Do a little dance...

Well, Vanuatu’s getting closer and my preparations are really starting to soar, but of course I do sometimes have a life outside of this preparation. :0)
For example, you might be aware that there has been a cabaret festival running in Adelaide since the 9th of June. I’m a huge fan of theatre, singing and dancing (when I’m watching, not doing) and on Wednesday 21st they had a cheap day! Bring your friend for free, so Sarah, Alley, Mel and I all headed down to the Festival Theatre for singing, bands and laughs.
With all three of us being David Bowie fans there was really only one performance that was a must see: Jeff Duff’s ‘Ground Control to Frank Sinatra’. With a tagline, ‘What would happen if Frank Sinatra and David Bowie unwittingly turned up at one another’s concert by mistake and then took up the challenge of performing each other’s repertoires?’, who could resist?
The evening (well, afternoon) started with us meeting Alley and then catching the train to the city, unfortunately I don’t have any weird patrons to describe to make the train trip more interesting for you. Upon reaching the city we burned time going to Alley’s uni, camera stores, and Galactic Video. Galactic Video is a nerds paradise, with science fiction movies dating back to the dawn of movie making history, anime from all over Japan, and the classic horror films we’ve all come to love and detest. We, of course, had to rent a few: Dark Star (ultimate classic), The Fantastic Planet (French cartoon) and I Married a Vampire, which ended up being a lot more boring than the title promised.
Getting back on track. We met Mel for Chinese food (which was quite disgusting, we all blame Alley for suggesting the place), before rushing off to the Festival Theatre. I have to admit, descending those stairs was a thrilling experience. I’d always promised myself I’d go to that theatre one day and I could barely hold in my excitement at being able to go to the smallest of their theatres.
After toilet breaks we entered the theatre through the top door (very exciting) to take our seats on the balcony. That might sound impressive, but our view of the stage was almost cut in half and we ended up squashing the patrons next to us to get a better look. It was packed; every single table was full with only a scattering of empty chairs, still, Mel thought the audience was boring.
The show itself was anything but, with chorus girls, a fantastic band and Jeff was anything but shy on stage. We were thrilled by his many costumes: a sailor suite, black leather, a tight leotard, and who could forget his shiny, grey suite. The music sounded excellent, with twists on the old classics like ‘Fly Me to the Moon’, ‘It Was a Very Good Year’ and ‘My Way’. We particularly loved his impersonations of Frank Sinatra as an Arab and a German; he incorporated Springtime for Hitler perfectly with It Was a Very Good Year. I have to admit my face was split in a grin the whole night, and I let out my fair share of laughs.
Afterwards we went for coffee at the theatre café, which had great coffee and a tantalising selection of cakes, sweets and chocolates. Sarah then went back to purchase Jeff’s CD and we were thrilled to see he was still signing autographs, and that our coffee break had ensured a thinned crowd. Not only did Sarah get her autograph, but we had quite a good conversation with him as well. He was intrigued by the fact that we were twins and we played our mind games on him. If someone tells either Sarah or I a number between 1 and 10 the other can read their mind by placing their fingers on the temples. If you don’t know the trick I won’t tell you. :0)
Then we had our kisses, Alley got his hand shake, and we made our way back. Overall it was a fantastic night and very worthy of a blog. We plan on going back when they have another cheap night! But next time, we want to dress up for the whole theatre experience.

Money, money, money

When preparing to get to Vanuatu there was one major issue: the cost. Even though this programme is completely voluntary I had to pay $5500 to make sure I’d get there and be able to stay there for the full five months. Most of you know that I have a casual job at Big W where I’ve been working about 20 hours a week, most of which I’ve saved.

But I also had tremendous help from my church and to some degree the local community. The Bunyip Newspaper published an article about my trip, the interview process was quite relaxing but the photo shoot left me a little nervous. It was a beautiful article and I’m still getting comments and questions from passer-bys in the street. The article also helped me to get in touch with the Trinity College Old Scholars Foundation which is in the process of setting up an online diary and pen pals for when I’m away. My neighbours were also very supportive.

My church was the number one big supporter. Not only did they donate almost $500, but they let me hold two fundraisers in the church hall. The first was a Quiz Night, which is always fun to organise. This fundraiser was a huge success. Normally only 40 people would turn up, but we got 80. We also more than doubled the normal profit from $250 to $550. I couldn’t believe how supportive people were. Another highlight of the night was Dad wearing a hula skirt and shell cups. Even better was the fact that he left his T-shirt on underneath.

The second fundraiser was an auction night, which turned out to be one of the hardest fundraisers I’ve ever organised. Finding supportive businesses willing to donate items was quite easy, and about 10 businesses donated the majority of our catalogue. Individuals also donated a few items, Sharon + Steve Watkins were very generous, donating most of the Home section of the catalogue as well as over $200 of wine and whisky.

Unfortunately, despite advertising in the Bunyip, a giant sign on the main street, and bulletins, we barely received 20 people, most of them bidding as couples. Although we sold all of the items, 80-90% were sold below starting bid price. I was amazed at the generosity of those who did turn up, but I doubt I’ll be organising another auction night soon. We did raise $750, which is amazing, but the headache was a bit too overwhelming.

