I couldn't get a decent picture of this moonshine, so here is a video of it. It was amazing.Adorable little Lewa tells us what she ate for dinner.Adorable little Lewa gives me some kisi's. I'm going to miss her for sure!

I have just about 2.5 weeks until I finish Peace Corps and leave the country, so perhaps it is time for what will most likely be my final blog. I have to admit that lately I have gone through ups and downs. Earlier in the week I was having frustrations with the people in my community and my living conditions. I was very easily angered and I felt guilty about that which only made me feel worse. On top of that, I leave the country soon and am still not sure about my next step. However, things can turn around just as quickly as they dip down. It seems that the rollercoaster ride of Peace Corps goes all the way to the very end. But, lucky for me, I had about a one week period with all ups and no downs. I had a couple of visitors at my house that I got to entertain and cook for which was fun – I miss that part of America. It’s something you probably wouldn’t realize that you could miss at all in fact. But having people over to your space and sharing your home with them is a lot more important to me than I realized. The times I have had visitors have been really satisfying for me and I’m glad I got to have a couple more before finishing. I went snorkeling for the first time in a while as well and took some more walks on the beach. I forget sometimes how important it is for me to be outside. When it’s either raining too much or way too hot from the sun, you always want to stay inside! The other day I had the lucky happenstance to find myself out under the shade of a breadfruit tree scaling fish with some of the women in my village. And it was great! I didn’t say much. I just sat there with my hands wrist deep in a basin of water/fish/scales and listened to them gossiping. Scaling fish is mindless fun. If my back didn’t start to hurt, I would have enjoyed doing it longer. So … 1.5 weeks left in the village and then 1 week in Suva finishing up Peace Corps paperwork and waiting for my flight to the US of A. While on Monday it seemed like 2 weeks was a lifetime, today, it is scarily close. Don’t get me wrong – I look forward to rejoining the real world, but I will miss this one. The world where the waves are crashing mere feet from my window (I can hear them now). Where my doors are open all day to friendly “Bula Tuli!”s and the ocean breeze. Where I can pop a papaya off a tree and have it for breakfast. Of course, those are just a few of my happy memories. The bad ones are there too, but if you have ever watched I may be experiencing a phenomenon known as “graduation goggles” where when you look back – all was good and nothing was bad. Of course, they fall off now and again leading me to want to stand under a coconut tree and wait for that tell-tale “CRACK” sound. But I have a few things to look forward to in the coming weeks as well. A friend is supposed to take me out fishing on the bamboo rafts called bilibilis for the first time – long time coming!!! I’m also expecting a friend to teach me to properly mix the kava so when I bring some home for people to try I don’t kill anyone. I am also supposed to do an itatau with the community – it is the opposite of a welcome ceremony (an isevusevu) where I say goodbye to the community and present the kava. There may also be a dinner with my final taste of Fijian fare. Of course, in recent days my mood has plummeted again. Fiji has shown some ugly colors to me lately in the way of finally seeing some progress on the marine protected area in my village to be kick started with a workshop in AUGUST!! Oh Fiji thou art a cruel mistress. I would have loved to be a part of that workshop and the people involved are just “oh – why don’t you stay?” NOOOOO! And during the meeting I felt kind of like an ass because I didn’t have more to say that was accomplished in these last two years. I should look at the silver lining and say that at least something seems to be starting. Additionally, I got another Fijian kick in the you-know-what when one of the computers in town gave my hard drive a virus, wiping all of my documents and photos from the past 6 years of my life. I have only myself to blame for plugging my life into what was surely to be a virus-ridden Fijian box of terror. Some final fun Fiji observations to close out my service: - I saw a woman shaving her chin on the truck the other day. A couple of things shocked me about this besides the obvious. One being how she didn’t cut off half her face with the conditions of the roads around here being what they are. Another being the fact that she was actually doing something about her chin hair! Most women here seem to be oblivious to it. - The sun moves a lot. It started off rising at a point further east and now it seems to be rising in more of a northeasterly location. My friend tried to explain this via diagrams in a letter, but I think I need a face to face explanation. My astronomy is weak. - I have a bump on my head I can’t see but it hurts and I didn’t hit anything with my head. So that begs the questions – wtf?! My first fear is BOIL! I can’t see it though, but it’s kind of pointy, less squishy so I can probably rule that out. Second is that I got bitten by a centipede in my sleep again because it does feel bruise like. I also feel bruise like on my neck, but there is no bump there and again – I didn’t hit anything with my neck. - I am slowly getting rid of things in my house to get ready to go home, but it’s hard. What goes? What stays? It will come down to what smells too much like urine/dust/mold – and if the answer involves any of those three smells then it stays. - People in the village have been scouting out my things for a while now. They want to call dibs on whatever they can before others do. - There will be 3 new volunteers on Ovalau after I am gone, but none of them will be coming to my village to replace me. - The davui just sounded outside. The davui is the large shell from a triton snail and they have been overharvested in Fiji. It is usually blown to call people to meetings in the hall or to start some village work. I am hoping they just blew this one to have the men go check out why I have not had water for over 24 hours. - I played BINGO in my house with a bunch of kids to give away a lot of the kiddie yayas I’ve found while packing. I was nearly suffocated trying to give away the last of the crazy bands. I feel that if I had enough crazy bands I could overthrow Prime Minister Bainimarama in a non-violent coup while blindfolded and eating curry. - A young man came over to my house last night to watch a movie, but it was late and I told him to return later. He walked into my house uninvited anyway and refused to leave for 15 minutes, just sitting on the floor saying “please tuli please tuli” over and over. It was with persistence and a swift kick to the head that he finally left. Without the kick in the head. Where were my guard dogs when I needed them? - Finally, if any potential future employers are reading this – I am very enthusiastic about starting a new career!! Please don’t hesitate to contact me about available positions – I promise to work as hard as I can for you. J

Me on the shark dive ... see my shark friend behind me!?

The kids I taught at the math and science camp at the Sunshine Special School. Showing off their periscopes.

Another picture from New Zealand - Sean and I in a kayak on Milford Sound.

Group shot in NZ after the worst part of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.

The pineapple upside down cake I made for tea and a movie for ladies night. Doesn't it look so good! Made on a stove! Yes, be impressed. It was quite moist and delicious.

Video from the shark dive I did on my friend's birthday - the morning after the tsunami in Japan.

Dear Loyal Followers, I am so very sorry that I have not updated this blog in some time. I have no excuse. Ok, that’s a lie – I have some excuses BUT they really don’t work because I ALWAYS have free time in which I could have been writing a blog. OK, so with the apology out of the way, let’s get down to business. The last time I wrote, I mentioned an amazing trip to New Zealand. It was pretty wonderful. When I think back on it now, though, it feels more like a dream. Since my return from NZ, the end of my service has seemed imminent. Add to that one Jewish mother (you know who you are) and you have someone who is just a bit FREAKED OUT about the job market back home. SO – I have been applying to jobs. I have had 2 job interviews, 1 which has resulted in a standard “no thank you” email and the other is pending. To give myself a bit of credit, the “no thank you” email interview did go quite well, it was merely a timing issue. If anyone out there has any connections to an aquarium which may be interested in a marine biologist and returned Peace Corps volunteer – please … hook a girl up. Meanwhile, work wise I actually feel like things are moving forward! Well, not the marine protected area which I came here to do … please. I have been promised progress on that for 2 years. I am no longer gullible. BUT – I did host another volunteer at my school in March for a weeklong literacy training and that went really well. And before that I assisted at a math(s) and science camp at a special school in Lautoka – a “city” on the other side of Viti Levu. That was incredibly fun and I am currently helping to make a manual out of the activities for future volunteers to be able to use. AND the world map at the school is finally in the next to last stage of completion. The map part has been complete for some time now, but it was waiting for a Peace Corps and Delana School logo and the handprints and names of all the kids who worked on it. DONE. Now it just awaits a coat of varnish to preserve all the hard work that went into it. And currently the kids are on a school break and I am trying to entertain them at the house with more than just games of go-fish and episodes of Glee. We are doing an arts and crafts activity each day which involves reusing old potential trash materials. Day 1 of break we made plastic bottle dolls using old soda bottles, pieces of cloth, and toilet paper rolls. Day 2 we made bracelets with old fishing line (aka, fishing line I bought 2 years ago when I foolishly thought I could catch my dinner on a regular basis!). Future activities include making piñatas with old newspaper and coloring pictures of marine scenes (no recycling here – just coloring fishies!). I also plan to make them watch some BBC ocean episodes instead of Glee or other equally annoying high school style movies which they always request. So, the movies are not ALWAYS annoying, but they are because they have watched them about a million times. Oh right – the fun stuff. COS CONFERENCE JUST HAPPENED! COS = Close of Service. It is both a noun and a verb in my little PC community. As a noun, it is the conference I just attended at the end of April where the process of leaving Fiji and the Peace Corps is gone over and my official end of Peace Corps service date is chosen – JULY 14th! (FYI: Post PC plans for travel are still being determined – requests may be made to my gmail account. J) I also learned about resume building and all the resources available to me as a former volunteer. As a verb, it is the process of leaving … as in “I will COS on July 14th” or “When do you COS?” The conference was held at a swanky hotel on the coral coast of Viti Levu. And as my brother pointed out, my definition of swanky has changed over the course of the past 2 years, but this time swanky means swanky – they put us up at the Pearl and it was glorious. After the conference most of the volunteers went up to an island off the northern coast of Viti and enjoyed what is likely our last time all together before we start to leave the country. After that, I went to the Yasawas with 2 other volunteers as the last place in Fiji I really wanted to visit. If you have the time, Google the Yasawas and you will see how BEAUTIFUL they are. I stayed at a place called Octopus and had a most relaxing 3 days reading, snorkeling, eating, and sleeping. In conclusion, recently I have had lots of great moments and memories that make me realize how much I will miss Fiji and PC when July 14th rolls around. However, last night I had a moment when I realized how much sometimes I really just want to get the hell home. Why? Because a beetle the size of a football flew into my kitchen, knocking things off my counter willy nilly!! This is before crash landing on it’s back and flailing around like an upturned turtle. I used that opportunity to make a beeline for the door (I had been in my bed with the protective mosquito net around me while watching a movie) to try and find my neighbor – a big burly Fijian man with the world’s most bushy mustache. He wasn’t home! I couldn’t run around the village because alas I was wearing pj pants and would NOT go back to the house to get a sulu or skirt. I did grab my shoes though and creep around the house to see if I could see anyone in the distance. And to my luck, it was women’s night for church and so I saw my friend Radini and waved her out and she valiantly came to my assistance and squashed the still flailing monster. Is that all? NO! I also encountered a giant moth, giant spider, 2 frogs, and another beetle clinging to the outside of my mosquito net. I shut myself inside the net, put my headphones on, and tried to rock myself to sleep so that I could wake up in the daytime.

Look around the glacier.

More glacier!

Courtney intros the luge!

*More videos to come ... this uploading in Fiji thing just takes forever!

New Zealand. Is. Awesome. Just in case you didn’t know. I was there for 14 days, 15 nights, with 3 friends, drove 1 car, ate 15 delicious dinners, kayaked in 1 fjord in a 2 person kayak, saw 1 penguin and many sea lions, baa-ed at an undetermined number of sheep, walked 18 km through a national park, saw 0 hobbits, ate sushi 3 times, visited 1 museum, drove around infinite numbers of wiggle and waggles in the road, rode 1 gondola, had 5 rides on a luge, ate at 3 burger joints (veggie options each time), avoided 1 earthquake by 2 days, and had 1 million tons of fun. Ok, that last one was over the line – but the rest was true! Some true highlights from the trip:

1) The Tongariro Alpine Crossing – it was one of those highlights that you also think about with flashbacks of fear. The 17-18km, 7 hour hike started off fine. Mist shrouded the tops of the surrounding mountains and the walk was easy. As we got closer to the (and already passed 2 of the 3 bathroom stops along the way) the terrain got steeper and more precarious. After climbing many many MANY stairs we thought we were at the top – we were, after all, in the clouds and getting very wet – but we were wrong. The climb got steeper and more difficult. The maintained wooden walkway disappeared and became lava SAND at a steep incline. SAND AT AN INCLINE! Oh – and did I mention there were 50 mph gusts of wind literally blowing the plastic raincoats off of people’s bodies? At the other side of this intense summit, the wind died off and the clouds cleared away to beautiful emerald lakes and mountain scenery. We also could see Lake Toupo in the distance. The last 4 hours were beautiful. We had lunch by the shore of an emerald lake and devoured a plate of nachos each when we got back to the hostel.

2) Franz Josef Glacier – we walked on a glacier with spikey shoes! It was so cool! My first time wearing cramp-ons. The ice was blue and muddy but so very cool to be standing on. Our guide (who incidentally knew another Peace Corps volunteer in Fiji – weird!) even let us play with his giant axe for photos when we reached the highest point of our hike. Not as scary or difficult as the Alipine Crossing, but it was certainly one of those “I’ll likely never do this again” kind of moments.

3) Kayaking in Milford Sound – When we pulled through to the other side of the tunnel marking the last 10 minutes of our drive to the sound, we saw fog rolling in through the mountains. Not a bad way to start the morning. We had woken at 4 am to drive 2 hours to kayak for 2 more hours through the sound. We saw a seal and a penguin and paddled right up to the base of Lady Bowen Falls – the waterfall that powers Milford Sound’s town and also provides their freshwater drinking supply. Pretty cool! Made me want to buy a sea kayak, a feeling I have had before and didn’t follow up on. Who knows where I will move after PC but perhaps a sea kayak is on the list of things to buy when I get there.

4) The food! It was so great to eat good food again. Now – don’t get me wrong, I cherish the times I get to eat Fijian food. In a certain way. As in – I don’t eat it regularly so I enjoy it the few times I do eat it. But westernized food – wow. Sushi, pizza (with cream cheese and smoked salmon on it!!! Best pizza ever!), bagels, string cheese, spanakopita, crepes … it all just made me so happy. I was sure to avoid Chinese and Indian foods at all costs.

5) Driving – how fun is driving!? Granted it was on the left side of the road in the right side of the car, but it was power. It was control. It was great! Coming back to Fiji and having to put myself at the mercy of 5 hour bus rides and 1 hour ferry trips was kind of a bummer, but I am still enjoying the lorry truck rides a little bit.

6) The weather! I know that when I am cold I am usually a bit cranky, but this was great! I mean, as I write this blog in my house I am wearing nothing but a scrap of fabric wrapped around me like a towel and I am dripping sweat everywhere. It feels disgusting. But ahhh New Zealand. Cool, crisp New Zealand. Thank you for the reminder that there are places out there that are cooler than 80 degrees at night.

So yeah – New Zealand was pretty great. It was really sad to hear what happened to Christchurch only 2 days after we left. We realize how lucky we are to have left when we did and our thoughts are with those people in Christchurch. I’m glad we got to see it before the Cathedral collapsed. It really is the heard of the city.

Now that I am back in Fiji, though, I have to admit that I was not thrilled to return. But there were a few things that helped jolt me out of the “I don’t want to be back here” state of mind.

1) Several people called me to check on me from my village after the earthquake to make sure I was back in Fiji. My neighbor and my vakatawa (preacher). That they thought of me and wanted to check in just made me smile.

2) My neighbor called to tell me he was cleaning my house for me! And when I returned he really had done a great job. He even pulled things out from under my bed I hadn’t seen in 2 years. And there were flowers by the door and my mosquito net had been washed! Plus he was weeding my back yard when I arrived. Makes such a huge difference to not have to clean house after a day of travelling before you can relax.

3) The kids say I look slimmer!

4) Fiji really is beautiful.As I was riding that lorry into town, looking out the back of it I kept thinking that I will never have such a lush tropical environment as my backyard and I intend to appreciate it now.

5) It’s my home. For now. And after travelling, it always feels good to be home. (a sappy ending - come on, you shed a tear didn't you?)

