Bula from Fiji!!!

I made it!!! And have survived my first week- what a week it has been!!!

So after 32 hours of travelling I finally made it to the other side of the world!! The journey was an adventure in itself- went pretty smoothly until I got to Sydney, just stopping off for an hour in Bangkok. However on arrival at Sydney I was informed that as I was taking a domestic flight to Brisbane I had to pass through their immigration and customs as well as complete loads of forms etc..... After 20+ hours of travelling already I was less than amused and when I explained to the customs officer I only had an hour until my Brisbane connection she simply replied 'Well you'll never make that!!' and she was right! It took over an hour to pass through immigration, let alone customs!! So I missed the connection, but luckily was booked onto the next flight and made it to Brisbane with just enough time to spare to get boarded onto my flight to Fiji!! I knew I had come to the right place as when I landed at the airport and waited in the line at immigration, men in flowery shirts and wearing flower garlands were playing tropical music on small guitars- certainly a different atmosphere to the immigations in Oz I had been through a few hours before. However my relaxed mood did not last long as when I went to the carousel, my rucksack was not there!!!!! So I cleared customs (with just my hand luggage) and was met by the projects abroad staff who made me feel right at home. They immediately sorted out my bag and told me it would be on a seperate flight which came in 2 hours later that evening. Seula (the man picking me up) told me he would take me home so I could relax and settle in and would deliver my bag to me later that evening....which sure enough he did!!

So my host family.....well all I can say is what lovely people. I was slightly worried as my original family I herd dropped out at the last minute, but I think I ended up much better off!! The mother is Fijian and the father is Indian, added to the fact they have done a lot of travelling in both Europe and the US, it is a rather diverse family! They have 3 lovely daughters- 14, 11 and 3 and 1 son who is 5. All very sweet and polite- very excited to have guests in the house!! There is also another volunteer staying who shares a room with me, as well as a Japanese student there for 2 months to learn English, topped off with a live-in nanny and a maid!! Add to the mix 3 dogs and you have a somewhat chaotic home!! But it is one of the most welcoming places I have been and I felt at home there straight away. Although the fact there is a swimming pool at the house probably also has a slight part to play in that!!

So I am sharing the poolhouse/basement with another volunteer called Leslie. She is in her 40's and works in an extremely high profile job at Vodafone, single with no children, she has taken a career break to I think find what else there is to life and escape from her demanding career. Over the week we have had a number of in-depth chats about the meaning of life and what it means to be successful!! What I have found is that in meeting her she has already changed my views on a number of things- namely what I want to achieve out of life and also my own career- details of these discoveries later!!

So my first day was mainly just settling in, I was taken out for a walk around the local town, to change money, find the volunteer centre etc... and introduced to a number of the other volunteers. I was invited on a trip with the group the next day to a nearby island which I jumped at the chance to visit!! So early sunday morning we set off on a coach to port Denaru- and saw Tom Cruise's yacht docked there!! We then set off on our own boat and after an hour and a half cruising around different islands we finally arrived at 'Castaway Island'- a beautiful, picture perfect island with the most crystal blue waters and white sand. A smaller boat docked up alongside our larger cruiser and we were then transferred over to the small boat which docked up right on the sand. We spent a wonderful day, snorkelling out on the reef (and saw Nemo fish!!) as well as a huge buffet lunch and then an afternoon of laying first on the beach and then by the pool for a change of scene- hard life!!!

Anyway.....you will be pleased to know I have actually done some work since I have been here too!! On the monday it was a day of holiday for the children, so we were invited to help out the teachers at a local Kindergarten. We met in Nadi town and 14 of us (including a girl on crutches!!) were then basically loaded into the back of an open-back truck!!! Most interesting taxi I have ever taken....but at the equivalent of about 9 pence each, we weren't complaining!!! A number of the group set about helping to paint the front of the school, while 4 of us were asked to come and help a teacher to set up her classroom. So we were presented with a walk-in cupboard, which was completely packed right up to the door and asked to help clear it out!! I decided to take the lead on this one and soon we had unpacked most of it in to the main classroom to sort and put away again. It was the sort of scene which would have given Hilary a heart-attack, and Kevin would have been in his element- sorting through to find uses for as much of the junk as possible!! Anyway we did a job which would have made Pauline proud!! By the end you could fully walk through the cupboard and everything was in order- as best it could be!! Great team-buliding exercise however and the school were extremely pleased with our work. We then helped the teacher to organise her classroom for the start of the new term, which I loved. Although it is pretty humbling I have to say when the few toys and resources the class had were all things which I would not have even taken a second look at and probably cleared out with the rubbish in my own classroom. I left feeling a mix of emotions, but determined that while here I wanted to make some sort of difference...no matter how small.