I’ve now paid my GAP contribution fee, insurance and tax ($2,500) and for my flights ($1,200) and all that’s left now are the courses in Vanuatu. I also completed First Aid training and I’ve bought a few gifts for the schools, including books and stationary. My work, Big W, is also donating a big box full of stationary. They have also been a big support, giving me as many hours as they can, donating for the auction and now supporting me for the final leg. After all this I still have $2000 spare, in case of emergency, which I hope to increase with further saving.

A church friend, Greg McFaul, has promised that he and his mates from the Australia Airforce will carry over a box of goodies for the kids in August, including some of the things that have been donated that I can’t take with me when I fly out in July.

Overall the amount of support I’ve received has been amazing, and its made me feel truly certain about the work I’ll be doing overseas.

The Low Down

Okay, there have been a lot of questions about what's actually happening when I move overseas this year. I've been tempted to actually print '21st July' on my forehead some days (that's my departure date). So after this has been published all I'll need to do is tattoo paama-trees.blogspot to my head instead. :0)
Getting serious now: about half way through year 11 I learned about GAP (government abroad programs), and how they offer placements all over the world for people aged anywhere between 18 and 25. Those of you who know me will know that I've been heavily involved with charity organisations like World Vision, Samaritan’s Purse, Compassion and more for the last three years and longer. Some of you may also know that I was one of twelve people considered by World Vision for the Study Tour that visited Tanzania earlier this year. I've been really, 'desperate' you could say, to meet the type of people I've been trying to help these past years, and hopefully will be helping through my career for the rest of my life.
While GAP didn't offer a placement in Northern Africa, after talking to Vanuatu Coordinator Joe Grabin I realised that Vanuatu seemed everything I'd been looking for. Remote, completely different culturally, physically and traditionally, and also (as I've heard it put) primitive in comparison to out flashy plasma screens, sound systems, holdens, sky scrapers and dare I say our porcelain dunnys.
Hopefully through this posting I'll let you know a bit about what I'll actual be doing, and how I'll be living for the next five months! :0)

The Island

While in Vanuatu I won't be staying in resorts in Port Villa, I'll be roughing it out on an island you can't even find in the atlas. That island is Paama island, located north of Port Villa, and it's a tiny 9km long and 4km wide. There are two major villages; Liro (where I'll be staying) and Loulep. Last I heard there were approximately 2,500 people living there, so I won’t be short of company. Right next to the Island is a volcano half its size, called Lopevi volcano. It is active, the reason I’m not in Vanuatu right now is because there was an eruption earlier this year and they had to change the school terms. While I’m a little disappointed my time in Vanuatu was cut short, who I am to argue with a volcano?

The Village

Liro village is located about 15 min boat ride or a 40 min walk along the beach from the airport. The airport being a little strip of clear land. There is a generator in the village, but it’s only used during festivals (that means no power at any other time of the year). The medical clinic, village stores, and the local branch of the National Bank of Vanuatu (a 1-room tin shed!) are located in the village. There’s no running water anywhere on Paama island, but I’ve been told the black sand beaches are an ideal place to have a shower.

Accommodation

Both me and the other volunteers will be living in a two room Kastom house (or grass hut). There’s a spacious bedroom, and a kitchen with a gas stove and lantern (luxury!) (photo: vaum kitchen) You might have guessed that there’s no electricity or running water, but I’ve been promised a bucket (which I’m sure I’ll be very grateful for at the end of the day). You’ve probably heard me talking about my toilet as well, which is actually pretty sophisticated, I think. It’s, of course, outside and the walls are quite see through. We’ve had quite a laugh over it.

Food

Here’s where it gets really interesting. While I might be used to Maccers, BBQs, Curry, Thai, Italian and my all time favourite – Mexican, I don’t quite think I’ll get that kind of variety in the South Pacific. Generally food there is quite bland, consisting of tinned meat, tinned fruit, tinned veggies and margarine (one of their staples). There is some fresh fruit and veggies, which consist mainly of yam, sweet potato or potato. The national dish, lap lap, which I attempted to create, actually had no taste at all and only a mushy texture. Still, the last thing I’m going to be doing is asking for something a little more varied, as I’ve heard that in the hilly regions they can serve whole fruit bat. Bonappetite!

The School

Vaum Junior Secondary school, where I’ll have the joy of teaching, is a small government run school with some 140 pupils aged 11 to 18. While there I’ll be teaching year 7 students English, science and religious education. I’m also expected to help with extra curriculum activities such as library, games and PE. If I’m feeling particularly crazy I also have the chance to immerse myself in even younger kids at the local primary school. While kids can be little, clingy monsters, this is a very real possibility for me.

My GAP Partner

The person who’ll I’ll be living with for the next five months is Bec Hiscock. She also lives in SA, in Adelaide, which is really handy and we hope to meet up soon. While we still don’t know that much about each other we’ve already found a lot in common. She’s also 18, just finished year 12 and is taking up this challenge for the same reasons I am. Once I meet up with her I hope to discover many more things we share.

Well, that about sums it up. A few extra details: I’ll be coming home before Christmas, when exactly I don’t know as I’m hoping to travel around Vanuatu a bit more before heading back, the people in Vanuatu speak French, English and also Bislama. They’re very used to us westerners as there have been Gappers going to this school for some years now. The Peace Corp has also noticed what a great job the previous Gappers have done and so they’ve donated a cat to keep us Aussies company during some of the lonlier days away from home.
Well, I’m sure this is quite long enough for anyone to read. I’m sure there’ll be plenty more questions that I neglected to answer this time round, so expect a part 2!