Week 2 - readjusting to city life

(24) Monday

Biking home on my coda comp took one blurry photo of the city. Love biking again.

(25) Tuesday

Went to my storage locker to get ready to build stuff this week... thank god I had left plenty of old pants and shit i can ruin while not destroying new clothing.

Then I drove over to St. Paul walked around my old campus because I might take this temp job talking about my school... the University of St. Thomas and earn a bit of pocket change while I try to find a real job. Not really trying too hard to get back in the office just yet. I think need to readjust a bit more.

After all that I went to the Soap Factory Movie night and watch a Harry Potter flick a decent day.

(26) Wednesday

Being home means spending money, forgot how much it takes to live in the USA.

(27) Thursday

Haircut day... been looking forward to get a real haircut for ages.

(28) Friday

   Did not much some work at the soap factory but mostly a slow day

(29) Saturday

  Picked my parents up at the airport: first time i saw them face to face in 20 months.

(30) Sunday

  Did a little work at the soap factory but all in all a really slow day

--------END OF SERVICE BACK IN THE USA------- week 1 - back to my hometown

(17) Monday

Did very little today... needed to catch up on some sleep.

Here is the last photo I took on Santo with Bryan and Kate. My two bests in the country.

So... tomorrow. No clue what to do... should have tried to get my bike fixed but sleep was nice.

2am

Can't sleep. I just watched some classic Richard Pryor comedy from the 70's his bits were dated but still strangely relevant. I remember when everything he said was a big controversy not anymore. His whole heroin bit was the thing that shocked the world back then.

Noon
Can't help but wonder what I should do with my time now that I am back. Being without a car makes it a bit harder.

11:59pm

So far things have been fairly slow going here. I forgot so much about what it means to live in the states... having money is what really matters most of the time since everything people want to do bleeds your bank account. Cash is what makes you a king here, without it you're nothing.

(19) Wednesday

1am
  First Rick and Morty Season two excellent. I will mess with time!

Went to the MIA and later played some chess with my Uncle:

(20) Thursday

Found my way over to St. Paul and spent some time with Mary:

(21) Friday

Went to MIA with Mary and had some coffee at the Boiler room.

(22) Saturday

 Not much to tell... went to Nye's going away party. But they are not even closing until January. But had some decent food and a drink then got a ride home from Preston. Fun night

(23) Sunday

Finally met up with Lilian and saw her new place. Congrat on the the new home

Week 72 - so long and thanks for all the fish

(10) Monday

Four days until I am in the air flying home to Minneapolis. Can't wait to get back home.

Last time to watch the people out in my front yard making kava:

Medical clearance stuff to complete and a few last documents and then I just sit and wait for my flight. Hard to believe I finally get to go home been waiting/dreaming of this day since the day I landed January 28 or something 2014.

(11) Tuesday

Finishing up the COS paperwork process... now time to talk a little walk and look for some junk to give ppl back home.

Started the day with some lovely AMERICAN Breaky... and feeling great. 2.5 days left to air time.

(12) Wednesday

More Jill's breakfast and then my last medical review/clearance stuff. I only have a few more items to tick off then its paperwork finis.... woohoo. DOS description of service writing time. One page to describe all the awesome work I did. Going to be a challenge to limit it to just one page. Oh well.

Little random group of mostly new friends having some fun.

Few more:

Mr Nick... Super funny guy.

So cute as always ms. Sophie... we got matching tamtams statues...

Neil Burgess / Alpha Vanuatu : 5467276: neil.burgess@alpha.vu software guy... very cool.

(13) Thursday

Slept late today... finishing up my last bits of paperwork and then going to sleep early. I wake up and start flying tomorrow since I can't post anything much the next day I will pre-post my entry.

(14) Friday

so long Vanuatu...and thanks for all the fish

(15) Saturday

Full day of walking around Minneapolis. I got my phone turned back on. No luggage yet though
sob... but I am about to go to a friends wedding the reception bit at the Soap Factory and the party afterwards. Excited to see a bunch of Creeps as we like to call ourselves.

