Bula!
Hello!
Na yacaqu 'o Melissa.
My name is Melissa.
(Yacaqu pronounced - yathangu)
I no longer am known as Missy. Although even Melissa isn't completely accurate for what Fijians call me.. it is more like Melisha. Words that end in 'y' do not exist in Fijian. Words end in 'a, e, i, o or u'. It is a very vowel heavy language, which makes it kind of fun to speak!
Obviously a lot has happened over the last month so I am just going to try and highlight a few main things.
Family is much more complex here in Fiji. In all reality, most of the village (and sorrounding villages...pretty much all of Fiji) is related. There are many taboos and rules that the Fijian culture abides by within family relationships, roles and dynamics. I still don't understand many of them clearly. Not to mention Fiji is in a time where many more traditional aspects are clashing with more Western and modernized aspects..a very difficult balance to make.
My host family is mainly just my host Na (mom), Matilita. She is 63 years old and a widow. At night time, it is just her and I that sleep in our house.
However, her niece (Vere, 8 yrs old) and nephew ( Epa, 10 yrs old) are frequently around. She cooks, cleans and takes care of them as their mother left their dad (Matilita's brother, Moni) and them about 4 years ago.
In addition to my momo (uncle) Moni, Momo Simi and Momo Epa and their wives live in houses next to mine. Everyone takes good care of me. Too good at times. The village is about 60 houses big and It is rare that my family lets me go somewhere alone. They send someone with me anywhere I go. I truly am taken in as a part of their family and they take that very seriously. They want me to be the best at speaking Fijian and the best at eating and the best at drinking kava, etc.
I have more aunts and more uncles who live in nearby villages and in the city, Suva but they just randomly pop in and out to visit.
Food:
The food has been fine. The root crops (dalo, cassava, white yams) are really dense and have little nutritional value but I don't mind the taste. I just dip them in whatever else I have or use them as a buffer if there is something I am served that I am not a big fan of.
My host mom worked in a hotel in the city for 35 years so she knows what is new food to me and what I may like based off her experiences with Americans (although sometimes an inaccurate assumption ie. cereal..not a big fan). She gets me lots of fruit, local (pineapple, papaya, mango, banana) and otherwise (pears mmm). And lots of veggies as well (beans, peas, carrots, dalo leaves, cabbage, bok choy). Potatoes and onions are in a lot of dishes she makes for me and I am a big fan of those! Most things are fried, boiled or soaked in (freshly made) coconut milk.Sometimes fish is served all three ways in one meal Special meals are cooked in the 'lovo' which pretty much means they are cooked in the ground. I haven't actually seen this happen even though I hate ate the food from it so more to come on that front.
Butter, mayonnaise, tomato sauce, salt and sugar are a few of Fijian's favorite condiments are that way overused...like way.
Language:
Well...I can sum this up by saying I have a lot of work to do. Fijian isn't too difficult but it is more of a confidence thing for me. I know lots of verbs and adjectives and nouns but don't always know how to throw a sentence together. The good thing is that I understand the pronunciation well and can read it properly..even if I don't know what it is I am reading.
My host family and most people in the village speak English, although some better than others.
Health:
I would say that of the 35 volunteers in my group all of us have been sick with something or another in the last month. Many people have had stomach issues, moquitoe bites, centipede bites, mold and outdoor allergies, strep, colds and bed bugs.
I was bothered by some allergies the first week but have been more or less okay with them since. I have however been blessed with strep (throat) twice...currently suffering from the 2nd time at the moment. It has been 7 days and I haven't had any improvements but they did switch my antibiotic today so hopefully I see improvement tomorrow. They wanted me to go into the city and stay at the hospital or a hotel to rest and be watched over but I asked if we could try just switching my meds first. We only have 3 weeks left with our families and 4 weeks left with all of the other volunteers (before site placement) so I hate to go twiddle my thumbs in the city just for strep.
Other tidbits:
Rats...seen a few...in my house..and my room. I was trying to mind over matter them but then I saw one come in through the slatted window, scale the curtain down to the floor and scurry off. ..Yeah.
Lots of lizards that sound like rats but they are ultimately nice because they eat the other weird bugs and mosquitoes and whatnot.
I have been to church more times in the last month than in the last 8 years of my life combined. The church in my village is Methodist. Sunday masses are around 2 hrs long and 98% in Fijian. There are also masses for funerals, weddings, holidays, new guests, youth week, womens week, childrens week, holidays.....
I have also been attending the church youth group. It is a a bit uncomfortable because I am not religious and it has been a long time since I have discussed the bible and sung church songs but it isn't so bad. I enjoy the small group conversation it allows in youth group. And in mass in all Fijian let's be honest I probably wouldn't understand if it was in english anyways.
Last week in church my family had to get up and sing...they neglected to tell me I was going to be joining them. So I sang my screechy voice in front of the whole congregation with 3 other people and all in Fijian. It was...an experience.
I have tried to add a bunch of pictures but cannot edit them until I get on my computer at some point (currently using purchased data on my phone).
