Thursday 30 September 2010
Fiji: Class 7 & 8 Learn About Earthquakes
Here's a little film from one of my more interesting lesson plans!
They had to do a big long comprehension on earthquakes from their textbook and I promised them we could make a little film if they all finished in time and worked well. Well, I hope you enjoy the result! :)
Fiji: A Weekend in Viro
Since there appears to be a tropical rainstorm going on outside.... I think I might sit in this cosy internet cafe for a little bit longer!
As a teacher I'm working from 7:30 - 4pm everyday and I get the weekends off. Here's a little bit about my weekend off in my village.
Saturday
A lie in! Eee! I slept in till 7:30 which is incredibly exciting since it seems near impossible to wake up any later here. There's cocks crowing, kids running about and the temperature starts to rise pretty quickly. Spend the morning with the family; playing with baby Katie (named after the previous volunteer), 4 year old Gauna (pronounced ng-ow-na) and the lovely 7 year old (and very grown up!) Perina. The headmaster has taken a boat to Suva, the capital of Fiji to go and buy food supplies and so it's just us girls at home. Go and visit Miss Evi, the teacher who lives next door to us to have tea and play with her baby, Mere who is 2 months old (can everyone say "awwww!").
It's fun to relax, chat and listen to the radio. In Fiji, everyone goes into everyone's houses and is very welcome. Whilst sitting in Miss Evi's house I meet a lot of the kids from school who are drifting in and out, grabbing a biscuit and playing with the baby before leaving. It's really lovely how all the doors are left open and the whole village feels like one big house. Food passes so freely between people and whilst I was sitting outside someone's house talking to them I was given a fish to take to for my dinner and another time I was given a papaya as I was walking down the road!
Afterwards, I go back into to school to continue making some phonics posters for classes 1 and 2 (-ay and -ack). It's much easier to do these after school or in the weekend since school days are busy and I can be working with the children instead. There's a computer and printer in the school that was a donation from Australia, however no one knows how to use it. I've been teaching my host mother, Atila, how to start up a computer, type documents and hopefully by the time I leave, she can be writing out letters for the school! After making my posters I give Atila a computer lesson for as long as baby Katie remains sleeping!
By this time it's late afternoon and one of the girls from class 8, Daiana invites me to go for a walk. Daina, Lose and Perina all come along with me and we walk up the mountain along the river. When we had no water I went to the river to bathe, but walking further up, the river gets deeper and clearer and it's like one great big freshwater swimming pool! So many beautiful swimming spots. All the girls jump in, but seeing as I'm in an ankle length skirt (a sulu) I think it's better I don't! As we walk back... we come to the original diving spot... and with a bit of coaxing "LADE LADE!" or "JUMP JUMP" from the girls... I think whatever! I'm not in Fiji to come and observe and jump right in :)
After this, they tell me tide is high on the beach and so we go swimming in the sea too. It's such a beautiful, amazing experience having all my kids from school splashing around me and seeing the village from the sea. Everyone just dives in to the water fully clothed since you dry out quickly enough and women are allowed to wear long shorts whilst swimming. The girls from my Guide group come around me in the sea and start singing a song I taught them and doing all the actions in the water! They also teach me to shout... "AU TALEI TIKO VITI!" or "I LOVE FIJI". Which is very, very true :)
Sunday
The morning starts with my family mkaing a lovo or earth oven. A big hole is dug in the ground and filled with stones. Then a fire is set and burns to make the rocks hot for a 2 or 3 hours. After this the ash is scraped off and parcels of food wrapped in banana leaves are placed on the stones to cook and covered with coconut leaves for another few hours. It fun to watch the lovo being made and fallen coconuts being scraped to put into the food.
At 9:30 I hop along to the village (which is just down the road) to go to church. I go to Miss Raijeli, the kindergarten teacher's house so that I can walk to church with her. We sit with the choir since she sings with them and the sermon begins. It's all in Fijian and so I can't really understand anything.... but the choir are amazing! Sitting with them is brilliant and they let me sing with them since I can read Fijian. Everyone harmonises beautifully and the sound is so strong. The ladies next to me seem very suprised I sing too, but keep saying "vinaka na sere" to me, which means "thank you for singing". After church finishes, I'm invited back to the afternoon service and to the join in the the choir competition they're having!
