The First Two Weeks

Greetings from Vanuadina Village! I have been living in Fiji for two weeks now but I feel like I’ve already been here for months. My group of 35 trainees arrived in Nadi and immediately went to our welcome ceremony, which involved the whole Peace Corps Fiji staff around the kava bowl. After a quick two-day orientation in Nadi, we finally got to head to our host villages! These are the villages we will be living in with a host family for the next 8 weeks. All 35 of us were split into six villages, and I was placed in Vanuadina with 5 other trainees. The village is about 30 minutes outside of the town of Nasouri.  

Welcome Ceremony in Nadi... around the Kava Bowl

Fiji Selfies

Some of my fellow Peace Corps Trainees and I along the Coral Coast

My host family is totally amazing; they are overwhelmingly warm and welcoming. I live in a two story, lime green, concrete house with anywhere from 13-18 other people, three dogs, two cats, and five puppies. It’s been so much fun having so many people around all the time. My very first weekend here it was my little cousin’s 2nd birthday party. It reminded me so much of birthdays at home; we sang ‘Happy Birthday’ at least three times, had a ton of food and cake, and spent the day with family.

My Host Parents!  I'm holding a chicken wrapped in leaves from the banana trees, that's how they cook all the meat in the Lovo (earth oven)

 
Everyone in Fiji is unbelievably welcoming. One of the main ways Fijians know how to welcome someone s by feeding them. The amount of food that is served at one event is truly shocking; sometimes my family will put a plate of 15 scones in front of me and expect me to eat them all. I am constantly being offered food, when I walk through the village to go to school every morning at least three people will yell “Ilisabeci mai gunu ti” which means “Elizabeth, come have tea!”… it’s one of the perks of living in a small village. Another good (and sometimes bad) part of living in a small village is that word travels really fast. We call it the ‘Coconut Wireless’ and it’s faster than any Wi-Fi you could imagine. If I tell one of the kids in the village that I’m going to the community hall, within minutes all the other volunteers will know and will come meet me.

One of my fellow PCT's in Vanuadina (Carissa)

.... Had To....

All in all, everything is going great so far. I love my host village and training has been hectic but it’s been really helpful for learning to speak Fijian and Hindi. In a couple weeks we will go stay with a current Peace Corps Volunteer in Fiji for a few days and I’m looking forward to that. In terms of next steps, I will be living in Vanuadina for 6 more weeks and then I find out my permanent site placement on Halloween!