As we enter the New Year, I have found myself an interesting house guest. To catch everyone up, I have had rat issues for some time now. I think that since Simba died, they have found my house to be most … hospitable. Though I doubt Simba did much to rid the house of rats in an active sense, he may have scared them away simply by being there. The rats in Fiji have a delicate taste palate, eating only the finest of foods including, but not limited to: fly swatters, tank tops, soap of all varieties, ziplock bags, clay face mask (including the tube in which it is housed), triple antibiotic ointment (again, including the tube), brand new tampons, plastic of ANY KIND, carrots, toothbrush handles, popcorn, beans, couscous, papaya, mango, peanut butter. They also like to eat away at my sanity. The most recent battles of WWIII – aka, Na I Valu ni Kalavo (The War of the Rat) – get a bit more personal. On the morning of Christmas Eve I woke at 3am to catch the ferry that takes me off this island (see previous blog for travel details). What is the first thing all of us do in the mornings? Use the facilities. I went to my (thankfully indoor) facility and saw something … inside. My first thought is “FROG” because they are so ubiquitous in my home (I just chased one under the bed, FYI). Then my first instinct is “FLUSH!” I do, and as I watch the “frog” spin round and round I realize – this is not a frog! No no … it is a kalavo!!! A rat!!! IN MY TOILET! What is the first thing I did after realizing there was a RAT IN MY TOILET? I called my mommy of course! It was 3 am Fiji time … who else would be awake, so no judgments please. And what does she say? “Did you try flushing it?” YES MOM! What else would I do!? The slippery little bastard, still being alive, was able to remain un-flushed. I tried again. No luck. Mom’s next suggestion? “Do you have any poison around?” Really? Raise your hands if you have spare poison lying around your house? Wow … that many of you … hmmm. Well I don’t, so I just poured blue toilet cleaner on it, then added a spritz of Febreez (hoping to suffocate it, not make it smell nice). Oh, and this was AFTER I tried to beat it into submission with a large stick, but then freaked out thinking it could get purchase and crawl up the stick to get revenge for trying to flush it … twice. Might I remind everyone that this is all happening at 3 AM! How lucid are most of you at that hour? My next dilemma (btw, at this point I probably only have 15 more minutes before I need to be by the road awaiting my transport) is … where in G-d’s name do I pee. I have a 20 min truck ride and then a 1 hour bus ride before I have access to one of the world’s most smelly toilets. I’d like to pee first. So … I go in my yard. Outside under the stars. Now, I know that since I am in Peace Corps most of you think me a big outdoorsy hippy. I like outdoors, yes … but I very much prefer to not use the bathroom there. Especially if I have a toilet so easily accessible. But I cannot pee on top of a rat. What if it gets a giant burst of energy and leaps up while I am sitting?! What if it bites me … there?! NOOOOOO! So I do what anyone would … pop a squat in my yard. How classy. I got dressed, finished last minute packing, and then caught my truck on time, leaving the rat behind. I left the spare key above the door and called my neighbor on Christmas day, asking for one of the biggest kerekeres (favors) I may ever ask for. Do you think this story ends here? No no, my friends. It’s not over. I was away from the village for the holidays for about 2 weeks (It was great fun, and probably worth a blog …). I returned to a house run amuck by critters of all sorts. The frogs had left several piles of dried feces on the floor for me … one of which was less dry than I would have liked. Then there is the kalavo. He left a rather interesting gift I never would have expected. First, this monster rat (as it must be at this point) managed to cart my bottle of oil from the shelf on the wall over to the sink, where it kept company with an old wine bottle that I am not sure why I am still holding on to. Then the rat proceeded to chew the cap off the oil. Yum. When I saw the bottle, I approached slowly because there seemed to be something OTHER than oil inside. My first thought was maggots, but that didn’t seem right – this is oil, not decaying matter. As I got closer, I saw that it was hermit crabs! Yes, the kasikasi as they are called here in Fiji like to crawl towards food. I have seen them clamor towards the spot on the ground where I have just poured old used oil or food scraps. These guys did indeed clamor towards the oil, not realizing once they did … there was no way out. So I return to my home for the first time in 2011 to find a bottle filled with canola oil and hermit crab carcasses. And piles of frog poop. Who is jealous of me now for living in Fiji? Anyone? Beuller? On the other hand … I am still shocked that this is indeed the year in which I will have to return to the real world. I’m scared and excited all at the same time. The simple act of opening a can will trigger me to think “what will it be like to open a can in America again?” I also look out my door and see the lone coconut tree on a hill that always makes me smile because for some reason, I think of it as MY coconut tree. And then I wonder what sort of thing I will see out my backdoor in America. And at night when I get frustrated with all the noises I hear (moths beating at my mosquito net, kasikasi scraping their legs against my tin walls, rats bustling about, dogs barking in the night), I wonder if sleeping in America will be too quiet and what kind of artificial noises I may have to create in order to fall asleep. I also am scared I will not fit in when I return. How many people will get sick of hearing stories of mine that start “oh yeah … when I was in Peace Corps ….” Or “back when I lived in Fiji … blah blah blah.” And will I be overwhelmed the first time I walk into a grocery store with more than 2 aisles and choices beyond tinned fish and piles of potatoes and onions? And will I yearn for the days of cold showers and afternoon swims? I do know that I am looking forward to home, but also do not look forward to leaving this home. But I must ask, even 6 months in advance of my return, that everyone please bear with me and know that although there will be so much joy to return to my loved ones and the luxuries I have missed these 2+ years I’ve been away, there will be intense sadness for the loss of Fiji and the close knit family I have created here of volunteers, Peace Corps staff, and kai viti (Fijians).Just another fun photo - the candles on my menorah melted when I didn't light them because I left for a couple of nights and I came back to find them like this ... isa.

Well, after it rains here the water kicks up quite a bit of shmoo. The Peace Corps has outfitted us with some filters and this is what mine look like when attempting to filter the water after the rains. They are looking rough.

And this picture is especially for my wicked stepmother. She sent me lots of books and the kids absolutely love the magic treehouse series. They were all reading together in my house one night and it was one of the happiest moments in my 2 years here. Thank you Natalie!!

Some videos of the kids at the school where I teach doing a meke - traditional Fijian dance. They do it for the cruise ship visitors that come to Ovalau every few months. Its a great way for them to raise money and do some cultural exchange. Some of the kids I teach and some that live in my village are dancing here. And now below is a blog I wrote a few days ago at my house.

OK, so I’ve done the goo-ey shmoo-ey blog, and I know I said it was only a onetime thing. Maybe we could classify this one as introspective instead. Thoughtful. Pensive. Reflective. All those smart sounding words. Contemplative. Today was a good day. I know that doesn’t seem like much to write home about (that feels very literal in this case), but it was. You know how all those things that you know you SHOULD do because they will make you happy, but they are the things that are really hard to force yourself to do? Exercising and eating healthy falls into those categories. Doing your homework early so you have the weekend free. Going to the lab so you don’t take 4 years to work on your master’s thesis … hypothetically speaking. Well, in Fiji exercising and eating right certainly make me feel better and more energetic, but there is something simpler than that that makes me happy but is still REALLY hard to do. Two things really, but they are related. 1) Opening my doors, and 2) Leaving the house. Don’t judge me! I know that sounds so inane to those of you who have to wake up at early hours and go to a job whereas I have nowhere to be … ever. But it is hard. Interacting with people regularly here can be incredibly frustrating. In fact, it seems that lately I have been nothing but frustrated with the people in this country and I feel bad about that. I’ve been finding that the only thing I was enjoying about being here was the scenery. Which, let’s face it, doesn’t suck. But the people are good, too; I was just having some rough times. There was a near-stealing incident. A pooping incident. A teenage girl gossiping incident. Lack of work. Illness. ARGH! BUT – I was also closing myself off more each day because it all seemed to be too much and was just piling on top of me causing me to want to leave the house less and less! I felt like I was at a wall – an “I’m so freaking close to leaving, but yet still so far” kind of wall. But today was a good day. It was very Fijian. In fact, I got CALLED Fijian today by a girl in my house. My good day started with some catching up (very overdue catching up) in my journal. Then breakfast (oats, milk, sugar) and the sudden urge to clean. It was a sunny day – the mats in my house were gross. One of the downfalls of a roof made of dead leaves is the dust. And one of the downfalls of living in a glorified tent is the creatures I share it with. Frogs mainly – they poop and pee all over the mats. I hate them. So the mats got a scrub down and then went out into the sun. This is something most Fijians do every time the sun is out. I HATE to do it – my mats are big and awkward and under things (like my trunk and my table), but doing it today felt good. It was necessary. Two-thirds of the way through, I got company! A couple of young’uns (10-13 y/o) came over to help me and ask if we could snorkel. I haven’t been snorkeling in ages! At least 2 months! I know I live by the sea, but I have been sick for 2 weeks and it’s been raining nearly nonstop since the end of September and snorkeling here is tide dependent. While cleaning we looked at photo books and Life magazines – hello nonformal education!! I even have the kids reading this Magical Treehouse book series (courtesy of my fabulous stepmother) and they LOVE IT! It feels so good to watch them reading and coming back sometimes more than once a day to trade the books out for the next one. High tide came and I went snorkeling for almost an hour. We checked on the fish houses we built last year; and the kids saw all kinds of sea life, pointing out what they remembered from last time and finding things I missed – like a nudibranch!! There was also a sea snake incident – creepy, but cool. Back at the house after showers, they came over and baked muffins and we watched The Incredibles (I tried to go for the first Star Wars movie, but realized during the credits and 5 minutes into the movie that the plotline was over their head and the language was hard to understand for them – oops). But the best part of the day was them telling me they loved me. J I don’t even remember when or how it came up in conversation, but it felt good after feeling so frustrated and worrying about the kids still interacting with me. The interacting is sometimes a challenge. Trying to find activities for the kids when they visit. Wanting to interact but not really being able to communicate THAT well. But at the end of the day – it’s rewarding and I am happy. Tada! On to a short list … some list items may seem counter to the good mood I am in, BUT they are merely observations (and sometimes criticisms): - There are 5 kinds of feces in my house: frog, lizard, rat, cockroach, and bat (they go on my clothes when they hang outside overnight). Yes, 5 kinds of feces. Jealous? - The resident rodent that has decided to call my bure home is eating my curtains. And my soap, cheese, mangos, fly swatter, popcorn, and almost anything plastic. - My fly swatter is being held together by duct tape – that’s how intensely I swat. - 17 months later, the hermit crabs still amuse me, crawling across my floor. - I have read 115 books in country, 3 of them on my new Kindle. - A papaya tree fell on my house this week. The tree banged into my door – it was dead and therefore contained no fruit. Bummer. - I figured out how to conference call on Skype and its wicked! - I’m teaching myself guitar, very slowly, and can now play Yankee Doodle fiercely. - I’ve bought my ticket to New Zealand! I go in February with 3 good friends! - I start job hunting in February after returning from New Zealand. I’m open to moving anywhere (within reason), so if you see or hear of anything … marine-y … let me know! - IF you made it this far, you deserve a joke. This one is from a good friend of mine from high school, Joe. It may seem familiar to you as I did a variation of it in a previous blog. **** What’s brown, sticky, AND JEWISH? Email answers. - Bonus Joke: **** What happens when you throw a blue rock in the Red Sea? (also from Joe!)

A marama (woman) eating candy corn at a grog party - apparently candy corn is a good chaser!

Teaching kids how to carve pumpkins. They did a good job, but letting them handle the knife made me nervous despite knowing that they run around with them and use them all the time.

I wrote my name on a mango when they started coming in on my friend's tree. I did this twice. The first one fell off on its own. This is the second one - her son ate it! But I've still managed to have many delicious mangos this season.

Video of the completed community hall!!

Yes yes yes … it has been a long time, but … ok, no buts – I have very little excuse. I’m sorry. I decided that it was time for a short blurb about transportation here in Fiji. In particular – transportation on Ovalau and on/off Ovalau. I wholeheartedly believe that after hearing this you will ALL appreciate the ease of travel in the states. On Ovalau, there are no buses. Ok – that’s a lie – there are 2 buses. BUT – 1 of these buses is used only on the ferry to the island and only arrives on Ovalau around 6pm and then leaves promptly the next morning at 6am. The other bus is a school bus for the kids taking them from the Levuka town to a secondary school only 20 minutes to the north. When I ride this bus home from town I still have a 20 minute walk to my village. Then it returns to Levuka town, picks up kids going south and then travels about 45 minutes around the southern part of the island. Normal transport for me on Ovalau is via carrier truck – pickup trucks that have been fitted with benches in the back and covers made of tarp that arch over the truck bed. There are small AND large carrier trucks. Some of these trucks are reliable. The one in my village is not. Now, in order to get off of Ovalau, things get trickier. I have to wake up at 3am to be ready by the road at 330am. There is a carrier that will come from one of the villages to the northwest of mine at 4am, but has been known to come earlier; therefore I must arrive 30-45 minutes before the truck usually comes. I have missed this truck before, thus making this part of the trip the most stressful for me. The truck takes me to Levuka and then I jump on that ferry bus I was telling you about. It leaves town at 5am to drive an hour to Buresala wharf on the other side of the island. The bus boards the ferry then leaves Ovalau around 6am, goes for about 1-1.5 hours to Natovi wharf on the main island. Bus leaves the boat and drives 2 hours to Suva capital. The reverse happens if I want to return to Ovalau, leaving Suva at 12-1pm – a much more reasonable time. The alternative is to fly on and off the island which is much more costly. The ferry gets me from my village to Suva for 25 FJD (about 12.50USD). The flight has gone up in price from 88FJD to 110FJD to recently 206FJD ONE WAY (this does not include taxi fares from my village to the airport on the other side of the island). It is a 10 minute flight aboard an 8 passenger plane. These flights used to run 3 times a day every day. Just this week I have learned they changed to 3 flights A WEEK using an 18 passenger plane. Wow – the feeling of isolation just keeps going up, doesn’t it? In other news, the community hall is complete!! I am including a video in this post (hopefully) of a tour of the completely refurbished hall and would like to thank everyone again for their help with project donations. The community did a great job getting the work done in a timely fashion. Other projects in the village that I am trying to complete include a waste management system using trash cans to help separate the waste to dispose of it better. The school term is over so I anticipate children visiting and I hope to do some more marine education. My world map project at the school is 99% finished – I just have to go back while the kids are gone to paint back over the ocean where the gridlines I used to draw the map can still be seen. I would also like to get moving on my crown of thorns removal project now that I am done teaching for a while. Last week I went to Suva and had a really nice time for Thanksgiving with other volunteers. We had a big potluck dinner at the country director’s house and I made mac-n-cheese with the help of my mom and brother from overseas; I finally learned how to make cheese sauce. I also celebrated my birthday with my fellow volunteers and it was great – sushi lunch, Harry Potter 7 movie, dancing, and midnight McD’s. My friend Courtney even gave me a tiara to wear out. Unfortunately, after the celebrations, many of us got stuck in Suva because of a tropical depression causing rough seas and flooded roads. I returned 3 days after I was scheduled too. Back at my house, I found lots of dust and my bar of soap completely gone – the resident rodent had eaten it all. I did return from Suva, though, refreshed and with a new thing of treasured Kraft parmesan cheese – 20 bucks a tub, but highly valued among volunteers. Another fun list: things I hear go bump in the night. I can figure out what almost every noise is that I hear in the night time. Frogs hopping along my floor, gecko poop falling from the ceiling and hitting the mats, rustling palm fronds in the wind, the waves crashing on the beach, gecko chirping, scuttling of bugs, buzzing of mosquitoes, dogs fighting, cats shmexing, frogs bumping into the tin walls of my house from outside, rustling in my roof, squeaking that COULD be a rodent of some kind, hermit crabs scuttling across the coral rubble of my floor. I’m sure there are more but I can’t think of them right now – in the light of day. I am going to try and load some other videos and possibly photos onto this blog – I apologize if the internet is unable to accomplish such a difficult task for Fiji’s network capabilities.

