Aap kaise hai?

OK so, SO much has happened since I last blogged! We moved in with our host families- I am living with the Pundit (Priest) of our settlement (which would be similar to a chief of a village) and it's AWESOME. My family is so wonderful, the food is Ah-MAZING, and we live on the top floor of a nicer two story cement house. When I say the house is cement= it's grade A. I live with my Matajii (mom), Pitajii (dad), Bhabi jii (sister in law), and her four younger girls (who call me 'Fua' which means Auntie). It's actually really great and best of all.....My Hindustani name is Chandni (chan-da-ni)!!! It means moonlight in Hindi, which is really exciting. The oldest girl who is 6 I think- Ridhi is this awesome little girl who helped me unpack...no joke, and cleans the marks on my wall for fun. It's crazy. She's really sweet and helps me with a lot fo things. The food is sooo good we have fresh roti and other foods everyday. Seriously, you just pick stuff out of the trees here and bring it home with you. However, I do wish we would have more fresh vegetables- Hindu people LOVE to fry things...goo.

Yesterday evening we went to Ramaayan- it's basically a Hindu bible study/reading. It was so cool. We dressed up in sari's and drank Chaa- tea that is extremely milky and sweet- and we ate prasaad (blessed) sweets. That's another thing I'm worried about- It's tradition for Hindu people to invite you in for tea and sweets (it's because they want your friendship to be a sweet one) and so there have been a few afternoons where we had tea and sweets multiple times in a row. We also learned how to make all of the prasaad foods yesterday afternoon, some local women showed how to prepare it. Basically everything was prepared with pounds of his ghee stuff. Yeah, in case you didn't know, they DO sell melted butter (ghee) by the 1 liter bottle. Oh and that's another thing- Fijian people go through chinii (sugar) like you wouldn't believe.

Another random thing is that I shower by bucket and hot water now. It's surprisingly effective. We have a hot water heater (which is NOT common) in our ghare (house) but we have low water pressure so it won't work. It's actually quite nice though.

The hardest part is of course learning another language and also living in a house where you don't completely know how to act. I feel like I've been here a month, the language part is SO exhausting. And it's hard to fit in to a new culture completely when you haven't been brought up in it. BUt I am learning a lot...I just hope I will be able to use the language effectively.

The outifts are very fun though, my matajii is sewing me an outfit (she's so sweet, she looks exactly like how a classic older Indian lady would look like...I love it). I think my favorite part is the tiikaa (the sticker on your forehead).

Training for business environment looks like it's going to be really intense though, we went over it the other day and to be honest our agenda scared the pooh out of me. But I'm not alone so I can't be the only one who felt that way!
Today we had our first water safety course- we drove out to a local beach (yes, it was SO pretty) and played in the waves after we covered a few subjects.

Sooo ok I'm actually a bit tired- the water wears you out. AHHH and most importantly- I GOT A CELL PHONE- my number is 679-742-3685. If you call from the US, I think you dial: 0512 and then my number...oooh I can't remember though. But Im sure you can google it. And I think you get cheaper rates if you call through skype. OH, and another thing- I think I will more htan likely be near a city for my actual site and I'm almost positive I'lkl have internet access. SO if you want, you can call me through skype for now on my cell and then later on in August we can talk for free!

Ok so whoop! please call me if you can- I would love to hear anyone's voice at this point! :0) (oh and the best time to call me is during the week around 12-2 or after &:30my time) 7:30

OK, I miss everyone! xoxo
-Cray

I'm in Fiji!

Bula/Nasasmte/Raam raam everybody!
We arrived safely in Fiji (after a ridiculously long journey) 2 days ago...I think...I lost track after all that traveling. It's been great though because the pc staff has been very welcoming! The other trainees are really cool- we're staying in these bungalow type bure's for now and then we'll be moving in with our host families on Monday.Don't hate me but the area the bure's are located in is SO BEAUTIFUL and picturesque. It has an awesome view of a river and also of the pacific ocean. I've been assigned to learn Fiji- Hindi which is really exciting..because I love Indian food! whoop! there are only 3 of us learning Hindi and the rest are learning Fijian. We'll live in a settlement/village with our host families until June. Then we'll move into our sites- I don't know where I'll be going yet. My language instructors are really cool though...hopefully I'll pick it up quickly.

Yesterday morning we had our welcome ceremony- yes, that included grog or yangona as they say. Don't worry mom, I only had one shell of it. Later on that night we had a chance to hang out more with the staff and drink a little more grog...it makes your tongue go numb within the first minute but I haven't had enough for any other extremities to go numb....yet. jk.

The food is pretty good too....A lot of rice, dalo- this tasteless potato thing, chop suey (stir fry), this amazing fish and tomato and I think coconut milk dish. The fruit is SERIOUSLY amazing...Papaya (or Papita in Hindi) is BOMB.

Getting to wear sulu's and long skirts is pretty fun. It's nice to not have to worry about crossing your legs or anything, the only thing you do have to worry about it not flashing anyone when you sit down. Don't worry...I haven't done that/don't plan on having that happen. One thing that is very interesting though is working out with a skirt...that's definitely an adjustment.. We're going to get pics of that on Monday so I'll post some pics when I can.

Ok so I really don't have a lot of time, I'm in a Internet cafe and we are our in the city in Nausori for the first time! It's crazy...I still can't believe I'm here.

As always, I miss and love you all!
Namaste/Fir malega,

Hey Everyone! Just wanted to let you know we made it to New Zealand (after a REALLY long flight...gooo) and we're fixing to board to fly to Fiji!! ahhh! I'm in my Fijian get-up...and I feel cool. :0)  The people on my program are great- everyone is really nice!

Ok I have to go- I miss everyone so much!

-Cray out

My info for Fiji!

Hey everyone! Ok so the following will be my adress until I post something different:

“Courtney Ray Goodson”, PCV
Peace Corps/Fiji
Private Mail Bag
Suva, Fiji Islands
South Pacific

**It is recommended that packages be sent in padded envelopes if possible, as boxes tend to be taxed and opened more frequently. Ok I know the opened part sounds bad but I contacted one of the representatives and she said it doesn't happen too often. Just don't send anything super valuable.

But mail would be greatly appreciated!!!! And if you are on skype (which is awesome) my profile name is courtney.ray.goodson so skype me for sure. Just warning though- I may not have internet access all that often, it will just depend on where I'm located.

Ok...that's my info! Can't believe it's getting so close!