Here is a picture from a wedding in my village. The cloth is made from the bark of a certain tree and is called masi

A picture taken from the air on a flight from my island to the main one

The kids from the kindy put on a concert for us at the end of the school year. Here is a picture from their traditional dance called a meke

Here is a picture of me and the village headman, Turaga ni Koro. I'm wearing a sulu jaba, the traditional dress for women. They aren't my favorite only because it is so hot!

My host family! My mom, tinaqu, and some grandkids.

A picture from our swearing in ceremony in July. These are the other volunteers from my training village and some of our host families.

Seniviti...Korotubu's Fijian "flower"

So the last month and a half has been difficult. Bad weather, no work, homesickness (for the first time ever). But I am happy to report that I think this week was the turning point. No big changes in particular, I'm just settling back into the village lifestyle after the holiday break.

A quick story before I get onto the subject of this post:
The other day I was enjoying yet another "24" marathon with my host sisters during the heat of the day (which right now seems to be from 7am-4pm). We were laying idle on the ibe (woven mat) trying not to move because of the stifling heat, watching Jack Bauer successfully escape death once again. Because of the heat we didn't even expend energy to chase the chickens out of the house like we usually do. Only when one chickens' erratic attempt to sit on top of the doorway drowned out the TV did we notice the poultry takeover of the house. One of my sisters began chasing them out of the house and the one teetering on the doorway was the last to go. With much flapping of the wings and furious squawks from the distressed chicken, it jumped out of the house. As the loose feathers settled to the floor we resumed our resting positions on the floor. This didn't last long, however, because a few seconds later 3 eggs fell from the doorway in what seemed like a slow motion tragedy. I don't know why this was so funny to me but it was. I have seen many failed attempts at egg-laying, enough to make me wonder how there are chickens left in Fiji. But this instance was particularly entertaining.

Ok...now for the main event. Seniviti. (Seni=flower, Viti=Fiji)
Seniviti is a very old man that appeared in my village a few months ago. The fact that he was familiarily welcomed proved that he comes by often for visits, but he isn't a Korotubu native. He is missing one eye so he wears a pair of knock-off Oakleys around the village. You normally aren't allowed to wear anything on your head in the village, out of respect for the chief, but I think once you reach a certain age you can skip the formalities. Anyway, his sunglasses are usually so crooked you can see the empty socket anyway, but the shock of the void has worn off. I can't say one thing that makes Seniviti such an entertaining character, but I certainly enjoy his company and so does everyone else in Korotubu. People around him always seem to be laughing and enjoying themselves, although sometimes it seems like they are laughing at him rather than with him. But he doesn't seem to mind. He is usually sitting on someones porch or under a tree and greets passerbys all day long. People usually sit cross-legged on the floor in the South Pacific, and after years of sitting this way some people seem like their legs are just melting into the ground. Their legs are so flat against the floor it makes me wonder what their joints must look like in an X-ray. Seniviti is the prime example of this. The one time I saw him walking around he was carrying a bunch of coconusts attached to a stick like a Fijian Huckleberry Finn. I can't ever tell what he is saying beyond the standard greeting, but I still like sitting around while he tells stories about the "olden times". Even the "old guys" from my village look young around him and their eyes light up when he gets into one of his stories. One day when I was making my way into town, Seniviti was in the bus. We were waiting at a stop by an Indo-Fijian settlement for the bus to fill up. We were sitting (with the bus idling to my disgust) for a while, so Seniviti took it upon himself to entertain us with some Hindustani singing. I don't know if you've heard it before but its kinda a chant/wail way of singing and Seniviti has the perfect voice for it. Everyone was cracking up in the bus, even the old Indian ladies that never seem to enjoy themselves (only from what I've seen). So, although there is very little interaction between me and Seniviti, he always has a toothless grin for me and I know that the day he disappears from Korotubu back to wherever he usually stays I will miss him. But, I know that one day he will return as discreetly he did the first time I met him.