Photos to come tomorrow. Hope it is a fun night.

One of my bestest Amanda... love this lady. 

Dani freaked out when she saw me at the Soap... tossed her drink and hugged me. 

(16) Sunday

first night I finally got to sleep... but first go get my luggage.

The last wave of Vanuatu finally caught up with me.

Horse in the Bar... fun night.

The big mama's market in Port Vila.

week 71 - Goodbye Santo

(03) Monday
#LuganvilleSanto
Last week in Santo and I have to fold up my internet, get my last bit of peace corps junk in a bag to give back things like med kit, life jacket, books, bike helmet and whatever else I can find that is theirs. Then get my counterpart to sign off on my form... and pack my last bit of stuff. I have a few items left to sell then its back to Vila.

I was going to entertain a bit this week but since all the fun stuff is done not sure what is left to do... riri not really interested since its cold and cloudy swimming sounds pretty uninteresting... the cave same thing sort of... oh well. I could actually leave wednesday and save a few bucks. Something to consider.

Internet at my house is dead... so can't skype or communicate at the house... so much for wasting money on internet service in this country. They (digicel) guarantee zero uptime and they make good on their promise.

9:30am

Well Kensley is not at the office. Hmm... guess I will go home and pack some bags up and sell off some more items.

3:10pm
Best email ever just received:

Departs on 14 Aug Fri

1) Qantas Airways
Flight 376
Port Vila, VU VLI - 07:00 am
Sydney, AU

Layover Time (SYD) 3h 15m

2) American Airlines
Flight 7308
Aircraft: 380
Sydney, AU
SYD - 01:00 pm
Dallas Fort Worth, TX

Layover Time (DFW) 1h 40m

3) American Airlines
Flight 2302
Aircraft: M80
Dallas Fort Worth, TX
DFW - 03:15 pm
Minneapolis, MN
MSP - 05:44 pm

It's been a good day to reflect... this photo is from a few weeks ago but one of my favorite:

(04) Tuesday

Hung out with "Response Kate"

Had a few beers in the Millennium park hiding under the stage as the rain fell in wave after wave.

(05) Wednesday

Well the day consisted of a whole lotta nothing. Perfectly santo.

I managed to attempt selling my airtight dry box to cole with dehumidifer but only after dropping the dehumidifier and spilling out some of the silica putting it back together and convincing him it was not in fact broken so was I then forced to toss in an extra 50 dollars worth of items in order to extract 40 bucks for the 80 dollar drybox and dehumidifier. woohoo I get to eat couple more days without using my credit card which no one will except.

Besides that not much else... I put in my notice to Kensley but he was not there to sign it... he was down somewhere in south santo. Maybe tomorrow. fingers crossed.

And I cancelled my internet for starting tomorrow... woohoo no more bills for the worst internet service on the planet: Digicel Vanuatu.

(06) Thursday

5:00 am
I just woke up to a pretty vivid dream and when i woke my room was unexpectedly pitch black (no blue light from my speaker noise drowner outer) and silent (no constraint noise suppression from endlessly looping itunes music) and no fans buzzing back and forth... shit lost my power hmm... well figured it might get cut... so i sat there for a moment to catch my breathe because the dream was wild. I was some kind of magical creature sort of like a like a wolf but one that could run fast enough to fly and there were two others with me crossing back and forth like ribbons in a jetstream of wind. Our long furry tails whipping around and then once we reached a certain spot in this river basin we all three stopped running and I rose up into the air and did something in a blur or motion that caused a spell to be cast and a burst of light hit a the distance cloud and a rain shower of flowers came pouring down and moved towards us passing over at a rapid rate to then douse us all in a deluge of brightly colored flower petals. Felt pretty cool casting a spell in my dream. The other two creatures did other spells of some sort but the last one wolf-creature, casted a darkness spell that cut out all light from the sun, all the heat as well, and sound and a feeling deep dread like fog drifted over me and i feel like i could not breathe... thats when i woke up choking in the darkness.

