JUNE UPDATE:
Hello All,
Just a very quick update. Our house got broken into while I was in the jungle so we have no laptops. Therefore, I will not be able to write a long update until HELP sends another one. I just wanted everyone to know I am alive and doing well. I can't wait to update you all on the projects we did in the jungle!
Things to be excited to read about:
--building stairs for a women with palsy
--building two kitchens
--knocking down a house
--staying with a branch president and his family
--living in a hut
-- tavueni
--house broken into
--water slides
--water fall
--skydiving
--square foot gardening
--teaching health
and much moreeeeee!
please email me about your lives! I miss you all.
Moce,
Victoria
A Few Interesting Facts about FIJI:
-Lots and lots of frogs
-Lots of dead frogs all over the roads
-Geckos are smaller here than africa
-Tavua (where we live) is the HOTTEST place on the island. (thanks,
country directors for picking this spot to live.)
-Suva ( where we are now) is cooler and rains more.
-the ocean is warm and really fun to swim in
-People live in villages and in town
-there are a lot of indians who live here
-Fijians like indian food too
-2 McDonalds on the island (hours a way)
- There are a lot of dogs here
-roads in town are paved and there are sidewalks
-Fijian people are very generous and kind
-Fijians only celebrate birthdays when you turn: 1, 16, 21. We went to
a birthday party for a one year old and it was a HUGE party. Thats the
one where they made me dance in the center in front of everyone.
-If the chief of the village dies, you have to wear black for a year
and you are not supposed to dance for year
-You cannot enter a village unless you are with a member of the
village or you have been formally introduced to the chief (savu savu
ceromonies)
thats all for now!
Keep me posted on your lives as well!
Vineka vaka levua,
Tori
UPDATE FROM JUNE:
Bula Vinaka,
Well, I hope you enjoyed the updates about Savu Savu. I just realized that was about a month ago? Weird. Time is flying by here. It is unbelievable. After SavuSavu I headed to Tavueni and stayed at a breathtakingly beautiful little place looking out right to the ocean. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. This is coming from someone who is scared of the ocean/deep water, doesn’t love the beach vacations, and ideal honeymoon is in Alaska at 60 degrees. There was no need to snorkel because you could literally see the bottom of the ocean for miles. In fact I walked into the water so Natalie could take a picture and a huge black and yellow snake swam by my leg. AHHHHHHHHHHH. Don’t worry though, the locals told me those snakes are only poisonous on land…!?!?!? Sure. Anyways, the actual place we stayed at (Nat and I) was awesome because it cost us $15 American dollars a night!!!!!!!!! We looked it up in the travel book after we got back to Tavua and it said that it goes for $ 230 a night! SAWEEEEEET. I guess we got it that cheap because we were walk-ins randomly and they didn’t have anyone staying there. It probably helped that we told the owner that we were volunteers and she could obviously see we were cheap backpackers. She rocked. Anyways, I ate a lot at the local pizza place, read a couple books, got some color on my white bod, and actually wrote in my journal a lot reflecting upon my past week in Savu Savu. OH! We also hiked to these two waterfalls…Long hike, swim in freezing water, and literal ROCK CLIMBING up this water fall (scared to death, scared to death, scared to death) and then jumping off the water fall. (even more scared…yeah 10ft high, still petrified!) Anyways, I jumped off that slick, scary waterfall and thought I was going to drown, but then was peer pressured into climbing it again…dumb! However, instead of jumping off the waterfall a Fijian man told us just to ride the waterfall into the water…uh, what?!? So, we did that. It hurt my bum a bit, but it wasn’t as scary as jumping in. We then headed to the largest waterfall in Fiji and the next day went to the natural water slides. This was literally a natural waterslide. The water had made all the rocks so smooth it felt like a waterslide at an amusement park or something. Those weren’t scary at all, just incredibly fun. That was my favorite part of the vacation. We then headed to the International Date Line and so I guess technically I have been in two days at once or something remarkable….Great weekend vacation!