I’ve lived in Fiji for 16 months, 13 of which have been on Ovalau. There are plenty of white tourists on the island, but for the most part I am one of few regular white people to be seen between Levuka and my village 20 minutes to the north. I am not conceited. I am not full of myself. In fact, I sometimes believe my self esteem to be lower than it should be. That being said – if you live on Ovalau, by this point you should know who I am! Even if we haven’t been formally introduced!! I am the short haired, slightly overweight white girl that walks around town 3 days a week and sometimes walks the 2 hours from town to my house. I’m famous!! People who I haven’t met call out my name in the street almost every day! Get with the program! I’m freaking Paris Hilton here!! With that in mind, I decided to generate the top 10 questions I always get asked, without fail. However, in the spirit of fun – I am going to give you the answers to these questions and you see if you can figure out the question – you know, Jeopardy style ( I was just watching old SNL celebrity Jeopardy skits).

My name is Tuli. No, not Julie, TTTULI. Like, Tuliana. No, not Tulia either – Tuli. I will punch you if you call me Julie. I hate that.No I am not a teacher. I’m a Peace Corps Volunteer and proud of it! I teach at a school in town, but that does not make me a teacher.I’m from America, like all other Peace Corps Volunteers. No, not Australia, New Zealand, or England. America. You’ve heard of it, right?Yes I live here. In N****o village (not allowed to print the name of my village in a public blog) and have been here for over a year. Yes! I see you are shocked, but I have indeed been here that long. And I have one more year to go – so please remember all the answers to these questions so you don’t ask me again. Oh and spread the word.I do like my stay in Fiji. It is beautiful. I love it here. Know what I don’t like? These questions.No, the weather is not the same here as it is in America. I won’t go into the various climates in time and space that we have in the good ‘ole US of A, but no – it isn’t scorchingly hot and humid all over the country.I am not married. I don’t have a husband, boyfriend or a Fijian man that I “talk to often.”Sorry, I should have clarified – that isn’t an invitation. I don’t want to marry you. Or your cousin. Or your son/brother/uncle/dad or any other Fijian boy you have seen.I don’t live with Inoke and Sue. Just because there is one other white person that lives on my side doesn’t mean I am her daughter. I live in my own house. Haha, sure you can come over for grog one night (please don’t). Oh and I would like nothing better than to make you dinner with my limited supplies from America. Sure – I’ll come over to your house one day stranger that I just met.No really, I am happy being single for now. I am not married by choice. It’s OK. Please – I don’t want to marry “one Fijian boy.”Please note, that my sentiment from the last gooey blog is still in full force and I appreciate everyday here - but that doesn't mean I don't have some right to get annoyed now again. And the time was now.

I don’t often write mushy or gooey blogs – I find them less entertaining to read and they really aren’t that fun for me to write either. I save that kind of stuff for my journal and even then it’s not really my thing. It comes off sounding fake of foofy. You know what I mean … foofy. But I’m about to drop a gooey bomb on you.

In Peace Corps you have plenty of time to be pensive. More time than you would ever need or want in a lifetime. But I’ve lately been contemplating my current and past situations and have made a decision. While I have enjoyed my time here in Fiji and in Peace Corps, I sometimes feel like I could have a more improved attitude. The rollercoaster of emotions that accompanies my day are made of such severe highs that one can only accept that the corresponding lows are also severe. I don’t like that. I want an attitude adjustment, so I’ve ordered one online.

I’ve realized that I’ve lived in some pretty great places, yet it isn’t until after I’ve left those places that I truly appreciate them. I was in Chapel Hill for 4 years and spent almost 2 of those years abroad trying to not be there. I resented being in Chapel Hill because UNC was not my top choice school – so even though I enjoyed Chapel Hill and found it a pleasant place to live – in the back of my mind I had always thought that I’d be having so much more fun at Dartmouth. Then I was in Charleston and because I had moved there from Hawaii was resentful of the fact that I was no longer in paradise. But anyone who has been to Charleston knows how charming it is! I realized this in my final year and a half studying there, but again – also had a hard time realizing how lucky I was to live there because I felt held hostage by my studies that would never end.

Now I find myself in Fiji and half the time I am counting down the months until I get to leave. Although I realize now it is not that I am counting down until I leave, but more until I get to see my family and friends again. Until I get to eat some of my favorite foods again. Just to be clear: I love living here and that other half of the time that I am NOT counting down the time until I return home, I am silently freaking out about leaving – because how could I leave. It’s a scary notion to imagine not falling asleep to the sound of the real ocean – not the one made by my iPod docking station. I do appreciate how lucky I am – believe me.

But, there are plenty of times I am frustrated because I don’t feel like I am making the difference I intended to by joining the Peace Corps. I don’t like how this or that project is or is not moving forward. And sometimes I am just a little rude to the kids when they won’t give me a minute alone. I’ve just decided I want to live in the moment more. I will walk on the beach at least once a day. I will stare at the islands in the distance and realize that I will probably never again have a view like this out my window. And those cultural differences that sometimes make me want to pull my hair out, I will laugh at more … not out loud of course … that could be rude.

Now … a few more list items:

- My toilet needs its own mosquito net for those 130 am trips to the bathroom.

- Cats drool!

- My community hall project started last week! We painted 60 sheets of tin with red roofing paint … I painted 10 of those and then the men finished the roof in 4 days!

- I have 3 frisbees here and no one in the village likes to play … or knows how to throw a Frisbee at all.

- I got my first mango last week and it isn’t even the season yet. I ate it yesterday and it was AMAZING! I need more.

- I’ve grown very attached to Lily – my puppy. I didn’t want her at first because it is hard to care for a dog here, but she is adorable and I love her now.

- I’m reading Wuthering Heights for the first time.

- I accidentally peed on the floor when I jumped off the toilet last week because I thought there was a spider on my back … that is something I look forward to never doing again in America.

- My new favorite joke: What is brown and sticky? Email me if you know the answer. No cheating!

As I’ve been walking around lately, I’ve been making more lists in my head. So, I guess it is time to write them down – I give you, list number blah-dee-blah. I can’t remember.

1) Today as I was walking home with my best friend Radini (the preacher’s wife – a very unlikely pairing), we stopped and I waited by the side of a dirt road while she waded thru the sea to collect seaweed for her dinner. I was just thinking how sad it’s going to be in 1 year when that will seem unusual behavior, as opposed to completely normal.

2) Radini is Fijian for “the preacher’s wife” – I don’t know her real name!

3) The seaweed she made is called lulua and is mixed with shaved coconut that has been fermenting in a plastic bag under rocks in the intertidal zone by the sea. Yeah, it tastes weird.

4) I remember when showers used to be refreshed – I dread them now.

5) I got cold today – it was maybe 70F.

6) The children in my village LOVE my stepmother.

7) My little brother Charlie made friends in my village in 1 day much easier than I have, and I’ve been here a year.

8) Seasnakes can come up on land – who knew?!

9) I think I’m growing a mullet and I don’t know how to stop it!

10) A daily part of my social ritual is to sit on Radini’s porch and eat an “ice block” – a Fijian style Popsicle frozen in a cup made from sugar, water, milk, and “flavor.”

11) In Fijian you don’t “eat an ice block” – you “drink an ice block.” You also “drink” ice cream.

12) One more year really doesn’t seem so bad … right now.

13) Every so often, when I’m doing what’s normal for me now, I think how weird normal in America is going to be next year.

14) Simba is being snuggly again.

15) I have started to bop children on the head as a sign of affection – this could cause problems back home.

16) The mosquitoes REALLY like me right now.

17) Crazy Bandz seem WAY cooler to me … a 27 year old … than they should be.

18) I am reading book number 88 right now. The reading rate has slowed with the influx of movies and tv shows circulating among the volunteers right now.

19) I make sushi with materials I buy from Suva. It’s just cucumber and carrot. But the sushi got infinitely more exciting recently with the purchase of a teeny tiny bowl for my soy sauce. It feels just like I’m in a restaurant. Minus the good sushi.

20) It was awesome seeing my dad, stepmom, and Charlie. Unfortunately now I have no American or family visits to look forward to. Just a New Years trip to the Garden Isle, potential New Zealand trip in February … wait – that doesn’t sound too bad after all.

21) Things people have come to kerekere from me this week: sugar, matches, matches again, chilies, magazines, and something else I can’t remember because I lied about not having it.

22) I miss asparagus.

23) I never bought flour before moving to Fiji.

24) I miss mango season. Only 4 more months to go.

25) It makes me nervous to live in America again.

26) I hate the bank here – long story, but basically I went to get everything I needed to open an account for the village. They said here – these forms you need to fill out and bring photo ids for all signatories on account. I did. Now there are more forms that I should have gotten the first time AND I need birth certificates for everyone, which I was told were only needed if they didn’t have photo ID. AHHHHH!!! Shoot myself in the head.

27) I know I’m about 6 years late for this, but Million Dollar Baby is a great movie!!

This is an older video of a bridge fail near my village. It happened while I was away for my "easter vacation" and was fixed remarkably fast because of a visit from the Prime Minister, I believe.

“Juliana, where’s your blog?” “Jewels, I haven’t seen a blog in a long time.” “JULES YOU SUCK AT BLOGGING!” OK! I get it! I suck at blogging, I’m soooooo sorry. Going to try to do a big of a catch up for you and hope you don’t get bored halfway through … you better not!! I am also trying to upload some videos and photos – mostly videos because I still don’t have a working camera right now – can you believe that?! So, to be honest, I don’t know where I left off – so let’s pick some of the more fun recent activities. First – Mid Service Training. Yes, that means what you think it means – I’M HALFWAY THROUGH! 1 year down, 1 year to go. This is one of those things you are both happy and sad about at the same time. There are days where I am (wait for it, sappy moment) thrilled, happy, and so lucky to be here (sappy moment over) and then days where all I want in life is a hot shower, decent clothes (aka no mold, sweat stains, or holes present), and a sushi dinner (paid for by my parents). At mid service training/all volunteer conference I met the newest group of arrivals – not a bad group of fresh meat. Very nice people with brains, personality, and all the nice stuff you look for in people – they are filled with nice stuff. Asa and I got some more company out here in the Lomaiviti group of islands which is nice. I ate plenty of good food and played with my friends. It was nice. Second – work exchange. Work exchange is Peace Corps lingo for a chance to travel around without taking vacation days. Here is the catch – you have to do work while you travel. I went up to a friend’s village on the northern island of Vanua Levu – let me tell you something about travel in this country … it sucks! Ok, it’s not that bad – but it’s a hassle for sure. I woke up at 3am Monday morning to leave my village and I arrived in Scott’s at 7pm Tuesday night – that’s longer than it took me to get from NC to Fiji. I also missed my ferry Monday morning – leaving me stranded by a dirt road in the middle of nowhere for 2 hours. Never in my life have I missed my busted up old Hyundai more than that moment. After finally getting off my island I take a 13 hour ferry to Scotts. Then a collective 6 hours on a bus. OILEI! (oilei = the Fijian version of OY VEY!) The work exchange went well though – I taught some men about what coral is, why reefs are important, what makes Fiji special, some specific risks to the reef, and different animals that live on the reef and what they do to help the system. FINALLY doing what I wanted to do here – making it worth the 2 day, $400 dollar trip there. Third – swearing in. The new volunteers swore in to be OFFICIAL volunteers, not just trainees – what I did a year ago. I happily stayed in Suva for this and presented a poster on work I’ve done with kids. Being in Suva also gave me the chance to catch Eclipse in theaters. Go on all you haters … think of what a loser I am. Enjoying yourself? Good – now remind yourself I am in Fiji and you are in a cubicle … still enjoying yourself? Good. J J/k. Sometimes I wish I was in a cubicle. OH! I owe a HUGE Vinaka vakalevu to everyone who donated moneys to my community hall project. It has finally been fully funded, and the money was officially deposited into my account here in Fiji. I am working on opening a bank account for my village to put the money into. I’ve met with the carpenter and the project leader – we hope to bring up the projects development at the next village meeting and then WOOSH – move things along at what I hope is faster than a snail’s pace. Meanwhile, my parents are here! My dad, stepmom, and lil’ brother Charlie arrived this morning. They are now passed out. I have free wifi in my room and have been in front of my computer for the last 4 hours since they’ve been asleep. I’m in heaven – I have my laptop in bed with me, a cold coke next to me, some oreos, and a fan! What could be better? Don’t answer that – this feels nice. The family saw Levuka today and a nice waterfall on the other side of the island with the help of another PCV. Tomorrow we go to my village so Charlie can start snorkeling, and then we head to the fancy Fijian life at a small island resort … dad rented me a tent. Joke – real beds! So, I am trying to upload videos and photos for you, but this is Fiji – it may not work. I’m sorry. PS: I have 1 more year here, but the mail has reaaaaally slowed down people … come on – help me make it through this second year.PS: Here are pictures that I am trying to get loaded online finally. These are outdated by about a year!! But I am trying to catch up, so have faith. Just cut and paste the link below into your web browser (yes, I still remember words like web browser and Steve Jobs).

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2246044&id=21309065&l=48714608fc

So I don't have an actual post today, but I do have some links to share. The first is the article my mother helped get written in the local paper in Washington, NC about my community hall project. The funny story is that it was found in the Fiji Sun just a few days later! How did that happen?! A volunteer friend in Fiji sent a text saying that I was in the Fiji Sun on Tuesday, mere days after the article was published in NC. Wow - now I am even MORE famous!

http://www.wdnweb.com/articles/2010/06/11/news/doc4c1170eaacfaf776201975.txt

The other link I wish to share is a guest blog posting I did for the Marine Debris program of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) at the request of my good friend Courtney. It discusses some waste issues in Fiji. So in lieu of a real blog post here, I will send you there.

http://marinedebrisgov.blogspot.com/

You will also notice that the last posting is from my mom as a guest blog about her trip to Fiji.

A quick summary: A good friend who is a volunteer in Fiji is visiting this week to discuss money management with my village. I also threw down a waste management talk to the village as well about trash separation. This weekend we leave to go to Suva for a conference where we will meet all our fellow volunteer friends for mid-service training. We also will get the chance to meet all the new volunteers who arrived in May - the FRE8s. It will be exciting, but possibly depressing to see how enthusiastic they all are and to remember to a time gone by, when I too was that enthusiastic. I am still happy to be here, but don't see everything with fresh new eyes as they do now. After the conference, I will head to the northern island of Vanua Levu for a work exchange with a colleague - teaching his village about coral reefs and their importance. Looking forward to that. Then a mere 2 weeks later, my dad, stepmom, and lil' brother arrive for over a week!

It has been a few weeks now since our visit to Fiji and I still can't believe we took the whole family halfway around the world to see Juliana on yet another adventure. We had an amazing visit with a drama and sibling rivalry free week! The biggest take-away from the trip is that Juliana has an amazing ability to nest wherever she lives. Her house is something from Swiss Family Robinson and yet it looks completely like her space. I even like this living situation a lot better than the room at NCSSM that was a converted closet!

The highlight of the trip for us was visiting the village and getting to meet the people about whom I heard so much. It was really hard not to laugh when I saw Inoke's moustache though! The lovo they prepared for us was really an honor and meeting the kids was a joy. I love the people there, but life in the villages is hard. I admire all the volunteers for making the transition and doing their best. I don't think Jules realizes how much she has contributed, but we can see it.

Rakiraki and a house on the water was fantastic. Meeting some volunteers was a treat even though we were still "parents" to them. We loved hearing their stories and seeing how well they have all connected to each other. The snorkeling was fantastic and I will never forget the neon blue starfish we saw everywhere we snorkeled.

