The Passing Days

Thursday, September 17, 2009

I did not go to town today because it took me 4 days to get back to my village this week. I feel guilty that I have not been in the village for the past 6 days, so, I decided to stay behind and vei’alanoa (tell stories). I got up extra early this morning, did several loads of laundry, washed all of my dishes, gave Mogli a bath and covered him in flea powder.

Then I went up to catch a cell phone signal at the bulubulu (burial site). On my way back down the mountain I stopped to visit my Bubu Moli! She gave me some cocoa and bread with butter to take back to my house to eat today and tomorrow. What a wonderful woman! I love my Bubu Moli! She is also the one that announced in one of our community meetings that the village should bring me food and that I like fruit, prawns, and fish. Lol! Go Bubu! She is a preacher in a city, but is planning on retiring soon to come back and live in the village.Yay! She is the sister of the head of the mataqali that we buried a few weeks ago. I really think I would have like him! Their family is amazing!

The rest of the day I spent reading, relaxing, playing UNO with the kids (because of course it was not important enough for them to go to school this week either), and cooking. Oh, but I did go down to the house in the tidal zone at high tide to check out the chances of their house flooding. Ummm, they want to rebuild the sea wall higher with concrete, but I am so afraid of sea walls because of the destruction to the nearby habitats. I am trying to find another solution, maybe just building another mini sea wall close to their house. Not sure yet.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Today was spent packing for my two weeks away from site. I will be leaving tomorrow for Kara’s house. Lydia, Lisa, Kara, John, Leslie, Natalie, and I are going to get together for dinner. On Sunday Lydia and I are traveling to Lautoka to help Sarah teach Special Needs children to read!

The coolest thing happened today! We had our Women’s Club soli for the Kindergarten! The women got into two groups: one of the women born in the village and the other were women who married into the village! They had an all out war against each other to see who could donate the most money. The price for the soli was $10 each, but most women gave more. We collected over $800, of which I really hope goes to the teacher’s house, shower, bathroom, and kitchen. Sisi deserves the best! The women’s club was also having written song contests against each other. They each wrote their own song about the village of which I hope to get my hands on when I get back to post the Fijian and the translations in English. Fun times!

Also during the soli (fundraising event) the men of the men cooked dinner for all of the women! This is very rare in Fiji as the men hardly ever cook. The ibe ni kana (tablecloth) was laid out, the plates handed out, and the food was devoured and shared by all. The children had their own table and took three shifts for them all to get to eat. Lots of kids in my village!

We also need to pull together some random junk to make into a playground: like a wood teeter-tauter, some tires for swings, games, and handmade blocks. She has good ideas so I am sure this part will not be a problem.

One thing that I am concerned about is that the village wants to open the kindy as soon as I get back. Not leaving any time to receive the donations, buy new supplies, finish the teacher’s quarters, supply a salary, etc. I really wish the committee would just be patient for me so that we don’t start it out with a failure. They are pretty determined though… very anxious! We will see what all has happened during these two weeks that I will be gone.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Hopped on the boat at 6:00 AM this morning and headed to the main road. Took a bus to Kara’s village and then walked to the nearest store for some ice cream! Man was it a hot day. On our way back to her village we took a path off the side of the road to Kara’s waterfall and rock jumping spot. Mine is soooo much better… but I’m not bragging or anything! ;) Then we came back to the village, relaxed, waited on John, Leslie, Natalie, and Lisa to show up and began cooking a super delicious meal of spaghetti and garlic toast. After dinner they took off and we watched a movie… of course I fell asleep within ten minutes.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Woke up, cooked French toast, watched the new Harry Potter movie, and then headed out on the bus for Lautoka. The bus stopped in Rakiraki so we checked the mail and I found a slip for a package from dad that I needed to sign for. Well, I was headed to Lautoka so I decided to just take care of it in person! The bus ride along the coast was beautiful. The scenery changed from cliffs along the coast like my village, to rolling hills that look like Oklahoma. The city of Lautoka is quaint and warming. I felt at home there with sidewalks, parks, schools, a nice market, a movie theatre 4, and other white people. We stopped in at Sarah’s house and immediately went for a 7 km run. Wow, ok, I didn’t go for a 7 km run, more like a 5 km run, then a lazy walk. I am so out of shape… getting better every day though. After the rest of the volunteers arrived we made chili! With ground beef! So much better than chili from home, sorry mom, you know I was never a big fan. We are going to bed at a decent hour so that we can get up early and head to market for breakfast food. So, goodnight!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Got up at 6:30 AM to find out that the market does not open until 8:00 AM. Finished my book: The Witch of Portobello. We walked to market and bought lots of fruits (shared with Lydia – we are good at shopping together)! We also ran the other two errands that I needed to run, the post office and customs. So, at the Lautoka post office Lydia and I got to sign for our packages and see what was inside as the Quarantine and Customs Agent searched for anything prohibited. They were quite entertaining! The Quarantine guy just danced and sang while the quarantine guy tried to be serious. Lol, good times, had to be there. I received a package from dad!!! It had lots of cat toys, snickers energy bars, Graham Crackers, M&Ms, and lots of stuff for the kindy. I left it at the post office though since I am traveling around so much. They are sending it to Rakiraki for me so that when I get back I can pick it up closer to home! Yay! Thanks dad!