Back at home we get to eat the lovo which is delicious and sit outside! Have another computer lesson with Atila and plan my English lessons for the next week before going back to church in the afternoon. This time I turn up on my own and get invited to sit back with the choir again! The Sunday School, Youth Choir, Mother's Choir and Father's Choir all then compete in front of the pastor in a competition.... and I end up singing with every choir except the Father's Choir! I've officially joined the church choir in Viro Methodist Church now which is brilliant since it's my favourite part of church here.
The rain's stopped now so I might venture out to the post office. Au talei tiko Viti :)
Moce!
(Mo-thay meaning good bye)
As a teacher I'm working from 7:30 - 4pm everyday and I get the weekends off. Here's a little bit about my weekend off in my village.
Saturday
A lie in! Eee! I slept in till 7:30 which is incredibly exciting since it seems near impossible to wake up any later here. There's cocks crowing, kids running about and the temperature starts to rise pretty quickly. Spend the morning with the family; playing with baby Katie (named after the previous volunteer), 4 year old Gauna (pronounced ng-ow-na) and the lovely 7 year old (and very grown up!) Perina. The headmaster has taken a boat to Suva, the capital of Fiji to go and buy food supplies and so it's just us girls at home. Go and visit Miss Evi, the teacher who lives next door to us to have tea and play with her baby, Mere who is 2 months old (can everyone say "awwww!").
It's fun to relax, chat and listen to the radio. In Fiji, everyone goes into everyone's houses and is very welcome. Whilst sitting in Miss Evi's house I meet a lot of the kids from school who are drifting in and out, grabbing a biscuit and playing with the baby before leaving. It's really lovely how all the doors are left open and the whole village feels like one big house. Food passes so freely between people and whilst I was sitting outside someone's house talking to them I was given a fish to take to for my dinner and another time I was given a papaya as I was walking down the road!
Afterwards, I go back into to school to continue making some phonics posters for classes 1 and 2 (-ay and -ack). It's much easier to do these after school or in the weekend since school days are busy and I can be working with the children instead. There's a computer and printer in the school that was a donation from Australia, however no one knows how to use it. I've been teaching my host mother, Atila, how to start up a computer, type documents and hopefully by the time I leave, she can be writing out letters for the school! After making my posters I give Atila a computer lesson for as long as baby Katie remains sleeping!
By this time it's late afternoon and one of the girls from class 8, Daiana invites me to go for a walk. Daina, Lose and Perina all come along with me and we walk up the mountain along the river. When we had no water I went to the river to bathe, but walking further up, the river gets deeper and clearer and it's like one great big freshwater swimming pool! So many beautiful swimming spots. All the girls jump in, but seeing as I'm in an ankle length skirt (a sulu) I think it's better I don't! As we walk back... we come to the original diving spot... and with a bit of coaxing "LADE LADE!" or "JUMP JUMP" from the girls... I think whatever! I'm not in Fiji to come and observe and jump right in :)
After this, they tell me tide is high on the beach and so we go swimming in the sea too. It's such a beautiful, amazing experience having all my kids from school splashing around me and seeing the village from the sea. Everyone just dives in to the water fully clothed since you dry out quickly enough and women are allowed to wear long shorts whilst swimming. The girls from my Guide group come around me in the sea and start singing a song I taught them and doing all the actions in the water! They also teach me to shout... "AU TALEI TIKO VITI!" or "I LOVE FIJI". Which is very, very true :)
Sunday
The morning starts with my family mkaing a lovo or earth oven. A big hole is dug in the ground and filled with stones. Then a fire is set and burns to make the rocks hot for a 2 or 3 hours. After this the ash is scraped off and parcels of food wrapped in banana leaves are placed on the stones to cook and covered with coconut leaves for another few hours. It fun to watch the lovo being made and fallen coconuts being scraped to put into the food.
