Arrive - relax - explore - enjoy

Anni

A week has now passed for me as well and Michel made it very easy for me to feel comfortable right away. With a self-made flower necklace from Josh, he picked me up from the airport and so the hour delay and all the exhausting sides of the actually very cool and exciting journey of the last 4 days (Sun: Berlin, dinner with Joel and Maren in Kreuzberg :), Mon/Tue flight with Scoot 12h Sgp 7h Syd, Wed: Sydney with Katha for coffee and Trudy in Cronulla, Thu: flight to Vanuatu!) were forgotten.

We went directly to the volleyball courts and I got to know many players, Josh (the coach) and Debbie (the president).

We then went to the city to the Esplanade, to the local market (where you can find all kinds of fruits and vegetables) and finally to the guesthouse. It's exciting to see everything for myself after hearing all of Michel's stories. But somehow, that's how I imagined it and I was able to settle in quickly. The next day, I went to the courts and trained with the top team. Michel said it would be easy and would fit well. It was interesting that the training of the two was never as good as on that day and the concentration was also there, which usually quickly disappeared. So the two showed me how it works and I was very eager to cope with the climate and jetlag.

Now, after a week, my conclusion is that the training is a surprise every day. From really great sessions with a lot of motivation to no participation in training, to a chaotic group of 2 pregnant women, 2 boys who want to play ball, and 2 girls who have nothing else to do. I still want to play a lot and the opportunities are there.

On the weekend, we kayaked to the paradise island Erakor-Island and spent the day snorkeling, relaxing, and collecting coral. We will definitely include that in our standard program.

During the week, I train in the morning, then have lunch with Josh, and then Michel trains the juniors until around 5/6 pm and I go to yoga, apply to various institutions, or enjoy my free time. Since there is a lot of charity projects and volunteer work going on here, it is very difficult to find something paid. I am also looking for such activities now, such as helping out in the hospital, in order to help in the medical field. Something will surely come up and then you have a task again faster than you think ;)

Our favorite activities are talking, considering, fantasizing, and fantasizing about activities here and the time after. Among many crazy ideas, it was clear to us that we want to be mobile and flexible on-site. So we informed ourselves about scooters, cars, and quads in the area. The prices for cars are incredibly expensive, a scooter won't survive the roads, so the decision was made to buy an old army quad that we bought privately from New Zealanders who are leaving Vanuatu after 4 years. It was a clear gut decision because the time and effort to search and compare the market was too high. Now we hope that the quad, also known as Armyatu, will be a loyal companion and that we can sell it again in 2 1/2 months :). The plan is to touch up and upgrade Armyatu a bit... Let's see what comes of it ;)

After this euphoric experience and a great start to the week, we went to the water for sunset on Wednesday evening and enjoyed a beer and a coconut. Then we had dinner at our place, which we usually warmed up from leftovers from lunch and the previous evening. SUPPOSEDLY ;)

Shortly after dinner, the madness began. According to Michel, it felt like a big knot in the upper abdomen. Oh well...

Michel spent his night on the toilet. The ordeal only started for me in the morning, so we spent the day in bed together. So there is also the Vanuatubelly, but it didn't surprise me 🤷. With the smells and hygiene here, you sometimes feel sick. But actually, being sick together was kind of fun and the day passed with an audiobook and Yahtzee.

Today we're already at the courts and while about 300 kids are running around here like every Friday and feel like playing, Michel is training the women's team and I'm taking care of myself and looking forward to tonight. We will drive to the next town, Melle, and watch a fire show for dinner, which Michel is really excited about. That can only be good... :)