8:50 am
I read a silly article in the Independant newspaper... about the malo project. They call me a BISHOP... what? I am a Peace Corps not a Catholic religious leader. And the Basko guy and Sale the work man sounds like they did all the work. Pretty funny.

2:30pm
Nothing to do... you can see that be the less busy I get the more I tend to write to kill the time. I tried sleeping for the last three days for 10 or more hours and then reading. But after doing that for many days on end my body is getting sore from lack of exercise. I figured going to Attar and using the internet now that mine is finally dead was the best move possible.

I was at Wally's earlier today trying to sell off my last remaining items... hope he buys some. I am not dead broke but pretty close to it.


(07) Friday

Had an amazing going away night... nothing planned which is perfect.

couple photos for fun:

Hung out with Bryan and hunt for Independent weekly newspaper because there was that horribly written news story about the opening of the computer lab at Nandiutu... we fond one but also these delicious flying foxes... yumyum... time to make soup huh:

After that Bryan found this jersey and later I took a photo in my nasty dirty house wearing my old joke of a jersey I bought last year for a gag party.


Went to Aqua and had some drinks with my fav crew in santo:

Daria was wearing an elephant dress

Bryan and kate making some funny faces:

Wally and his kid post arm wrestling kiki:

(08) Saturday

going away speggit party:

(09) Sunday

 Just landed in Vila and updating blog and such after some something to eat... not sure what though.  in 5 short days I will be back home. Can't wait.

Last prop plane ride back to Vila... and now its just wait till the end and go home: see the plane on the horizon near the clouds?

week 70 - independance days are near

July (27) Monday

July 30, 1980 is when Vanuatu's gained its independence, they've only been on their own for 35 years. I wonder how many Prime Ministers they've had so far well that made me look on wiki:

List of Prime Ministers[edit]

	Portrait	Name		Election	Term	Affiliation
1		Walter Lini	1	—	30 July 1980 – 6 September 1991	Vanua'aku Pati
			2	1983
			3	1987
2		Donald Kalpokas	1	—	6 September 1991 – 16 December 1991	Vanua'aku Pati
3		Maxime Carlot Korman	1	1991	16 December 1991 – 21 December 1995	Union of Moderate Parties
4		Serge Vohor	1	1995	21 December 1995 – 23 February 1996	Union of Moderate Parties
(3)		Maxime Carlot Korman	2	—	23 February 1996 – 30 September 1996	Union of Moderate Parties
(4)		Serge Vohor	2	—	30 September 1996 – 30 March 1998	Union of Moderate Parties
(2)		Donald Kalpokas	2	1998	30 March 1998 – 25 November 1999	Vanua'aku Pati
5		Barak Sopé	•	—	25 November 1999 – 13 April 2001	Melanesian Progressive Party
6		Edward Natapei	1	—	13 April 2001 – 29 July 2004	Vanua'aku Pati
			2	2002
(4)		Serge Vohor	3	2004	29 July 2004 – 11 December 2004	Union of Moderate Parties
7		Ham Lini	•	—	11 December 2004 – 22 September 2008	National United Party
(6)		Edward Natapei	3	2008	22 September 2008 – 27 November 2009	Vanua'aku Pati
–		Serge Vohor		—	27 November 2009 – 5 December 2009 ACTING	Union of Moderate Parties
(6)		Edward Natapei	4	—	5 December 2009 – 2 December 2010	Vanua'aku Pati
8		Sato Kilman	1	—	2 December 2010 – 24 April 2011	People’s Progress Party
(4)		Serge Vohor	4	—	24 April 2011 – 13 May 2011	Union of Moderate Parties
(8)		Sato Kilman	2	—	13 May 2011 – 16 June 2011	People’s Progress Party
–		Edward Natapei		—	16 June 2011 – 26 June 2011 ACTING	Vanua'aku Pati
(8)		Sato Kilman	3	—	26 June 2011 – 23 March 2013	People’s Progress Party
			4	2012
9		Moana Carcasses Kalosil	•	—	23 March 2013 – 15 May 2014	Green Confederation
10		Joe Natuman	•	—	15 May 2014 – 11 June 2015	Vanua'aku Pati
(8)		Sato Kilman	5	—	11 June 2015 – present	People’s Progress Party