At 9:30 I hop along to the village (which is just down the road) to go to church. I go to Miss Raijeli, the kindergarten teacher's house so that I can walk to church with her. We sit with the choir since she sings with them and the sermon begins. It's all in Fijian and so I can't really understand anything.... but the choir are amazing! Sitting with them is brilliant and they let me sing with them since I can read Fijian. Everyone harmonises beautifully and the sound is so strong. The ladies next to me seem very suprised I sing too, but keep saying "vinaka na sere" to me, which means "thank you for singing". After church finishes, I'm invited back to the afternoon service and to the join in the the choir competition they're having!
Back at home we get to eat the lovo which is delicious and sit outside! Have another computer lesson with Atila and plan my English lessons for the next week before going back to church in the afternoon. This time I turn up on my own and get invited to sit back with the choir again! The Sunday School, Youth Choir, Mother's Choir and Father's Choir all then compete in front of the pastor in a competition.... and I end up singing with every choir except the Father's Choir! I've officially joined the church choir in Viro Methodist Church now which is brilliant since it's my favourite part of church here.
The rain's stopped now so I might venture out to the post office. Au talei tiko Viti :)
Moce!
(Mo-thay meaning good bye)
Friday 24 September 2010
Fiji: Viro's Guides
Before I came to Ovalau Island I went to the the Girlguiding HQ in Suva. I met the two lovely ladies who work there and got to have a nose around Guiding HQ for the Pacific Islands! I've been involved with Guiding since I was 5 in the UK and so it was one of the best things every for me to know that I had Guiding friends in Fiji too.
There's a Guide Law that says: "A Guide is a sister to all other Guides"
I think it's definitely true since I've come all the way to the other side of the world and it definitely does feel like being back with a family! Tai and Mere were really welcoming and when I arrived, they sat me down to tell me all about Guiding in Fiji.
There's a Guide Law that says: "A Guide is a sister to all other Guides"
I think it's definitely true since I've come all the way to the other side of the world and it definitely does feel like being back with a family! Tai and Mere were really welcoming and when I arrived, they sat me down to tell me all about Guiding in Fiji.
Me with Tai and Mere
Young girls sewing the Guide/Brownie uniforms- all handmade at the HQ!
When I arrived at Viro Primary School I took over the Guides (there were only 2 of them) and Brownies. Since I arrived there are now 9 Guides and the Brownies have meetings with a separate leader meaning the older girls can do some more suitable activities!
Today I'm in Levuka waiting to go for a meeting at another school for all the Guide Leaders. Last week was the fist meeting to plan the Girl Guide Centenary Camp (Celebration of 100 years of Girl Guides) which is happening in Levuka, Ovalau (the place of the first Girl Guide group in Fiji) and I was very kindly asked to help plan it! Kiarah (another Lattitude Volunteer who is at Rukuruku) and I will be planning the cooperative games for the camp on Saturday afternoon and so we're hoping numbers are confirmed soon so we know which games to organise! Today I'm going back to plan some more, confirm numbers and pay for myself - all very exciting!
I was a bit bummed earlier this year since I couldn't go to the UK Centenary Camp since I was saving money to go to Fiji.... what brilliant luck that I'm in Fiji for THEIR Centenary Camp! I'm really proud of my girls who are currently practicing a play to perform at the camp as part of a talent show on the Saturday night. For all of them it's their first ever school trip, let alone camp so I feel very lucky to be the one taking them away.
Today I'm in Levuka waiting to go for a meeting at another school for all the Guide Leaders. Last week was the fist meeting to plan the Girl Guide Centenary Camp (Celebration of 100 years of Girl Guides) which is happening in Levuka, Ovalau (the place of the first Girl Guide group in Fiji) and I was very kindly asked to help plan it! Kiarah (another Lattitude Volunteer who is at Rukuruku) and I will be planning the cooperative games for the camp on Saturday afternoon and so we're hoping numbers are confirmed soon so we know which games to organise! Today I'm going back to plan some more, confirm numbers and pay for myself - all very exciting!
I was a bit bummed earlier this year since I couldn't go to the UK Centenary Camp since I was saving money to go to Fiji.... what brilliant luck that I'm in Fiji for THEIR Centenary Camp! I'm really proud of my girls who are currently practicing a play to perform at the camp as part of a talent show on the Saturday night. For all of them it's their first ever school trip, let alone camp so I feel very lucky to be the one taking them away.