So the next day my room-mate Leslie and I got the local bus (an experience in itself!!) to our new school- The Nadi Christian Academy. We had herd it was a rather challenging school to say the least...and this ended up being a rather accurate description!!! When we arrived we were met by the principal (21 years old!!) and taken into a classroom each. While Leslie was taken into assist a teacher in another part of the school, I was taken into what was a mixed Grade 1 and 2 class. Intially I was excited by this as being in the infants is my comfort zone- little did I know I was about to be thrown as far out of it as humanly possible. The principal took me into the class and introduced me and then pretty much explained that the class had no teacher at present as the school had no money, told me to tell the children a story and then left!!! Oh my god!!!!!! So I did the obvious thing of asking the children their names and about school etc... then started to tell them about England- part way through I started to realise that their English skills were somewhat limited to say the least!!! And actually all these faces were staring blankly at me not really understanding any of what I was saying!!! Luckily the principal walked past and I called him in, he told me to do some maths and proceded to tell me that one half of the class could count to 50 and the other half could count to 100...and then left again!!! So I muddled through the next hour and 40 minutes of maths as best I could!!!! A few slight hitches such as only half the class having exercise books, the other half having no pencils and not being able to locate a board rubber anywhere in the whole school were all overcome some how and FINALLY the bell rang for break!!!! As the bell rang the principal entered and saw a small boy playing with a compass, he proceded to take it off him (which I expected) and then poked him in the hand with it and told him not to do it again!!! The shock on my face must have been obvious as he then told me 'In Fiji we believe in strict discipline!' A number of children were then threatened with 'the stick' and 'the pipe' throughout the day as well as one child being hit with a broom. This really worried me and I contacted my projects abroad desk officer to discuss, luckily she explained that although this was the way the school ran I did not have to follow this and could refuse to adopt this behaviour method- which I did!! I have chosen to adopt the more traditional shiny sticker method!!! Will report back my findings!!!

So I muddled through the rest of the morning (stickers in hand!!) and then was asked to teach science in the afternoon- water safety. Not an easy feat in a bare classroom with only the board, 1 textbook, no exercise books and children with limited english but we got there somehow!! I stopped at 2 like I had been asked, and sent a child to find the principal. He then told me I had half an hour to do what I liked pretty much- so we went outside and learnt the hokey cokey, followed by some rounds of duck. duck, goose!!! All in all an eventful day (team all of this with 30 degree heat and no fans!!!) and I returned home absolutely shattered, was asleep before 9 that evening and slept through until 6 the next morning!!!

The next day went relatively similarly to the day before, muddling through with limted information, resources and comprehension of the english language!!! I was feeling pretty demotivated and frustrated by the end of the afternoon and was longing to be back in my lovely countryside school with my gorgeous class. However Leslie and I were called to the principal and a glimmer of hope shone through again!! He had managed to get a teacher transferred from another school to cover my class and wanted the 2 of us to work basically with an intervention group from 3rd and 4th grade who were falling far behind their peers. I was told to use whatever methods I thought would work and go with it...hooray!!! So the following 2 days have been working with our new class of 5!!! Although all the children could almost do with 1 to 1 help in an ideal world. The main problem was that none of the children could read- when I looked at their work I thought it was no surprise really- they have been taught by dictation and rote!! So the next morning I introduced them to dear old phonics!!! We have spent 2 days going through very basic letter sounds and reading 3 letter words but it has been great!! I found a stationery shop downtown and managed to get some coloured card (very cheaply I might add!!) and have set about making some flashcards and an alphabet to decorate the bare walls of our classroom with! The children in our group also need a lot of maths support so with Leslie being an accountant by trade we have decided she will work on the maths while I continue with the phonics. I am excited to see how much of a difference we can make in the next few months.

The principal explained that we should only work the mornings, and have the afternoons to relax- very Fiji style!! I of course don't do relaxing and so have arranged today to start on Monday helping out in the afternoons at the special school around the corner. This I am very excited about and will let you know all the details next week!!

So what have I learnt so far from my first week...

1) The Fijians are the kindest, most hospitable nation I have come across

2) That I love phonics!!! and still believe it is the best method for teaching children to read and spell

3) People who hardly know you can give you amazing insights into yourself with just one conversation

4) That success is not based solely on career achievements

and finally....

5) I can tan!!!!!!!

So I am off this evening to a place called Ed's Bar with the rest of the volunteers for drinks and then am looking forward to a restful weekend on a golden beach somewhere :-)

What I haven't mentioned is how much I have missed home this week and have loved coming online and seeing my messages :-)

Love you and miss you all

Stay tuned for week 2.......