The hardest thing for me to accept is the food availability. We all imagine this tropical place loaded with tropical fruit and veggies growing everywhere-NOT! Grocery stores are poorly stocked and only have canned or boxed goods. Sure there is frozen meat and fish, but Juliana has no refrigerator! As a local-food is not great. Restaurant food was acceptable as was the food a Wananavu, the resort next to our house. But the icing on the cake was our self-indulgent stay at The Hotel Intercontinental. That was the Fiji in the honeymoon ads with the views, infinity pools and fabulous restaurants. So we did get great food our last 2 days.

So now I am waiting for a tweet from Air Pacific telling me there is an air-fare special again and I am hopping that plane! We miss Jules terribly but we are so proud of what she is doing-if you have not gone to visit yet-which is everyone except Jason-GO!!!! You will not be sorry!

DO you want to help our community hall project? Donate HERE!

The newest edition to the animal entourage next door.

How many kids CAN you stuff into my kitchen to make s'mores over my stovetop? Apparently 8.

Simba - you are still so cute. Thanks for keeping me company this year!

A few of the village kids posing in front of their completed fish houses.

More village kids posing just for funsies. They like to throw the peace sign like crazy here. Enjoy.

I seem to be getting progressively worse at this blogging thing. In other news – my family was here! My mom, stepdad (Dennis), brothers (Douglas and Kevin), and Emma (a beloved girlfriend of Douglas) have come and gone to Viti (Fiji). I hope they had a great time because certainly did! Highlights from the visit: 1) My first hug from Brother Doug and then of course all subsequent hugs. 2) Not all trips run flawlessly, but even a bag left behind at the airport 2.5 hours away filled with goodies does not taint the whole trip. But it still would have rather been avoided. 3) The pool really was dirty. 4) Kevin isn’t technically emo, apparently. 5) Dennis is surprisingly good at driving on the other side of the road, even with a side seat driver. 6) Mom has trouble adjusting to Fiji time. 7) Sweet and sour prawns from Raj’s Wine and Dine come with extra prawn eggs, still in shell. Emma is not a fan. 8) Douglas doesn’t need to live in Fiji to learn how to open a coconut with a machete. 9) Lots of good food including at least 3, maybe more, fish burgers with crispy fries. 10) A giant bed, warm showers, refrigerator access, swimming pools, and a toaster are all nice things to have. 11) Kevin attracts Fijian voodoo in the form of a broken laptop. 12) No one can handle the bugs. 13) The frogs are apparently more scary and entertaining than I’ve given them credit for over the past year. 14) The views really are beautiful and it’s good to be reminded of it every once in a while. 15) There is apparently some show called Jersey Shore (or something like that) that I am really missing out on. 16) Mom’s admittance that it is hot here and the food is definitely subpar. 17) The village visit mom and Dennis had was one of my favorite parts – I’m glad I got to show them my humble abode! I think mom quite enjoyed her cold shower and Dennis the spicy chili peppers at dinner. 18) Apparently now when my hair is curly I look like Douglas and when it’s straighter I look more like some new famous kid named Justin Beiber. All in all, it was a wonderful visit and I am really glad that everyone took the time to come and see me. I really hope they enjoyed their trip, and I was able to be a decent hostess. Meanwhile, back at the mansion … Before leaving for Rakiraki for my family visit, I was in the village getting some things accomplished!! Kind of. The kids were all on term break which meant they were in my house many many hours of the day. They played many games of go-fish and UNO. They also colored marine biology coloring pages (Thank You NOAA) and baked a lot. We also watched the show “Glee” on my computer, which I used as a sounding board to talk about sex – for the record a very uncomfortable thing for me to do with a group of 10-15 year old religious Methodists! One of them even asked about wet dreams. Yep, wet dreams. Think to yourself about explaining THAT to a group of foreign youngsters. On the marine biology front, we built 3 fish houses!! YES! Finally, what I went to Sean’s village to learn back in NOVEMBER has finally paid off. I had to buy the bag of cement myself and figured that the time off from school would be the perfect moment to make them. We decorated them with shells and I am quite proud of the 3 kids that put them together. Perhaps they deserve a shout-out that they will never see: Paulu, Marika, and Bui – NICE WORK! Fun quiz: 2 of those names belong to girls and 1 to a boy – see if you can guess which is which. I have a 50kg bag of cement that is ¾ full still so I hope to make many more fish houses in the future. The world map is not complete – but the drawing of it on the wall is! I know, this project is all about the kids –but I drew the map on the wall myself and am quite proud, so props to me. The grid method was a bit difficult and I wanted the map to be usable when completed, so I worked on that myself while doing lessons on different things with the kids. I’ll start those again next week with Israel – couscous, latkes, and a short Hebrew lesson will round out the hour nicely I think. As far as what I have to look forward to in the future: a possible work exchange in my village with Kelly on money management, all volunteer conference, mid-service training, a work exchange on Vanua Levu in Scott’s village to talk about coral reefs, and a visit from Dad, Natalie, and brother Charlie! Final fun facts for the road: 1) Giant clam shells can be used for many things: pooper scooper, decoration, soap dish, milk bowl for animals. 2) When trying to describe a man in the village to me, a cab driver proceeds to tell me he is black and that he plays rugby. Thanks – very helpful. I know EXACTLY who you mean. 3) Simba gets jealous of little kittens that are around the house. 4) I found a tiny puppy that wandered out of the bush. She is covered in fleas and ticks so I keep her outside, but I think I’m getting bitten nonetheless. But she is adorable and I named her Lily. Or shmookipoopsikins. I can’t decide. But I don’t want a dog here, so that’s a bit of a pickle. Mmmmm pickles. 5) It is HARD to find activities to entertain kids with all day every day for a week. I have more respect for camps. 6) I’ve thrown away several pairs of undies this week thanks to a new shipment from the family. 7) I bought a guitar and hope to be able to play at least 1 song by the time I leave. The guitar is red and sassy. 8) Canned asparagus in brine is very very gross. Its mush and unpleasant. Never buy it – don’t say you weren’t warned. 9) Top 5 things I want to eat when I get home: sushi, bagel with lox/cream cheese/red onion, roasted asparagus, strawberries, cheese enchilada meal with rice and refried beans. 10) The new group of volunteers has officially arrived in country. Welcome to the 35 FRE8’s who are just settling into their training villages. One of you will be just down the road from me. I’m sorry I’m not cooler.

The new hairdo ... still takes getting used to.

Sushi we made for Courtney's birthday ...

The marshmallow peep taste test ...

Hey everyone - so it has been a veeeery long time since I posted and I am sorry. I have no excuse except that I am incredibly lazy and turning in a Fijian - I sleep and eat all the time and do little else. I'm trying to reverse the process but it is difficult. I am going to do my "sectionals" blog in which I categorize what I am blabbing on about so that you may be picky in what you read. Since all of you loyal readers love me so I expect you to be reading everything anyway.

Weather: It is HOT here ... seriously hot. Like, you can salt your margarita glass with my FACE hot. Then you can give me that margarita. There was a cyclone as I am sure most people know. It did manage to sideswipe Ovalau with basically no damage here. However, just last week there was very heavy rains causing a bridge to collapse!!! This is the bridge closest to my village that separated me from town. I had to wade through the tidal creek in the dark upon returning from a very long day of travel - this is one of my "so I really am in the Peace Corps" kind of moments. If the tidal creek had been filled with poop - then I would have known I was in the Peace Corps with my eyes closed.

Smells: Yes, I have a section on smells. Why do you ask? Because there is a very horrible vile smell coming from the southwestern corner of my house that I cannot find the source of!! I have shined my flashlight in cracks and crevices, lifted my mats off the floor, smelled myself ... nothing. It smells like really bad cat breath ... so I smelled my cat's breath and nope - actually not too bad. So the mystery remains. Also, and let me point out that I am not the only one who feels this way, I feel like I can never smell good here. I know I am not the source of the rotting smell, BUT I still feel like no matter how many showers I take - I cant smell good for very long!! I think it is that my clothes will never really be clean here no matter what I do - so there is a persistant hippie/Fijian smell about me. I plan on an intense body scrub when I return to the USofA.

World Map: I have started a project with one of the schools in Levuka and it is called the World Map Mural Project. I am working with class 7 (12 years old) on painting a mural in their library. Before starting I quizzed them on their geography knowledge and found that most of them could no find Fiji on a map. While I was not thrilled at this knowledge, I was happy to know that the project was a good choice. Currently the ocean is painted and the white boarder. Now we are working on the grid and transferring the map onto the wall - this is tideous but makes me feel like I am accomplishing something. Yay!

Marshmallow Peep Taste Test: Just because the picture is here, I thought I'd include the story - despite it's humiliation on my part. Those of you who think that pink Peeps taste bad raise your hands! Well, I agree - they taste pink. My associates Kelly and Melisha disagreed with me so we fashioned up a peep taste test in which I was blindfolded and then fed peices of peep of the pink and yellow variety. I tasted both colors and FAILED MISERABLY at distinguishing pink from yellow. End of story - never bring it up again.

S'mores: Jason wonderfully sent some s'mores ingredients that I received in the mail last week. I made s'mores with the kids (videos later - having trouble loading videos lately) and the LOVED them so thank you very very much Jason. It cracks me up how much these kids love s'mores. Any visitor who comes should bring the stuff and we can make them together - its totally cute.

Easter Vacay: I just returned from a vacation with several other Peace Corps volunteers to the "friendly north" in Fiji. I traveled via ferry to Vanua Levu to do some diving on the famous Rainbow Reef - the dives were beautiful and the company divine. It was the Passover holiday so I ate a lot of peanuts, potatoes, and dried fruits - yay Moses. After our stay on Vanua Levu we transferred (in our Peace Corps issued PFDs) to the small and beautiful island of Kioa. Our gracious hosts took us around the island and canoeing on a pau-pau. The only downside of both parts of the trip were the heinous jelly fish that attacked us when we tried to snorkel!! This is not a normal part of Fijian marine life that I have seen - perhaps a result of Cyclone Thomas. We all sustained many-a-painful sting. Let it be know that NO ONE peed on anyone else although it was certainly suggested. After Kioa, Sean and I went to another village on Vanua Levu to visit another set of friendly PCVs and enjoyed good food and company and learned how to play cribbage! I must get a cribbage board ... and a written set of rules because I will NEVER remember how to score that game. I finally arrived back on Ovalau 8 days later to an out bridge (see section on Weather). It should be known that my travel home started at noon on Wednesday and ended at 8pm on Thursday. To a house with no electricity. I know I know - most PCVs dont have power, BUT I am spoiled and used to 24hour electricity so I am not equipped to deal with a loss of power!!

Well, this seems long enough for now - besides I am paying a fortune already for being online so I should skidaddle. The countdown of less than 1 month until my family visits has begun!! I do head back to Suva in less than a week to finish up the HIV/AIDS training that had to be canceled due to the cyclone. Time to restock on parmesan cheese - perfect timing.

So, it’s March already!! Who knew? I’ll try to do a quick recap of this month’s events before doing a special report on Tsunamis – not the delicious sushi restaurant in Charleston. After getting so much love and worry after the recent warnings from the earthquake in Chile, I thought I would just make a special mention of them here. 1st – trainings. February was home to 2 different trainings I attended. The first was a coral identification training which was really informative and pretty cool. There were 2 top notch coral identification specialists on hand to help us learn how to distinguish different coral genera. AND we got a cool underwater coral ID book to use … free! Peace Corps is like college – we get REALLY excited about free food and free stuff. Actually, I wonder if that ever stops being exciting. The second training was run by Peace Corps on Alternative Livelihoods – basically, small business training. Twelve volunteers brought their counterparts to learn about business and financial planning. I hope my counterpart learned a lot and is ready to whip our small bakery into a viable village business. I enjoyed the time with fellow PCVs at both of these trainings and, as always happens when spending time in Suva, I ate way too much food and spent way too much money. What can you do? 2nd – Jason’s visit. As many of you may know, one of my bestest of best friends came to visit me this past month as well – we had an excellent time, but I will write no details as we should be expecting a guest blog post from him about his trip in the near future. Pictures and videos have been posted on facebook – will try to put a few on here later. Now – TSUNAMIS. Most of you know that tsunamis are the result of earthquakes displacing a large body of water and creating a wave. These waves can travel as fast as 500 mph and are not technically tidal waves as everyone calls them. You could be on a boat in deep water at sea and one would travel right underneath you without you even registering it. Once the wave starts to hit shallow water, the trough of the wave hits the ground and that is when it gets super-sized. In terms of ME and tsunamis – as soon as Peace Corps receives warning about a possible threat, they call all volunteers in the countries at risk. I received a phone call at 130am on the day of the Chilean earthquake. I was told to evacuate to high ground starting at 8am the following morning as the tsunami was predicted to hit Fiji at 930-10am. That is big buffer. Oh – and I have to stay at high ground until noon just to be safe. When I woke up the morning of the supposed tsunami arrival, I packed everything in the house that was important to me – all the snacks and goodies Jason brought. Just kidding. I brought my hard drives, journals, laptop, and passports/cash. And a couple changes of underwear just in case. And of course a book, because come on – 4 hours!!! I did have a beautiful view from my high ground location – the top of a nearby hill where many others congregated as well. Everyone was fine and the tsunami never showed its scary face. No harm done! Of course that doesn’t mean I don’t love when people worry and fret over me, so the next warning all are still welcome to write notes and call to check in on me – makes me feel loved. I was most worried that if a tsunami did hit that Simba would get hurt. I have no cage for him to bring him to high ground and if I tried to carry him and hold him, he would squirm and run off, getting lost in the bush and potentially eaten by wild pigs or hit by a car on the nearby road. So I had to leave him behind and trust that his animal instincts would take him to high ground should a tsunami come our way. That’s all for now on the Fiji front. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, when we hear from Jason!

Video of my friend Uraia spearing a helpless parrotfish - the fish is caught in a coral head, so you can't really see it - but thought it would be fun to watch anyway.

Here is spearfishing video number 2! Uraia is taking the fish out of the coral head and you can see it above water at the end. As a spearfishing update: I went out yesterday and still did not catch anything BUT i managed to hit 3 fish!! Just need to work on my spearing arm's strength - but my aim seems to be improving. For you naysayers - I could tell I hit the fish because there were scales floating in the water around the spot from which the fishy fled.

Also, I think it’s about time for another list, don’t you?134. I’ve decided one of the hardest things ever is to try to hang a fitted sheet on a line to dry. 135. Even though I KNOW a raising of the eyebrows indicates a yes to most Fijians, I still need to hear them say “Yes.” 136. When spear fishing for the first time, I got tunnel vision for the fish I wanted to catch. I forgot to see what was around me. I made sure to remember the next time. 137. A conversation you must hear (names have been changed to protect the innocent):

K: Tuli, when I sat down just now do I look fat?

Me: Of course not! (and this is true, she is a healthy person)

K: Oh. But I want to be fat.

Me: OH! I meant to say that you DID look fat! VERY VERY FAT.

K: Stop bluffing!

Me: Ok, you’re not fat – but you can have mine if you want.

K: Yeah, we should trade. 138. Cats look funny when they lick themselves. 139. Sweating in your sleep is one of the most unpleasant feelings ever. Don’t believe me? Try it. 140. We are never getting those giant clams I was promised in September. 141. I love snacks. 142. I miss sushi. 143. Sa rauta mada is fast becoming one of my most used Fijian phrases – it means “That’s enough” (as in,” I’ve-had-enough-of-your-smart-mouth-stop-talking”) 144. There are 2 conversations I’m tired of having: a) The “You must marry one Fijian boy – Why won’t you marry one Fijian boy” conversation, and b) The Oiko sa levulevu (“You are fat”) conversation, which is less of a conversation and more of a “They-say-this-while-I-smile-and-nod-but-cry-on-the-inside” one way conversation. 145. I run on the beach for 20 minutes in the mornings (around 7am) when the tide is low. I will get back and literally drip sweat everywhere. I’m not usually a sweater and that really wasn’t a very long run, I mean who am I kidding (especially since 20 minutes is really 17 minutes, but I round up). 146. We got the giant clams I was promised!! They are currently 20ft below sea level and hopefully happy. It was an adventure getting them down there, but I would do it again every day. 147. I don’t remember where I got most of the scratches I seem to find on myself. 148. I’m in love with bu (young coconut). I used to really not like it but I find nothing tastes better after snorkeling. If only I could climb that stupid tree myself. 149. I miss my brothers. 150. I taught a few 20-something year old Fijian guys how to play UNO; and to make it more interesting, they decided to loser had to drink a full glass of water. Oh the torture – I do that on my own regularly. I still didn’t want to lose. Neither did they – so they cheated. 151. I just watched “Julie and Julia” and loved it – I may take cooking classes when I get home. 152. I’ve started wearing my hair in a scarf like a babushka because it keeps the hair off my neck. It’s either that or buzz cut. Opinions?