Saturday 11 September 2010
Fiji: Levuka Town
I've been at my placement in Viro Village for 4 days now and have just come up to town this weekend to drop off some papers, buy some supplies (toilet roll, Fijian style blouses) and use the internet.
I woke up at 5am this morning so I could get the carrier truck which picks people up any time from 6-7am outside the village. I'd been up till midnight the day before as I had the kava ceremony after presenting my sevusevu to officially indoctrinate me into the village so I'm glad I managed to wake up! Midway through the journey the truck broke down and wouldn't start up again. It would've been about 30 minutes to walk to town from where we stopped so I was happy to just walk there, but I soon realised all the people getting out the truck weren't getting out to walk, but to push the truck forward to get it going! I jumped back on and got to town pretty soon and found myself fmiling the whole way. My Fijian sister, Perina asked me why I was laughing and I told her that I couldn't ever imagine everyone pushing the truck and then just jumping back on so quickly back in England! No one even said a word, it was so matter of fact when people just pushing away and then running to jump back on!
Viro Village is really lovely. I'm living on the school compound with the head teacher's family and went down to the village for the first time yesterday. It was amazing to hear children from all the houses shouting "Miss Natalie!" as I walked past :) Viro Village is right by the ocean and it was absolutely breathtaking to watch children from the school playing on a bili bili sillhouted aganist the sunset.
Everyone is really lovely and I've been invited to come into so many people's homes! After the kava ceremony, I was told that I had become a member of the village whilst I am in Fiji. I've been told to tell people who ask that I come from Viro Village. Much like a home is for a family, in Fiji, the whole village is like a house and I'm now allowed to enter anywhere as a member of the family. People are really generous and I've really been enjoying the food! Almost everything I've eaten has been grown in the village itself or fished/foraged from nearby.
Viro Primary has about 60 pupils from kindergarten (kindy) to age 13. The dining hall and teacher's accomodation (which I am staying in) were built with grants from the EU and are really nice, modern buildings. The classrooms are much older, but the teachers have decorated them with the resources they have really nicely and so the whole school is a very nice place to be. Each day, a boy drums on the lali which is like the school bell and the children go to their classrooms. So far, I've done some reading work with the kindergarten and classes 1, 2, 3 and 4. I also observed a Fijian lesson but couldn't really help much! The books I've brought over from England have been really loved already! Whenever I'm holding the bag of them children stop me and ask me to read to them or ask if they can read the books to me. Next week I'm hoping to start doing reading - I brought some Roald Dahl books and will be reading a chapter each day at lunchtime to any children who want to come and listen. The last time I started reading to 3 children in an empty classroom at recess, about 20 more appeared by the time the story had finished!
I woke up at 5am this morning so I could get the carrier truck which picks people up any time from 6-7am outside the village. I'd been up till midnight the day before as I had the kava ceremony after presenting my sevusevu to officially indoctrinate me into the village so I'm glad I managed to wake up! Midway through the journey the truck broke down and wouldn't start up again. It would've been about 30 minutes to walk to town from where we stopped so I was happy to just walk there, but I soon realised all the people getting out the truck weren't getting out to walk, but to push the truck forward to get it going! I jumped back on and got to town pretty soon and found myself fmiling the whole way. My Fijian sister, Perina asked me why I was laughing and I told her that I couldn't ever imagine everyone pushing the truck and then just jumping back on so quickly back in England! No one even said a word, it was so matter of fact when people just pushing away and then running to jump back on!
Pushing the truck back onto the road
Viro Village is really lovely. I'm living on the school compound with the head teacher's family and went down to the village for the first time yesterday. It was amazing to hear children from all the houses shouting "Miss Natalie!" as I walked past :) Viro Village is right by the ocean and it was absolutely breathtaking to watch children from the school playing on a bili bili sillhouted aganist the sunset.
