was straight on the plane to Vila. My Dad and step Mum were arriving from Brisbane and I was going to meet them. Port Vila is a nice town but it could be any town, in any country in the world. There is nothing special about it. We were just using is as a base to see other island and it is where international flights land. Planes do not fly to Pentecost every day. So after a day or so in Vila we flew to my island. This wasn't a holiday for me. I just tried to show off my school and local villages to my family to try and give them an idea of where I live and work. They stayed at the guest house in the local village of Waterfall. There host, Silas, is the former principal at the school. I knew they would be looked after fantastically well, as all of Silas' guests are. Unfortunately they didn't get to see any land-diving due to the timing of their visit. I gave them tours of the Waterfall, from which the village is named, the school and the next village Melsisi. Unfortunately my Step-Mum had a bad reaction to her antimalarial tablets which hopefully didn't ruin it too much for her. They also got to see one of the cargo ships land on the beach and the chaos of loading and unloading people and cargo tat ensues. After these few days we back on the plane to Vila for an overnight stop before going to Tanna.

Despite being organiser, translator and guide I tried to enjoy Tanna as much as I could. After all it was also my first visit. We stayed at a perfectly nice guest house on the west for the first night and during the day wandered down the beach as long as we could before cutting threw the bush to the road and continuing on into town. Lenekal (black man town) is one of only 4 towns in Vanuatu with 24 hour electricity and was all done by ni-vans. That said there is not much to see. It was full of the same type of stores as in Vila or Santo but instead of having a Asian behind counter they were all run by Ni-Vans, which I guess is something. On the second day after going to visit the market, we were supposed to be picked up by truck and taken over to our bungalow on the east. I got a call to say that the truck had picked people up from the airport and was full. But we could stand on the back, in the rain, for 90mins if we wanted. We didn't. So we didn't go that night. This was a shame as we missed the chance to see the John Frum movement. The next morning the truck did come and took us to the east. When we arrived the bungalows told us they were full! Why did you send the truck then! or mention this on the phone! Anyway, we moved to another bungalows very close to the volcano. S o close you could hear(and feel) it rubble every few minutes. I thought it was cool. The best time to see the Volcano is just before dark and watch until it goes dark. We got settled and then got a truck to the Volcano car park. A short walk from here is the viewing platform. We got a good show! A few people who were watching for their second or third night said this was the best they had seen. So it seems we had some luck at last. We were at the top for a good 2 hours before we went down for dinner. Followed by some singing from local children. The next day we went Hot spring in the morning. This is the beach next to the John Frum village. It is a black sand beach which has a hot river feeding it. The river itself wasn't too great in my opinion. So we had a wander down the beach, we had a few surprises waiting for us. Due to the volcano at various random point the sand/ash got really HOT. So much so that the water could be seen steaming on it. So we providing lots of amusement for the local as we occasionally had to run up the beach away from heat now and again. It made for an interesting walk. After that is back to the airport and off to Vila. the plane did a loop of the Volcano on the way back and you could just about see into the crater which was really cool. Back in Vila there wasn't much to do apart from say our good-byes and have dinner.

The next day my parents left for Australia and I was left to enjoy the delights of Vila. It was good to see them and I hope they had a good time. I know I did.

End of term 1

Its been a while hasn't it. I am now four months in to my year in Vanuatu. It seems to have flown by. Mainly because I am having a great time! I will try to write down my feeling about the last four month, although it will not be easy.

After a difficult start to life here, with the term starting late and the expected culture differences (shock, i think, is a little strong),things have really been going well of late. Work is good and I live with good people. What more could I ask for. I think not having TV, internet, contact with friends and family etc is easier when it is all taken away. I always feel worse just after talking to my family or finding out a football result. It is the brief snippets of life away from Pentecost that make it most difficult. It may difficult to believe but being here everything else doesn't matter. Don't get me wrong if I don't get to watch the world cup (looks about 50-50 at the moment) it will be difficult, because I know it is going on and will get updates on the world service. You don't yearn for what you don't know is happening, if you don't know about it you don't miss it. I take comfort in the fact I don't yearn for too much information and news, this tells me and I am happy with where I am and who I am with. However feeling bad after hearing news is, in a slightly masochistic way, is quite nice. I can't deny that I miss people, and things, despite any contentment I feel with my present situation.

I am a creature of habit and routine. I think that's why I took to rowing with such relish. Once I got into a routine with my lesson planning, teaching, exploring and adventure I was set. I have almost total job security. I don't have money worries. I have no mortgage or rent to pay. My commute takes the best part of a minute and best of all the same is true for my colleagues (which means I don't have to listen to them moan about it to me).

Initially I had no computers, which makes teaching computing hard. I don't actually teach Maths anymore, i teach Physics now. Although given how much the timetable has changed already this term, and the upcoming changes in staff, I may teach more Maths before the year is out. I think I have started to hit my stride as a teacher. Which is good for me and also for my students!

Despite the ni-van influence I am still early for everything, maybe 7 more months here will change that. Although hopefully I will still turn up for lesson, at all and on time! Which is more than can be said for some of my colleagues. On a similar note I also hope I won't leave for three weeks in the middle of term for holiday and not tell anyone when I am coming back. The heat is not an issue anymore. It is hot, all the time, but as long as I don't run to melsisi (and I don't do this too much) it's ok. The one thing I have not taken to is laplap, for the majority who don't know what this is, I envy you! If it's hot and of the taro variety, fine; if not forget it!

The term was 12 weeks long, which is long let me tell you. In England you get half term breaks, not here. I was definitely ready for a holiday.

News on my holiday to come. My computer is having a paddy so the blog I had prepared before has been lost. Hence this is brief and hastily written in an internet cafe.