Living the life of a Peace Corps volunteer

Okay, so I have decided to make a list of blog worthy topics to talk about each week. So here is my list! SO please are starting to come over to my house more and talk to me and they want to know more about me. They asks to see pictures of my family all the time. I have them all taped up by my bed but so many people ask all the time I just keep them on my table so I don't have to get them down everytime. Well, most people say obviously I look just like my mom and that my brother are clean looking and tall and my dad has beautiful blue eyes. But one comment I thought people might like is that they think jason looks like Prince William!!! Ha Ha Ha! I love it! Hence Prince William might be the only white guy they have seen in pictures, but I thought that was interesting.

Next topic I was in the market the other day and this guy started talking about a green card to stay in America and was asking me how I can stay here in Fiji for 2 years. SO i told him about the Peace Corps and so on and then he went on telling me about this card a friend from New Jersey gave him called Starbucks. And with his acsent I couldn't understand him but he showed me the card and it was a gift card for Starbuck's coffee and he thought it was a card like a green card. At first I didn't have the heart to explain to him that he could get some really good coffee for free and not a member of the U.S. But i had to tell him the truth cause he kept asking me about the card so i broke it down for him I can just see his heart breaking. But at least now he knows.

Okay so the last week in the village I have attended 6 church services in 7 days. Rough and if anyone knows me well completely out of my normal life. But I wanted to meet more people and wanted people to know that I was there and why I was there. So every service I got up and made a speech in Fijian introducing myself and why and how long I will be living in Waikubukubu village. SO there are three denominations in my tiny village. 7th day advendists, Asembly of God, and Methodist.

Last Monday morning there was a community walk to the village dam to clean it. THe dam is where the village gets their source of running water but they have to clean the dam every three months. So I wanted to go to see how it works. Well as usual no one showed up but two people the village chairman ( extremely funny man), me and my counterpart Kelera who is like my best friend here and I call her my bodyguard) because she doesn't let anyone mess with me at all. She was telling me one night that she didn't care is something ever happened to me in that village she didn't care is she went to jail I would be okay. So that makes me feel safe and she is no joke she would kill someone. Anyways, we hiked through the jungle and I mean the jungle we had knifes to cut the bush away to get to the dam and I went in feet first and on my knees scrubbing the dam. It was so hot and it's very hard. Next time I am going to show them how to make a filter with mesh and wood to help clean it faster just like the strainer one would use to clean out a swimming pool. Being a lifeguard as paid off.

Then this past Sunday I went to Methodist church service like 8,000 miles away. not really but we walked to whole way and it felt like 8,000 miles. We started at 8 in the morning and got there at 10:30am and took us all day to get back from 2pm to 6 because it was so hot. I thought I was going to die because it's up and down and no flat land all in flipflops and a long skirt. but I kept thinking it was good exercise and I got a pretty nice tan.

So before I arrived in my house in the village the village committee (5 old guys) decided certain rules that people could not break regarding me in the village. One rule is that people had to be off my compound at 8 pm. At first that was fine with me but I didn't know that from 7-8pm is prayer time and no one could come over til 8:15 so I asked to move it back til 10pm cause that gives me time to cook dinner and read and go to bed about 11pm everynight. Well the first couple of nights people just come over and I didn't want to be like leave. So kelera and I have to apoligize to the committee for breaking the rule that I had no say in. It was so funny to me that I have been living on my own for 5 years now and I have to say sorry to 5 old guys from Fiji about people being at my house til 10:30 at night. It's not like we are drinking and having a party because the youth that do come over and visit are all 7th day and AOG and don't drink alcohol, no smoking, grog, tea, coke, coffee and aren't allowed to dance. Which is very interesting to me. And I ask them all the time about it. I can't stand that they can't dance. They say it is in the bible, but I keep asking them to point it out where in the Bible does it say that but they never do. So tonight they said they will bring their Fijian bible and I have an English bible and they will show. Not my bible by the way it was forced to me to bring to church everytime because people feel bad for me.

Next there is this dog that walks around and he is awful looking so I feed him my scrapes. I asked Kelera why half of his tail is cut off and she said that because the village people think if a dog is skinny they cut off his tail and he will get fat. NOT TRUE!! So this poor dog walks around with half his tail and always gives me this terrible look and I feel so bad for him. SO every dog I see that is too skinny I feed them food so his tail won't be chopped off cause I do not want to be around when that happens.

Oh yeah, the old men in the village built my fence to my bathroom and shower it looks great and I feel much better now going to the bathroom at night.

When we were walking to the Methodist church on Sunday there are all these Indian women walking through the sugarcane. They see the two Fijian women in front of me and then the see little ol me and they say "who is this child who's girl is this and like pinch my arms and what to dress me up in their fancy Indian clothes, but Kelera everytime is like no she is with us and they leave me alone. It is so funny i feel like people are fighting over me.

So, I have been pretty much really happy with my stomach lately and using the bathroom, but I do have a lil friend in the bathroom everytime. the biggest spider I have ever seen in real life! Is body alone is about the size of my palm. Yeah! So i took my lil toilet scruber and and always hit around the toilet everytime I use it because I am afraid this spider is going to take a huge bite out of my butt. So, now when going to the bathroom I have no fear of people scarring but now a spider. Whom I wish to call Sam the Spider. Please know when I reference the name Sam i am talking about the spider who lives in my toilet.