Everyone is really lovely and I've been invited to come into so many people's homes! After the kava ceremony, I was told that I had become a member of the village whilst I am in Fiji. I've been told to tell people who ask that I come from Viro Village. Much like a home is for a family, in Fiji, the whole village is like a house and I'm now allowed to enter anywhere as a member of the family. People are really generous and I've really been enjoying the food! Almost everything I've eaten has been grown in the village itself or fished/foraged from nearby.
Viro Primary has about 60 pupils from kindergarten (kindy) to age 13. The dining hall and teacher's accomodation (which I am staying in) were built with grants from the EU and are really nice, modern buildings. The classrooms are much older, but the teachers have decorated them with the resources they have really nicely and so the whole school is a very nice place to be. Each day, a boy drums on the lali which is like the school bell and the children go to their classrooms. So far, I've done some reading work with the kindergarten and classes 1, 2, 3 and 4. I also observed a Fijian lesson but couldn't really help much! The books I've brought over from England have been really loved already! Whenever I'm holding the bag of them children stop me and ask me to read to them or ask if they can read the books to me. Next week I'm hoping to start doing reading - I brought some Roald Dahl books and will be reading a chapter each day at lunchtime to any children who want to come and listen. The last time I started reading to 3 children in an empty classroom at recess, about 20 more appeared by the time the story had finished!
VPS - Viro Primary School
Perina in front of the library
Perina in the school library
Dan in Class 3 and 4
Classes 1 and 2
Monday 6 September 2010
Fiji: Suva
Back Row: Hannah (Hilton Special School), Erin (Wainunu Bay, Vanua Levu), Micheal (Vutikalulu Centre), Jamie (Vutikalulu Centre), Oliver (Vutikalulu Centre)
Middle Row: Ollie (Wainunu Bay), Sarah (Nasavuki, Motoriki Island), Bella (Hilton Special School), Tess (Visoto, Ovalau Isand, Zarli (Sigatoka Special School), Jana (Nadi Kingergarten), Kiarah (Rukuruku, Ovalau Island)
Front Row: Me! (Viro, Ovalau), Phillipa (Vutikalulu Centre), Jessie (Ulimbau, Motoriki Island)
With David Kirton, our Lattitude National Representative in Fiji and our Fijian friends from Nadi
In the last update, our orientation hadn't even begun and we were waiting for people to fly in. I was tired, feeling slightly overwhelmed and very very nervous! Since then all our Australian friends (yes, definitely friends!) have come, the orientation has finished and I'm now in Suva, the capital of Fiji which is on the other side of the island. To try and cram in everything I've learned in the last few days into one blog post would be a mammoth task so I'll give you a taste of what we've done...
On the first day of the orientation we were mixed up and put into groups and sent into to Nadi to gather information to complete a list of questions and give a presentation on it. My group had shopping and food and so one of the things we did was to go into the market with our local Fijian guide to find out as much as we could about the food we'd be eating for the next 3 months! Cassava, dalo, bele, rourou, soursop, kava, kai and nama were all pretty foreign foods to start with, but by the end we knew how much we should expect to pay for a 'heap' of each and a pretty good idea of how they would be best cooked. Everyone was wonderfully friendly and we met a lady called Nassi and her adorable daughter Anna who were selling dalo, they took us round the market and pointed out all the foods we were looking to find and told us how she liked to cook them. It feels like that in Fiji, all you need to do is smile and the world is your oyster!
Other groups covered topics such as Health, Communication, Insects and Clothing & Language. The Health group went into Nadi Hospital to talk to doctors and nurses about common ailments for volunteers whilst the Communications group got to go into the sorting office in the town post office to talk about how mail is sent in Fiji and then find out bus and ferry fares!
All the group presentations were followed by a lot of note taking on Fijian customs and how to dress modestly, enter a village properly and how to drink kava. That evening, we went to a local village to join a family (who were related to David, our national representative for Lattitude Global Volunteering in Fiji) for a dinner of traditional Fijian foods and kava. Being relatives of David meant that if we could practice customs and make all of our mistakes sooner, in the comfort of friends, rather than later. Drinking Kava is a traditional Fijian ceremony and done on many occasions. There were a lot of rules to remember (clapping, being silent, speaking at certain times), but after a few rounds it all started to sink in! The first bilo of kava was a bit nerve wracking as it worked its way round the circle towards me - pungent and slightly gritty- But I'm starting to like it after having it 3 nights in a row!
