Vanuatu

I haven't been blogging much because, as I've mentioned, I use this as a place to rant. And currently the things that set me off into a rant-page are things that involve privacy issues and/or legalities and it would not be prudent for me to release them in the great wilderness of the world wide web.

But recently a blog reader of mine (I have blog readers!) asked me how on earth I ended up in Vanuatu. I started to tell her and then realized that it's a story I've never written down, so now's as good a time as any. So here it is...

When I was in my mid-twenties I was living in Toronto with a room-mate. We'll call him C. He and I were really good friends as well as room-mates and we hung out together quite a bit. We're still really good friends and although distance and circumstance dictate that we don't often get to see each other, or even talk to each other much, he is still one of my most important people and always will be. I went to his wedding last summer and it was the best wedding I've ever been to. And he married the most amazing woman. I love being at a wedding when I actually believe the people tying the knot are right for each other. But I digress...

I had just spent three months in Winnipeg acting as my mom's primary caregiver after she had a double mastectomy, reconstructive surgery and skin grafts. I had quit my job to do that so when I got back to Toronto I was kind of at a loss for what to do. I decided that since life is so short that I should really be living on a beach somewhere instead of living in Toronto. To that end I applied to go to school to learn hotel and resort management. I applied to a school in PEI and I thought that going to school there would be pretty cool and would lead to something that I wanted to do.

It is at this point I will interrupt myself. I thought that hospitality would be a great career for me. I'm a people person, a people pleaser (at least I used to try to please), it would be interesting, fun even. But when it gets down to it I realized that I don't want to spend my time making sure other people are having a good time. My Life kind of falls by the wayside when that's my focus and that is exactly what I need to avoid. I also despise going to school. I know it's great for lots of people and that it can lead to all kinds of wonderful and exciting things, but the fact is that school and I do not get along. (This is all stuff I learned after this experience but here it is for you, in the middle).

I started asking everyone I talked to about their experience with resorts and do they know anyone who has worked at one. C's dad is originally from Australia. When I asked him about it on the phone he said that a girl he grew up with owns a resort in Vanuatu and gave me her email address. So instead of asking her what it's like to run a resort, I asked if she was hiring. I really prefer learning by doing something, not by going to school to learn how to learn to do something. They had just been talking about an assistant manager for the resort so I emailed them a resume, we had a bunch of email interviews, and they said they'd give me a try. So I flew to Australia and hung out with my old bosses from when I sold encyclopedia out there for a few days and then headed out to Vanuatu.

It is absolutely amazing there. So pristine, untouched, Real. People living in huts with the bare basics but there was a tv on almost every block and people would hang outside together watching it. The whole neighborhood would watch together. The market is incredible. All kinds of food I had never heard of, incredible fruits and vegetables. There were coconut crabs which are these HUGE crabs that are really weird looking. And they are called coconut crabs because they eat coconuts. Go figure. There were tiny little kids working next to their mom's, I saw a three year old with a knife cutting the leaves off stems of some vegetable and he was just as fast doing it as she was. The art was so cool. I have pictures of all of it somewhere.

In hindsight I know that they really had nothing to lose. I paid my way there, I worked while I was there, so really they had a win/win situation and I had an opportunity. Some people think that I'm really lucky and that I just happen into things that are exactly right for me at that time. But they are wrong. I Make those things happen. I create opportunities if there is even the slightest hint of a crack there. I find the hidden doors and go through them which leads me to all kinds of experiences. I probably have experienced more to this point in my life than most people ever will.

Well, you all  know how Vanuatu ended. One question I never thought to ask them during all the emailing was: Are you racist? But it really doesn't matter because of course their answer would have been: Racist?! Of course not! And that was one of the many times I've learned that while walking through as many doors as possible may be cool, a lot of them are dead ends. But I can always take the memories of them with me and keep the lessons I've learned. So I keep walking through them. And the only one I've ever entered that I would never enter again is the marriage one. Everything else, as long as it's viable for me and the kids, is a free-for-all. Going through created doors definitely gives me more varied experiences, more positive and definitely more negative ones than I would have otherwise. And other than my lack of financial fortune thus far, it sure works for me.