Fiji Day 4

Day 4

Abigail

We woke up to many different sounds and aromas this morning. Some woke up to the sound of roosters cock-a-doodle-dooing much earlier than sunrise. Others woke up to the smell of delicious curry and Nene (mom’s) sweet singing in the kitchen. And the rest woke up to the beeping sound of alarms. The ones who woke up along with their family helped with preparing breakfast by putting and stirring potatoes in a pot or even swepted and cleaned up around the house. We’re all mostly used to sitting at a table to eat breakfast but here each family sits on the floor of the house and eats breakfast together. During breakfast many of us were asked to pray which is something that families do before every meal. Different families ate different things but some delicious common breakfast food items we had were curry with roti, PB&J, biscuits, banana buns, and eggs. A common drink we had was tea which was actually some of the best tea I ever had. It was SO amazing. I think we could all agree that Lemongrass tea from the leaves outside is the best flavor of tea we had. While eating breakfast each of us bonded with our family members through genuine conversations and connections. Even though many of us often mess up phrases, all of our families are so sweet and it makes the environment light-hearted and welcoming. A common phrase that we said was “Savu Se Vinaka” which means I’m full thank you! It takes a few times of “Savu Se Vinaka” for them to not offer you anymore food because they want to make sure you are not hungry and don’t need more food. It has only been one breakfast but we are so excited to continue to understand, immerse and connect with our families each and every day.

We worked at the 7^th Day Adventist Church site of the village to clear and fill the foundation of the church. Coming from the rainy days in Seattle the high humidity and heat of the environment was something that took time to get used to but also taught us a lot. It was our first time doing service and work in the Fijian sun and although many of us weren’t as prepared as we should’ve been, this experience taught us what we need for the future. You will be sweating so much so you need to bring more water than you think you need. Wearing lightweight and athletic clothes will prevent your clothes from staying wet from sweat and sticking to your back the whole time. You should bring sunscreen so when you sweat it all off you will still stay protected from the sun. But most importantly, even through the heat and sweat we learned to have fun, laugh, and dance with one another and the people of the village! We rotated using machettis and rakes to clean up the shrubs/weeds growing and shoveling soil and bringing it to build the foundation. The shoveling especially took more strength and by the end we could all feel our shoulder muscles getting bigger and stronger.

              Don’t forget this trip is also a class! We had an hour and half of class time today as we dugged deeper into climate change and it’s impacts on the environment specifically discussing on it’s impact on Fiji. Since it was our first class day we had more of an overview of our class and what we will be covering in class for the rest of the trip. Here, most activities are done sitting on the floor so as we had class we were also circled around on the floor of the community hall as well. I would say that we were locked in for class but a common thought was going to visit the local school. We were all so excited to meet and play with the kids at the school and even more so as we were greeted at the school with bright smiles and excitement. As we sat down and introduced ourselves, girls from the school placed flowers connected by leaves around our neck as we went through a small ceremony of songs to greet us. From hearing traditional Fijian songs to hearing Country Roads and APT, it was such a wonderful experience that almost brought a student to tears. “Dude I almost started crying when they sang Country Roads because it was so sweet”. I’m sure many of us felt very similar because all the students were so eager and waved to all of us. We also performed the dance that we had learned during pre-trip and many of the students knew the song and went up to dance along with us as well! A lot of students laughed and it was such a warm and memorable experience for all of us. We then played with the kids in a variety of activities. Each person was swarmed by a bunch of students that were so curious and sweet, delivering fresh coconuts to drink from and asking so many questions. We did a variety of activities with the kids around us like playing volleyball, learning rugby, duck duck goose, and just talking with them. “The students were bursting with energy and consistently wanted to run around, play, and get to know you” – Chloe. We’re so excited to continue to visit the students at the school and even though it’s only the second official day here, the memories and bonds that we’ve made will continue to grow and last a lifetime. We have been so incredibly lucky to be able to be part of such a vibrant culture and village with the some of the sweetest, funniest, and most caring people we’ve ever met.