You Can't Have Any Pudding, If You Don't Eat Your Meat (Pink Floyd)

Schools. Koronivuli. In the United States, we are used to elementary schools, middle schools and high schools. In Fiji, there are primary schools and secondary schools; many times the secondary schools are referred to as "colleges." Universities typically go by the term "tertiary" or "uni." Unlike the US, all schools in Fiji are religious in some way, but they are not all Christian. There is no separation of church and state in Fiji. 

If you have ever read Harry Potter, by JK Rowling, you'll be familiar with the terms prefect, head girl and head boy. The school system here uses those terms because Fiji was colonized by the British; they follow the British/Australian systems for school. The schools are divided into primary, classes 1-8, and secondary, classes 9-13. When they get to year 7, they begin Form 1. Kindergarten is not mandatory, yet, but there is a movement to make them mandatory. Year 13 is also the same as a first year, university student. 

There are often very little resources, not enough textbooks, supplies or computers; the teachers have to make do with 1 chalkboard per class. The teachers (qasinivuli) are amazing here! They are under strict guidelines from the Ministry of Education on how much paperwork they have to complete and are under a lot of pressure to have students pass the end of year exams. I have a ton of respect for my fellow teachers.

The end of year exams are the only grades students get; they are also modeled off the Australian exams. As you can imagine, behavioral management is often not as good as it could be because there is very little motivation for the students to come to school or behave. The downfalls and lack of attendence are complex and many times, culturally ingrained. However, this doesn't mean that the students or school is behind, just that their ways of doing things are different.

The roles in the village (chief, pastor, fisherman, craftsmen, village spokesmen, and more) often play out in the classroom. My students from the "spokesmen's" family, for example, seem to enjoy talking. My students from the "craftsmen's" family are very good with their hands and kinesthetic learners. My students eat fish and cassava along with other traditional Fijian dishes for lunch (vakasigalevu). My students say "Tulo" when walking around the class if there are other students sitting as a sign of respect and many of them come to school with no shoes! Because there are two big cultures in Fiji, when you get a cross between teacher and students, there can be some troubles. More often than not, there are no problems, but occasionally, the history of the Indo-Fijians and Itoukei plays out in class by students acting out.

I find it all very fascinating. It's taken me a while to realize that just because my students don't measure up to my westernized ideals of music, education, critical thinking and more, doesn't mean that they are doing things wrong... What they are doing, is just right for Fiji and just like everywhere else in the world, there could always be improvements.

Even more, my students excel at things that I'm not sure American children could ever do by themselves! They take care of the entire school grounds: painting, grass cutting, gardening, cleaning, trash clean up, trash burning and more (meanwhile, I still have never mowed the lawn...). They ride public busses, by themselves, to get to-and-from school. They play rugby, cross country and netball instead of traditional American sports. They share their lunch of traditional foods between each other. They can go to town by themselves to do shopping. I'm not sure what my reaction would have been as an elementary school student if you told me I had to help cut the grass. What are your questions for my students or questions for me about my school?

Year 10 students working in a classroom

Nasikawa Vision College students maintaining the grounds



NVC chapel service

View of Nasikawa Vision College from Queens Road

Village Life; Bula Ni Koro

I have to apologize for my lack of posting lately. I was sick, then went to the capital for some doctors' visits, went the Embassy Fourth of July party, had visitors at the school from Korea, and then was sick again. It's been a crazy few weeks over here!

Today, I'm going to explain what it's like to live in the village in Fiji. Mostly, it feels a lot like this... but replace "Mine" with "Kelli"... Mostly, it's the little kids that wander around SCREAMING MY NAME. KELLI, KELLI, KELLI, KELLI, KELLI, KELLI, KELLI (As I silently pull my hair out)!!!

I joke with my neighbors that my house is "America," because I don't always follow all the Fijian rules. For example, we bend over and say "tu-lo" as a sign of respect when crossing a room and you leave your shoes off before entering a room.  We sit on the floor, criss cross applesauce style, instead of in chairs. There's about a thousand more small things that we do differently, but here are a few.