For more about the government of Vanuatu this page is interesting but lacking details for the last 7 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Vanuatu

(28) Tuesday

One more day and I am in Vila to get my leg looked at... its finally starting to heal which is nice.

Guess yesterday the TV air the opening of the computer lab... Can't wait to see what Isabelle posts on youtube I will share a link if you want to see it... it shows the celebration at Nandiutu and the library and lab opening. The new print has the story next week.

Got my bags all packed up and will bring them to peace corps office to store in short term storage. room.

12:30 pm

 Interesting day... had plans for lunch but when I got there I found that person had found better options that lunch with me, so was ditched out on... oh... but she said she sorry so that should cover things huh... nope! Does not work that way. If you want to retain a friendship with me, being selfish and rude is not the way to get there. If you call back in advance and cancel and preventing me from wasting time, that is one thing but do willfully drop a friend last minute is not acceptable... you can apologize and I can choose to accept it or not. I am choosing not.

Looking forward to being back in my city.

1:00pm

Little quake just rumbled the house... have not felt one of those in ages.

7:00pm

Sold off my tools, makita drill saw and everything in the 40 gallon bucket. Sad to see my toolset go but since I am leaving soon I won't need them anymore.

(29) Wednesday

Time to run into town eat some breakfast and head to the airport.  Selling off my stuff has given me plenty of cash on hand to eat whatever I want.

Made it to vila... Ran into Kelly. Had some pizza and a few beers.. decent way to spend a day in vila.

(30) Thursday

Independence day woot. Trying to find some place to get some decent breakfast... one bag in storage woohoo less shit to worry about getting stolen, only one bag to move over and all my luggage is safe and sound until I leave.

I hope Jill's cafe is open. Eggs, bacon, hashbrowns coffee.... toast and jam. I am just hoping they are open.

(31) Friday

Well... plane was a miss, guess I will fly later. Works out in a way... I can put in my notice and get my meds all in one. Nice.

Plus I like eating at Jills Cafe. I can get some nice breakfast going. Excited.

August (01) Saturday

Pretty slow day... started working on my COS papers and excited to pack up the last of my things and head back to Vila and then go home. Perfectly ended service nice and smooth.

Slow day in santo nothing much going on. going to play some faster than light and take a nice nap. Had a fab chocolate cake at the Tu. Nap time.

Had a great night with Mr. Thomas. His new house is quite fancy. So long Thomas and thanks for all the beers.

(02) Sunday

Waking up to with my trusty stereo blasting music every night to drown out the kava spitters, dogs barking their brains out, babies crying, rooster doing their annoying call thing every few hours... its bliss not having to listen to any of that shit. I slept a full night its awesome. I am sure it annoys all the stupid neighbors who have their lousy dogs and rooster and constantly crying kids... it is great when they ask me... you party all night. I am like no... I use it to blast all the annoying noises out so I can sleep. Haha. I have become affected by Vanuatu culture. Do what you want because no one else cares about you.

Only a week, seven more days until I leave here forever. I can't be happier. I will have clean sheet to sleep on, mine are about 5 months past due, a toilet that does not stink to high hell, water from the shower that is hot and cleaner versus the highly contaminated cold water, and better food to choose from... all in Vila. Then after that one week there until I return home where everything is about a thousand times better than Vila.

Time to find something to eat... only meal of the day is breakfast so best to get the best one there is.