We got back to the house just in time to hop in a cab and go to the Sunshine Special School to start setting up for Literacy Camp/Library Week. We had a meeting with the teachers and volunteers and began preparing the rooms and the arts and crafts for tomorrow. So much to do and I still have no idea how to teach my lesson tomorrow. I guess I have some studying to do tonight.

September 22, 2009

Last night we spent a lot of time cutting out fish, scales, making flash cards, and going over what we were going to teach today. I am in the rhyming room where I will read “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” by Dr. Seuss. I am pretty excited about it! We visited with most of the children yesterday while they were on break and at lunch and I can see some challenges for today. I will write later to let you know how it went.

Whew, glad to be home. The children are such a wide range of specialness. I remember on Sunday I asked Sarah “Just how special are these children”? She didn’t have an answer for me at the time. It became more of a joke than a real question. I know now why I didn’t get a straight answer. They can be severely special needs such as not speaking any English and not listening to commands to very smart and should probably attend a regular public primary school. The Class 7 and 8 were really quite bright and great helpers. Most of the children are great at drawing and love to have fun! We had 8 groups that would switch to a different room every 30 minutes. So, I taught 8 different groups how to rhyme!

I had several frustrations today, but pushed through them as if I was not bothered. I have learned a lot of patience since I have graduated from college. Between raising a newborn to applying for Peace Corps, and now dealing with a different culture, I do not let a lot bother me. I think that after I leave Peace Corps I will learn even more about myself and what this experience has taught me. More than I will ever be able to access I am sure. How lucky I am!

Anyways, the children loved my room! I first explained to them what a rhyme was, then I asked them to help me name a word that rhymed with “fish”, or “can”, or “cat”. Some of the classes knew what I meant right off the bat and others I had to coax it out of them or give them the answers. Then I read “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” by Dr. Seuss. Then went back and explained a few examples from the book. I asked for a few words from the class and then had the children come up with the rhyming words. After that they were asked to make a sentence out of some of their new words, producing a rhyme. Went well with most classes! At the end of the day I feel like I accomplished something wonderful and I am glad that I volunteered to help although, I still walked to town to get an ice cream, go figure. Tomorrow is another day like today… Whew.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

We had to be at the school at 8:00 AM this morning for a teacher debriefing, of which none of them showed up for… so we started preparing for the day of teaching. Today my room was called “Underwater Adventure”. Last night everyone helped out drawing and coloring a long poster to hang on the wall of one of the classrooms and I drew pictures all over the chalkboard on the other side of the room. My assignment was to take the kids on an underwater adventure and tell them about the animals on the wall, read them a book, and let them write and draw what they saw. So, I decided to take them on a “boat ride and snorkel”! They stood outside the classroom as I asked them if they felt the boat rocking, they played along: swaying to the “big” waves. Then I told them I was feeling sick and that we should get into the water. We all put on our imaginary mask and fins and dove into the water. We swam around the room seeing the octopus, the coral reef, the treasure chest, a seahorse, a jellyfish and then a shark! I would scream when I saw the shark and start swimming faster. They all really got into it and were swimming around the room as fast as they could, screaming and happy. Then I would quite them down and ask them to take a seat. It is amazing how Fijians follow the leader so much and do not use their own imagination. I will teach them creativity! So, then I read them “Commotion in the Ocean” which taught them about the different animals around the room (of course throwing in some facts and sounds wherever I felt necessary)! They were given an underwater journal where they were given the opportunity to draw anything they wished. This was another hard concept. They are used to always begin told what to draw, and having the opportunity to free-draw took them a while to understand. After they began drawing their pictures they showed their talents! I was proud!

I just got back from going to dinner with all of the volunteers and one of the volunteer’s dads from America. We ate at a nice hotel restaurant and he paid for everyone’s meal! So nice! I had a vegetarian lasagna which was quite nice and then a Magnum dark chocolate ice cream bar for desert. Yummy meal! Time for bed, tomorrow is another teaching day!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Got up early again this morning to be at the school at 8:00 AM to prepare the rooms. Today over half of the school is going to sports day and so we will only have 5 groups and 6 rooms. My room is the “I Spy” room where I teach them how to play and then we make an attempt at the game. I must say, we had the littler ones today and they were not at the age yet to understand how to spell words, what rhymes with what, or even “I spy something yellow”. So there was a lot improvisation going on in my room! I usually had the children follow the leader since the two days before I noticed that they are very good at copying what others do. So we turned into cats, dogs, fish, horses, cows, snakes, sharks, frogs, etc. The class 1 through class 4 kids loved it! Although the day was shorter, I felt like a lot more work went into trying to teach a lesson that was not the appropriate skill or age level as well as a lesson that was not properly planned. I learned a lot through the experience and have a better idea of how to teach things at my district school. Possibly even a one week camp like this one!