In Fiji, when someone invites you to tea, or for a meal, it's considered rude to not accept because it says something negative about that family. If I wanted, I could walk around and never have to cook my own food. I don't do that 1) because I don't want to abuse the privilege, 2) the more I eat at other peoples' houses, the more likely I am to get sick, and 3) I enjoy cooking. This has taken time and patience to communicate to my neighbors. A traditional Fijian meal will be: fish, cassava, dalo/taro, coconut milk, lime/lemon, chilis, fresh tropical fruits, fresh tropical vegetables, corned beef, bread, ramen, potatos, curry, or rice.

Traditional Fijian Food

One of the other differences is privacy. Living in a bamboo thatched house with open windows often means that I have very little privacy. When I'm alone, my villagers think that I am lonely. I've had to explain several times that I lived by myself for years before I joined Peace Corps. It's not as normal in Fiji for young adults to move on their own; even college students will live at home and take transportation! There is always something to do in the village. The little kids come over a lot to work on their homework and they are rewarded with time to spend playing on my electronics. 

Using fruit to learn addition and subtraction

Women always wear skirts in the village. If I go to town, I have to put a sarong over my pants and same is true for my swimsuit when going to resorts. Men wear a pocket sarong, called a sulu; I've heard it's very comfortable. There's also always loud music and yogona, also known as kava and grog. They have music, dancing and grog going until very late in the night sometimes. Grog tastes a little like what would happen if you made tea out of dirty potpourri (it's not my favorite). 

Traditional Yagona Ceremony

Even though everything is crazy different, I am used to it now and often it takes other foreigners reminding me about how different my life really is because it is my new normal. If you have any questions or ideas for blog posts, then please let me know below!

Why You Should Join Peace Corps with a Masters or PhD

There's an article on the Peace Corps Blog Here about "Why You Should Join the Peace Corps Straight Out of College." Well, they aren't wrong, per-say, but I wanted to add my reasoning to why you should join the Peace Corps right after your higher level degree. Peace Corps has a tendency to be marketed to recent college graduates with new undergraduate degrees. Yes, all of the things listed are 100% true, but I'm going to expand a little bit on why you are not overqualified simply because you have a master's or PhD.

Here is their list: 

• You have the opportunity to be immersed in another culture
• You will constantly be challenged and find new opportunities to grow
• You have a safety net
• New group of friends
• You might actually make a difference
• Build your resume 

Here is my additional list:

• You have bigger insight and self-awareness: This is not to say that most undegraduates do not, but you typically are simply going to have seen more of the world and that makes you more accepting that opinions are opinions and not facts. Now, I've seen some PCV's with just an undergrad totally knock other's with higher education out of the park, so it's not always true. 
• You have more knowledge: You studied in your preferred field as a specialty! This makes you more of an asset and you understand your subject at a deeper level.
• You are very passionate about your subject: when you don't have to take general education classes, it means that you can pick something that you truly enjoy. Because of this, you know more of what you may want in your life. While, that isn't always true, it is for the Peace Corps. Having a specialized degree can help you can access to coveted positions. 
• You already have experience: there are two benefits to this... 1) Peace Corps changed their application style, which made each position much more competitive and 2) handling working in America can be hard enough without experience, adding experience means that your adjustment may be more limited to culture. 
• You LOVE what you do and you know what you want to do: When this happens, you become an advocate for both your government and your field of profession. 
• Public Student Loan Forgiveness: google this, it's life changing... $0 loan payments!
• You will be humbled: You will find that every, single thing on this list can come at any degree and experience level. You will learn that education doesn't mean much when you're here for a common goal. I find that while it was a benefit in the application process, we all come in knowing the exact same about being a Peace Corps Volunteer and it is a very humbling experience. Everyone has their own unique schedule for cultural adjustment and education often has nothing to do with that. 

The point of this post is to show that there is just as much to get from this experience as a person with a higher degree as someone with a undergraduate degree. It is worth puting your life and career on hold for a bit! It is one of the best self-awareness experiences that I have ever had (and am still having!)

Have any questions you want answered in a blog post? Comment below and Vinaka Vakalevu!