First, forgive me for not having updated in a while. I swear it’s not that I’m too busy, I’m simply lazy and it’s hot so I don’t want to do anything except lay on my back in the middle of the floor where the cross-breeze between my two doors goes through the house. I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year’s holiday. I rang in the New Year on a small island south of Ovalau called Caqalai (pronounced, Thangaleye - just to make things interesting) with 15 or so other Americans (mostly Peace Corps Volunteers with a few visitors thrown in to spice things up). The island was 40-45 min away from Levuka (my closest town) on a small fiberglass boat. We spent 3-4 days snorkeling on some of the most beautiful reef I have ever seen and sitting around bonfires every night. Totally granola. I made sure to not shave my armpits just so I’d feel even more like a true Peace Corps Volunteer. A few of us even swam 45 min out to a sandbar that looked much closer than it actually was. Don’t worry, a PFD was brought along for safety. All in all, I’d have to say it was a pretty darn cool way to welcome 2010 - before all of you guys did. So far, January has been more interesting than I would have though. I had a friend come back with me from Caqalai and we spent a few days “baking”, snorkeling, walking around, and watching Ugly Betty and Glee on my laptop. I collected some more crown of thorns starfish from the reef as well as lots of scrap fabric that was smothering some poor, defenseless coral. Saving the world, one coral head at a time. Our community hall project hit an unfortunate snag when my counterpart for that project’s brother-in-law passed away; he also happened to be our carpenter. So we are still sitting on the budget for a while because I feel guilty trying to push the project forward at this time. The vasua (giant clams) that were supposed to arrive in November, then Dec 23rd, then Dec 24th, and never came are now supposed to arrive this week. Maybe if everyone who reads this crosses their fingers it will actually happen. In other news, I was invited to go spear fishing. I have logged a total of 4 hours with a spear (two 2hr stints) and have caught nothing. I have one very important rule – I don’t shoot the pretty and colorful fish. Not for any health reasons, simply because it would be too sad. Any of you who have seen Finding Nemo should understand. Not that it matters – I could aim that spear at a blue whale and I’d miss because I’m about as good at spearfishing as men are at getting pregnant. Not counting that woman that became a man, kept her uterus, and then got pregnant. I also made a coconut tree climbing attempt. Another masterful Fijian fail. I have decided that, in summary, though I may be living like and with Fijians, I am still a total Jewish Princess. How did that happen? And finally – the weather. It is so hot here. I mean, REDICULOUSLY HOT. In response to all those, “it may be hot but I’d rather be there than in whatever cold weather anomaly I am experiencing right now in DC/Charleston/Raleigh/NYC/Jackson Hole/Blounts Creek/Tarboro/Phili/Chicago/etc” – please, hear me out. Imagine Charleston in July/August time – those who have never lived there or visited, think hot and humid. Next, multiply that times 10. Add to that no air conditioning or fridge in which to keep refreshing chilly beverages and ice cream treats of all shapes and sizes. I take a cold water shower, dry off, and am dripping copious amounts of sweat within minutes. It is deeeeesgusting. After I leave Fiji, I’m moving to Iceland. I want to live on a block of ice when my services here are no longer required. February is going to be a busy month and I have a lot to look forward to. I have a coral identification training through Fiji Locally Managed Marine Areas that I am going to attend early in the month. Then mid-Feb I am going to an Alternative Livelihoods training run by the Peace Corps to teach me and one village counterpart that I am bringing about small businesses. Immediately after that Jason is arriving for 10 days!!! Unfortunately there will be no room in his suitcases for any of you because they will be filled with American treats for me: candy (I mean, err, healthy snacks), batteries, sheets, cds, and sushi (not really, but I can dream). I wanted to upload many videos and things, but the computer I am using today BITES. I’m going to Suva in a couple weeks, so maybe I can do so big image/video uploads then. I successfully got one up.

This is a video of a sea snake - they are quite venemous and a little creepy. I don't usually get freaked out by snakes on land, but snakes at sea can move in all possible directions!! Please observe how slithery he is.

So it’s been quite a while since I’ve updated here and a lot has happened! Let’s dive right in then – I’ve taken the liberty of categorizing things so that you make pick and choose what you care enough about to read. Although I encourage you to read all – if you don’t you might actually be productive at work today and we wouldn’t want that. I am going to try and include photos and videos for your pleasure as well. Work (non-marine): Let us start with the ho-hum side of things. I’m excited about it because SOME progress is slowly being made. First off, I had a Project Design Management (PDM) Workshop in Pacific Harbour (The Adventure Capitol of Fiji!). Volunteers brought a counterpart from their village and we learned about how to start designing projects and budgets and things. My partner and I worked on a design for repairing and renovating our village’s community hall. We just recently had a carpenter visit who helped us generate a full materials list. That list is at a couple hardware stores now and I intend to pick up finished quotes while in town today! The next step will be to work with my community partner to write up a proposal to bring in some money for the project. YAY! I also just applied to go to an alternative livelihood training in February. I’d like to attend because I will be bringing someone that will hopefully be able to get the bakery running properly. As an aside – there was fun to be had by the volunteers at the workshop as well. Swimming, swinging, ziplining, bonfiring, eating, etc. Work (marine): After the PDM workshop I went to a village with a good friend for a work exchange to learn about fish houses. He works with a resort near his village, and I got to make a fish house. I really hope to get some of the youth making them in my village. It is basically an igloo made of rocks and cement that fish can come and live in. You can also attach small coral fragments to the house to build up reef structure. Tres chic! I spoke with some people about coral farming at the resort as well as in Suva after the work exchange. This could be a possibility but I want to start with the fish houses first.Finished product

The building process

On the reef in my village, I’ve been snorkeling and found some unfortunate reef inhabitants – crown of thorns starfish (aka COTS)!! These are nasty little buggers that can munch through a reef in no time flat! They have spines all over on the outside and toxin inside. I was planning to do a removal before the weather went sour. Now that it has cleared up I will try again once the visibility is good again ( it is bad because of all the kicked up sediments and such from the storm). I am still waiting for the materials I need to make markers for the Marine Protected Area (MPA) as well as instructions for how to operate the GPS to find the boundaries of the MPA.A crown of thorns starfish - they even look creepy!

HOLIDAYS! (Woot!): So, several holidays have come to pass lately. First there was Thanksgiving. Many of the volunteers who reside on Viti Levu congregated in Suva for a feast! The food was excellent! People brought potates, veggies, fruit, chips, dip, pies, ice cream, the works! I tried to Jew things up a bit and made matzoh ball soup (hey, it’s easy) and I think people enjoyed it. Thanksgiving holiday also happened to coincide with … MY BIRTHDAY. Yes folks – I am old. I realized recently that I am no longer in my mid-twenties. I am officially in the upper twenties bracket. When did that happen?! This isn’t just bad for me – think of my poor parents!! They are officially old enough to have a daughter in her upper 20s. I’m so sorry you two. Cheer up, you still have so much life in you! J So for my birthday I celebrated in many ways. First, I took advantage of the fact that my work exchange was near a resort (and that Sunday is a hard day to get things done) so I booked and received a wonderful massage and facial courtesy of my mother and stepfather – my body and blackheads thank you both. Then on the actual day of my birth I was in Suva for Thanksgiving, but before dinner I indulged in a movie with my friend and a couple of orders of McDonald’s French fries. Heavenly. Then when I returned home to Ovalau, I had a camping hammock waiting for me in the mail so I celebrated again by swinging between 2 coconut trees – thanks Dad and Natalie. J Lastly, Chanukkah! The first night I celebrated alone with a bag of gelt. Pathetic, but tasty. The second night I held a small vakamarautaka (celebration) in the community hall. I spent the day making doughnuts and latkes for the village (doughnuts were a bit of a fail, but edible when smothered in honey and cinnamon). I also had a menorah to light with them, dreidles to play, and prayers to sing. Thank you Saftah for all the Chanukkah accoutrements. The kids really had fun playing dreidle (or they enjoyed the free gum I gave out) and the food seemed to be a success as well (it was all gone anyway). If you would like a copy of the speech about Chanukkah that I gave the kids, just let me know – I’m proud of my Fijian translation. The last couple of nights I haven’t been able to light the menorah because the wind was so strong the candles kept blowing out … in the house. Yes. True. Pictures are below, and scroll all the way down to see video - you've not lived until youve heard Fijians playing dreidle - it's hilarious.

Thanksgiving feast! Hard for me to look at it again ... sooo tasty!Asa had the restaurant bring me a piece of custard pie for my bday. Ain't it cute ...The party layout with some of the guests.

Me and the driedle poster I made - notice the directions in Fijian! Weather: CYCLONE SEASON IS HERE! We had our first one, I believe it was named Nick, just this week. It would have been fun if I had a friend to play scrabble or dominoes with, but cyclones (even in Fiji) are kind of dull. I read 2 books and didn’t dare try to watch movies. I had my computer packed away with other don’t-want-them-wet items in case I had to make a mad dash from the hut. Oh and I attempted to “bake” oatmeal cookies in the makeshift oven of mine. The theory being – if you have to be stuck in a cyclone, might as well be stuck in a cyclone with oatmeal cookies. They didn’t bake well and I ate a lot of dough in the process so the theory failed and was converted to “shit, now I’m stuck in a cyclone with a stomach ache.” Overall it was fine. I had to pull my mattress onto the floor because of the leak over my bed. This meant no mosquito net protection. There were several other leaks all over as well so the mats had to come up so as not to be ruined, exposing the sasa underneath. You don’t realize how unsealed a tin house with a grass roof is until situations like this. The wind was gusting to 65 mph I believe which isn’t too bad, unless your roof is made of sasa (palm fronds). The wind was causing them to fall apart a bit and it rained down debris (in addition to the actual rain that rained down) on me all night. Simba didn’t like it much either as I kept him under house arrest for almost 2 days straight. It all really started when I was woken up the first night of Nick by the village mayor and wife at midnight to tell me the cyclone would be here at 2 am. WHAT?! So I do what any normal person in their upper 20s would do … I called my mommy. Woke her right up. Had trouble sleeping the rest of the night and texted my fellow Ovalau-ian, Asa, until about 3 am. Don’t get me wrong – I wasn’t scared (really! I wasn’t!) but that kind of wind in this kind of house is just a tad bit loud and it was the middle of the night and dark. Let me put it in perspective – Asa sends a text that says “the wind sounds so loud it’s like the ocean is out there!” (Asa lives more inland than I). Well, Asa, imagine that kind of wind AND THE ACTUAL OCEAN outside the house. The rough weather lasted almost 2 days, and then by the afternoon on the 3rd day, you would never have known there was a drop of rain! It was amazing how flat the seas were. Now the past 2 days have been beautiful. I have swung in my hammock, swam in the sea, and swashed some clothes (I had a whole ‘sw’ thing going there, didn’t want to ruin it).

The wind kicked up the ocean reallllllly nicely.

Standing in the storm - my raincoat was attempting to stop a leak in the house, and an umbrella would have been useless - hence, the towel.

The aftermath in the house - this is just a small square of an already partially swept house (before I realized to take a photo) of the debris that was all over the floor from the roof.

This is the calm after the storm - and a great pic of me using my birthday hammock from dad and natalie!

So folks, I believe that is all for now. This is a ridiculously long blog, but it will probably be the only one for this month so stop your complaining. And for those of you who love me enough to have gotten this far … perhaps you wish to peruse the Amazon.com wishlist? I’m just jonesing for those Ugly Betty DVDs and they are just waiting for someone to buy them. What?! Who said that? I’m not begging …

Just a fun glimpse at my ziplock clogged foodshelf. All must be sealed lest the ants feast on the everything!!

My successful scone attempt - too sticky to mold into balls, so I just made a scone cake of sorts. On top is cinnamon and sugar. Yummm!

Zucchini patties!! Sooooo delicious (see article). Made many people try - making them again ASAP!

My workstation for cooking - here I am in the process of making gnocci. You can see some of the dough balls on the plate pre-boiling.

Tuna wrap on homemade tortillas with herb and garlic flavored tuna from Claire!

Yes, I’m going to talk about food. I love food. LOVE it. Too much so, but that isn’t the issue of today’s post. Today it’s all about enjoying cooking. Despite LOVING food, I never loved to cook it. I was overwhelmed by ingredients and instructions like broil, reduce, or knead. More than 3 ingredients and/or steps and I was out. Just ask my brother Douglas who used to live with me – and cook for me from time to time so my dinner didn’t involve the use of a microwave or a pot of boiling water. Or ask Claire, my roommate of 1.5 years who would also spare me the humiliation of trying to cook dinner and would allow me to “help” (aka run to the local Piggly Wiggly for ingredients) her cook something we could eat together. Fast forward to Fiji – no microwave, no Douglas or Claire, no Piggly Wiggly. My ingredients are limited these days. My options in the local supermarket (called MH) are REALLY scarce – I have an aisle of tinned foods, an aisle of cookies/chips/cake mix, an aisle of cereals (2 varieties only – luckily I have fallen head over heels for Wheet-Bix)/teas/powdered milks/jams, an aisle of juices, and an aisle of household items. There are also a couple of freezers of frozen goods, but my lack of a refrigerator eliminates those options. Oh and there are potatoes, onions, garlic, eggs and a variety of Indian spices. Somehow, however, I have come to enjoy cooking!! I have to because I have no microwave to heat up Lean Cuisines (if I could even find a Lean Cuisine here) and I can’t just live off pasta. Soooo … I’m cooking now! There isn’t a lot of variety by any means – pretty much “stuff type A” on top of other “stuff type B” in which I can set up a mix and match situation. Stuff A: tinned tuna, black beans, kidney beans, veggies from garden. Stuff B: rice (white only), couscous (if available, must get from Suva), or Harvest Grains (if available, sent via caring and concerned mother). A variety of spices I have stashed away can be added on top of said stuffs: ranch dressing mix, taco seasoning, mustard, soy sauce, soup mixes, etc. But not only am I a master of “stuff on stuff.” I have also gotten pretty good at “Peace Corps Oven” cooking. I can’t take credit for the invention of the “oven” because I got the design from Peace Corps. Use a large pot, put 2 stones at the bottom, place baking dish inside large pot on top of stones, cover pot with lid, turn on gas stovetop. Bake! In my makeshift oven I have successfully baked scones (after a couple of attempts), roasted pumkin seeds, and roasted eggplant. Next up to try is to roasted potatoes with Lipton Soup Mix, tuna casserole of some kind, and of course a cake. In addition to stuffs and ovens, I also make other things. For example I cooked up some zucchini patties recently!! Some may know them as potato latkes with zucchini instead of potatoes. I was so excited at how tasty they were I went around the village passing them out for everyone to try. Au sa kauta mai kakana vinaka! Tavolea mada! (I am bringing good food! Try please!) Props to Carolina magazine for the recipe (and thanks to Natalie for sending me the magazine!). I also managed some lettuce wraps – stir fry some veggies, mix with couscous and mustard, wrap in lettuce leaf (from Preacher’s garden – lettuce be holy … come on! I’m funny!). I can even make some homemade tortillas – they are called roti here, and I used them to make a tuna wrap (soooo good!), a bean burrito of sorts (black beans and rice with tomato, lettuce, and highly processed chedder cheese), and homemade gnocchi (potato dumplings). And yes, I am totally bragging. To wrap up this supersized food blog, a final thought. You don’t really think about your food that much at home. I had so many options and I took advantage of that while there. I did not appreciate supermarkets in which I could choose between many different types of veggies, fruits, and dairy products. Not to mention the ease that goes along with cooking at home – most of the things you need, you have – both ingredient and utensil wise. I have less but have still manage to produce some decent food. So I look forward to sharing my newfound skills with my future visitors. My mother has decided that when she visits with my stepfather, brothers, and Emma there will be an iron chef style competition between my talented-in-the-kitchen brother Douglas and me the formerly-incompetent-in-the-kitchen sister. Normally I would have thrown in the towel, taken my defeat with grace, walked away with head held high, and with luck left the competition with all my fingers intact. Now I look forward to the challenge! Douglas … I am your Bobby Flay. Bring it.

