Where is Natto?: Fiji: Suva

Back Row: Hannah (Hilton Special School), Erin (Wainunu Bay, Vanua Levu), Micheal (Vutikalulu Centre), Jamie (Vutikalulu Centre), Oliver (Vutikalulu Centre)

Middle Row: Ollie (Wainunu Bay), Sarah (Nasavuki, Motoriki Island), Bella (Hilton Special School), Tess (Visoto, Ovalau Isand, Zarli (Sigatoka Special School), Jana (Nadi Kingergarten), Kiarah (Rukuruku, Ovalau Island)

Front Row: Me! (Viro, Ovalau), Phillipa (Vutikalulu Centre), Jessie (Ulimbau, Motoriki Island)

With David Kirton, our Lattitude National Representative in Fiji and our Fijian friends from Nadi

In the last update, our orientation hadn't even begun and we were waiting for people to fly in. I was tired, feeling slightly overwhelmed and very very nervous! Since then all our Australian friends (yes, definitely friends!) have come, the orientation has finished and I'm now in Suva, the capital of Fiji which is on the other side of the island. To try and cram in everything I've learned in the last few days into one blog post would be a mammoth task so I'll give you a taste of what we've done...

On the first day of the orientation we were mixed up and put into groups and sent into to Nadi to gather information to complete a list of questions and give a presentation on it. My group had shopping and food and so one of the things we did was to go into the market with our local Fijian guide to find out as much as we could about the food we'd be eating for the next 3 months! Cassava, dalo, bele, rourou, soursop, kava, kai and nama were all pretty foreign foods to start with, but by the end we knew how much we should expect to pay for a 'heap' of each and a pretty good idea of how they would be best cooked. Everyone was wonderfully friendly and we met a lady called Nassi and her adorable daughter Anna who were selling dalo, they took us round the market and pointed out all the foods we were looking to find and told us how she liked to cook them. It feels like that in Fiji, all you need to do is smile and the world is your oyster!

Other groups covered topics such as Health, Communication, Insects and Clothing & Language. The Health group went into Nadi Hospital to talk to doctors and nurses about common ailments for volunteers whilst the Communications group got to go into the sorting office in the town post office to talk about how mail is sent in Fiji and then find out bus and ferry fares!

All the group presentations were followed by a lot of note taking on Fijian customs and how to dress modestly, enter a village properly and how to drink kava. That evening, we went to a local village to join a family (who were related to David, our national representative for Lattitude Global Volunteering in Fiji) for a dinner of traditional Fijian foods and kava. Being relatives of David meant that if we could practice customs and make all of our mistakes sooner, in the comfort of friends, rather than later. Drinking Kava is a traditional Fijian ceremony and done on many occasions. There were a lot of rules to remember (clapping, being silent, speaking at certain times), but after a few rounds it all started to sink in! The first bilo of kava was a bit nerve wracking as it worked its way round the circle towards me - pungent and slightly gritty- But I'm starting to like it after having it 3 nights in a row!

In the other days of the orientation we took in a lot of information - what to do if a cyclone hits, how to know if we have Beakbone fever, when to get checked for Elephantiasis, how to be a good teacher...... etc. etc.! I did a bit of practice teaching and had to teach an economics lesson to the rest of the group (stretching us a bit further since making us teacher primary school english to each other might've been boring!) which was especially fun with the addition of Usborne kids flashcards to represent economic and free goods.

We bonded as a group during all the sessions and I've already had to bid goodbye to almost half the group! Jana placed in Nadi Nursery; Zarli placed in Sigatoka Special School; Jamie, Oliver, Micheal and Phillipa placed at the Vutikalulu Project and Hannah & Bella placed at Suva's Early Intervention Centre. The rest of us who are going to the outer islands are in Suva for the day before catching ferries tomorrow to get us to Vanua Levu, Motoriki and (my placement!) Ovalau. I registered as a teacher with the Ministry of Education this morning and then we spent some time shopping to stock up supplies before going to our rural placements (Erin and Ollie will be 9 hours from the nearest town!).

Here's a few photos, I've taken 350 pictures already!