It's been quite an eventful few weeks. I'm writing this post while sitting in the PENAMA Provincial Office in Saratamata, on Ambae; my community for the next two years.
I think the biggest thing I'm learning is how to live with ambiguity, specifically with my job. I've tried many a time to write this post about what my job is and will be for these two years, but the truth is I can't really pin it down. I'm some combination of help desk worker, teacher, assessor, technician, web developer, and electrician. Or at least that's the hope. My impression is that OGCIO (Office of the Government Chief Information Officer), the office I work for that's based in Vila, doesn't necessarily know what exactly the provinces need. They don't have any staff posted out here, so the hope is that my fellow ICT Peace Corps Volunteers and I will be those points of contact.
I fluctuate a lot between being terrified by that ambiguity, and being excited about it. On the one hand, it means I will probably be able to make this job whatever I want it to be, and I'm excited about the potential projects I'll be able to do. On the other, it's hard to go into a community for two years not knowing exactly what I'll be doing, or if I even have the know how to do it.
Moving away from the ambiguous and towards the more concrete, though, I really am enjoying myself here. Bislama is a really easy language to learn, evidenced by the fact that after about 3 weeks of studying it, I rarely revert back to english when talking to people. I'd compare my language level to about where I was after a full year of college Spanish, although I've said "Ples i hot" (This place is hot) so many times, I think it's already started to lose meaning as a sentence. The food is pretty good, although quite starchy, and I'm really enjoying getting to know people here. Overall, Vanuatu has been treating me well, and I promise my next post will be more well thought out and cohesive. (I'm borrowing a co-workers computer, and only have a few minutes to write this).
I also promise to think of you, Carleton friends, next time I go swimming in the warm Pacific Ocean off of my tropical island.
