Bula!
The beginning of every journey is always the hardest. You are unaware of what is coming next, unaware of people you will meet, and even unaware of what you are doing. This journey has certainly been a little of all of that.
The realization that I was leaving my family and friends didn’t hit me until I saw saying goodbye to them all at the airport in Albany, NY. It all hit me at cone that I was not going to be seeing them for possibly 27 months, and had no idea how I could stay in contact with them. As I said my goodbyes I credited and was sad, but I was still so excited for this amazing journey.
When I arrived in LA airport (LAX), I met with one of my other Peace Corps Trainees. While texting each other for about 15 minutes we finally found each other behind a giant column that we couldn’t see around. While we were chatting, we ended up getting on the wrong shuttle and ending up at the wrong hotel and had to get a taxi to take us to the correct hotel.
Meeting everyone the first night was really settling. Meeting all these new faces that will be my new family, friends, and support system for the next 27 months, it was great to know that I could get along with all these people. All of us ended up going to this bar & grill near the hotel and we all shared a little bit about ourselves so that we could all start to get to know each other.
The 2nd day we did all of our Pre-Service training and orientation sessions. It was strange at first to sit in the chairs will all this Peace Corps stuff being thrown at us, because it didn’t seem real yet that I was going to working and living in Fiji. Like who gets that gig?!?! The sessions surrounded around the core expectations of the Peace Corps Volunteer and the goals of Peace Corps. It also was a big time for us to reflect on if this was the right time for us to serve in Peace Corps. Many of us started our application process a year to 2 years ago, and reflecting on why we applied was a big part of the training sessions.
I’ve been writing this post on the plane and it has been a long flight! It’s about an 11 hour flight with a time zone change of 17 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. I ended up getting one of the emergency rows, so I have a lot of legroom which has been super sweet! We are in the last stretch of the flight I think? But I really have no concept of time right now…oh well!! Learning to go with the flow and not have to be in control 24/7
I think I’m ready for this journey of a lifetime. The things that I have learned in college, my own personal life, and things my family and friends have taught me have helped me prepare for this experience. I still have a lot to learn when I arrive during my training, but I am more than willing to put myself out there and learn as much as I can.
Vinaka vakaleuv and Moce
(Venaka vaklehvoo and mothey)
(Thank you very much and see you soon in Fijian!)
Sept 4, 2013
Bula!
We have finally made it to Fiji! It is all becoming so real that I am living in Fiji for 2 years now!
We arrived at Nadi International Airport at 5:30am Fiji time. The flight was ok as mentioned in the previous blog, but I don’t want to do that flight too many more times or ever! When we got off the plane, we met with a few of the Fiji Peace Corps staff and they helped us with our luggage and to get on the bus.
After we boarded the bus, we went to our Country Director son’s house for a traditional Fijian breakfast. It was amazing! The fruit was so fresh, and the baked goods were even fresher. We did some introductions there of more of the Peace Corps Fiji staff and some of the family members.
Back to the bus we went to travel to our official Welcome Ceremony. The welcome ceremony is a traditional Fijian welcome in the native language and is called the Sevusevu. It was incredible to see how appreciative the staff are for us to give up our time to come and help their country. They seem so dedicated to making our time here a successful experience. During the ceremony we took part in the traditional kava drinking. Kava is a root that they mix with water and it has hallucinogen side effects. It is supposed to make your mouth numb and even some other parts of your body. When present to you, you clap with an open palm and drink the entire bowl presented to you. After you finish, you hand the bowl back to the person and clap 3 times with an open palm. It is very traditional and shows respect and thankfulness to each other to clap.
We ended our day in our post for where we will do some orientation classes. We are all sharing bures (houses) and the accommodations are pretty spectacular…in a matter of speaking! Here is where we will get ready to live with our host families and learn the first things about Fiji and its culture.
Vinaka vakalevu and Moce.
Bula!
Wow! Just wow! Today was an exhausting but another amazing day learning about Peace Corps in Fiji. We had a full day of orientation and training where we obtained paper work to get our Fiji back accounts, some medical information, and learned about the Corps definition of development and a development worked.
