Curry up and eat

I feel like I've already been here for 2 months. In reality, its only been 17 days. Upon arrival we drove to a hotel* and had a welcoming ceremony, called a sevusevu, that consisted of a lot of Fijian that I didn't understand with the odd 'Peace Corps" and 'America' thrown in. In translation, it involved some of the Peace Corps administrators, who are native Fijians, saying a blessing for us over a basin of kava (aka grog, yaqona) and passing around bilos (wooden bowls made from half coconut shells) of the stuff. The rules governing kava drinking, formal or casual, vary greatly depending on the community you are in and whether or not it is a native Fijian village or an Indo-Fijian (Fijians of Indian descent) settlement. I'm still learning them, no doubt I'll have a post concerning the rules when I have a concrete grasp on them. But enough about kava. I drink it every night so you'll be getting about as much of it as I am in the days months years to come. I have a video of the sevusevu that I'll post when I can, the internet connection I'm using right now is too slow to upload it.

The rest of the pre-pre-service training at the hotel consisted of filling out paperwork, getting vaccinations, water safety training, and informational sessions about safety & security, health, and emergency procedures. We were only at the hotel for a night, then we went to another training site for more in-depth informational sessions (safety, health, culture, the role of the volunteer (me) in development, etc.). We were at that site for 3 nights, and it was one step closer to the reality of living in a third world country. We no longer had hot showers, and a few of the meals had been kind of sketchy. Not sketchy in the 'I'm going to get sick if I eat this' sense, but sketchy in the 'spaghetti-o's for breakfast?' sense. Overall though it was a really nice site, situated back in the hills by a river. We found out what language we would be learning while we were there, as well as where our training village is.

Out of the 26 volunteers (25 now, someone ETd (Early Termination) already) that were in my group, only 4 of us were slated to be learning Fiji Hindi and to live in an Indo-Fijian settlement. ~35% of the population in Fiji is of Indian descent, their forefathers having been brought over from India by the British as indentured labourers [sic]. The culture in an Indo-Fijian settlement is radically different than that of a Fijian village, and it has been really interesting being able to see the differences firsthand. This post is already too long, so I'll save the comparison for another day. I really like my settlement though, my host family is super friendly and very welcoming. I live in a detached bedroom that has its own shower and toilet, and of all the volunteers this is a unique situation. I have a lot more privacy than most people, and having my own bathroom is unheard of. I eat curry (general term for basic combination of peppers, meat/veggies, and various spices) for pretty much every meal, along with roti. Roti is the Indo-Fijian version of a flour tortilla, just smaller and thicker. They make roti fresh every morning, I've come to love it. I've helped a few times, when I get to my permanent site I'll definitely be adapting the recipe to make tortillas. I'm going to eat so many breakfast burritos its going to be explosive. We have language class every day, Fiji Hindi isn't too difficult. We're not learning the devanagari (मानक हिन्दी) script, just the phonetic aspect. Fiji Hindi is mostly standard Hindi, with a little English and Fijian thrown in for good measure. Living with a host family is immensely helpful in learning the language, and in the 2 weeks I've been exposed to it I already have somewhat of a grasp. I'm far from fluent, but by the end of our 7 week pre-service training I think I'll be pretty comfortable with it. We also have classes in the nearby town that all the other volunteers in Fijian villages attend as well. Those classes are more focused on preparing us for our roles as volunteers and educating us about how the Fijian government and infrastructure are set up. In addition to those classes in town, we go to the other volunteer host villages for 'cultural afternoons', where we learn about the aspects of village life that they are experiencing. Thus far we have gone to 2/5 the host communities, both of which were Fijian villages. They were pretty similar, as all of the Fijian villages will be, but there are still small differences in the social structure and religions practiced at each site.

At this point I've kind of lost my train of thought, so I'll cut myself off before I start rambling. Or keep rambling, rather. I'm trying to get a 3G wireless card so I can access internet at my house, they were sold out on Thursday when I went though. I'm doing well, healthy and happy and slowly adjusting to life here. This first post hasn't come close to doing justice to all the new sights, smells, and sounds I've seen. Good thing I have plenty of time to remedy that. Pictures and video to come soon hopefully, just google 'rain' til then.

*Peace Corps policy dictates that I don't post the actual names of locations where volunteers live or work. I can discuss places that I have gone that are not specifically Peace Corps sites, but only after I return. Since the Peace Corps uses this hotel on a yearly basis, I have omitted its name. This will probably happen a lot.