I tried to find a picture that would announce my news in a dramatic fashion, but I either had to join a website or violate copyright laws to include a picture so you'll have do an internet search. The placement office finally called but with some pretty unexpected news. They had already filled the West Africa assignment and they wanted to know if I'd be willing to consider a Pacific island instead, specifically Vanuatu (pronounced van-wah-too). The job is in education, helping elementary teachers increase literacy rates.

Call me crazy, but this did require some serious mental readjustment. Who can be disappointed about living on a tropical island but I was sorry to give up the job digging in the dirt. God knows best, though, and I'm content to be doing what He has chosen for me to do. And there are some very positive aspects to living in Vanuatu: it is a country where Christianity has had a chance to take root, the larger cities are used to Western tourists, there are a lot of volunteers working there in 5 different types of assignment so it is likely that I will be within a couple hours walk of other volunteers, and the Peace Corps programs are pretty well established and well received. The temperatures range from 68 in the winter to 90 in the summer, there are lots of fruits and vegetables available, and some of the villages even have solar or generator-produced electricity. How's that for comfortable!

I've read through several blog sites by volunteers who served or are serving in Vanuatu and there are certainly challenges as well. Most villages make do with kerosene lanters or candles, women have to work especially hard to be respected in the work place, there are lots of bugs, and I'll have to cook every day. But since all of those things would be true in pretty much any Peace Corps placement, I'm willing to suffer them on an island in the Pacific.

Mom and I have been shopping for appropriate clothes and it has not been easy. Skirts and casual dresses are the objective but everything is too short (knee-length) or too low cut (those V-necked summer dresses) or too fitted (judging from the pictures I've seen). Goodwill has actually been the most rewarding stop--one long, lightweight denim skirt. We also bought some fabric to make a skirt or two so it's a good thing the sewing machine isn't buried in the storage unit. In most of the pictures I've been able to discover on the internet and the information the Peace Corps sent, the native women wear mu-mu style dresses (or grass skirts and go topless! I told Mom and Dad that they'd know if I was living in a topless village if all of my pictures featured people from the neck up.) Women volunteers are in long skirts and shapeless t-shirts (think Mennonite). Amazingly enough, these ultra-modest items aren't easy to find at the mall.

My days here at home have become limited. I've gone from "What in the world will I do with all this time?" to "How many days do I have left?" The staging event for Vanuatu volunteers is September 17-19 and will probably take place somewhere in California. These are pre-departure days for early training and shots and paperwork and they are usually held in the jumping-off city for the flight to Vanuatu. From other web pages I've read, flights to Vanuatu usually go through either Hawaii or Australia. Yup, Hawaii or Australia. Incredible.