Well, back in tavua things have been very busy. We opened our projects up to a couple more villages so our team was trying to keep new names like Nadolodolo and Nomosa straight and not confuse it with Nabuna, Ruku Ruku, Tavua Levu, Yaladro, Korovo. Things became pretty hectic as many of the first wavers left to go home to America, project leads switched, and we prepped for second wave. In between all that confusion I randomly decided to catapult myself from an airplane at 12,000ft. Skydive in Fiji? Check. It’s true, bungee jumping is worse. Though I never have to skydive again, it was incredible and I am so glad that I did it! UHMAZING. Don’t worry, I have the most embarrassing dvd/pictures to prove it. Anyways, here is a rundown of a work week for me. Some things are set weekly, some come and go, some I choose to go to or not..keeping busy!:
Monday:
o 8am health meeting with Korovo Rugby team
o build a stove at 9 or 10 or prep for another lesson
o Lunch
o business lesson at Ruku Ruku
o Check on stoves or gardens..teach lessons accordingly
o health lesson at 5pm with Korovo kids.
o Home for schools/tutoring weekly meeting and gardening meeting.
o Dinner.
o Chores.
--A lot of time on Monday nights seem to go to reorganizing week and lately writing project proposals or re-writing proposals that were lost on the stolen laptop.
Tuesday:
o STOVE. Check gardens/stove or go to village health lesson
o Nasomo village (3 hours)
o Lunch
o Dramasi (womens group-3-4 hours) teaching health/business/gardening
o sometimes business lesson to women in tavua
o Ruku Ruku tutoring at 4pm
o dinner
o team project proposal meeting
o lesson prep
Wednesday:
o Nasomo if I am not in charge of a stove (9am-12pm)
o Lunch
o Stoves/ Women’s group/ Emergency prep/ youth group issues/concerns/ lesson prep usually fill this time
o tutor at the library or go to RukuRuku rugby team to teach health lesson
o Volunteer with Mare (Peer educator at hospital) or prepare health lessons for youth
o Dinner
o Yaladro team meeting
o Lesson prep
Thursday:
o Yaladro lesson prep or STOVE
o Yaladro peer tutoring program
o Lunch
o Business lesson to youth in Ba (all afternoon)
o Dinner
o Team meeting
o Complete lesson for yaladro
o Prepare for Tavua Levu health lesson and business lesson
Friday:
o Yaladro lesson 9am-11am
o Yaladro school tutoring 11:20-12pm
o Lunch
o Finish lessons for Tavua levu
o Health lesson at Tavua Levu 2pm
o Business lesson at Tavua levua 3pm
o Check stoves/ gardening Tavua
So. Each day I get up at 7am or 8am depending on when or where I have to be that morning. I never get up later than 8am. (Who is shocked?) I feel like my days are pretty busy and if I am not at a lesson or project I am home working on lesson plans or how to better the curriculums. David and Ashley asked me to be in charge of making sure the curriculums are appropriate and that lessons are helpful and challenging. I am also the only lead for Women’s groups/Yaladro, still the Emergency Prep lead with Nat, and now the new stove lead…. I am also trying to develop a new project with some youth groups, but time wise it is getting a little tricky because stoves sometimes seem to take the whole day…like today. L Overall though I feel that my life here in fiji is going wonderfully and I am doing what I want to do with my life. I’m not sure how fair that is or how often that happens to people, but I know I am very grateful for this short, precious time to be in a new place and spend my whole days figuring out lessons that will be interesting and some how help uplift the people and help them better their lives. It has also been great to live in another small house with a random group of people and see what happens. J
Experiences like this just reaffirm that small things don’t matter, serving others is crucial, and caring about someone else’s happiness can bring you the joy you have been searching for....and this applies to the team mates I am around 24/7 and the Fijian people that I get out of bed for each morning.
What else was I going to say?
Fact:
I am the tannest I have ever been in my life…though that isn’t saying much.
False:
Winter in Fiji is cool (temperature wise)
Fact:
There is a huge Indian population with a huge culture of Indian things.. .ex: food.
Fact:
Development work is NOT easier in Fiji than other third world countries.
False:
I am on vacation…(as Josh would refer to my summer’s work).
Fact:
The letter “C” in Fijian is pronounced like the “th” almost D sound in English.
Example: Bye=Moce=Mo-they
Fact:
There is an invisible “N” sound before any letter D. And an invisible “M” sound before an letter B.
Example: Nadi (town where the airport is) is pronounced Nandi
Example: Nabuna (village we work at) is pronounced Nambuna
Example: Yaladro (settlement I am project lead for) is pronounced Yowelandro
Okay! Hope you get a feel for my life here! I really miss you all!
Natalie and I are going to New Zealand for a couple days starting July 3rd. Anyone want to meet us there???
Also, I head to Suva this weekend to do a follow up on all the food dryers that Dr. Frost Steele constructed last year.
I really would love to get emails about your lives!
Moce!
Loloma, (love)
Victoria
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