EPIc Haikus

I was also asked by a friend to write an article for our Peace Corps newsletter called the Van-American about my experience going to site.  My group tends to get a little silly during some of our long training sessions which this time around ended up turning into a new found appreciation for haikus.  So, following in this step and in an attempt to avoid writing something cliché I wrote haikus for the majority of my entry.  I figured why not re-post them here?  

  

This plane is real small

Will my village likem me?

Where is all my stuff?

More bananas? Really?

Is there nothing else to eat?

At least make lap lap

I used to like kids

Why are you staring at me?

Get out of my house

Don’t know what to do

No gat wan job description

This kava is strong

Snails are everywhere

My house is made of big sticks

Poop in a hole? What?

There is no power

Did they forget to pay bills?

Ice cube trays, no gat

I’m all alone here

Never thought I’d miss training

Rats eat all my soap

We’ve all gone through the process and emotional turmoil that is going to site.  We stressed over packing in the states, then again in Vila, and finally got to site needing nothing but the reassurance of why on earth we were actually there.  Mostly, I missed all the friends I had become so close with during training but did my best to get started filling those voids with things in my community. 

                I was lucky to be given the opportunity to help with a malaria study at my health center, which gave me a sense of productivity that a lot of volunteers lack from showing up at taem blong spel.  I went with the team to take blood from each case which gave me the opportunity to see a lot of the island and I took the liberty of adding my own personal task of promoting Peace Corps goal #2 by giving lollis to all the crying pikinini post-stik. 

These haikus, though silly, in a lot of ways do describe a lot of what I felt after getting to site; the children in particular.  No matter what I was doing whether it was hanging calico, staring at the wall the morning after discovering the strength of Epi kava, or organizing my house in order to avoid general freak out, they were there.  I played more games of seven lock than I ever thought imaginable, made excuses to walk about and almost always ended up eating far too much pineapple.

Going to site is probably one of the most interesting, difficult, and don’t forget, awkward times in our lives.  It makes you question not just the culture but yourself; you’re ability to connect with different people, survive in the island environment, and most profoundly, spel large.  Getting on the plane this time around from PST II, I feel much more prepared to figure out how to work with my community as well as cope with the ups and downs that is the rollercoaster of Peace Corps life.