Ok so a lot has been going down...

for starters I met my Contact Person from the organization I'll be working with. His name is Balram- yes, only one name (which he is very happy to share). This person is sort of a co-worker and a person we go to for any questions. It's a funny story actually, this past Thursday is when we all met our contact people. We were all asked to stand up and say a little about ourselves. I stood up, said the usual stuff, and ended with "how excited I was to learn Hindi!'. Then, Balram stood up...said the usual stuff, and then ended with a big smile on his face, "Even though Sanatan is a Hindustani organization, 95% of the students are Fijian." It's times like these where you can't do anything but laugh. (And just so everyone is clear on what this means to me- I PROBABLY HAVE TO ALSO LEARN FIJIAN...on top of Hindi.)....cool.

From what it sounds like I'll be teaching teachers about computers. Many people are computer illiterate here and need help with the basics. I'll also be working with the woman's groups to help motivate them and get them started on doing things they want to be doing. That's definitely not all I'll be doing though- Balram and I only know the general goals of what they want accomplished- nothing specific. So I'll be finding that out over the next couple of weeks.

Everyone in the settlement is SUPER pumped. PC does these cultural afternoons where once a week we go to the different villages and have awesome Fijian foods, partake in some fun Tra-la-la (dancing), and learn history about villages/tribes and such. Well next FRIDay it's Nukomoto's turn! WHOOP! oh- that's the name of our settlement btw. totally bad-a. Our settlement is very small- 10 houses total, a lot of them are farmers. But they've built this shed in front of my house that we'll have the Ramayaan under! My family and a few other families are going to make tons of delicious foods- tomato chutney, kadduu- pumpkin, nariyal ke chutney- coconut chutney (these three things are foods that have been blessed not only by the gods but also my mother's magic cooking hand...seriously they are my FAVORITES), puri- smaller but delicious tortilla type things, sena- fried dalo leaves with delicious seasonings, gogoola- friend yummy sweet balls of dough I think, and then of course the prasaad- the blessed food. We're going to have a short ramayaan- a short reading a one or two songs. Then we'll have mendi- henna, and yangona for everyone! Everyone in the village is so excited- and of course we3'll all be decked out in our best sari's and bracelets!
It's actually funny because, for the environmental volunteers we are suppose to get with our settlements/villages and find out what they think can be improved in their village. Then we facilitate a project to help do something within the community. When we had our meeting in Nukomoto, they mentioned both the pot-holey roads and the Hindi prayer temple that hasn't been finished. Well, thanks to our cultural afternoon that we planned- both of those things are being finished! woohoo! does that count as our project? probably not...we are thinking of doing a Composting workshop with the village- we'll see how that goes. We are nervous it might not happen with so much hype being over the ramayaan. I'll keep you guys posted.

But OH MY GOSH! Ok so even more great news that I am SUPER excited about! Right next to Nukomoto there is a Fijian village, Nakile. Krissy and I went to their Methodist church last SUnday and the people there were AMAZING! They were SO happy to have us, they invited us back for yangona (grog) later that night! It was so great to get to hang out with a village and really see how what it's like informally). We hadn't had the chance to do this yet seeing as we live in a Hindustani settlement. Tomorrow after church a lady named Sulu is going to teach us how to weave the fans made from coconut tree leaves. I'm pumped! They use these leaves to weave very large mats that everyone has in their living rooms to sit on. These people are awesome though, they were so happy to have us come and kept saying we should have been in a village. Now I feel like i have the bets of both worlds! And what's even more awesome is the fact that I'm going to be living very close, I can be great friends with them also! I am so happy! And there is a local village nearby to where I'll be living (like right across the street). ONe of the men from Nakile's cousin is the ratu in the village that I'll be living near. He's said we could go over one day and he'll introduce me so they know who I am and we can have a proper savusavu (more formal grog drinking fest). SAWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTT! I am so pumped.

Language is still stressful of course BUT all the local taxi drivers and shop keepers tell me my Hindi is good. I think they're lying. Actually, I know it. I would really like to have a conversation in HIndi that lasts longer than 2 minutes. ONe day....I hope it will happen.

anyways, until then Ham kosis kartaa hai.

As always, I love and miss everyone!
-Chandni