The sun has been shining for hours by the time you wake up. It’s 7:00 am. “Yadra Nana and Tata!” (good morning host mom and dad.) Tie up the mosquito net, grab some toilet paper and head outside to the bathroom. Check for frogs and other mellow creatures making shelter in the concrete cubicle before getting down to business. Afterwards wash your hands with antibacterial soap in a sink or shower and you’re good to go.
Before heading over to the OE’s host-home for breakfast, you make sure to tie on a sulu and say “Mode” (goodbye) to your host family. Before entering the OE’s host-home, you say “miavakaduo” if you’re a girl or “duaduadua” if you’re a boy to the giggly ladies who cooked your breakfast. This is to ask permission for entering the home. They laugh and say “yadra,” so you remove your shoes, bend you back and say “chillo” (excuse me) as you pass by them. You do this anytime people are sitting in a room and you are standing to show respect.
You find the group in the main room and take a seat on the floor while waiting for breakfast to be set up. Groggy conversation ensues until one of the ladies announces that it’s time to eat. On the table today there’s porridge, homemade doughnuts, papaya, custard slices, crackers, buns and bananas. You plate your favorites and find your spot on the floor back in the main room to eat. Say “vinaka nakana” (thank you for the food) to the cooks before turning in your plate. You have until 9:00 am to get into your work clothes and work sulu, fill up and steri-pen your water bottle, and make your way to the community hall.
You paint, sweep, wipe down windows or pick up trash until 10:30. Then drink the juice from a fresh coconut and relax until lunch at 1:00 pm. The options for lunch are boiled cassava, fried cassava, cassava chips, rice with coconut, ramen noodles with teriyaki sauce, taro leaf patties, boiled taro, flourless banana bread, scones, and papaya. You fill your plate and go back for seconds. Say “vinaka nakana” to the cooks again, then head over to the community hall for another two hours of work alongside friendly villagers. Tea time is at 3:30 pm.
The group gets to snack on cookies, custard slices, scotch fingers, flourless banana bread, bananas, papaya, rice, fried cassava, and lemon or black tea. After tea the rest of the afternoon is free time to take walks, spend quality time with your fellow group members, get to know you host family better, jump in the swimming hole, read, play cards, etc. You may even take part in a kava ceremony, sipping spicy liquid that makes your tongue numb. Dinner is at 6:30 pm and the ladies have prepared 5 different flavors of ramen noodles, 4 different forms of cassava, rice with coconut, dhal, scones, tortillas, taro leaf patties with onion and ketchup, fried fish, sweet and unsweet plantain, breadfruit, fried eggplant, and boiled eggs. At some point during the meal, the generator turns on and the room floods with light. You tell the cooks “vinaka nakana” one last time and return to your host home for another few hours of free time before settling down to sleep.
You will return home with a new appreciation for furniture to sit on, critter-free restrooms, electronic entertainment, and variety in meals. You will also return with memories of unforgettable people, beautiful views, hilarious group fumbles, and overall amazing experiences.
Bilbo Bloggins (Daphne J), signing out!