Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Life in Vunivaivai
Well, we are officially villagers in the 'koro' of Vunivaivai. We are staying with our host family who has adopted us already as their own. We have a host grandma we call Bu Lo (bu is grandma in fijian and Lo is her name) and she has 7 grandchildren that live in our house with us and a smaller house next door. They range in ages 5 - 22. Ranuku, the youngest, is our best friend! He follows us everywhere and pretty much everyday Ranuku and Drew play touch rugby with all the boys. All the other children help out with cooking, cleaning up, and helping teach us fijian.
Our room is quaint, but we have electricty and cold running water. Brrrr, fijian morning showers are the worst. Fortunately Bu Lo is a fantastic cook, as she was a professional cook in a boarding school for 10 years. We spend most evenings with the family talking or playing cards- we just taught everybody "go fish" and they loved it!
During the day we go to language lessons in the village for 4 hours in the morning. After that we have community time which we learn cultural crafts and activities. Late afternoon we usually exercise with the rest of the kids and villagers. Melissa has been teaching yoga to the chief's wife and 6 daughters, when Drew has to teach 8th grade at the local school.
Today we learned how to make brooms out of palm leaves by braiding them between your toes :) We are really enjoying the village life so far. There is only about 200 people in our little village and they are all so welcoming. The first day we walked into our house they draped us with flowered lai's with long pieces of fabric tied on like capes. That night we had to eat dinner with the chief of the village, and drew had to spend the evening drinking kava with him.
We are so glad to hear about Dad Loganbill's news of being cancer-free! Good luck with everything and we love you all so much!
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Message from Drew and Liss--June 17th
Hi guys!
We just wanted to update you really quick on our current experience. We were supposed to move into our host family yesterday, but thursday evening liss got kicked in the head by a fellow trainee during a ultimate frisbee game. She had a concussion and even though she was fine the Peace Corp medical officer advised that all necessary precautions be taken. She had a catscan and everything looked good and they made us spend the night in the private hospital to monitor her over night. They also booked us a hotel in the city for the weekend just to relax before having to have to much excitement in the new adjustment with the family.
Everything is fine now, really it wasn't necessary for the whole ordeal, but always better safe than sorry. We are enjoying our city time with hot showers, tv, and a refrigerator :) (ahh cold drinks). We even got to see game four NBA in our room!
We are off to a movie now, but we were hoping somebody might be able to post a couple fo pics that we tried to send on our blog for us. We don't have enough time to download all of the software.
Pics are of our lovo night, our bure, our view from our bure, and the rest are from Colo i suva the rainforest reserve.
We love you so much and we will write again soon.
Love,
Drew and Liss
Our Bure
Originally uploaded by Susan & Tom.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Bula Vinaka!
How is everyone doing? We are just finishing up our 2 week stay at Nadave. We have been staying at an all boys technology training academy and we have had classes all day everyday with a few fun things in between. It's beautiful here! Our bure (hut) looks over a river and we can see a few islands in the distance. It's been pretty rainy, but the last few days the sun has poked through a for part of the days. We have been learning the Fijian language which has been interesting learning from our native teachers Vili, Filipe, Kini, Moce, Elenoa, and Joe. The food has been a difficult adjustment for Liss, the strange cut of meats like spinal cord are too much for her weak stomach. Drew on the other hand has no problem taking anything down. There's a lot of mystery meat and extremely dense root crops that make you feel like you've just downed a bag of flour. We did have a traditional Lovo night which is where they cook many meats and veggies underground. Then the whole meal is set out on long runners on the floor and everyone eats buffet style with their hands. That feast was delicious, especially a seviche like dish called Kokoda which was raw fish in coconut milk. We ended the night with a sevusevu where everyone partakes in the Yaqona (kava). It really does taste like muddy water and makes you feel like you've been at the dentist all day.
Last weekend we went to a rain forest reserve park and went hiking and swimming all over beautiful waterfalls and trails. Now we are in Suva, the biggest city in all of Fiji where over half of the population resides. It's your typical big city with big buildings, malls, McDonald's, KFC, and robbers. Starting Friday we will be at our host family's house for the next 7 weeks. We don't know what village it is in yet, or where our permanent site will be yet.
The culture so far has been very friendly and welcoming. Walking down the street people yell from their houses "bula vinaka"! The scenery has been just gorgeous lush and green like we hoped. We are looking forward to December when the mango season starts!
We hope everyone is well, and enjoying the summertime.
Take care and Moce mada for now!
Friday, June 03, 2005
Departure
We are now just sitting in the airport enjoying our last meal. It's been such a hectic time of mixed emotions and intense training here in Los Angeles. The last few days we have had several hours of training from returned Peace Corps Volunteers learning what it means to be an American and what the Organization encompasses. They focused on our American perspective and how to remove those lenses when we arrive into the Fijian culture.
We will arrive in Suva on Saturday morning and then we will be off to stay with our host families for several weeks. On August 12, we will officially be sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers and then taken to our permanent sites for the next two years.
It's crazy to think that in just 12 more hours we will be in a new world! Everyone in the group is amazing. There are 34 volunteers in our group from all over the country and of all ages (mostly in their 20's). We are very excited to start this adventure and we will update as often as possible.
Take Care and Stay happy and healthy!
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