Fiji: A Weekend in Viro

Since there appears to be a tropical rainstorm going on outside.... I think I might sit in this cosy internet cafe for a little bit longer!

As a teacher I'm working from 7:30 - 4pm everyday and I get the weekends off. Here's a little bit about my weekend off in my village.

Saturday

A lie in! Eee! I slept in till 7:30 which is incredibly exciting since it seems near impossible to wake up any later here. There's cocks crowing, kids running about and the temperature starts to rise pretty quickly. Spend the morning with the family; playing with baby Katie (named after the previous volunteer), 4 year old Gauna (pronounced ng-ow-na) and the lovely 7 year old (and very grown up!) Perina. The headmaster has taken a boat to Suva, the capital of Fiji to go and buy food supplies and so it's just us girls at home. Go and visit Miss Evi, the teacher who lives next door to us to have tea and play with her baby, Mere who is 2 months old (can everyone say "awwww!").

It's fun to relax, chat and listen to the radio. In Fiji, everyone goes into everyone's houses and is very welcome. Whilst sitting in Miss Evi's house I meet a lot of the kids from school who are drifting in and out, grabbing a biscuit and playing with the baby before leaving. It's really lovely how all the doors are left open and the whole village feels like one big house. Food passes so freely between people and whilst I was sitting outside someone's house talking to them I was given a fish to take to for my dinner and another time I was given a papaya as I was walking down the road!

Afterwards, I go back into to school to continue making some phonics posters for classes 1 and 2 (-ay and -ack). It's much easier to do these after school or in the weekend since school days are busy and I can be working with the children instead. There's a computer and printer in the school that was a donation from Australia, however no one knows how to use it. I've been teaching my host mother, Atila, how to start up a computer, type documents and hopefully by the time I leave, she can be writing out letters for the school! After making my posters I give Atila a computer lesson for as long as baby Katie remains sleeping!

By this time it's late afternoon and one of the girls from class 8, Daiana invites me to go for a walk. Daina, Lose and Perina all come along with me and we walk up the mountain along the river. When we had no water I went to the river to bathe, but walking further up, the river gets deeper and clearer and it's like one great big freshwater swimming pool! So many beautiful swimming spots. All the girls jump in, but seeing as I'm in an ankle length skirt (a sulu) I think it's better I don't! As we walk back... we come to the original diving spot... and with a bit of coaxing "LADE LADE!" or "JUMP JUMP" from the girls... I think whatever! I'm not in Fiji to come and observe and jump right in :)

After this, they tell me tide is high on the beach and so we go swimming in the sea too. It's such a beautiful, amazing experience having all my kids from school splashing around me and seeing the village from the sea. Everyone just dives in to the water fully clothed since you dry out quickly enough and women are allowed to wear long shorts whilst swimming. The girls from my Guide group come around me in the sea and start singing a song I taught them and doing all the actions in the water! They also teach me to shout... "AU TALEI TIKO VITI!" or "I LOVE FIJI". Which is very, very true :)

Sunday

The morning starts with my family mkaing a lovo or earth oven. A big hole is dug in the ground and filled with stones. Then a fire is set and burns to make the rocks hot for a 2 or 3 hours. After this the ash is scraped off and parcels of food wrapped in banana leaves are placed on the stones to cook and covered with coconut leaves for another few hours. It fun to watch the lovo being made and fallen coconuts being scraped to put into the food.

At 9:30 I hop along to the village (which is just down the road) to go to church. I go to Miss Raijeli, the kindergarten teacher's house so that I can walk to church with her. We sit with the choir since she sings with them and the sermon begins. It's all in Fijian and so I can't really understand anything.... but the choir are amazing! Sitting with them is brilliant and they let me sing with them since I can read Fijian. Everyone harmonises beautifully and the sound is so strong. The ladies next to me seem very suprised I sing too, but keep saying "vinaka na sere" to me, which means "thank you for singing". After church finishes, I'm invited back to the afternoon service and to the join in the the choir competition they're having!

Back at home we get to eat the lovo which is delicious and sit outside! Have another computer lesson with Atila and plan my English lessons for the next week before going back to church in the afternoon. This time I turn up on my own and get invited to sit back with the choir again! The Sunday School, Youth Choir, Mother's Choir and Father's Choir all then compete in front of the pastor in a competition.... and I end up singing with every choir except the Father's Choir! I've officially joined the church choir in Viro Methodist Church now which is brilliant since it's my favourite part of church here.

The rain's stopped now so I might venture out to the post office. Au talei tiko Viti :)

Moce!

(Mo-thay meaning good bye)