The following videos are all ways I have found to entertain myself on days like Sunday when there is not much to do and you arent allowed to really do anything but relax. I relax during the week a lot so sometimes I get antsy. Enjoy "How Juliana entertains herself in Fiji" videos.

So I KNOW the fish got there by the tides before any of you smart science-y people try to tell me that. ;) But how did it just die, puff up, and end up on my walk!? It was pretty exciting on a Sunday when not much else happens.

SO after I made this video I munched on the "thing" for a bit longer and it turned out to taste not so bad. I got used to it and would eat another!

Douglas and Emma sent Simba a cat toy and I wanted to post this one so they could see how much he is enjoying it. It looks funnier to me to watch the video as you cant see anyone manipulating the fish.

Brittle star ... they are in all the tide pools at low tide and I'm always scared of stepping on them when I'm walking out to snorkel.

Welcome to my Shalom House. One of the villagers had this sign made me me and I love it.

No those aren't my legs. Just having some fun after early service training at Nan and Chris's house. Graham loaned me his legs for a bit ...

Melissa helps me do the airplane. Weeeee ... That's the biggest bed I've slept in since moving to my village.

Veitalanoa is Fijian for the telling of stories. How convenient that such a word exists because I have some stories to tell. Unfortunately, for those hoping to hear about cool work I am doing here, none are work related because that is soooooo slow going to the point of flowing backwards. For now, you will just have to enjoy these .... 1) Snorkeling!! The weather here has not been the tropical paradise I imagine – much more rain and cloudiness and chilly! Of course it is winter here I guess. Anyway – because the weather is less than optimal, the few times I get to snorkel I relish (no, not the stuff that goes on hotdogs). One time I got to see a small sea turtle!!! I squealed with delight into my snorkel, which is probably the reason it bolted. I’ve also had the pleasure of visiting with Nemo’s cousins. They send their regards (or lolomas in Fijian - see video above). 2) I had several visitors to my home since I returned from Peace Corp’s early service training. I entertained the preacher and his family over a pot of my home cooked soup. Quite hearty and delicious. My most memorable visitor to date was a woman and her small son. While showing photos to the woman her son was playing outside. All of a sudden “whack!” What just hit me in the head? Pants? AH! The kid is standing in the doorway without pants, penis pointing INSIDE! NOOOO – don’t pee in the house! Phew, he moved. But wait – after walking the mom out, looking to the left and down … POO!! That little boy dropped a load right next to my door. Excellent. Maybe it’s like a welcome basket? Or when people give fruitcakes at Christmas? 3) Tonight was one of my favorite nights since I’ve been in Fiji. The stars were shining brightly – cila sara na kalokalo if you will. Thanks to my Saftah (grandmother aka Buqu in Fiji) I had the ingredients for S’mores! When trying to explain the S’mores to some of the villagers, I realized that most Fijians have never heard of marshmallows let alone S’mores. So I told them we would make them one night, and that night happened to be tonight (10/18/2009). Funnily enough, the kids at the house where we were building a fire were watching some movie in which there was a bonfire and they were making S’mores!! That just made them so much more excited – like it was confirmation that I spoke the truth about these wonderful marshmallow and chocolate sandwiches. They made the S’mores, roasted some more marshmallows and we danced to UB40 under the stars. Seriously – excellent evening. I felt like a true Peace Corps hippie. Excellent. Nice way to celebrate the Dewali holiday. 4) Bad stories: people have been swiping food from me in many ways. Just today someone stole a papaya from my garden and while I was away for training someone swiped some of my eggplants. Perhaps I need a sign. “Na Turaga so raica tiko” aka “G-d is watching” … that should do it. Also when I got mail recently one of my packages had been pillaged to within an inch of its life. All the candy from my stepmom had been taken. See solution below. ********** Important *********** I had some postal issues last week – the first since arriving in Fiji. Several packages had been left somewhere besides the post office over a holiday weekend. 1 of the packages arrived in good condition, 1 was completely gutted by rats and 1 had been slightly invaded by rats but the only casualty was a bag of chex mix, and the final one had been ravaged and pilfered. I asked people at the Peace Corps Office and they said perhaps all packages should now be sent to the Peace Corps office address which can be found to the right. Letters, however, can still be sent to me on Ovalau to the Levuka Post Office. Packages should probably also be sent in either envelopes or flat rate boxes which can’t be opened and resealed without being obvious like a cardboard box. Food items in Ziplocs might be good as well because of rats. I really do appreciate all the effort and time friends and family have been putting into care packages and letters and I hate that the last few I received had been damaged. I am really sorry about that. Thank you so much to all who have been writing!! You have no idea the smile the mail puts on my face!

So I cooked! Harvest grain mix (from trader joe's via mom), chinese cabbage, boiled papaya (not ripened) and some sauteed tuna fish. Not too shabby Juliana!

Oh! How did this picture get in here? It's nothing really, just my sunrise from the garden next to my house ... To be honest, it rarely looks like this but I caught it on a good day (well, I am always awake to see it as my cat paws me awake at 5 am daily).

I'd get in trouble if Kara knew I posted her picture online. But this is the bakery in my village in action. Small, but tasty deliciousness emerges.

I entertained in my house last week - made soup for Vakatawa+family and Inoke+sister and wife. There is also a curry there that Inoke's wife (Sue, the Aussie) brought. I made a tasty soup with onion soup mix, rice, kidney beans, tomato, eggplant, green bell pepper, salt, and love.

So as more random things come to mind while living in Fiji, I decided to continue with the 100 things list when these thoughts come. Here are the next 33 entries into the life and times of a PCV in Fiji.

Meanwhile, just so everyone knows, tsunami-wise all things are good here. I've had 2 tsunami warnings (incidentally, my neighbor pronounces it "toosunami" and it drives me nuts! hehe) in the past 2 weeks here. The first all the FRE7 (Fiji Return Entry group 7) volunteers were gathered at high ground already for early service training so we were fine. The second I was in Levuka town watching a netball tournament and had to go up the "100 steps" that are in town near a secondary school and wait for the alert to end. Had a a great view of any potential tsunamis to hit the area.

101) Bait for fishing here are hermit crabs: deshell and deleg the poor guys before hooking them. 102) I’ve eaten more eggplant in my village in 2 months than I think I ever have – my eggplant plants are growing them like crazy! 103) I can only remember not celebrating 2 birthdays with my family: 1 in Hawaii and 1 in the southern hemisphere in Antarctica. The next 2 without them I will be in the southern hemisphere again except this time in roasting temperatures instead of freezing. 104) The kids here stare at me a lot, but I don’t think they like me. 105) I watched Top Gun here for the first time – man those are some crazy tight pants!! 106) I like that when I peel my purple eggplant, I have a purple paring knife. 107) I’m strangely anal about how I hang my wet laundry to dry – all similar items must be grouped together, undies with undies, shirts with shirts, etc. 108) I’m not as anal about the pegs I use to hang the clothes but whenever I pull out 2 to hang something with, I always think “I should use 2 that are the same color” but I am don’t. 109) Went for a swim in the ocean and got scared of a giant silver fish that looked barracuda-like even though I KNEW it wasn’t one, but without my snorkel gear and fins I felt more vulnerable (was just wearing swim goggles). 110) There was a tsunami alert while I was in Nadave for Early Service Training (EST) and it was kind of exciting, but I was worried about my house 5 feet from the sea. 111) After EST I have lots of projects I’d like to see happen in my village: tilapia fish ponds, coral farming, 2nd bread oven for bakery, marine protected area monitoring, one laptop per child laptops in the schools, renovated community hall (with added on kitchen, dispensary, and organized area for kindy), ecotourism backpackers lodge, vasua (giant clam) farming, environmental clubs in schools, kids camps, world map mural project, and of course peace in the middle East (that would count for at least 2 projects). 112) I have 2 small tomatoes and 1 small green bell pepper growing in my garden!! 113) Shelly sent me cat toys for Simba, but there was a little boy in here the other day that seemed to enjoy the toy more than the cat! 114) Something has been making a lot of racket on the roof lately at night and I’m too scared it’s a rat to go out and try and figure out what it is. 115) I had a dinner party at my house and served 7 people! I had to borrow plates, bowls and spoons from my neighbor because I only have service for 3. J I made a huge pot of soup with eggplant, green pepper, tomato, rice, kidney bean, onion soup mix, salt, and love. 116) My new teakettle doesn’t whistle when the water is boiled, it just starts spouting out boiling water all over the place!! 117) Saftah sent me s’mores ingredients and I’ve been explaining to a few people what they are telling them we will have to make them soon and it’s just so nuts to me that nearly every child in America knows what a s’more is and most people here have never seen nor heard of a marshmallow. Aren’t they in for a treat!! 118) When I came home after a week of being away, the whole house was covered in yellow dustiness that is constantly falling from the grass roof. I sneeze a lot here lately. 119) I came back from EST with 9 more books (thanks in large part to Shelly, Saftah, and the Peace Corps library) and I read 2 in 2 days already. 9 books would last most normal people at least a few months but mine will all be read before November. 120) I’ve read 4 Jodi Picoult books since coming here, and surprisingly my least favorite so far has been “Songs of the Humpback Whale” – who would have guessed that? My favorite so far is probably still the first I read: “Keeping Faith.” 121) Melissa finally helped me figure out the best way to wear a sulu: don’t tuck in but roll over. Stays pretty well. 122) For Halloween this year I think I will dress up as a kai valaqi, should be easy. 123) I wonder what 2 years of smelling burning trash will do to my health. 124) At home I like my toilet paper to come off the top of the roll, but here it’s easier off the bottom – perhaps this has something to do with the Coriolis Effect. Scientists? Anyone? Bueller? 125) The card game of SET that I brought with me became very popular with the PCVs in the FRE7 group. 126) There is a ferris wheel in Levuka this week and I plan on riding it!! I mean, it’s no Eye of London, but should be fun! Hope someone tightened all the screws. … Just came back from Levuka and the ferris wheel was spinning at like 100mph!! Thanks, but no … 127) My dad sent me the nicest text message ever today – there will be trouble topping it. 128) I brought nearly 5 bathing suits with me but I’ve worn the same one every time I’ve been swimming since coming to site. 129) When I get some ripe papayas on my tree, I will attempt POPO JAMU! I could mix it with banana and make a papaya-banana jam … that almost seems too much though. 130) When I look through old pictures on my computer I get weirded out when I see myself in jeans! 131) Fijians can make this crazy squeek noise with their mouths and they do it to get people’s attention. So half the time I’m out, I am walking about with my head spinning around to see if someone is squeeking at me. 132) My house is perfect for cats because it is made entirely of scratching posts. 133) There is a tree growing out of one of the wooden poles used to build my house. Better oxygenation inside now!

Above are some photos of an underwater excursion on the reef by my house. The top has a pair of butterfly fish, middle has Christmas tree tubeworms on what looks like a species of Porites coral, and the bottom looks like an anemone of some kind or a soft coral, havent had a chance to look it up.

