MATTHEW JACOB DEWIT

Most PCV's are sent off to villages on their own, often separated by long distances from other Americans - even more so in the Pacific islands due to that whole island factor (travel between islands is actually extremely difficult). If I wanted to visit my friend Ryan, from my training group, I would first need to spend about $110 U.S. to fly into Vila, then another $100 or so to fly up to Epi, then get on a boat for a few hours, then a truck for another hour or so and then hike over the hills and through the woods for about two more hours (no joke) - and then do the whole thing back again to get home.

For this reason I'm extremely fortunate to have not only another American, but a friend of mine from our training group, within a 45 minute walk. His name is Matt Dewit and comes from the California hometown of Lodi, somewhere between Stockton and Sacramento - out in wine country. He grew up on his family's dairy farm, which still operates. Like me he started out at community college (Stockton for him, Burlington County for me) before transferring to a state college (San Jose State for him, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey for me) and earned his B.S. in advertising (I got my B.S. in Management).

He's a 23 y/o Scorpio (Nov.17th) and my friends know what that means to me - but it's not as volatile as I would have expected - maybe since he's at the cusp. Not that I really subscribe to all that astrology mumbo-jumbo, it's just that I've had too many "coincidences" with both Leos and Scorpios to deny that there might just be something to it.

Actually we get along quite well - in a place like this we are saviors of sanity, of sorts, for each other. And more than that, I'm sure we would be friends back in the states too - a thought that crosses ones mind when grouped together with a bunch of common cause people that you may or may not actually enjoy, or if you do like them, it's only due to the unique circumstances in which you find yourself lumped together. It would be really easy to dismiss Matt as part of the group that are "cool to hang with, but probably wouldn't be my friend back in the states" - he's a fresh-outta-the-frat 23 y/o who wears t-shirts that blare "FITCH" across the chest. hahaah. But the truth is he and I have more in common than he's willing to admit.

First - He's a self-professed bleeding-heart-liberal. Now that's even more hardcore than me. While in the training village he would get upset when the pikinini's would find some unfortunate sea life, freshly exposed from the receding tide, and pull it apart or play baseball with it - be it a sea slug, tiny squid, or a crab. And when I say he got upset, I mean he was genuinely upset. But the idea of "when in Rome..." Is starting to wear on him and I've caught him stoning cackling chickens once or twice.

Second - he hates mushrooms. Me too!!

Third - We are both determined to maintain a level of decency about our person. A solid sense of hygiene, him even more than me. We've each been shocked, and amused, to see the condition in which we've found some of our other PCV brethren that share this very island. There's nothing necessarily wrong with "going bush" but it's just not for us. When one of the other guys turned up at the market a few weeks back, looking like he'd been in the jungle for years and gleefully (a bit too gleefully) told stories about how he'd eaten his own dog, among other absurdities, we both assumed he'd been in the Peace Corps for years and years. Maybe even forgotten about and just never checked in for his "Close Of Service". Turns out he'd been in country for just 6 months. We each promised the other not to let that happen - and frankly it's just not in our character. Something we have in common. But just to be sure... We aren't a couple of wusses or we wouldn't be here in the first place. Neither of us has a problem getting down and dirty or skipping a shower for several days. Neither of us expects the nice clothes we brought with us to be the clothes we leave with and we both fully expect to let ourselves become more and more comfortable with island life as time goes on - it's just that there is simply no reason to get carried away with such things. We are American's after all!

Fourth - We both have an appreciation and a determination to continue enjoying some of life's finer things - namely good food and alcohol. We are both ridiculously lucky to have access to many, many food items which allow us to create really great dishes. He's a much better cook than I am, but I'm learning that I'm not as bad as I thought. We often make really great dinners together and that's when we most enjoy breaking out the vodka or wine (at my house) or the Campari or Scotch Whiskey (at his house). The whole idea of subsisting on root crops for two years just ain't gonna happen during OUR service.

Fifth - We dress the same - a mix of Old Navy with American Eagle. This is trivial to be sure, but worth noting I suppose. And when we walk down the village road each wearing our cargo shorts and button down slim-cut shirts with backpacks complete with blue rubber water tube coming up over our shoulder... well...

But like I said before - we are a source of sanity for each other. After our first week here we both got worried that we are spending too much time together - basically isolating ourselves from the locals. This was a natural thing, I guess, since we weren't comfortable with the language, didn't know the locals yet, and still needed to find our way around all the different things available to us in the town centers. But then he disappeared up into the bush (my village is coastal, his is 45 minutes inland, up a hill, into rainforest-like environment) for a couple weeks. We were both taking the necessary time to get acquainted with our villages, to get in with the locals, to see and be seen. Or at least I thought we both were. I mean... I was. But one day I made a surprise visit to him (it can only ever be a surprise since we have no way of communicating with each other) expecting to get a good dinner out of him and discovered that he had been working on either his house or his garden for the past two weeks (not visiting the locals) and more importantly he didn't have any freaking food! We ended up hitting the nakamals and drinking copious amounts of kava - including a custom nakamal where Matt had a drinking race of a rather large shell of freshly chewed kava with a local man that kicked his ass. I had a shell of the same, but I was unofficially racing some kranky (crazy) old man. After nakamal hopping we went back to his food-less home to continue drinking... you guessed it - Campari and Scotch Whiskey! And for some reason neither of us slept well that night. The next morning we spent the day together starting with breakfast at my bungalow, food shopping in town, computers in Isangel, back to my house for an amazing Thai dinner (i busted out one of my coveted pre-made sauce packets brought from Vila) followed by three vodka cocktails each and then stumbled our way up to the massive circumcision ceremony that had been going on all day. We planned on arriving just in time for the actual dancing part. Matt spent the night down at my place, breakfast again at the bungalow, and then he headed back up. The end to a much needed "white boy weekend". We plan on doing something similar on a regular basis - at least a couple times a month.

More about Matt:

He says I pronounce his name incorrectly, but then tells me there are three pronunciations:

Dah-Vit (the Dutch version)
Da-Whit (the typical version)
Dew-It (his favorite version)

Now he's also told me he's picked out his children's first names: Willy, Hugo, Ivana, and Kenya - all based on his version of his last name. This is the kind of super stupid silly shit that just kills me about Matt. He can appreciate fine, clever humor, Tom Robbins style, but isn't immune to the complete idiocy of naming his child Ivana Dew-It.

And there's more...

He's fond of words like "Plethora" and "Ascertain" - two of my favorites so long as they aren't overused. But then he also says things like "bad news bears" when something doesn't seem like it will go too well. This one drives me crazy. and he abuses it.

More Quotes:

"I'm getting rather fond of this dusty little outpost of humanity"

"I wouldn't be surprised to see her under a bridge, she looks so much like a damn troll"

And in conclusion... he's a cynical, slightly bitter bastard of the Nth degree. At first I thought... Hmm - not unlike me. But then he gave me the money quote that created a clear difference between the level our our dispositions. It goes like this:

"You could give me a million dollars and I would complain it was in $20's"

But he's a good guy and this post is my little tribute to my new friend and also as a shout out to all Matts friends who have been reading this blog. My little gift to you.