Wednesday, February 22, Fiji Time

Today marks one month in Fiji! I can't believe I've been here for that long. Just four short weeks ago I nervously stepped off a bus in Suva, frightened to hail a taxi. Nothing was familiar, and I wasn't comfortable in the slightest. Now, just a short time later I am perfectly comfortable catching 3-4 buses in a day, conversing with locals, and walking the city alone, confident that I know my way around. It's gone by so quickly. At least once a day, I have a moment where I stop and think "whoa, I'm in Fiji!" So much has happened in so short of a time. I had no idea what to expect when I arrived in Fiji, and a month later, I still encounter the unexpected on a daily basis.

Recently, I have found myself speaking full sentences in sign. I'm still slow, and don't know a lot of words, but the first time I realized I knew all the signs for what I was trying to say, I was so excited! I continue to have encouraging moments like this throughout the day. Learning sign has been such a fun challenge for me.

As far as adventures, almost nothing happened until the weekend. On Saturday night I was invited to an event at the Vodafone (cell phone company) Arena for an event hosted by the Government of Japan. The event was part of a program that started in Japan, focused on introducing Japanese students to other cultures. It has since grown to involve students from many other countries, as a worldwide effort to help young people learn about cultures other than their own. The event consisted of performances by 13 different countries, including among others, Canada, Japan, Egypt, the Ukraine, Brazil, and of course Fiji. The performances were mostly dancing and singing in the traditional style of that country. Each performance was amazing in it's own way, but the highlights for me were India, Egypt, Kenya, Fiji, and New Zealand. For part of the New Zealand performance, the men did the "Haka" which is a ceremonial dance. Videos of it can be found on the internet, and I recommend watching. The Haka is a powerful, intense routine that gave me goosebumps throughout its entirety.

On Sunday I explored Suva with Ratu, Pe and Ini's oldest son. We went to the pool, and were going to go to the historic museum located in Suva, but they tried to overcharge me so we left.

Monday, I went to the beach for the first time since I have been here. I would have gone sooner, but its an almost two hour bus ride. I have always loved the Ocean, and while it wasn't life changing, my first time in the Pacific Ocean was a special moment, and one I've dreamed about since I was a kid.

The beach at Pacific Harbour

Coming up this weekend, I am taking a long bus ride to Sigatoka, a town about 2 hours from Suva, where I will be staying with a deaf man named Mosese, and his family. I can't wait the share my experiences there!

As always, thank you for reading. It was a fairly uneventful week, but not every week is bound to be full of amazing adventure. Even if nothing happens, I will try my best to make an interesting post each week. I hope you enjoyed it!

Bonus: Most nights I go out on the porch and watch the fruit bats fly around outside. They're huge. If I had to guess, some are maybe 2 feet across. They're really fun to watch glide and zip in and out of the trees, so I thought I would share one of the better pictures I got.

fruit bat in the evening 

February 13, Fiji Time

I'm in my third week here in Fiji. I have become much more comfortable here, but challenges have continued to present themselves. My parents had warned me the third week will probably be hard, and they were right. This week I experienced homesickness. I miss my family, friends, and just being in New York. I miss American food, my job, and although I never thought I'd say this- I miss the cold. I have also found it difficult to relax here. There is limited space to be by myself, and I don't have a lot of time during the day to unwind and process things, which I find is necessary here. In response, this week I have been writing, listening to music, and sleeping as much as I can. I know I will gradually become accustomed to life here in Fiji, I just have to give it time.

Traveling to Fiji is stepping out of my comfort zone in a big way. I write about the challenges I face here not to complain, or even to gain sympathy. I write about my challenges because it is all part of the experience of being here. In Fiji, the good certainly outweighs the bad, but to only write about the good things would be to only write half the story.

Mark Twain said: "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's life." I needed to travel to gain some new perspective, and while I don't consider myself prejudiced, bigoted, or narrow minded as the quote says, I find that it is easy to make assumptions about the world if you never experience it beyond where you grew up. So in that sense I think this quote is really accurate to what I'm experiencing now. I feel myself growing every day, and my understanding of the world is expanding beyond that of just life in America.

Now the fun stuff!

