Amurrrika

Well as many of you know, I had the luxury of going back home to America for a little over 3 weeks due to the incredible generosity of my sister Lauren and her husband Jason. Originally this trip was to be a surprise for the  whole family but my mom and dad were let in on the secret a few weeks before my arrival home. Still, I had the opportunity to surprise a large number of  family members and friends at my sisters baby shower the second day I was in country. She is having a baby boy and I had the great luck of feeling my first nephew kick the night before she left to return to Texas and it was incredible. I regret the fact I cant be there for his birth or the first 7 months of his life. It was a harsh reminder that life continues for everyone else while I’m here!

 

Me holding baby Wolk’s sonogram, Lauren and Jason

So where to begin? Returning to America after living 15 months in a developing country was a shock… so Ill begin with a few of the hilarious mishaps that occurred.

 

To preempt this first story, since leaving the country my parents have moved so I was not familiar with this new condo place at all. That being said, when going in to take my shower the first night I spent a solid minute attempting to figure out how to make the bath faucet water divert and go up into the shower spigot unsuccessfully. When I had finished showering (well actually just sitting down and washing my hair and such under the bath faucet) my parents asked if I figure out how to turn on the shower to which I responded no…. They laughed a bit and all I could think was, well shoot! I had hot water and water pressure! Its so much better than me boiling water and taking a bath out of a bucket and using a coconut shell to douse my head!

 

When getting in cars, I regularly attempted to enter on the drivers side because in Fiji that is the passenger side.

 

I said “tulou” (albeit quietly) when walking over people who were seated or when on a bus etc. In Fiji its really disrespectful to stand over someone’s head and I guess that habit refused  to die.

 

I constantly had to remind myself to use silverware instead of sitting on the floor and eating with my hands as I do at home.

 

Finding out my parents water from their refrigerator counts the number of fluid ounces it disperses, then telling my parents  and realizing they had never used water from the refrigerator because it “tastes bad” and hearing that sent my head reeling because I can’t consider water taste… but look more a color and particle presence to determine water cleanliness.

 

I was lucky to spend so much time with friends and family in the states. My sisters baby shower, a family camping trip, a trip to San Diego, a RPCV baby shower, numerous meals out (thanks for that, my gut really appreciates the 15 lbs I gained on this trip), delicious beer, wakeboarding, coffee dates with friends, canoeing, berry picking, fishing, and a new favorite, geocaching!

 

Some of the Cousins

me and Kristi and her sister’s Ordination Party

Paint Pals

Smashing Pennies on the train tracks

Favorite Meal of the trip- Twinbrooks Dairy Chocolate Milk and Fresh Picked Blackberries

Fishing at Baker Lake

I can’t lie to you though, I struggled daily with the differences between Fiji and America. I was asked regularly if I really thought being in the Peace Corps was a smart decision financially for me. I must just say that I’m not doing this for the money. Having a refrigerator, microwave, stove, air conditioning or a heater, a television, a car, proper means of rubbish disposal, regularly running (and clean!) water and electricity, meal options, beer options, schedules… it was very overwhelming.

 

I was lucky enough to bring yaqona (grog or kava) back from my village to share with people in the States so that they learned a little bit about Fijian culture and so that once and for all people understood its not alcohol! Its just a dirty tasting liquid that we drink socially because we don’t have the option to go out to dinner or drinks, or spend “time together” watching television at night.

 

Drinking Grog at the Lake

I think the biggest shock was the technology. Holy cow. Everyone has an  iPhone these days. I mean everyone.  I went out to lunch with Kimberly (a returned peace corps volunteer) and her husband Erami and literally the next table over was a family and everyone was just on their iPhones. I didn’t know what “Siri” was, Instagram, a Nook, and various other “apps” that have become an integral part of peoples daily lives… the most poignant example of which was driving through a city that we didn’t know very well looking for a place to eat lunch and everyone busted out their iPhones looking for a restaurant and all I could think was… “we are driving by places to eat as we speak, do our eyes not work for finding a restaurant anymore?” It almost seems as though technology has replaced the spirit of adventure in America. Reveling in getting lost, taking a wrong turn, and finding someplace you never would have tried before because it had bad reviews on your app. I guess for me, right now, I just want to make mistakes. I want that spirit of adventure to live on, I want to see the world through my eyes instead of a phone screen and I want to be in Fiji (we  don’t have Wifi here!)

 

Stepping off the airplane in Nadi Fiji with the new group of Fiji volunteers (Fiji group 89) was an incredible feeling. They recognized me instantly from the Fiji Facebook page and my blog. It was an awesome experience to answer their questions and to spend time with them. My first thought stepping off the airplane was, “phew, I’m home.”

 

Being in America has solidified my commitment to this process, to my village, to being here, and to enjoying my Peace Corps experience. I cant place myself in America right now, its just not where I am meant to be at the moment and Im so glad I had the opportunity to recognize that and refocus myself for the remaining 10 months of my service.

 

My first night back in country I stayed at a Peace Corps home in the city of Suva with 3 other volunteers.  We made pizza with bele, chilies, onions and tomatoes, bought the 2 varieties available of Fiji beer and shared a chocolate bar. Telling stories with them and reconnecting with the Peace Corps crew made me feel so at home and so back in a normal arena of thought it was incredible. This is my life now. Meetings, Fiji time, lack of utilities and food options, frustrations with relationships in the village, project successes and failures- this is my realm, this is my life, this is Peace Corps Fiji and this is home.

Moce mada. Loloma tu yani mai Viti.