Oooh Aaah

No fireworks for me on the 4th of July, but PC still managed to make it a spectacle.

Yesterday I found out my site! And next week I am meeting my counterpart and my village! I'm totally pumped. I didn't really have any expectations of where I would be going, but my language teacher has been to my village and she says it's very beautiful. So more on that later. The PC staff laid out some white rope on the grass in the shape of the islands and then after they announced our site, they walked us to where we would be on the map. That way we saw where our little village is and also who was living close by. Pretty ingenius since I had no idea where my little village is in Fiji and now I do.

Celebrating a national holiday in another country is fun. We mixed the 2 cultures and had a great time doing it. My village performed a traditional Fijian male meke (action song) and a female meke. Some of the other performances include a Hindi version of Take Me Out to the Ballgame, American Pie performed with a tamborine and a harmonica, Mr. Tamborine Man sang by the children of my village and a 3-legged race.

It was my first time to perform a meke and everyone loved it. We (4 volunteers and 3 Fijian women) stood in a line and did a little dance to a song. Sounds simple right? Well it was and it was short, so they made us do it again. The best part about this is that while you are trying to remember the dance moves, people are shoving candy and food in your face, putting powder in your hair, wrapping fabric around your waist and doing other nonsense! It makes it impossible to do anything! haha but that's how they show their appreciation for your dancing. I'm going to be braggadocious here and say that I rocked the meke. I was told that I "had wicked mad rhythm", which I think means I rule. Here's a picture of me in my meke outfit.

We also ate hamburgers. With Mustard. God I miss mustard.