On Friday I experienced a piece of real Fijian culture. Kava. From the internet: "Kava or kava-kava is a root found on South Pacific islands. Islanders have used Kava as medicine and in ceremonies for centuries. Kava has a calming effect, producing brain wave changes similar to changes that occur with calming medicines...." On Friday night, I went to town with a group of locals- mostly deaf. Seru asked me if I'd like to go try Kava, which he's been trying to get me to do for a week or so. I said sure, so off we went with 2 other friends to a town maybe 25 minutes outside of Suva. The town was not a place I would go alone in the day, never mind at night, but I reminded myself I was perfectly safe with locals. After a short walk, we arrived at the house of the woman in our group. Once inside we all sat in a circle on a floor mat, and she prepared the Kava. It is prepared by pouring water into a large bowl and then adding the Kava mixture- similar to making tea. When it was ready, they taught me the proper way to drink it: clap once, say "Bula" and drink it all without stopping. Once finished, clap 3 more times and hand the cup off. They had me go first. Kava is very bitter, but goes down easily. Apparently it makes some people feel sick the first time but I felt fine the whole night. We drank a lot of it, and they seemed surprised that I was able to keep up, but honestly I didn't feel much, I just felt like sleeping. All in all it was a fascinating peek into Fijian culture, which I wouldn't mind trying again.

Kava (from Google Images)

A quick note about coffee. On the trip to LA I ran into a man from New Zealand named Chris. He mentioned that it was hard to find a good cup of coffee in the states, and now I know what he meant. The coffee here in Fiji is fantastic, especially at a certain shop called Gloria Jean's. I have gone there 3 or 4 times now and each time I am blown away at the quality. I'm not sure what they do differently, but I'm happy with it!

I have been advancing in my knowledge of sign, and have begun sign more fluidly and understand what is said to me more consistently.  At the school I am still in Levenia's class, observing and helping the kids with their work. During my time in and out of the classrooms, I have found that getting to know someone has very little to do with what they say. Most of these kids do not speak at all, yet I feel I have a good grasp on who they are, simply by watching their facial expressions, body language, and how they interact with me and each other. It is fascinating to me how little language is required for true understanding of a person. The more sign I know, the easier it is to help the kids, so I have gradually begun to help more and more in the class.

Levenia's Class (featuring Jim Cooney, school director)

Over the weekend we made our way to Colo-I-Suva. It is a rainforest outside Suva, that has man-made nature paths and beautiful waterfalls. One spot has a natural pool deep enough to swim and dive in, and a rope swing. Having never been in a real rainforest before, this was an amazing experience. I only wish the paths were a little easier to navigate, as most of it was too wet and slippery to safely take pictures. I did manage to take a few pictures of the pool and the falls, however, in between swimming, playing tag, and flying off the rope swing at terrifying heights!

Rope Swing

Rainforest

To end the weekend, I spent two nights at a resort nearby the falls, called Colo-I-Suva Rainforest Eco Resort, or Raintree Lodge. The room was bare and small, and it was stiflingly hot in the rainforest, but I really enjoyed a chance to be alone, watch Netflix and unwind. It gave me the time I needed to process all that has gone on here in Fiji so far, and now having returned to Samabula, I feel refreshed and ready to take on week 4!

February 6, Fiji time

I've been here for almost 2 weeks.This second week has been exhausting both mentally and physically. I've slept a lot and it still doesn't feel like enough. I'm definitely over jet lag, but now that I'm busy here it's been tiring anyway. But it's also been fun. Since I last posted I've been on more adventures, I've made deeper connections, and fallen into a more regular routine. 

Seru and Kevin, two residents of the hostel, have been my best friends here. They have shown me around town, brought me out at night, and have made me feel comfortable. This week they have been tasked by Pe to show me the ropes. As I am technically staff here, I am in charge of the hostel boys on certain days, in the mornings. So my duties include waking the boys up for school (admittedly I have not successfully gotten up before them so far), and making sure they sweep, clean, prepare breakfast and lunch, and get ready for school. When I arrived here, it seemed to me that the hostel parents made the boys do a lot of chores and work at the hostel, but gradually I understood why. The boys need to be taught how to survive in the real world, which can be a harsh place for the deaf. Learning to cook, clean, wash and iron your own clothes, and take care of the house are essential skills that they need to live on their own. And as the kids are all away from their families, they need someone else to teach them. I'm trying my best to keep up and do my part. 

