Rockstar by Nickelback

I have to admit, unfortunately, that the catalyst for this blog entry was this terrible song by a band I really don't enjoy. However, I was riding a minibus and thus subjected to the driver's taste in music, which is usually sub par and proved to be once again.

I was actually listening to the words though and I realized why I like it here and also what frustrates me about the US. On a daily basis. my villagers are barely influenced from the outside world, which means they live simple, wonderful lives. If we never went to town, we would never even know the news as there are no televisions, 2 radios that only play fijian music, no newspapers, no advertisements, no junk food, and no other outside influences other than myself. This means lacks of outside entertainment as well. Imagine a family that hangs out together, sits around and talks, eats every meal together, goes on outings to the beach together, makes their own fun because there are no shiny objects to watch instead. It seems almost impossible to imagine this happening in America the way it happens here.

It's so much easier to watch television than to talk. It's easier to go to a movie than spend countless hours sitting and staring at one another while illumated for hours only by a kerosene lamp. But this is what I do here and so one must come up with one's own fun--making shadow puppets with accompanying stories, for example.

What does this mean for me when I go back home? My behaviors have changed a lot. I sit on the floors instead of furniture, I make due with less than I ever could in America (shoes, clothing, food, resources, office supplies, etc), I'm more resourceful, I can laugh at the same joke for months, I enjoy talking for hours about nothing. Well I guess that last one hasn't changed. I will always love talking for hours about nothing. There are other ways as well, but they are hard to conjure up at this moment.

I guess for the first time, I'm nervous about returning home. It's a year away, but some of my values have changed and they aren't in line with American values. What does this mean for my future? How will I keep the values I like about Fiji while living in a different culture? I suppose I kept some American values while I came here, and I'll just have to reverse the process when I go home.