it's been a long, long time, gotta get this message to you boy

I have been working away in my village. And my working I mean mostly community integrating, which is a fancy way of saying I've been weaving, eating, talking, grogging, dancing, singing, walking, and most importantly laughing with my villagers.

We've been pretty busy for the past 6 months, so the village (including myself) is on hiatus right now. It's like taking a really long nap. So far this year we've built a dam, fixed all the pipes/taps in the village, built a new pipeline, had a massive clean-up project, hosted 2 workshops, planted more mangroves, and grown fruit trees. I'm sure I've forgotten some things in that list. For my village, this is a lot of work! I've been content working a couple days a week, but mostly lounging around and making up riddles (in Fijian, toot toot) with my favorite kids.

Stephanie, one of my besties from BSU, just left a short week ago. I couldn't believe how much fun we had together. She grogged every night, was inducted into a family by being 'knighted' with her own fish (What's up, tui?), ate fish off the bone, visited almost every classroom at the primary school, helped with a reproductive health session at the secondary school (sex!), saw women breastfeed, learned to weave, scraped coconuts, woke up every morning to the sound of chickens and the drums, and by the end of the week didn't even whimper at the sight of a cockroach. She's pretty much Fijian now. Needless to say it was great to have her here. My house felt pretty empty and quiet afterwards. I have since readjusted and anticipate a reunion tour SB 2010.

Other than that, I have been doing lots of reproductive health talks. Sex, sex, sex, sex, sex. Already this year, 2 secondary students have gotten pregnant, so it's a major concern (salute major concern). It's also extremely tabu for Fijians to talk to their kids about sex, so they leave it to the teachers. The teachers aren't comfortable talking about it either. So basically students only get about 90 minutes worth of health/sex education a year from people who are uncomfortable talking about it with them. This is bad. I'm helping to change it. I feel good about this. Plus, sex is fun to talk about and can be quite entertaining. Imagine the jokes.

I met the new group of PCV's today, and they seem eager to get out in the field and get to work. We are getting 3 new volunteers close to me and we finally have a boy over on our side of the island! There's also some newbies up a couple hours from me, so I'm planning on getting to know them as well in the next year. It's going to be a good time.

This next year will bring new challenges, but I am much more confident in my abilities to conduct meaningful projects/programs in my area. Not only that, but I want to conduct meaningful projects/programs in my area. I feel very connected here, not only to the people but to the land as well. I think I'm turning Fijian. :)

I'll leave you all with our favorite riddle. The first 2 lines are nonsense, but each riddle is presented with this back and forth banter, then the riddler says the riddle and waits for the answers to come pouring ito entice me to play. It usually works -- I'm a sucker for a good time.

Riddler: Qima
Guesser: Qama
Riddler: Tuktuku sa lamata. (I have news brought up from the depths.)
Guesser: Na cava? (Oh yeah, what?)
Riddler: Na bubu ci, rogoca e na vuravura. (A grandma farted, and it was heard around the world.)

And now, it's time for you to guess.