In honor of it being almost 1 year since I was nominated for Peace Corps Service (it was in November that I was officially invited to serve in Fiji), I decided to write up a list of 100 things I’ve learned/observed/had happen to me so far during my service in Fiji. The idea for a list of this nature and size came from a fellow FRE-7’s blog (Matt and Kelly) who wonderfully gave me permission to gank their idea. 1) Just because it’s the dry season doesn’t mean it doesn’t rain – it does, often. 2) Cold showers are always cold showers and I will always scream out when I have to put my head under the water. 3) Frogs stop dead when you shine a light on them at night. 4) Ants like to eat everything in my kitchen not in a Ziploc bag – and even the stuff in a Ziploc bag if they can manage to find the 1 pinprick hole in it. 5) Fijian children have more snot than any child I’ve ever seen. And they don’t mind it – it can hang out on their upper lip for a full 24 hours for all anyone notices it. 6) Sasas (broom-like things) work amazingly well at getting the sand off your mats. 7) No one in America truly appreciates a washing machine like they should. I do now. 8) Whenever I put on bugspray, I feel like I am back at summer camp because of the smell. 9) It’s shockingly chilly somewhat regularly: like 2 pairs of pj pants and a beany hat chilly. 10) The stars at night shine and sparkle like diamonds. 11) When you plant seeds, they REALLY DO grow into food! It’s exciting to watch your food grow from scratch. 12) I enjoy hearing the ocean without a sound machine in my bedroom at night. 13) Flush-indoor toilets are a blessing and I thank G-d for mine at midnight when I have to go. 14) It’s possible to read a whole book in one day … on a regular basis. 15) It’s like pulling teeth trying to refuse a plastic bag in Fiji. 16) Fijians think my pimples are mosquito bites, so they don’t mind pointing at them. 17) Life is pretty good in flip flops. 18) It’s hard to learn another language. 19) I miss a lot of things, but am living fine without them. 20) I can see 3 other islands from my house. 21) Bread only has 5 ingredients and isn’t as hard to make as I thought - but I still can’t do it b/c the dough keeps sticking to my hands. 22) Fijians have lots of different dialects. 23) Most people who just meet me think I’m a teacher. It’s a little annoying. 24) I’ll drink black tea with lots of sugar in it. 25) You must wash dishes immediately to fend off ant invasions. 26) 1 small drop of anything sweet on the counter means ants in 5 minutes. 27) A cat in your lap makes you feel loved (like now). 28) A cat snuggling with you at night makes you feel less alone. 29) When sand hits tin under the force of wind, it sounds like nails on a chalkboard. 30) No drug has a more uplifting effect than mail from friends or family. 31) When I was little and dreamed of a princess bed, all I really needed was a mosquito net. 32) Cane knives must be sharpened regularly with a giant file. 33) Breakfast crackers taste good with peanut butter and jelly on them. 34) Breakfast crackers taste good broken up in your sugary black tea. 35) I can eat 5 kg of breakfast crackers in just about 2 months. 36) There is no sustainable substitute for the banana if you live in the US, but it is sustainable if you grow them in your backyard (New York magazine) – how convenient! 37) Reading a book where the main character goes out for sushi is painful. 38) I like dalo best when it’s cooked in the lovo (underground oven). 39) I like breadfruit better than cassava. 40) I like mashed pumpkin cooked, and then covered in lolo (coconut milk) and sugar. 41) A house can have tin walls, grass roof, wood windows, and coral floors and be perfect. 42) Things I keep under my pillow at night: flashlight, LED light, book, glasses. 43) Things I’ve lost since arriving: headlamp, couple of pens 44) Things I’ve broken: watch, water bottle, laptop 45) Things I’ve used my leatherman for: making coconut bilo (cup), making sasa, carving name in cane knife and sasa, opening tuna, making homemade cat toy 46) Papaya tastes the best when it grows low on a small tree and you can pluck it right off with your hands and don’t have to figure out how to wrangle it off with a stick. 47) Cats don’t get milk mustaches, they get milk goaties. Dogs get milk lipstick. 48) Cooking bread in an oven made of a metal barrel covered in cement is hard to perfect but tastes good. 49) I think I want to celebrate the Jewish Holidays a day late for the next 2 years so I know I am celebrating with my family in American at the same time. 50) Bats sound super creepy at night. 51) I will never like the taste of yaqona- I’ve tried, but it’s grainy, dirt-like, and numbs my tongue. 52) When I DO end up drinking yaqona, almonds, mints and Tang make alright chasers. 53) Drinking the water from a green coconut is ok, brown coconut – not ok. 54) Wild yams are purple. 55) If you have coconuts, why not boil all foods in its milk? 56) Fish eyes are delicious – via word of mouth, I will still never try them. 57) Motor oil is a perfectly acceptable way to mark the boundaries of a volleyball court. 58) 1 large Fijian foot is the equivalent of the most expensive hiking boot on the market. 59) I like the concept of sulus – wearing simple wrap for bottoms daily with no worries, but I can’t ever seem to get mine to stay on, no matter how far I tuck them into my underwear! 60) Ice cream tastes delicious when made with passion fruit. 61) Ice cream tastes delicious served over Jell-o! 62) If someone looks like they are waving you to go away, it really means to come here. 63) If someone sounds like they are grunting “uh uh (no)” they mean yes. 64) CHOW noodles with Kraft parmesan cheese is a daily staple. 65) Kraft parmesan cheese doesn’t have to be refrigerated after opening. Thank G-d! 66) Sitting on the floor all the time leads to lower back pain. 67) A steel bar with hangers caddy corner to logs is a perfectly wonderful closet. 68) “Cea” is Fijian text slang for “there” or “thea” because c= th sound. 69) I read my first Jane Austin book in Fiji – Sense and Sensibility. 70) Every once in a while I wonder about cyclones. 71) I need to become an expert in drainage, fish houses, coral farming, reef monitoring, seawalls, cooperatives, renovation, waste management, and fund raising. 72) A compost toilet apparently doesn’t smell contrary to popular belief. 73) Pigs make the most horrible, tear-inducing sounds when they are being tied up. I hope I never have to be around when one is slaughtered. 74) Lying is perfectly acceptable if they think it’s what you want to hear and will therefore make you happy. 75) The back of my front door has items mailed to me from USA: advertisement with sushi art, hand drawn picture of sun with shades (courtesy of Maxwell), photos, post cards, and magazine article about my famous and admired Grandpa. 76) I try to do laundry 2/week so my hand wash loads are very small, buts been very rainy and cloudy lately so I am way behind. 77) I can cook if I just do it, but I still get discouraged when there are too many ingredients. 78) Most of the ingredients I would need to follow recipes from the Peace Corps cookbook would NEVER been found on my island and would cost a fortune in Suva. 79) It’s nice that when I first got here, my stomach wasn’t the only unpredictable one in Fiji. 80) I’m going to run out of DVDs to watch – I didn’t bring enough. 81) Jodi Picoult writes really great books, but they all seem to involve going to court. 82) I am slowly getting used to the sound of hermit crabs crawling around the house at night amongst my coral floor. 83) My neighbor asked me to do her homework for her – 2 pages on poverty. Ironic as she lives in poverty and I grew up a Jewish princess, there is no way I know more about poverty than she does. 84) It seems normal for kids to get other adults to do their homework for them here – Inoke tells me it’s because they don’t have proper resources at school. Maybe I’ll raise funds for encyclopedia sets or computers with internet. 85) The previous Peace Corps Volunteer for this village made me tye-dyed curtains. Groovy. 86) Read = wilivola, book = ivola, write = volavola, envelope = wagavola (boat book?) 87) It’s illegal to catch turtles here to eat them, but if they get stuck in your net by accident it’s ok – I sat at a table where people ate turtle. 88) I set up my smoke alarm first thing when I moved in because I know it’s important to my dad and I’m paranoid because half my house is made of grass. 89) My house doesn’t fit into one of the 3 little pigs: not sticks, not straw, and not brick. What happens to the tin house when the wolf blows? Might be good to know in cyclone season. 90) Fijians all seem to be quite friendly but I still hate when they laugh and I don’t know why! 91) Moli means orange AND lime – it’s an unfortunate set of foods to mix up. 92) Wonder how long it will take for my laptop to break. 93) I’ve tried 3 times to grow tomatoes but I don’t seem to have luck with them yet. 94) I used to be scared to leave my mosquito net at night, so I wouldn’t go to the bathroom even if I had to. But I’m braver now! 95) The word for going to “pee” is “mee” – I’m not sure if “poo” is “moo” but I think not. 96) Powdered milk smells bad, but tastes OK in Weet-Bix cereal (with lots of sugar!). 97) Parrot fish probably taste delicious but whenever I eat one I can’t enjoy it because of the guilt. 98) Despite living in Fiji for almost 4 months now, I’m still not very tan. 99) The plants in my garden go through major growth spurts after heavy rains. 100) You can’t climb a papaya tree – it gives under your weight. Trust me.

Learning to mix the yaqona. Doesn't look like I'm doing it right.

Scraping the coconut as fast as I can, subsequently winning the coconut scraping contest!!

My Fijian Ta and I at the homestay family appreciation day. We match ... awww.

Video of my new home in the village.

YAY! So the video FINALLY loaded, and now I feel the pressure to write a small blog as well to go along with it while I'm online. The video is a bit long, I apologize, but I hope it gives you a good idea of where I am living these days. You will notice that it is not insulated or sealed from the environment in anyway. The small broom leaning against the wall is the "sasa" I made from coconut palm fronds. How handy am I? There has been a few rearrangements with the arrival of a small table to go in the corner by the door. All the tubs on the counter in the kitchen house dried beans, rice, sugar, and powdered milk because I have no fridge. Even with the tubs and putting EVERYTHING I open in ziploc bags, ants are prevelant. So far (knock on wood) I have not seen a rat. Perhaps Simba is scaring them away by his king-like presence.

Besides the ants, I have what can only be called a hermit crab infestation. I know you think such a thing sounds crazy, but hear me out. The floor of my house is dirt. On top of that dirt (this is also in the video) is coral rubble, then dried sasa, then the mats. Inside all of the coral rubble happened to live hermit crabs before they were so rudely displaced to become my floor. They then like to crawl around the mats at night and against the tin walls and be all "clickedy clickedy like" ... is this not an infestation? Newest form of entertainment sans tv is to watch the kitten attack the hermit crabs.

Attempts at cooking in my kitchen have led to many failures. If you have any good recipes for how to cook dried kidney or black beans, please share!! I attempted to cook them and they didnt pick up the spices I added and just tasted bland and dry. My 2 attempts at making dahl (aka split pea) soup also ended badly: once because apparently chic peas are NOT split peas and 2 because the split peas never softened despite constant boiling attempts. Sigh ... I need Bobby Flay or that hot girl from the food network.

I would like any veternary advice anyone has for me: my kitten had what appears to have been a grand mal seizure yesterday. I've googled it and found out that cats can indeed have epilepsy. I was just wondering if anyone had any experience with this and advice to give me. The whole thing lasted about 5 minutes. He started to twitch and contort his body, lost control of his baldder, eyes were rolling about, and he started to foam at the mouth. Then he was fine and slept for like 2 hours in my lap and has been fine since ... back the annoying habit of sucking on my face at 5 am.

And on a final note, I guess I could bring up work. I've met with a few people in Levuka town on Ovalau that would like my help with some things like environmental impact assesments and giant clam farming, etc. Hopefully I will get busy soon because as of right now, I've read 5 books in 2 weeks.

Hope this has satisfied your Fijian thirsts and please stay in touch!

Above is a video of my friend Courtney (gorgeous, I know) showing a bit of a the small patch of beach (gorgeous I know) that we went to for lunch after a day of snorkeling. Wild right?! The video quality is subpar since I minimized the file size in order to try and upload it faster. And to see if I could actually upload several in one session!The above video is of 3 of the other trainees in my host village with some of the young men in our host village performing the taivovo - the war chant done by the Fijians before rugby games, much like the haka done by the New Zealanders before their rugby games. I am not sure of the translation of what they are saying, but I believe it goes along the lines of "watch out because im going to **** your **** up" or something like it. On the left you will see Brian, then Monte in the middle, and Asa is on the end. Girls were not allowed/encouraged to do the taivovo and after watching it I can kind of see why - it may look rediculous. :) This took place at a home stay family appreciation day that our village put on. There were different performances put on by all the other villages that hosted trainees. Besides the taivovo, our village did a relay race. We each picked a partner (10 year old kid or younger in the village) and had to crack the coconut, then we each scraped a half while our partner did the other half. My partner and I smoked everyone!! I have video of that as well, but its hard to choose what to post - this one was more entertaining to me.The final video I am going to try and upload is of my itatau. Cultural sidebar: when you enter a village you have to bring a gift called an isevusevu, which is basically a bundle of yaqona roots and there is a ceremonial giving of this gift to the village mayor (taraga ni koro/TNK). When you leave you do the itatau which is the reverse of the isevusevu. We did a village wide one with all the volunteers in my host village, and we also did individual ones with our families. My Ta (dad) here had our family come over and celebrate with me. The guy sitting on the far left leaning against the chair singing with his back is the chief of the village and also my ta levu (or uncle/big brother of my dad). Also present are several other uncles, aunts, and family. The little girl is Salote who helped me win the coconut scraping competition at our farewell ceremony. The little boy is Manasa and he is totally cute and dances with me often. The guy in the middle is the one mixing the yaqona that we are drinking. The song they are singing is called Isa Isa Lei and it is the goodbye song in which the Fijians lament the departure of their visitor and friend and hope for their return back to the village. I love it and think its amazing so I wanted to share it with you.SCARY NEWS HERE: There has been a slight change in plans lately in terms of my site. I was informed over a week ago that it was completed. I was then told yesterday that ... NO - it's not done. It was decided after some discussion with Peace Corps staff that I would not move to my site yet and will give them a week to finish up my new home. For now I am stranded in Suva and will possibly be heading to a resort to relax at tomorrow and then Monday - Wednesday attend a marine management workshop of sorts. I do feel a little sick, though so I hope that clears up before I had to Ovalau.

So in an attempt to give you more insight to life here, I am trying to load my first video on a Fijian slow internet computer. My videographer held the camera sideways and I dont quite know how to flip it, so just tilt your head! I am opening a coconut, which I will later scrape to get the white meat inside of it out to then squeeze into coconut milk (aka lolo) which they cook with almost everything.

I decided that part of today's blog will include some of the interesting fijian words I've learned since being here. Enjoy:

1) The word for EYEBALL is yaloka ni mata. Mata is the fijian word for EYE and yaloka is not the fijian word for ball, but the word for EGG. So our literal - egg of the eye. who wants breakfast!?

2) We will stay in the face region with the word for EYELASHES. It is bekebeka ni mata. Again we see the word for eye and beka is the word for BATS. So the literal translation here is face bats. Gives the phrase "batting your eyelashes" a whole new meaning, eh?

3) The word for hurricane is cagi laba. Cagi is the word for WIND and laba ... MURDER! So the literal translation for the word for hurricane or cyclone is wind of murder! Again, whole new meaning to hurricane season.

4) Lastly, this is just a strange one for me maybe. But in Fijian some words mean many things as they do in English. The word uto has two meanings: it is the word for breadfruit and the word for heart (as in, the thing in your chest that pumps your blood). I dont really see the similarity. Of course, the word gaga means both staring into space AND spicey/hot - but the stress is placed differently in the word. I dont know if that is the case for the breadfruit heart. I feel as though my heart is now edible.

I also thought you might enjoy learning some of the games that are really only played in Fiji - at least I dont remember playing them back home:

1) NAME THAT SMELL! Is it burning garbage? sewage of some kind? mold? or maybe even me?!

2) READ AS FAST AS YOU CAN! I have read 5 books in less than 3 weeks and am attempting to finish the second Eragon book before next week because Im borrowing it from a friend who will be wanting it back before we move to site.

3) WILL A FIJIAN MAKE ME CRY WITH THEIR HONESTY TODAY? No, I havent REALLY cried because of anything a Fijian has told me - but how long can you put up with people looking at pictures of you taken not that long ago and tell you how fat you are in the picture. How big your arms are now and how "levulevu" your belly is? And seriously - I look the same as I did when I left.

4) GUESS HOW MANY ANTS ARE IN MY MOUTHGAURD! Each night is a debate: will I put in my mouthgaurd tonight because if I do open the case - how many ants will be crawling around in it? And I clean it every time I take it out! Of course, Asa told me when he brushed his teeth once, there were ants all in his mouth before he realized that had been all over his toothbrush ... what is in our spit that they like? Anyone?

5) WHAT TO DO ON SUNDAYS!? Not much going on Sundays in the village because people aren't supposed to work and do much (kinda like Shabbat I guess). So it's a struggle to figure out what I can do on Sundays when technically I am supposed to do nothing more than go to church or scratch my ass. And I dont go to church.

I hope you all learned a little something in todays vuli (class). As far as event updates: went snorkeling last week, saw a seasnake, ate lunch on a small patch of sand in the middle of the ocean, cooked mexican food in Fiji in an iron chef style competition, won an honorable mention for my mexican burgers that I made in said competition!, final language proficiency interview on thursday, homestay family appreciation day on saturday, scavenger hunt in the capitol city of suva sometime this week too, move to my site next week!, continue to struggle with the language, and continuing to adapt to the culture which is very friendly. No word on the progress of my house - just that apparently there is progress. I think I will know more in a few days.

xoxo to all!

Pictures have been added to the album so check them out! Click HERE.

So I've been to Ovalau and returned and it is such a beautiful island! I took a small plane from the eastern side of Viti Levu on a 10-15 minute flight and had one of the smoothest landings I can remember when we made it to the eastern side of Ovalau. The flight was delayed taking off for 2 hours because of the weather though - so I was definitely nervous about getting on the plane! But it was a really nice flight. Asa (the other volunteer coming to Ovalau) told me if I needed to squeeze his arm as hard as I could then I was allowed - lucky him I didnt need to because it could have been ugly! My counterpart offered to open the window of the plane so that I might throw up out of it ... lucky that wasn't necessary.

My counterpart (ICCP or inital community contact person) is really nice and his name is Inoke. When I first saw him we were all standing in the room waiting to be introduced to our ICCPs. I nudged everyone around me "hey! do you see that guy in the red bula shirt? check out that GIANT mustache!! If he is my ICCP all I will be able to do is stare at his upper lip!!" And of course who do they call forward when they are introducing me? GIANT MUSTACHE MAN! He is great though - very funny and well educated and well travelled. His wife is Australian and has lived in the village for 20 years. Amazing. My house is right next to Inoke's and he told me I would be safe because he has his M16 pointed out his window. Ha! I have 3 papaya trees in my garden as well as some eggplant. It needs some serious work though. Oh yeah, my house has not been built yet! Im a little nervous because I need a place to live. And because they are running out of time, the house is not going to be the traditional bure, but will be a tin house. He is going to paint it blue for me. I'm going to bake! I got to go snorkeling in my MPA that is nearby and it is really great - lots of fish and beautiful hard corals.

I've also got a new pet! The volunteer leaving Ovalau found some kittens and is raising them. She isnt going to take them with her when she leaves, so I am going to get one of the kittens. I have named him Simba (like the lion king) and he will help keep my house rat free! He is freaking cute! I never have been a cat person either, but I like this little guy so much already. He is in Ovalau waiting for me.

Sorry this email is more details than fun stories but they are sure to come! First of all, imagine my trying to cook anything without a microwave. Imagine me in a garden. Imagine me when I wake up in the middle of the night to find a spider crawling on my face. I hope Simba likes to eat bugs too.

Pictures on facebook. Click here.