In the other days of the orientation we took in a lot of information - what to do if a cyclone hits, how to know if we have Beakbone fever, when to get checked for Elephantiasis, how to be a good teacher...... etc. etc.! I did a bit of practice teaching and had to teach an economics lesson to the rest of the group (stretching us a bit further since making us teacher primary school english to each other might've been boring!) which was especially fun with the addition of Usborne kids flashcards to represent economic and free goods.
We bonded as a group during all the sessions and I've already had to bid goodbye to almost half the group! Jana placed in Nadi Nursery; Zarli placed in Sigatoka Special School; Jamie, Oliver, Micheal and Phillipa placed at the Vutikalulu Project and Hannah & Bella placed at Suva's Early Intervention Centre. The rest of us who are going to the outer islands are in Suva for the day before catching ferries tomorrow to get us to Vanua Levu, Motoriki and (my placement!) Ovalau. I registered as a teacher with the Ministry of Education this morning and then we spent some time shopping to stock up supplies before going to our rural placements (Erin and Ollie will be 9 hours from the nearest town!).
Here's a few photos, I've taken 350 pictures already!
Rourou leaves at Nadi Market
Dalo
Girls selling breadfruit
Buying our Sulus
Wednesday 1 September 2010
Fiji: Nadi Town
Bula!
Currently in an internet cafe in downtown Nadi which is the town where the airport is in Fiji. After sleeping for most of the second leg of the 10 hour journey we came into Nadi at 8:30am and were welcomed by ukelele players! Went through immigration and customs fine since we have an immigration letter stating why we're not leaving till December and confirming from the government that we're volunteers.
The Lattitude country representative David Kirton picked us up from the airport and we went to the hotel we'll be staying in till Sunday for the orientation. We were the second group to arrive and throughout the rest of the day the rest of the volunteers are coming in so we're free today to get our bearings. It's 2pm now and by 4pm, the last Australian group will have arrived and the orientation can start! It sounds really exciting and I hope I have time to write about it after. We'll be put into groups of 4 and go with a local guide with tasks to complete around town to get us to interact and start talking in the local market. After buying traditional dress we'll be going to a nearby village where David is related to the families to take part in a Kava ceremony and hopefully learn the customs (or rather, what NOT to do!) sooner rather than later in our host villages.
It's around 25 degrees and humid in Nadi. It's very overcast but I prefer it this way since it means we can walk around easily. When the plane was landing it was amazing to see the spread of islands in the water and to see how hilly it was. Some of the islands were tiny with only a few trees and others had huge hills and lakes.
Looking forward to meeting the rest of the volunteers very soon and starting the orientation!
Currently in an internet cafe in downtown Nadi which is the town where the airport is in Fiji. After sleeping for most of the second leg of the 10 hour journey we came into Nadi at 8:30am and were welcomed by ukelele players! Went through immigration and customs fine since we have an immigration letter stating why we're not leaving till December and confirming from the government that we're volunteers.
The Lattitude country representative David Kirton picked us up from the airport and we went to the hotel we'll be staying in till Sunday for the orientation. We were the second group to arrive and throughout the rest of the day the rest of the volunteers are coming in so we're free today to get our bearings. It's 2pm now and by 4pm, the last Australian group will have arrived and the orientation can start! It sounds really exciting and I hope I have time to write about it after. We'll be put into groups of 4 and go with a local guide with tasks to complete around town to get us to interact and start talking in the local market. After buying traditional dress we'll be going to a nearby village where David is related to the families to take part in a Kava ceremony and hopefully learn the customs (or rather, what NOT to do!) sooner rather than later in our host villages.
It's around 25 degrees and humid in Nadi. It's very overcast but I prefer it this way since it means we can walk around easily. When the plane was landing it was amazing to see the spread of islands in the water and to see how hilly it was. Some of the islands were tiny with only a few trees and others had huge hills and lakes.
Looking forward to meeting the rest of the volunteers very soon and starting the orientation!
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