I haven't done this yet, so let me get it out of the way now: This blog does not reflect the opinions of the U.S. Peace Corps or the U.S. Government. The opinions in this blog solely belong to John and/or Leslie.

Ok, I'm glad that's out of the way. Leslie and I are settling into a routine here in Fiji. Leslie's Hindi skills have improved quite a bit in the past week, and I am feeling more and more comfortable with Fijian. We are staying in a settlement, which is basically like a small town. Leslie stays in the settlement to learn Hindi, and I walk to a nearby village every day for Fijian lessons. On the weekends, we try to divide our time equally between the Fijian village and the Indo-Fijian settlement. People are very welcoming and hospitable in both communities, though there are noticeable differences between the two cultures.

The Fijian village is highly communal. The houses are close together, and everyone knows everyone else's business. There is a chief to every village, whose position is entirely hereditary, as well as a Turaga ni koro (man of the village) who is elected. All Fijians are Christian. The denomination varies depending on where you go, and many villages have a few different churches. The most popular denomination in Fiji is the Methodist church. Church services last about 2.5 hours. They are full of firery sermons and singing. Fijians are able to harmonize beautifully. A lot of the volunteers are having issues with the lack of privacy in the village. While the Fijians are extremely friendly and hospitable, they don't really understand the concept of "alone time".

The Indo-Fijian settlement is a little more spread out. There are a few shops and, in general, the houses have more ammenities than those in the villages. There is a lot more privacy and religious freedom in the settlement. I think most Indo-Fijians are Hindu, though many have converted to Christianity, and our host mom is Sai. I don't know much about the Sai religion yet, but I do know that they try to unite all major monotheistic religions, emphasizing their similarities rather than their differences. We went to a Sai center last Sunday. It basically involved meditation and a brief introduction to the religion and to its founder, Sai Baba.

Both the Fijians and the Indo-Fijians live drinking Kava (aka Yaqona or Grog). For the Fijians, drinking yaqona is highly ritualized- you have to clap (Cobo) before drinking your shell (bilo) of Kava. The Kava is made in a large wooden bowl called the tanoa. In the settlement, yaqona drinking is much more casual. People will often drink out of ceramic cups while watching T.V.
Leslie still doesn't like the taste of Kava, but I love it. If you drink a lot- about 12 bilos- you definitely feel it. I've heard that it is much stronger in Vanuatu. It never leads to violence like alcohol sometimes does.

Yesterday, we went to the beach for water safety training. Basically we put on life jackets and jumped off a boat to make sure we could float in the water. It was a bit silly, but it was nice getting to go the the ocean. Now we can go to the beach as long as we can convince someone from the settlement or village to accompany us.

The environmental volunteers recently had a talk with Randy Thaman, a professor from University of the South Pacific (USP). He obviously had a lot of passion about conservation in the Pacific, and was a great speaker. The business volunteers recently visited an ecotourism and culture-revitalization project in a neighboring village, as well as the UNDP office in Suva.

In case anyone was thinking of asking, we still don't know where we will be stationed. It could be anywhere in Fiji. We will know on July 4. Sorry for not posting any photographs. The internet connection at every cafe we have visited so far has been extremely slow. We will have to wait until we go to the Peace Corps headquarters in Suva.

Sota Tale!

Jone' ( pronounced Chonay)