Fiji: Busy, busy, busy!

Bula!
After an amazingly relaxing Diwali bank holiday weekend with the other volunteers it's back to school. We went to a tiny island beach called Cagali (pronouced THANG-A-LIE) and had a Diwali bonfire, white sand
and volleyball! But being the dedicated volunteers we are, all of us teachers brought some work to do! Miss Jessie from Uluibau was planning class 8 maths lessons, Miss Sarah was writing out the blueprint for annual Class 4 exams (see the top 2 photos!) and Miss Parry and I were stressing and planning for the weeks ahead. The volunteers from Vutikalulu building project were really appreciating electricity which they don't have at their placement! I was a bit worried I'd have to start teaching full time as a pregnant teacher was having to take extra leave and was possibly going to start her maternity leave a month early, however, the doctor said she was fine and it means I'm still free to finish making the library at Viro Primary.

Above are some progress shots. I've collected all the books the school has and have opened every single one, cleaned it, fixed it and rubbed out any pencil marks (and I tell you, EVERY SINGLE BOOK needed to be fixed). Unlike England, the classrooms are very open and there are insects everywhere. Almost every book had some sort of mite which would crawl out when I opened it and some books actually had nests
built inside them. It's taken me weeks to clean and fix every book, but I finished at the beginning of this week. I've rearranged two of the classrooms in the school so that I could get 2 bookshelves for the library and you can see I've been working on the from the photos above. The bookshelves ALSO have nests built in them which make them all very muddy and so first they were cleaned and rusty staples and pins were removed. I then papier mache'd the holes up before painting them so they're in much better condition! SO PLEASED when they were finished, I was very, very stressed over the weekend that I wouldn't finish and have to start teaching full time!

I've read and categorised all the 'easy reader' books and sorted them into 3 reading levels and am in town at the moment to get labels for every book laminated so they STAY organised on the shelf! The kids will pick them up and move them around otherwise and everyone will forget which book is in which level when I'm gone! The second shelf has had all the fixed and cleaned books shelved alphabetically and
looks a bit fuller thanks to an amazing book donation from The Children Of Fiji charity who came to visit me a few weeks ago. Also, I have to thank my Aunt who is a Librarian for donating a lot of excellent picture books which have been really loved by the kids. When I first came, I brought a lot of books to donate myself, but there was no library to put them.... so it's really satisfying to finally see my books shelved! As well as the books and the shevles, the actual library building is very old, over 20 years old and has had to withstand tropical cyclones and rain in its lifetime. The floor has A LOT of holes in it and I've been finding pieces of wood to cut and hammer down. I'm glad to say it's now safe to walk on the floor without fear your foot will drop through!

I'm now working on all the non-fiction books and also.... another Guide camp! I really didn't want the last camp I took the girls on to be their first and last after seeing how much they enjoyed it, so I've met up with Miss Kiarah in town, another Lattitude volunteer at the neighbouring school to organise a joint camp between Viro's Guides and Rukuruku's Guides. I love working with the Guides and last picture is me with Railala and Unaisi - I had a lady from the village come and teach the girls mat weaving and whilst they were doing it I also
taught them how to use my camera (they were excited to say the least!). The mat we're holding that says "Fiji 2010" is one that I wove a few weeks ago! I've also got the girls to write letters to my Guides in England, a Guide is a sister to all other Guides, no matter if it's the other side of the world!! They're really excited to hear
from their penpals :)

SO! BUSY BUSY BUSY! Not much left of my time in Fiji.... School term ends on December 3rd and then I fly out on Decmber 13th. Golly gosh I'm going to miss my island home, my friends and family here and all
the kids :(

Fiji: A Busy Week!

Ahhh the last week has been really busy but really interesting :)

I spent the weekend in the village - well Saturday was spent painting a bookshelf for the library in school, going on walks and hanging with other teachers and their kids in the school compound and on Sunday I spent my day in the village having lunch and tea at different people's houses after Church. I spoke to an amazingly hardworking woman who wakes up at 1:30am everyday to bake bread to sell to people in the village, cook and do all the laundry for her family because at 6:30 she takes the carrier truck into town to work at another job at the tuna cannery. I really enjoy going down into the village and talking to people, everyone has a story!

Late on Sunday evening, a visior (to stay!) arrived. We have a trainee teacher who's come to Viro School for her practical training and it's really great to have someone my age here! It's also nice to have someone here who's newer and fresher than me! Her family all came up with her and I helped serve tea and dinner to them as they were guests in the school compound and it was a great compliment when one her aunts asked me how long I'd been at Viro and I said "2 months" and she said "and so which school were you teaching at before?" - she told me she thought I'd been living here for around a year because of the way I acted, the language I was speaking and the clothes I was wearing! It was really nice and made me feel very at home. I know all the kids names, I know when they're about to be naughty ;) and I can speak enough Fijian to give them instructions. I now know all the etiquette of the home -not to sit with your legs up, not to point your feet at the Chief or the tanoa bowl, not stand up straight without saying "Tilou, tilou" and that it's normal dress to wear something ankle length.

Over this week I've been teaching classes 3 and 4 since their teacher has had to take some leave as she's pregnant. They're a great two classes and are very fun to teach! We've been diligently finishing maths problems in the morning, doing some english composition after recess before doing Fijian, science, sports and art and craft in the afternoon.For their Fijian lesson I had them get into groups and teach ME Fijian words on the topics I gave them since... well... it would be pretty interesting if I was teaching THEM Fijian. The picture above is the join venture of a health science class followed by an art and craft lesson.

The only downside is that my library hasn't been getting much attention and I'm praying I'll finish it up in time... Also, I gave the kids a maths class this morning and had to handwrite every test paper - which meant waking up at 6:00am to ensure they were finished in time!

Anywho, my the pick up truck back to my village is leaving soon, gotta rush! Hope everyone's well and HAPPY DIWALI (it's a bank holiday weekend here, yes!! Holiday time!! I'm going to the beach with some other volunteers! :D)