My life?
Ridiculous. The Fiji team? Ridiculous. My birthday? Ridiculous. And this
birthday was nothing short of amazing and definitely one for the books. In
fact, I would consider it a strong contender for “best birthday ever”…
I began
the day by getting up early… like usual. As I walk into the main living area,
our cook’s kids are singing Happy Birthday because they see a birthday banner
hung up. Although they had no idea it was my birthday, I considered it a
pleasant touch as I looked at the beautiful note and homemade “You Are Special
Today” birthday plate that Brittany made. (At dinner the night before, Lucy had
everybody share one birthday tradition that their family has. I talked about
the birthday plate. How thoughtful of Brittany to do something little to uphold
this tradition!)
Like my
birthday last year, we had delicious French toast for breakfast (despite the
fact that it was not made in a wok in Thailand) and then I was able to start my
work day. I travelled to the Ministry to figure out why I haven’t had any more
school professional development sessions set up yet and was able to sit down
with Vili, the sweet man who has been helping us recently. He went up a few
notches on my “most liked Fijian” list when he literally had us sit there while
he called every school in Suva that was scheduled to have me. Then, he would
hand me the phone as, “They want to speak to you because they like hearing your
voice. Your accent.” Good news: I have 5 different schools that I’ll be
visiting in the next three work days that I’m here!
At one
point during our conversation, Sarah (another volunteer), turns, looks at me,
and says, “I’m going to embarrass you right now.” Then, she turns to Vili and
says loudly, “Guess what? Today’s Meghan’s birthday!”
Not
only was he incredibly excited, but he guessed how old I was turning… 17. When
I told him 26, he was floored as, “I really didn’t think you could be older
than 20!” (Why he would be allowing a 17 year old to conduct workshops and
train teachers across their school district is beyond me!) Allow me to also
include here that I think Sarah used my birthday as an out from her
conversation, where Vili (who we find very difficult to understand) asked her
if she liked McDonald’s. She responded that it’s very humid here to which he replies,
“Yes. I just don’t understand. It’s bread, sliced in half, with some beef in
the middle. Why do people go crazy over it?”
I’ve never
been more satisfied to be an outsider, listening in on a conversation in my
entire life. Here I am, listening to Vili talk about the simplicity and
stupidity of hamburgers while Sarah talks about Fijian weather. I have no idea
how this happened, but it was quite possibly the best birthday gift I could
have ever received!
After
lunch, I was able to go to the handicraft market and flea market to buy
souvenirs. Alex, another volunteer, made it a point to constantly tell people that
it’s my birthday just to see what they would do. (In case you were wondering, I got a free gift
at one stand and had a “special deal” cut for me at another. #birthdaysforthewin)
For
dinner, the entire team went out to eat at Nando’s in Suva. While at dinner,
Alex decided that in honor of my birthday, everybody should share their
favorite memory of me thus far. The only thing that you need to know about this
exchange is that Yen Shun, our only non-U.S.
volunteer, said that his favorite memory was the first time that he met
me… because he realized that my hair looks like stir fry noodles. Rather than
me commenting anymore on this, I’ll allow you time for this to sink in for a
moment.
…………………
And now I can continue with the
rest of my day.
After dinner, we walked across the
street to the University of South Pacific to see a cultural performance of the
evolution of men’s dance. They had tribal dances, rapping, a “Stomp”-style drum
line… It was honestly one of the coolest things that I’ve experienced in Fiji
thus far. We went crazy over it and didn’t want it to be over when it ended!
(Video coming soon!)
As we were walking out, I received a
phone call from Vili, the man who works at the Ministry of Education. Remember
when I mentioned earlier that he was very excited about my birthday? Well, he
was so excited that he had already sent me a very sweet e-mail (“May the 26th
year of your journey shine like a midday sun!”), called me twice at dinner, and
texted me. The phone call after the dance was the 4th or 5th
time that I had heard from him that evening as he and his family wanted to
prepare a birthday kava ceremony for the team and I. (I’m sorry, but how can
you say no to that?!) Right before I was about to hang up, he said, “Can you
bring tuna and a smoke with you? Moce!” (‘Moce’ means ‘bye’ in Fijian.)
Allow me to remind you that Vili is
difficult to understand a lot of the time. At this point, I say out loud in the
cab, “He asked us to bring tuna and a smoke…?” to which everybody about dies
laughing over. I asked the cab driver what this means, to which he replies, “Well,
tuna is a type of fish…” Thank you, cab driver. Thank you.
I, Meghan, am proud to say that I’ve
never purchased cigarettes in my life… until my 26th birthday. We
stopped at a gas station and asked a random customer and the clerk what “tuna
and a smoke” means. They, like us, had no idea, but assumed that Vili meant tuna and cigarettes... So that's what we went with. Who knew that cigarettes here can be purchased in a pack of
20, 10, or just by the single cigarette? With no rhyme or reason (and no idea
if this is what I was supposed to be purchasing at all for that matter), I
chose the pack of 10.
When we arrived at the house, I was
given the responsibility of presenting our gift to Vili. Good news: he did
actually want tuna and a smoke for reasons beyond me. I think his gift (for
having us over for my birthday, mind you) was perfect! YEESSSS! (As Shawney
would say, “Happy birthday to me!”)
Vili instructed me to sit at the
head of the circle in his main living area (That’s right, Ben. I GOT TO BE THE
MASTER CHIEF!) while everybody else sat around. He then taught us about the
kava ritual and, when we ran out, how to make kava (he especially taught this
to one volunteer, Natalie, who was serving everybody because she was the
youngest. I should really start applying this principle to my everyday life.
Mitch – Are you ready to serve the rest of the family!?) We spent the next hour
and a half or so drinking kava, talking, and having a good time.
So, what makes it “birthday kava”? Before
anybody could have theirs, they had to say something kind to me. BOOM. Cultural
birthday celebration for the win!
When we left, we went dancing, of
course. We had so much fun doing absolutely ridiculous dance moves and just
being totally carefree. Lucy made me a delicious dessert (at like 2 A.M., mind
you) once we made it back to the house. As I was enjoying her unnamed banana,
oats, and ice cream concoction, I was honestly thinking about how my birthday
was absolutely perfect. I was able to both work and play. I experienced both
American things and Fijian things. I felt incredibly loved by and had so much
fun with those around me.
... And then it hit me: MY BIRTHDAY IS ONLY JUST BEGINNING IN THE U.S.!
... And then it hit me: MY BIRTHDAY IS ONLY JUST BEGINNING IN THE U.S.!
I love my life.
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