I am just about to head out and catch a bus to Sigatoka to stay with another volunteer, Sean. I decided that since I only have boats on Thursday and Saturday and I needed to stay at the school on Thursday it would be more convenient for me to visit another volunteer between my work exchange and Peace Corps training near Nausori. So, I chose Sean! He always said I could visit and I know he is near lots of things to do, so off I go!

Well, I decided to take a minibus from Lautoka to Sigatoka because I knew it would be faster and more comfortable. I met lots of crazy people on the minibus and was happy about my decision. When I reached Sean we headed on into his village and hung out in his pad. He has a pretty nice little house with two bedrooms, kitchen/dining room, outside toilet, and a porch. He is also just a 15 minute walk to the Shangrila Fijian Hotel. So tomorrow I think we are headed over there! We are about to watch Love Actually. Hopefully I can stay up through it.

Friday, September 25, 2009

We got up this morning and cooked some fried tomatoes with toast. It was so good. I have never been one to cook with tomatoes, but Sean has shown me a whole new world of cooking! Last night for dinner we had breakfast crackers with a fresh basil leaf, a slice of cheese, and a slice of tomato. Really good! Another volunteer, Jeremy showed up around 9:00. We packed up our stuff and headed to the hotel. It was a beautiful walk through the woods to the hotel entrance and as we crossed the causeway I immediately saw all kinds of fish, so I was stoked for the snorkel trip! The hotel is huge and beautiful! I got to see the Environmental center they are working on, soon to open. It was adorable with a lot of good education information for hotel guests. The hotel is already green, but they are taking the right steps to making it greener!

So, on our snorkel we saw one lobster, one sea snake, two eels, one was a giant moray, three lionfish, four giant clams, five Moorish idols, and lots of coral, fish, and seaweed. The lagoon is perfect for families to snorkel and a great outlet for divers. He has a great set-up here in Fiji. Although, I am just as happy about being so remote and part of a family-like village. Fiji is so small yet everyone has such different experiences.

After our snorkel we took showers at the environmental center and then started walking home. We came up on a Putt-Putt!! I HAD to play! I explained to the cashier that we were volunteers helping villages for two years and he said we could play for free! YES! So I came in second, playing against Sean and Jeremy. We came back to Sean’s and made homemade spaghetti from scratch. I didn’t know it was possible. Lol. My cooking skills suck.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

So, the spaghetti was delicious, and then we were going to watch Pulp Fiction, but I passed out too early. This morning I woke up at 5:30 AM and studied the world map and the Fiji map on the wall. There are so many places in this world to discover and explore! Good thing I have my whole life ahead of me (Yes mom, your saying). I made French toast this morning and we had coconut, papaya, and bananas with it. Then Sean, Jeremy, and I headed to Sigatoka to shop and use the internet. We ended up eating lunch at a new restaurant that opened 5 days ago. They used to sell pirated dvds, but since Fiji is cracking down on that (won’t last more than a month), they opened a restaurant. I ordered a steak burger expecting a hamburger and I got sliced roast beef on sandwich bread with tomato and lettuce. Surprisingly, the meat was amazing and it was a really good burger! They also gave us a free Indian appetizer, which was too spicy for my taste, but such a nice gesture!

After lunch we bought a huge tub of cookies n’ cream ice cream and took it to Jeremy’s to devour. Mmmm, made my stomach hurt. So, off to the Sand Dunes National Park for a two-hour hike. We walked around on a trail through grasslands and sand dunes and then along the beach. There were magnificent waves and lots of rocks washing up on the shore. I thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful day. Jeremy and Sean were very entertaining too. Sean almost killed himself running down a steep dune… I have pictures to prove it! We hitch-hiked back to Sean’s, made eggplant curry with cous cous, and now I need a shower. So sorry about the long blog.

I made videos and have taken lots of pictures of these experiences, but for some reason my computer does not want to read my memory card. So all of the pictures are blocked and may not ever make it off the memory card. Sorry to all.

Tomorrow we are headed towards Suva. We are actually going up to Nausori to visit our training villages that we left 9 weeks ago. They are as excited to see us as we are to see them! Cannot wait! We will also be meeting up with all of the other FRE-07 Peace Corps Volunteers. SO reunion time! I will type more later. Shower!