Friday, August 28, 2009

Photos!


My house during training in the village of Mokani.


The Mokani guitar club. Lydia and I started a little guitar fad in the village!


All the girls of Mokani in our matching jiabas.


Nadave. Where some of our training was held.


Nadi La (center) with Save (left) and Una (right). Nadi La was my aunt in Mokani and who sewed me all my jiabas! Save was my little brother. Una is Nadi La's daughter. On our way to the end-of-training celebration!


Me and Save during our last night in Mokani.


The meke the ladies in our village performed for us! Vula is on the left, my mom is in the middle, and Nadi La is on the right.


At the swear-in ceremony at the US Ambassador's house. Me with our language instructors who lived in the village with us for 2 months. Aliti is on the left, La is on the right. They were AMAZING!


The bure! Made of bamboo, coconut leaves, and other natural materials from the surrounding mountains.


A little glimpse inside the bure.


Looking up inside my bure.


My toilet/shower/sink/clothesline.


Papukeni! My new kitten. Papukeni means pumpkin in Fijian.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

At site!

Well! Lots to update about. Sworn-in and at been at site for almost 4 weeks now. I live in a beautiful village in the interior of Viti Levu (the main island of Fiji). I am surrounded by mountains and have to cross a river (no bridge! But the water is only up to mid-calf) when I come in and out of town. I am about 1 hour from RakiRaki, where I go on Thursdays to stock up on supplies, have lunch with the other 6 volunteers who live in the area, and eat lots of ice cream. The closest volunteer to me is about 25 minutes by bus.

I’m staying in the middle of about 5 houses of one family that has sort of “adopted” me. So I have a mom, dad, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas, etc. My mom (nana) and dad (tata) give me food and are helping me integrate into the village, which has been extremely helpful.

I live in a Fijian bure. They all laugh at me when I tell them that people back home don’t know what a Fijian bure is. It is made purely of things growing around me – bamboo poles as the frame, matted bamboo as the floor and walls, and interlaced coconut leaves as the ceiling. The ceiling is perhaps 15-20 feet high and converges at the top similar to a teepee. It smells like I am in a tropical tree. I guess I sort of am. Bures are known for staying very cool – and compounded with being in the interior of the island at a higher elevation, it can get very cold at night. In fact, one morning this week I could see my breath! (It is winter here, after all.)

My bure has no electricity except for when the generator comes on from 6-9pm once or twice a week (never the same day of the week so it is always exciting and keeps you on your toes!). It is all one room, although the the back half is raised by a step and there are curtains separating the two sides. My nana always jokes that it is the “stage” and when she comes over to visit we always tell each other to “laga sere!” (sing a song!) on the stage. The kitchen is in one corner and consists of a double burner propane stove raised about 6 inches off the floor. I have a wonderful table, which also doubles as my desk. I am waiting on shelves, which tata says he’ll build one day. The wood has been sitting outside for about 3 weeks now, but hey, no rush. My toilet/shower combo is outside about 5 feet from my house along a concrete walkway. There is a double sink attached, which is perfect for washing clothes and dishes.

This job does require lots of patience. Things just come incredibly slowly. In fact, it took me about 3 weeks just to figure out how to walk in and out of my bure without repeatedly running into the coconut fronds and getting tiny pieces of tree in my hair. But beyond that – how do you keep things without a refrigerator? How do you keep things from molding? How do you keep ants out of everything? How is everyone related to each other? Things that are seemingly mindless to Fijians – but require much explanation to Americans. And, when explanations come in rapid Fijian, you have to take a deep breath and realize that today you won’t get an answer. Maybe tomorrow.

Right now I am doing a lot of “talanoa.” Which basically means, lie down and tell stories. Usually after lunch, the ladies all bring out pillows and we all lie down together on the floor mats. After one or two hours you fall asleep, and when you wake up, you tell more stories and then it’s time for tea. It’s really fun. There is something inherently trusting about napping in somebody else’s house around people you don’t really know. So, once you emerge from your nap, you feel closer to the ladies around you. You go from strangers to best friends in a matter of hours! It’s one of the cuter parts of Fijian culture.

I got a kitten! Still unnamed – hasn’t hit me yet. She curls up on my lap and purrs while I cook. She sometimes curls up on my ear when I sleep, but since she is so small and it is so cold, it is like a little earmuff and it is wonderful. There is a kitten-sized opening in one of the bure walls so when I leave for the day she can play outside and come inside if it rains. Fijians don’t have pet cats, and see them more as rat catchers. I don’t know how not to treat cats like pets, so when my neighbors come over and she curls up on their laps and purrs, they look at me, visibly uncomfortable, and I say “vosoti au!” (I’m sorry!) and grab the cat and give them a look as if I don’t know where that cat is learning its manners.

Lots more to say, but I’ll save it for another time! Sending lots and lots of love from Fiji.