I'm working in a classroom now with one of the deaf teachers, a young woman named Levenia. She seems to enjoy having another person in the class to help the kids. Primarily I am helping to check the kids' grammar and assisting them with spelling. The kids in the class are still in the early stages of learning to write, so it is useful to have a hearing person in the classroom. Hearing people understand proper sentence structure, something the deaf can struggle with at times. I have also been commissioned by Levenia to draw a picture on the wall. I was tasked with copying a picture of a coral reef with a few fish and a large eel. The kids seem impressed with my mediocre drawing ability and indeed, it is turning out better than I expected, but that isn't saying much.

My sign language is improving! As I'm told, by week five I will begin to be able to confidently communicate, but even at week 2 the progress I've made is astounding to me. To me, sign is similar to when you watch a movie in foreign language class in school. If you've paid enough attention in class, you just might pick up on a few words here and there. Similarly, I've had numerous "aha!" moments throughout this week, where I've observed two people signing and I see a sign or two that I recognize. Context is important as well, along with body language and facial expression. These help me to understand what is being said, despite not knowing every sign. The way the boys' faces light up when I understand something they sign is encouraging to me. They fist bump me or do a funny handshake-finger flick thing that everyone in Fiji seems to do. I've become so accustomed to meeting people with this handshake technique that when I return to the US it might take a little while to revert.

On Friday we went to a pool. The pool is open to the public and located in Suva. It's a huge pool, way bigger than the one I guard back home, with about twice as many people in it at once. My inner lifeguard was screaming at the chaos, but the pool staff didn't seem concerned so I relaxed. The school staff was all there, each assigned to a group of kids. The kids vary greatly in ability, which I found surprising. This is a nation surrounded by water after all. But apparently, according to Pe and Ini, despite the Ocean being everywhere, plenty of Fijians are not confident swimmers, and even more strange, some from farther inland have barely ever seen the Ocean. At the pool, I helped with the older group, with one of the teachers named Patricia. Patricia is a fourth generation Irish Fijian, (hence the name) and while she looks very Fijian, her hair and skin is much lighter than most. She is the only other person besides me who uses sunscreen. Anyway, I showed the kids proper freestyle stroke, and told them at the end of the term I would teach them butterfly. Then I made the mistake of teaching them how to swan dive. Before I knew it, a dozen or more kids were launching themselves off the side of the pool, mostly in poor imitations of my dive, although a few got the hang of it. It was very funny, but the water is too shallow for inexperienced divers, and they landed on each other.

On Saturday we played rugby. Rugby is HUGE in Fiji, and has only grown in popularity after the Fiji team's incredible gold medal win in the Summer Olympics. We went out as a group and met other deaf students on a large field near the school. Thinking I'd watched enough rugby on TV in the past week to understand the game, I jumped right in. Mistake. I learned quickly that I do not know the rules of rugby, nor are my lungs accustomed to the humidity. I was drenched, muddy, (slightly bloody) out of breath, thirsty, and somewhat confused after the first 45 minutes. But after Pe joined in and explained some of the rules that the deaf were struggling to convey to me, I began to understand the game more. I ended up scoring at least twice in the hour and a half I played. Unfortunately, in that time I gained two very ugly cuts on my legs, both of which I are covered in band-aids and disinfectant cream at the moment. The cuts were worth it though, and Pe told me I made the kids' day by joining in. Apparently most volunteers don't join in until they've been there a few weeks, and me playing the first week I was there means a lot to the kids.

Sunday church is something I will need to get used to. Not that it is entirely unfamiliar to me, it still follows basic church procedure, but some things are surprising. While church music back home and in most of America is much more contemporary, church here is all hymns. The content of the sermons is also a little less contemporary in comparison to the ones I am used to, but it is an insight into Fiji's values and traditions.

I'm excited for next weekend. I've made plans to stay at a resort in the rainforest! My hosts have been wonderful and very accommodating, but as I stated before, I am exhausted. It is essential for me to get some alone time, write a little, and recharge my batteries so to speak. After this week of school ahead of me, a quiet day and night away from the city will do me good. 

If you've made it this far, thank you for reading. I know it was long, but I have a lot to share. I will update again next week! Stay tuned.