Culture Class

                On Friday, I was fortunate enough to go to Hilton Special School for their “Club Day” (a day where they focus entirely on art, culture, dance, gardening, etc. instead of the content areas). Personally, I thought the highlight was the hour-long culture class as I learned A LOT.

                The students were split up into several classes. In one class, I had way too much fun hanging out with the kids during the end of their lesson on Fijian music and dance; however, the class that I spent the majority of my time with focused on traditional Fijian foods (I’m just picturing my students from this past year rolling their eyes as they read this. What can I say? I’m predictable! I love food!). I had the opportunity to grate cassava, smash coconuts to make cream, and roll out dough to make roti. I quickly learned that all of these activities are pretty labor intensive and that Americans are AWFUL at them all!

Can you tell which roti the Americans made?! (Hint: Find the most irregular shaped ones!)

Scraping coconuts to make cream!

                For what it’s worth, I was truly humbled by this experience. After all, us Americans have the luxury of avoiding all of this labor and simply buying the pre-made and pre-prepared products at the grocery store. Thank you, culture class, for showing me just how much effort it takes to get to that final product!

                Besides the actual class, I feel like I’ve been learning a lot about Fijian culture in other ways. On Friday night, the local museum hosted a culture night where many entertainers (dancers, musicians, etc.) performed traditional acts. I'll just sum it up by saying that it was a lot of fun to be able to experience this! Today, I was able to observe (!!!) in both a primary and a secondary school to prepare for my teacher training that I’ll be conducting in the near future. I learned so much about the education system here and how a lot of it is, well, influenced by their culture. For example, when an elder asks you a question, it is rude to not answer. Although this sounds similar to America, imagine what would happen in a Fijian classroom when the teacher asks 40 students a question during his/her lesson! (Correct answer: loud chaos!) Another example is that engaging students in reading is a huge struggle here. Again, it may sound similar to America, but the culture is that oral stories are more valued than written ones, so it makes it twice as difficult to motivate students to read! Now THAT'S an obstacle to overcome!

                Lastly, I want to share some things at random that I’ve learned through my “cultural” experiences:

1.      Haircuts, specifically for males, are very different. I honestly never knew that there was an infinite number of ways to make a mohawk!

2.      Dress. Professional attire is similar for females, but for males, they have the added bonus of wearing either pants or a sulu, which is basically the male version of a skirt. Because it gets so hot here, it’s rare to see a man wearing pants. Instead, most opt for the wrap around that falls just below the knee. Mike – Are you ready for me to bring one home to you?!

3.      The kindness and friendliness of the people here. When I did my observations today, the teachers and administration at the two schools were literally bending over backwards for me. I was driven around by both headmasters to get from one point to another, I got the cell phone number of one headmaster to contact if I "EVER need anything", and several teachers gave me e-mail addresses so that they can continue to help me with my findings and research on Fijian schools. This way, the training can be as relate-able as possible!

4.      Driving here is ridiculous as I feel like I’m constantly playing a game of Frogger. Basically, if I die in Fiji, it’s because I got hit by a moving vehicle. The silver lining (I guess?) is that Suva isn’t as congested as most cities you would think of, but pedestrians should definitely cross at their own risk! (Don't worry, Mom! I'm being careful!)

5.       My name is very difficult for Fijians to say. So far, I’ve been called, “Magnet,” “Maggot,” and “Bacon.” Every new name that I’m given, I find hilarious, yet I can’t correct them because I don’t want to be rude. My personal favorite story from this occurred today, when I introduced myself as “Ms. Meghan”. The teacher wrote “Ms.” on the board, but didn’t know how to spell my name, so she stopped writing. One of the students then asked me where I was from. When I responded, “America,” the teacher wrote that on the board. So, for about 30 minutes today, my name was Ms. America on the board. Thank you, Fiji. I accept. In the meantime, I've decided to officially introduce myself as "Meg" from here on out. After the Ms. America ordeal, I got about 30 six year olds to get my name by saying something like, "My name is Ms. Meg. Like an egg, but Meg." If THEY all got it, then I think the rest of the country will be able to handle it, also.

… And all of these lessons are only from week 1! I’m looking forward to making many more memories and to learning so much more in the coming weeks... and to potentially promoting world peace as Ms. America.

Well, whatever you call this work that I'm doing here, I say: BRING IT ON, FIJI! Bring. It. On.