Safety and security is Peace Corps highest priority when it comes to volunteers. Most of the information that was given was common sense for people who have traveled to a 3rd world country before. I learned some acronyms that helped with remembering what things to do to protect ourselves in our villages and when we travel around the country.
During the medical orientation we learned what the PC policies are, and learned about our water filtration systems. They are huge and are pretty much a stainless steel machine! It is really cool just how much water these things can filtrate and just what they can filtrate.
Throughout the day we learned about different things like policies and all that jazz. At the end of the day, we the PCTs were hanging out on a slack line that someone brought and were just chatting with each other. But then while we were hanging out we started to hear singing in the distance and went to a look out point to see where it was coming from. A village in the distance was singing a traditional Fijian song about the sun setting. But the sunset was by far the most beautiful thing that I Have seen in a long long time. The colors and textures of the sun hitting the clouds and creating a mix of purple, orange, red, yellow, and black. Listening to the village singing and watching the sun set was the perfect end to an amazing day of learning.
Vinaka vakalevu and Moce.
Bula!
Today we had to say goodbye to some of our friends because they were going to their country in Tonga. The Fijian natives have a goodbye song that they sand and it was wonderful to hear another song that meant so much to the native people.
After they left, the Fiji group delved right into country specific cultures and even a language lesson. It was a lot and we still have a lot to go! Once we finished lunch, we loaded the bus and headed to the beach for our water safety orientation.
The bus ride to the water safety was crazy…the amount of pot holes and ditches that are in the road is crazy! We are continusely bumping up and down and are not even in our seats most of the time. You constantly have to be holding on something so that you don’t fall onto the floor. It was fun, but it was crazy! Once we arrived at the beach, we were all pretty happy to get out of the bus.
At the beach we had to jump out of a boat and swim to shore, do floatation exercise, learn about our PFDs, and about what lives in the ocean. The ocean was the warmest ocean that I ever swam in and it was so refreshing to be in the salt water and just swim around.
When we got back from the beach, we had personal time for the rest of the evening. It was once again nice hanging out with everyone and just chatting about what we do in the states and who we are as people.
Vinaka vakalevu and Moce.
Bula!
Well today was an extremely full day of emotions and anticipation. We were taken into the neighboring village with our LCFs (language culture facilitators) so that we could get a glimpse of a town and use some language that we had learned in our classes. It was certainly different form the US way of shopping, but reminded of my Guatemala and Haiti markets a little. Everything is open air and the shops have all their doors wide open. You really can find anything and everything you want in the markets.
Once we got back to our compound it was time for us to find out what villages we will be staying in for the remainder of our PST (Peace Corps Training). We are spilt between 3 villages, once more inland, one near a river, and another on the beach. I have been placed in the village that is near the river and apparently, there is a gorgeous waterfall in the village! It’s also the town that is where we all come together to do our technical skills, so I don’t have to travel and such. I don’t know much about my home stay family yet so that is still anticipating.
After we found out our language groups, we had the rest of the day free so most of us decided to attempt to do some laundry. Well, this was certainly new in my book as that I have never washed my cloths by hand before! It was a learning experience for sure but I think I was able to do a good enough job to get them clean. Let me tell you how to do your laundry by hand:
Put soap in a bucket and fill with water
Place clothes in bucket and let soak for 10-15 minutes
Take clothes and rub together with hands
Take scrub brush and scrub out stains if present
Rinse out soap and hang till dry
The whole process took about an hour and hopefully they are dry by the morning…but I doubt it.
Like I said, today was another day of learning and anticipation. Before dinner, a bunch of us tried learning how to play rugby. One of the girls in our group played in college so she taught us hot to play more or less. It was a lot of fun, but nothing like football at all!! Everything about football is out the window when you play rugby. I cant wait to play with the boys in my village so that they can teach me a new game!
Vianka vakalevu and Moce.
Oh wow, Tim. You just brought me back 10 years (almost to the day!) to my pre-departure orientation, those first few days in country and the wonderful crazy times of PST. The next few weeks are sure to be both incredibly exciting and stimulating as well as possibly the most frustrating and grueling thing you've ever experienced. Just hang in there and enjoy the ride. Love your posts. Keep them coming!
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