There is this lil boy in my village his name is Tomasi. He has been out of school now for 3 weeks because he got a cut on his toe and it has been really infected. So he can't pass on to the next grade because he as not been able to take his exams because of no school for 3 weeks and everyone feels bad for him. I asked to go see him and and look at his foot. Well, one it is so infected because they put mashed up green leaves in the wound then wrap it with gauze. So i was trying to suggest that maybe they could clean the wound out with clean water and damp it dry and apply this ointment I gave them and wrap it with clean gauze everyday. So that tells me I need to get a hold of the Red Cross in Fiji and have them do a workshop on first aid.

Next how the 7th day guys are tryin to convert me to be a 7th day Adventists. Not going to happen. They don't drink beer, grog, tea, coffee, coke, the girls don't wear makeup lipstick or earrings. Hell no! But everynight they keep trying and I basically gave it to them straight. I am not here for religion and I have nothing to do with religion here in Fiji I am not a missionary. We have these little arguments all the time about what they believe is in the Bible. And how should lead my life. aw but I think I am starting to get through to them that I have moral and values and that I don't need to follow the Bible on how they think i should be in my life. The whole thing of no separation between church and state here in Fiji. It is a bit hard to deal with on a day to day basis. We pray all the time before eating even a small snack before a soccer game before a meeting a workshop and so on. At least 15 minutes for each prayer.

So, lately the youth have been coming over to my house to talk about this program from the Ministry of youth and sports that helps youth between the ages of 15- 35 who are unemployed which is pretty common here for the economy doesn't allow descent paying jobs are no jobs at all. They are all so excited about this program. It starts up again next year and all they have to do is register in Lautoka but the problem is most of the boys don't have the bus fair to get to Lautoka which is like 6 dollars. So I am going to have to figure out a way to fundraise to money for these boys to get there and register for this program. The program accepts usually about 2,000 youth a year so it is really important to get them in. They lead a rough life. They all wake up at 4 in the morning for devotion and then run for rugby from 5-6am then cut sugarcane from 6:30 am to 5:00 at night then play rugby from 5-6:30pm go home eat dinner devotion at 7-8 then free time before bed. so they want a new life and this program is free and provides training and a job at the end. They have 2 weeks of life skills training and then 4 weeks of specific job training then they can decide if they what the 3 month work attachment training or go into another program that helps them with micro finance and generate their own money. When I was telling them about it I can just see their facing lighting up cause they saw an opportunity to get out of this hard life that they are living in. And also I am tryin to get a HIV/AIDS workshop cause they don't have any idea what kind of risks are out there is Fiji cause HIV/AIDs is high in Fiji considering their size. But they want to get their "rugby" field fixed which right now it is a cow pasture with tons of holes to twist and turn your ankle. So they can get some money to did that since they are considering a rural village they can apply for money from the government they just need that person (me) to link them up to the ministry. So that has been good for me and makes me feel like I am doing something.

the peace corps is making into quite the cook! I made (from scratch)pancakes and syrup. The syrup was so good the pancakes took me a while but they ended up being delicious! I am taking baby steps with cooking my next step is baking a cake with icing without electricity and a oven. Impressive I think so.

And the latest news and the greatest news I have been recruited to the Tavua women's soccer team. I ran into Christy (Fre-3) and the team Friday night while going to a variety show at tavua college. I guess they had already registered me to play in their tournament this weekend in Nadi and asked me right there to play and I didn't have anything with me. The coach is so cool he had a jersey cleats and shinguards and they hired a bus to take to the game. So they picked me up in Ba at 8am and I was all the sudden on my way to Nadi for a soccer tournament I was so excited to play in a real game. The girls are so cool to. I feel like I am in college again playing but I am actually playin this time. They think that i am so good because I played in colleg e in the states. the coach asked me to play central mid which interesting because I am used of playing defense but i did okay considering. We played two 60 minute games in the hot fijian sun and by the end of the day i was so brown. They were like are you okay. I was getting knocked around everywhere cause I am not used of being a whoppin 110 pounds so when I went into a tackle i was getting rocked. So i learned quickly to back off. but I am the only foriegner in the whole league and people from all over fiji are trying to get on this team because they won the championship the last couple of years. I love playing for them I almost scored 3 goals for me i thought that was good. I just need to get more touches on the ball cause my touch is a bit rusty. It is so funny cause when we walk up and the other team and the crowd sees an American playing on the team they start talking and yelling at me. It is much different in to States. They laugh at you if you mess up and yell at you which is really annoying. So i am going to have to get used of that. But I will be practicing with them next week and getting to know that girls better. IT's nice to meet some girls my age cause in my village there are not many girls. SO that's nice. Everything is in Fijian though like when the coach talks and the girls play on the field they tell me what to do in Fijian which I can understand on the field because I know like directional words like go back, go, left, right, return, stop and stuff like that but when the coach talks during half time I have no clue. I feel like that part in Love an d Basketball where the girl goes and plays basketball over seas and the coach talks in Spanish the whole time and she just asks the players afterwards what he said> I just sit there and pretend like I know what is going on then later ask a teammate what the hell he just said. And i know he is saying something about me cause I hear my name in between all the Fijian. So it is interesting because something that is so familiar to me like soccer is different because of the language and the culture and the freakin hot sun! but I love it because it feels like I am in Charlotte playing my the team at Queens. Makes me feel at home! WE have another tournament in Tavua next week so I am going to start training hard Monday. Yesterday we tied the first game and won the second if we win the tournament next weekend the team wins 2,000 dollars! This thursday i am goin to a rugby tournament in the village up passed mine way in the mountains and since I am the manager of the village's rugby team I get to meet the most famous Fiji 7's rugby player who will be the chief guess for that tournament! I am stoked! Anyways I miss everyone at home and I am always thinking about you all I finally uploaded all my swearing in pictures and final pics of my house with all my stuff in it! so take a look with captions! I hope you enjoy.