I live with a host family in a pretty decent sized village. My Na (mother) and Ta (father) are a bit different than your average Fijian family: both have jobs (primary and secondary school teachers, respectively) and they're both in Master's degree programs. I've got two host brothers (Tuvula - 13 and Tuisoa - 3), a host sister (Dilama - 11) and a cousin (Tubuna - 18) living in the house. Each morning is a whirlwind of getting everyone off to school on time (which usually doesn't happen), getting Tubuna out of bed and to the teitei (small farm) and Una coming over to take care of Tuisoa. Usually somebody - or everyone - is late - a symptom of "Fiji Time." You get used to it after a while - even the Peace Corps events rarely happen when they're planned to - things just happen when they happen.
Our village has about 85 houses jam packed into seven acres. That's 12 houses per acre, and that doesn't even count the church or the open space around the church! Technically 500 people live there, but a lot have apartments in the capital, too. We're lucky to have municipal water from Nausori. It's always cold, but it's so warm here that cold showers are refreshing! The pressure is more of an issue as it can vary wildly and your nice shower can become a trickle or a raging torrent in just a second. There's not a waste treatment plant, so most people have home made septic tanks... And grey water goes into drainage ditches around the village and out into the river. The trash does pretty much the same thing... Needless to say I'm a little hesitant to swim in the river!
We're also lucky to have constant electricity - that is - if you remember to "re up" your account. It's similar to pre-paid cell phones. Everyone has a tv, dvd player and radio. Electric ovens, kettles, blenders, irons and washing machines are not uncommon, but they're often too expensive to use. My family even has a computer, but they keep it locked up. It's really hard to have stuff that's much nicer than the neighbors because of "KereKere." Literally meaning "please," this is how people refer to the practice of indefinitely "borrowing" from family members - which could be anyone in a village or even visitors. Most of the time the borrower doesn't even ask. Luckily it usually doesn't extend to Peace Corps volunteers, but I do keep my peanut butter and coffee in my room, and sometimes my snacks for tea break, because if I don't they'll just all disappear before I get a chance to use them!
In the village family is very important, and all Fijians have to be tied to a village somewhere, even if they live in a city. The way this works is through mataqalis (clans - pronounced matangali). Our village has seven clans - the different clans have different traditional land holdings which cannot be bought or sold. They have different responsibilities in the village, too. They are part of the governing system of the village with each having their own head man who speaks for the mataqali in the village meetings. Most people live around other people in their clan, so that's mostly who they interact with, too. This system is partly responsible for a bunch of different extended family relationships that I haven't quite grasped: some people aren't allowed to talk to other people based on their family relationships, others are required to have joking/taunting relationships! This extends to different provincial relationships, too. I haven't got it all figured out, but I do know I'm in the highest cheifly clan in the village!
There are always a ton of people in the village. Most people don't have real jobs. They might have some role in the community, like taking care of other people's children or running one of the village stores (more like a very small, necessities only, market), but more commonly the women make money diving for and selling kai (freshwater clams) and men grow and sell dalo (taro), tavioka (cassava), roro (taro leaves), vudi (plantain), jaina (banana), ota (wild fern) or other vegetable, fruit or animal products. There are youth (18-35) in the teitei, mowing the lawn with weed whackers or making a new volley ball court, children under 5 running around all over, women cooking in the houses, and men sitting around sharpening their isele (machetes) or telling stories. Everyone knows everyone and everyone invites you over for tea. It's a very interactive existence! I'm doing my best to make friends: telling stories, drinking grog (kava), going swimming, playing volleyball and more. I'm always hearing, "Milli! Lesu mai vei?" (where are you coming from) or "Lako i vei?" (where are you going). I've just recently gotten quick enough to respond!
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