Hi,
What a great time on Santo! We started off the first weekend in some “rustic” bungalows up at Port Orly. What the bungalows lacked in elegance was more than made up for by the efforts of Maurice the owner to make sure that we were well looked after. When we arrived he walked us around the area so we knew where everything was and then came back at 7pm to escort us to dinner at the local restaurant. The food was great but even better was the live music that was laid on just for us. Needless to say Maryann and Karen were up dancing and singing but I preserved the NZ national image with much more taciturn and stoic behavior. Next morning at 5.45am breakfast arrived in the form of heaps of fruit and freshly baked bread. It still tasted great at something around 7am when we finally got up. The bungalows right up on a lovely golden sand beach and we spent the day exploring, swimming and resting. Back to the restaurant for dinner that night – again great food and we had obviously impressed Maurice because he didn’t feel the need to stay and see these white people back to their bungalow after the meal.
Sunday it was back into Luganville via a private beach that belongs to Maurice’s family (extraordinarily fine sand) and Champagne Beach. Of course Maryann had to stand on Champagne Beach and sing a couple of hit songs from South Pacific. Nothing new there!! Actually Champagne Beach was disappointing – not because of the beach but because of the 2000 vatu charge for just going onto the beach. Definitely will not be going back – an equally nice beach just up the road with no charge. All the tourists and expats that we have spoken to say they will never go back because of the charge. A real shame because the local stalls and markets are the ones who will suffer.
The days during the next week were at the workshop and Maryann found it very valuable – really gave her a better feel for what is happening in Early Childhood Education and where they are trying to go. Heaps of enthusiasm and commitment – it’s funding that is holding things up. But in terms of attitude and preparedness to learn and try new things – we could learn a lot. I really enjoyed the Nu-van approach to roleplaying – drama in Bislama and they certainly make learning using drama a whole lot of fun.
Then our treat to ourselves!! One night in luxury at Oyster Island Resort. We had high expectations and we weren’t disappointed. The accommodation and the dining was terrific. The snorkeling wasas good as anywhere we’ve been in Vanuatu but the highlight was the kayak up a river to the blue hole. I hope the photos have loaded onto this blog report because you would not believe just how startling the blue colour was when we got to the prize. I was amazed because it was amazing. Sunday afternoon it was back to Luganville with the last two days of the workshop on Monday and Tuesday.
It is great to be home again and we have a busy time coming up with the key teachers workshop coming up next week. I have four sessions to run – Assessments, Visions & Missions, Management and Leadership and I am going to try and run them as much as possible in Bislama. I’m still not happy with my fluency in Bislama and I think I need to get outside my comfort zone a bit more and these sessions will be a great start.
I’ve been having trouble with loading the photos onto the blog reports. Hopefully this time it works.
Cheers
Vic and Maryann