Disclaimer: The contents of this website belong to me and does not reflect any position of the United States Peace Corps or of the United States Government.
This blog will serve to update all my friends, family and random curious googlers of my life during my service in the Peace Corps in the country of Vanuatu.
Airport Greetings! A tad smaller than JFK or Logan, eh?
I was supposed to set this page up and make it all fancy schmancy before I left but I got caught up with a lot of other tasks. Sadly, all that y’all will get is this very basic blog until I have an extended chunk of time to “borrow” some code here and there, choose a host and do all the other fun things that go into the wonderful world of blogging.
Anyway, for those of you that don’t know me…
I am a recent graduate of Boston College (Class of 2008) with a B.S. in Accounting and Information Systems and a minor in Theology. I had wanted to join the Peace Corps for quite some time and when the opportunity presented itself, I was fortunate enough to have such overflowing encouragement and support from my friends and family.
Let me start off by saying this… the Peace Corps is pretty much the bee’s knees. Most people aren’t even really sure what the Peace Corps does anymore. If you’re one of those folk but are curious about its goals/purposes, be sure to look around their nifty site.
My official role for the next 27-ish months (as designated by the Peace Corps) will be as an Information Technology advisor somewhere in Vanuatu. I’ll be primarily working with computers, though my official tasks/details are still unclear (until I get assigned a village after training). Some possibilities include setting up computer literacy programs, maintaining computers, or even assisting host country governmental and non-governmental agencies. I’ll have to wait and see. I’ll also have the opportunity to observe the needs of my host village and create secondary projects to better serve the community.
My training group has just about finished up with some administrative and very basic language training here in Port Vila, Vanuatu’s capital. I leave for my official training village on Sunday, September 28th for approximately 10 weeks. I’ll be staying with a host family so that I can become better acclimated to the culture and the bislama language.
Severely jet-lagged but still happy
I will not have internet access at the village but if you wish to make me really happy, email:
PCvols@vu.peacecorps.gov
and put my name in the subject line. Someone from our office will print the emails out and give them to me every week or so. After the ten weeks are up, you can just email my regular email address.
If you’re REALLY baller and want to send me awesome goodies, send them to:
Eugene Chai, PCV
Peace Corps Vanuatu
PMB 9097
Port Vila, Republic of Vanuatu
SOUTH PACIFIC
I’m not sure when the next time I’ll have internet will be but when that time comes, I promise a more interesting entry. Here are a few more pictures of random things in Vanuatu…. I’d upload more but the internet connection here is crawling. Peace.
Storying at the Vanuatu Culture Center
Fresh fruits and vegetables at the Mamas' Market!
