Aelan Laef!

Suomeksi alempana. Sometimes all you can do is marvel at life. How at first, nothing makes sense and then, in a blink of an eye, all of it makes sense. The highs and the lows, the pains and the growth. Sometimes things just come together in ways one could never have imagined. In my life so far, these moments have been few and far between. But oh man... When the moment arrives, if truly feels like life is full of magic. About three weeks ago I received an unexpected offer, one that took me completely by surprise. I was at the university library and was about to start studying for my last exam. I had just been at the dentist and so half my face was numb, I couldn't even speak properly. My reading was paused when I received a message that went pretty much like this: "Hey, want to drop everything and come work in Santo by the end of the month?" Hahaha, good joke. I mean... huh? No way, even if I could just drop everything, I need time! Also, I'm graduat...

Every once in awhile I get these Vanuatu-moments. They are moments when all of a sudden I become really aware of the fact that I'm in a rather random corner of the Earth, on a tiny little island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, suuuuuuuuper far away from everything I'm used to (or well, now it's more like "used to be used to"). In those moments I'm usually filled with awe and amazement. It's a bit like in TV when all of a sudden the camera zooms out out out, very rapidly and in stead of looking at, say, two people talking, you've now zoomed so far out that you're looking at the globe, chilling in space with all its  planet pals. Yes, it's a bit like that, images flashing in my mind and many realizations happening all at once. These moments are always linked with extreme happiness and gratefulness.  A couple of days ago I had one while I was standing inside of a 40ft container that just recently shipped its way here from China. It...

Suomeksi alempana! -------------- Showgraon is one of the neighborhoods of rural Luganville. From the school, it's about 20 minutes walk to Showgraon, straight across the plantation. The plantation is a vast area, filled with neat rows of coconut trees, the occasional truck paths and roads going through it and heeeeeaps of cows (buluk) who are rather scared of you and stare when you pass. I'm not allowed to walk in the plantation alone because it can be dangerous. No, it's not so much the threat of coconuts falling on your head (even if I do know a person who walked across the plantation wearing a helmet - hahahah!) or because of the crazy buluks attacking you. It's because the plantation is quite deserted - which makes it a "perfect" place for a crime like attacking/raping someone. Therefore -- boys can walk across it by themselves but girls - no. Of course, I didn't know anything about this, so there was a time when I'd go walk ther...

Vanuatu has been said to be the happiest place on the planet. I don't know how you measure happiness or compare it. But, this truly IS a land of joy and laughter. One thing I've realized about humor here, is that it's in some ways a very pure form of humor. Not once have I detected spitefulness, not even sarcasm. And I absolutely love it. People laugh because their heart rejoices. If they find something funny, they won't hold back with their laughter. But then, what's funny to them might not be considered funny elsewhere. Say, if somebody tumbles and falls flat on their face (that's me y'all, that day I learned never ever to underestimate the power of the smallest of puddles to flip me over), they'll find it extremely funny. They will laugh and it would be easy to think it extremely rude to react that way. But… it is not so. For some reason, it's just funny for them. And in Vanuatu, people never laugh AT you, they laugh with you. You...