Brr!

That's right: Brrrrrrr. Who would have thought I'd say Fiji is cold! But it is, at least where I'll be living. All those jokes about me living in the bush? Yup. I will be. I'm in the jungle mountains of Fiji and it's chilly. I guess it warms up around October and gets hot but I actually need to buy a hat! People were dressed in winter boots, wool coats, hats, and scarves. Riding the bus- which has no closed windows- is the worst. But, I have the most amazing, spectacular view! It's beautiful in the mountains. My village is actually down in an open valley but surrounded by hills and trees. It's really big for a village. There's only one road in and two buses go through a day. It's really secluded. My house is cute, small but nice. I have a "caretaker" who owns the house and lives in her own house next door with her two sons. I met some really cool people there already, including this 50 year old single woman who has a son w/ a British businessman and speaks really wonderful English. When we were talking about church I told her I don't really go to church and she said, "That's okay my dear, that's okay" and was very okay about it. She's really tall and skinny and walks gracefully around in these men's old sport coats. There's this other old woman who's 68 and widowed and doesn't smoke or drink grog or eat meat and retired from the Ministry of Health. I call her Nana, which is ironic, especially because we sat and talked for a long time and it feels like I already have a grandmotherly figure in the village. She's really sassy and doesn't like to be bored or be idle. She likes her alone time and keeps her doors closed a lot. She says "frankly" a lot and doesn't care what the village thinks about her keeping her door closed. She doesn't like television and thinks the schools place too much emphasis on sports rather than education and reading.

But, I'm going to miss "Host village" and all the people I've met there.

I made my first political faux pas though, yesterday. We're not supposed to talk about politics, which I know and have been really good about, but then at our conference earlier in the week it came up that it's okay to talk about American political perspectives as long as you clarify you're speaking on your own behalf and not as a representative of the American government or Peace Corps. I thought I was reading the situation okay when I was asked who I think is going to win in November: Obama or McCain. Well, I wasn't too serious about it but I said, in Fijian, that I hope Obama wins. "And McCain?" "I don't really like him and I think if he wins the whole world is in trouble." "I like McCain. He's a war hero. Did you know that?" yeah. And? It ended there, but I just keep thinking about politics when I really don't want to. That's the message the world is getting: McCain is a war "hero" and that should determine who the president of one fo the most powerful countries in the world is. Uh, no. But I can just picture what is happening in the US right now, like what happened with Kerry and to a point with Gore: McCain's camp is going to be all negative and his supporters are going to throw out the "war hero" story over and over again as if that really means anything. Obama's going to play nice, play fair (which I like, really) and never stand up for himself. he's going to roll over and be the moderate, middle of the road guy who tows the party line. I hope this isn't happening. Why can't we as liberals, as self-entitled "Progressives," stand up for ourselves? We don't need a president who is middle of the road and bows to the other side! We need a president who isn't afraid to stick to what s/he believes. If the Right can do it, we can do it too.

Enough. I think I'll head back to my first village. I'll be changing my address when I head to N. in a couple weeks, but until then PC mail gets to PCVs. Hope everyone is well! Stay cool, eat some cheese for me, and let me know what's up!