A breath of fresh air

This weekend I visited my host sister Sereima and her husband (Semesa) and daughter (Mereadani). They live in a settlement outside of Labasa. I didn't mention it before, but Fiji has a large (40%) Indian population. Sereima lives on a sugarcane farm and Fijians and Indo-Fijians mix in a happy little community. (Some areas in Fiji have racial tensions, not so in the Friendly North) By the time I arrived on Friday afternoon, the whole community knew that I was spending the weekend there so I had several invitations to Indo-Fijian homes. The weekend was full of swimming in the river that we had to cross to get to the Indo-Fijian settlement (an adventure since it is raining a lot and the current is very fast), drinking kava and eating delicious chutney and curry. It was a strange dynamic for me. I feel at ease in Fijian homes, I know the language (enough to get by), the customs (theres several taboos) and am used to the flow of life. I don't know a word of Hindustani or any of their any customs (besides only eating with your right hand). The first night the Indo-Fijians would ask questions in Hindi to Semesa who would translate to our dialect of Fijian for me and I would reply in Bauan, the main Fijian dialect since most Indo-Fijians can understand it. Sometimes I had to resort to English because I think if I tried to explain the role of zooxanthellae in coral reef systems in Fijian, it would have been a mess. Anyway, it was strange be in such a foreign setting while in a country that has become home to me. There wasn't enough time to accept all the invitations, so I will be making another trip back to the Indo-Fijian settlement to enjoy some more curry, conversation and river games.
It is reassuring to know that I have a home outside the koro (village) to go to when things are slower than usual. And I'm beginning to make close friends with the locals, all the better to make this place feel like home.

(my camera isn't cooperating with the computer so I can't post pictures, vosoti au...sorry)

Bula Sia!

I've been at site for 6 months now and several factors have gotten me to finally gotten me to start a blog. Mainly, the gleeful excitedness that comes with being a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) after Pre-Service Training releases us out into the wild has worn off. I'm not so inclined to sit for hours around the grog bowl with the old men talking about the tides, rain, rugby, America...whatever. I've restricted myself to two nights of grog a week. This has freed up some evenings and what better to do than write some about Fiji for a captive online audience? All the better to keep my mind sharp and my English from further slipping towards Fijinglish.
Since I have missed 6 months, I'll fill you in on the basics...feel free to ask for clarifications on any entries hereafter.

• I'm technically an "Environmentand Natural Resources Management" Volunteer. I can give the broad, abstract definition of this but theory is slipping further down my list of likes since, with things like this, its just big words that don't really paint a clear picture as to what I'm doing (or what I'm trying to get started). Basically, I'm going to push the idea of composting toilets so the waste water doesn't seep into the ground water, thus turning the village green into a cespool when it rains and washing out to the reef. I want to build some fish ponds to reduce dependence on the sea and after that I want to teach anyone who will listen about waste management and simple environmental concepts. All that being said nothing has happened yet...I'm on island time and we are currently in the middle of a productive cyclone season.
• I live in a rural village named Korotubu (literally growing village) in the Province of Macuata on the island of Vanua Levu which is called "The Friendly North" (Fiji is called Friendly Fiji, so basically we are pretty friendly here). It is the second largest island in Fiji and it is best described by a fellow PCV as the "forgotten stepsister" as far as development goes.
• Labasa, the town I restock in, isn't the tourist destination that comes to mind when you think of Fiji...but I mostly welcome the fact that I can always find a familiar face in town and I won't be mistaken for an Aussie or Kiwi on holiday.
• I have a wonderful host family.
• My Fijian name is Menani

Now, the first topic of this blog (does this make me a blogger now? I suppose it does) is how writing this will actually count as me being a dutiful PCV. THe PC has three goals. Once again I will paraphrase:

1. Help people in-country
2. Bring a better understanding of Americans to country
3. Bring experiences back to US to share with fellow Americans

(If you ask some volunteers of PC Fiji, myself included, you will hear of a goal 2.5)

2.5 Peace Corps against the world in a dance competition. (This is based on the rather undisputed fact...I don't even know how it is a competition really...that when we PCVs get togetherfor a night out we bust plenty moves on the dancefloor. This either helps or hurt goal 2...the jury's still out.

So, in effect, this blog is helping me to complete goal 3 and eventhough I'm cutting back on my intake of Piper methysticum (kava, grog or yaqona), I'm attending enough Methodist services and village functions to satisfy goal 2. This just leaves goal 1, but I'm learning that there's no rushing "Fiji Time" and if I've learned anything in my past travels its to go with the flow...

I'll leave you with that...I have stories lined up to post so check back!