What a big day ... we finally found out where we are going to be placed for the next 2 years of our service. I will be on the island of Ovalau which is off of the east coast of Viti Levu! I could NOT be more excited or happy with my placement. I don't know TOO much about it, but I was told I would get to monitor the Marine Protected area that has been set up by a previous volunteer. Also will be doing some other environmental education outreach, working on cleaning up their piggeries (the villages all have lots of pigs and they are RIGHT on the water, so we are learning to set up a compost piggery so that the waste from the pigs can be recycled as fertilizer! not the most glamorous job, but the MPA monitoring more than makes up for it I think!), setting up other income generating businesses, and more. I will be living in a traditional Fijian bure (for an example google image click here) and can't be more thrilled! I have heard that the other kinds of housing that I could have gotten are like ovens in the hot season. Just imagine living in a tin house in 90 degree weather! I do have water and apparently 24 hour electricity! So lucky. I can't wait to learn more.

I am going to finish up online and go grab some drinks with my friends to celebrate our site placements! I look forward to hearing from you guys. I wrote a few letters to some people but I need people's addresses to be able to write more! So email them on!

xo

Tuli (this name may be changed because everyone keeps calling me Julie and you KNOW I hate that.)

What yaqona (kava) looks like.

Me drinking my first/2nd bowl of yaqona. Didnt post the picture after this of me making an icky face.

Me in my first mosquito net!

Flying overFiji upon our arrival!

So, it has been almost one month since arriving in Fiji and already I’ve done more out of the box activities than I would have done in 1 year back home. Who is ready for a list of things you never pictured this Jewish princess doing? Let’s just dive right in shall we?

· Hand washing my clothes! I soaked and then rubbed them with a GIANT bar of soap and scrubbed them on a board made of wood. Soak, rub, scrub, squeeze, rinse, squeeze, hang, wait. I cannot see my clothes lasting 2 years with this cleaning method. There is already a hole in a pair of unmentionables.

· Making jam!!! That’s right, I made jam. During a site visit to current Peace Corps volunteer (PCV) she took us for a nice walk/hike into the woods where she climbed a tree and we collected “Fijian Cherries” off the ground and from the tree. Let’s call them Schnozberries. Then she taught us how to turn those schnozberries into jam – boil, strain, boil, add equal parts sugar to strained berries. Turned out good! I gave the bottle I got to my Na (Fijian mom). She was very excited.

· Beekeeper. I went to a local school in the town nearby where a current PCV is working and got to put on a beekeeping outfit and check out the “hives” (boxes of bees). It was pretty cool feeling invincible in the outfits, except that right as we were walking to where the bees were, the guy said “the suit doesn’t completely protect you, if you get stung and can’t stand the pain, back away slowly or else they will attack.” Yay. But at the end of the day, after all the groups went to see the bees, he brought back one of those slabs filled with honey and we all just dug right in. I felt some guilt stealing all the hard work from the bees, but it was so tasty and delicious the sugar high from the gallon of honey I sucked out of that thing made the guilt disappear. I wanted some apples and no one understood why. Anyone like to hazard a guess?

· Carve a coconut cup. After cracking open a coconut, I scraped out the innards to use for food and then continued to clean out the shell to make it smooth(er) and then had to bury it in a drainage ditch to make it turn black from the sulfur. This brings us to the next bullet of things you never thought I would do …

· Dig in a ditch of mucky crappy grossness trying to find half of a coconut shell. My bilo (Fijian word for cup, so these coconut halves are referred to as bilo ni yaqona or cup for drinking Kava) went missing for a while, but was found later in the night by someone with a shovel who dug it out for me after I gave up. The head of our village (Turaga ni Koro, TNK) stopped by to give me the news about how it was found and then to laugh at me because it smelled soooo bad that one of the trainees said he would not be caught dead drinking from my bilo. I am going to give it to my Ta anyway – he doesn’t have to drink from it. PS: I scrubbed the crap out of it so it smells muuuuch better. And rubbed coconut oil on it to make it smooth and shiny.

· Cooked food in an earth oven called a lovo. It tastes like grilled food because there is that distinct charcoal taste to it. I don’t LOVE lovo food because I don’t usually eat lots of grilled stuff. But it is tasty. I helped wrap a fish with coconut milk concoction in some leaves. Crazy huh? I wrapped up a very liquidy … liquid … in leaves and it stayed in, then put them on red hot rocks to cook. Neato. Lately the language has been a little frustrating for me. I already feel like I am picking it up a little slower than the rest of my group, but a couple days ago I would have given anything to be able to snap my finger and change the Fijian language! In terms of pronouns, there are … almost 15 or so. Not just I, You, He/She/It/We/Us/Them kind of pronouns. But there are specific ones that are for 1st person including the listener and 1st person excluding the listener, 2nd and 3rd person. AND as far as singular and plural – try singular, a group of 2 people, a group of 3-5 people, and a group of over 5 people. AHH! Then with family relationships you have different names for your cousins depending on whether they are the children of a sibling of the same sex as your parent or the opposite sex. Then even that is different with your mom and your dad. And there are different names for your siblings depending on if they are the same sex or opposite sex. Then within the “opposite sex” grouping, different names depending on if they are older or younger! Phew – talk about a look into the Fijian culture. It’s interesting but difficult to pick up as quickly as I’d like. That about wraps up this week’s episode of “Juliana goes to Fiji”. Hope to hear from people. I’ve gotten to contact a couple of you guys and it’s been really nice!! Try using Skype to my cell. I can’t do computer to computer skype yet because I am using internet café computers without microphones and speakers. Again, I am going to try and post pictures, but I can’t promise anything.

Yes … just 2 weeks. I cannot believe it myself. It feels like I have been here FOREVER – but that is not meant to be taken in a bad way. I just feel naturally at home here so it doesn’t feel like I had to get used to it, just fits! Not to say that there have not been some less than perfect moments (ehem … diarrhea … ehem), but overall each day is new and exciting and something different happens that makes me smile or someone says something that makes me laugh. I think I will make a list because those are easier to read I think. But first a quick recap … (disclaimer: I am writing this on my laptop in my room without internet so I cannot be sure of what I have written already in previous emails or blog posts). I’ve been in my host family’s house for 10 days. They are still very hospitable and I am still not allowed to help with anything! Can’t clear the dishes, can’t help cook, can’t do my own laundry. I just have to relax – vakacequ! Relax! We have classes in the vale ni koro (literally “house of the village” but it is their community hall). These are just our language classes (vosa vakaviti – Fijian class) and our afternoons are for TDAs or “trainee designated assignments” which are to help us understand how to do non formal education in the villages, how to do some of the more environmentally specific projects (like composting toilets!! I know my stepdad would love to help out with those when he comes to visit!). Monday and Wednesdays are for all volunteers to come together in Nausori and have group training. This weekend we are going to do some site visits – not OUR sites, but the sites of current volunteers. We are going to stay with them for a few days to see what things are like for real volunteers, not just mere trainees (my – current title). Fun Facts: · When I hear the iron clanging sound, I know someone is grinding up some yaqona and people are going to be drinking Kava/grog in the village very soon. · When I DON’T hear the iron clanging sound, I know people are STILL drinking grog somewhere in the village right now! · The loud chirping sound I hear at night comes from the bajillion geckos in the house at any given time after sunset. They really disappointed me at first by not offering me huge savings for switching my car insurance, BUT I did see one on my wall a couple nights ago eating a giant bug, so they were completely forgiven and are henceforth considered heroes in my book. · Bucket showers are interesting. They are cold and I never feel like I get all the shampoo out of my hair. I am quite happy to have short hair now even though I would love to be able to put it in a ponytail, I can’t put a price on not having a giant head of hair to have to clean by pouring cups of freezing cold water on it. And NO, just because it’s really hot outside does not make them feel better. Although, after the 6th or 7th bin on my head I get used to the temperature. · It rained a lot today and was kinda chilly. It is funny to see how the villagers are when there is a breeze with a slight chill in the air. Jason called me today (I love you J!) and he looked up the temperature near me and told me it was 79F here. And yet people were wearing scarves! Yes, you heard right – scarves. And fleece jackets. · I went to the beach on Saturday and we had our water safety training. They took us off the beach on a small boat about 300 yards from shore and dumped us and said “swim back.” Safety training over. Then we had a picnic lunch under the trees and played a game of volleyball at the school nearby. Not only was the beach probably 70 yards away or so, maybe 25-35 feet away from where we were played were 2 giant bulls. No fences. And I was in a skirt. Quite different from my volleyball experiences in Raleigh at JC Park or the office where Stephen works. We played a game here in the village as well and guys – these girls that played are good!! They would certainly give you a run for your money Eric. ;) Anyway, this seems to be enough rambling for now. I am going to try and upload some photos if I can, but I don’t know how fast the internet will be when I go to town tomorrow. But I have uploaded some of my computer and will take them on the flash drive with me. Maybe next time I can have a video prepared of me walking through the village and showing you my home for the next couple months. Moce Mada!! (goodbye!)

The whole training group at the Nadave site. All wearing our Peace Corps sulus!

Sa vakacava tiko? How are you?! That is one of the few things I remember from Fijian so far. I have landed safely and am currently residing in my host village. I will be here for the next 9 weeks! So let me recap:

Arrived in LA on the 18th - met everyone and they all seem very nice - some quick training on how to get there and what to do when we arrive

Leave LA - Arrive Nadi: drive 5 hours along coral coast - stop for quick lunch.IT'S HOT HERE!Drank my first bottle of Fiji water!Arrived in Nadave for orientation - the whole group stayed there, took some of my first language courses, safety training where they try to scare the crap out of us so we are on our gaurd.Move in with host family: I am living in a small wooden 2 bedroom house. the bathroom and shower are ACTUALLY INSIDE! I can't believe that really. I am very lucky. I don't know my parents names, but I call then Na (mom) and Ta (dad). I have become known as "Tuli" around my village of Vatarua (which literally means "Two stones" vata = stones, rua = 2) because Juliana is "Tuliana" (the J is a ch here, so the name is changed to have a T) and I just decided to shorten it to Tuli. I actually really like it.Oh yeah - you are probably wondering about the Kava - They drink it A LOT. We have had already 3 drinking sessions since I've been here! They threw one the day I arrived at orientation to welcome us and I had my first drinks of Kava - tastes like dirt. Here it is called yaqona (pronounced "yangona" because the Q=ng here). It DEFINITELY numbs your tongue. There was also a welcoming ceremony when we arrived (me and the 4 other volunteers and 1 language teacher) at Vatarua. I did not drink that time because I have so wonderfully acquired the same illness I had mere days before my thesis defense. So since everyone drinks from the same "tonoa" (kava bowl) I didnt want to infect everyone. Not too sanitary.I have a telephone now! You can call me for mere cents a minute and it will make my day! I have heard Skype is the cheapest way. My number is 912-5016 and I think if it is from a cell phone you have to dial +697 then the number and you need the + sign. But if you use Skype you just have to select the country you are calling and then put just the phone number there. It is free for me to recieve calls so call all you want! Text too! Thanks to Stephen I have a great phone and look forward to hearing from you. Texts are free for me to receive.I would love to write more but I have to get back to training!! Keep in touch!

xoxo

Hello everyone! I am just testing this whole video upload thingamajig. I leave for the airport in less than an hour and hopefully will have an uneventful journey over to Fiji. I am supposed to have limited communications while I am there so I am not sure when I will be able to let everyone know I am safe and sound. So just assume no news is good news. I had a nice last day in NC in which I had brunch with my dad, played video games with Mike and Jody, saw Jeff Dunham at the RBC center, and then munched on some Asian food with some more friends and family. And now my stomach is in knots. I keep getting asked "so are you excited!?" and my answer has been "I am tired!" And being the total geek that I made an graph of excitement level: there are ups and downs and I've extended it to beyond the time I am currently in (x-axis=time, y-axis=level of excitement). I am in the dip of excitement now because I am sooooo tired and just dreading the long journey there. There is a small increase in excitement I can expect when I arrive due to being so happy I am in Fiji, then a dip from the stomach parasites and lack of communication skills, then an increase to be expected in the coming months. :)

I am so bad with goodbyes, and can't even bring myself to finish writing this update! But I have to pack up the carry on because I need to leave in like 5 minutes! AHHhhhhhhh. Miss everyone already. Keep in touch! Write letters! Send hugs!

This is what not wanting to pack anymore looks like ...

This is what being in the middle of all that stuff and not knowing what to pack next looks like ...

This is what 2 years worth of stuff going to Fiji looks like.

And this is what my new haircut looks like! Seemed like the best way when I could possibly be washing my hair with a bucket of cold water AND it's hot and humid there.

So - in less than 1 hour, I will be in the 2 day countdown to leaving for Fiji. I am more aware than ever that I will not be back in this house or town or state for a very long time. As I was squirting shampoo and conditioner into small travel size bottles, I started to think "I will just leave the rest here to use for when I come back" but realized that it will likely be used up by guests before that point arrives. I spent the day packing packing and packing. I packed and repacked my things a total of ... 4 times? 3 times for bag 1 and 2 times for bag 2. I've finally gotten everything in but I am about 8 pounds overweight on the bags, so if I have to pay for that so be it ... I can't decide what to take out! Not my flippers, not my crazy creek chair, and definitely not my giant bag of Swedish Fish. A decision WAS made for me though ... no water proof camera. It is broken. WHAT?! I haven't used it in ages and it is broken ... perfect. I added a new piece of luggage though - a pelican case. It will carry my photography stuff in it and keep it safe in the humidity of Fiji. The camera store talked me into it. I'm a sucker! I think I have gotten all my last minute items and hopefully can relax in the next couple of days.

Lift-off at 1120 am on Monday for LA and 930pm on Tuesday for Fiji and land in Fiji at 10somthing am on Thursday!!

Countdown until Fiji: 14 days. What does this mean exactly? It means ...

14 more hot showers14 more days of constant internets and gmail/facebook chatting

14 more days of reliable electricity and water14 more days of flushing toilets14 more days of actually trying to care how my hair looks14 more days of watching trashy television

14 more days of clean underwear14 more days of no kava in my body14 more days of any kind of weather below 80 degrees and humidity below 80%14 more days of wearing pants14 more days of junk food

The packing list has almost completely been covered, there are a few things missing that I will pick up from Great Outdoor Provisions in the coming weeks I bet. I've been stocking up on cotton undies - which I am told wear out pretty quickly when I am washing them on an ACTUAL washboard ... not my abs, but the real metal kind. Also have my leatherman ready to fix anything and ... of course ... travel Scrabble. I wonder how many people I will be able to teach in Fiji to play Scrabble. According to my research, the Fijian alphabet is similar to ours, but letters like F, H, P, X, and Z are rarely used - so much for those high scoring letters! I found a clip of someone reading a phrase in Fijian and it is here: http://www.omniglot.com/soundfiles/udhr/udhr_fijian.mp3. You have my permission to be very amazed when I have the ability to say all that without laughing, spitting, or blowing raspberries everytime I mess up. For those who are curious, he is saying: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Oh yeah ... I'm deep.

As far as communication goes while I am away, I will have a cell phone - I KNOW! Bet you didn't expect to hear that. I obviously don't have that number yet, but I will also have Skype on my laptop but I don't expect easy internet access. I think calls and texts to me will be free (for me) and as soon as I figure out the cheapest way for you to call I will post it. You can search for me on Skype using my email address (julana.r.miller@gmail.com). Also - you can send mail! I know ... step back into the early 90s why don't you, that's what you are thinking. Well, snail mail can be fun! My address for training is:

Juliana R Miller, PCV

Peace Corps/Fiji

Private Mail Bag

Suva, Fiji Islands

South Pacific

I am going to have an amazon.com wishlist of books since I predict having free reading time while I am there. I promise to be good with communication, but I can't make any promises on the Fijian mail services. I have also been told that packages be sent in padded envelopes not boxes as often as possible because boxes get opened more often.

2 weeks to go and counting ....

I did it! I have officially defended my thesis and submitted it online! My thesis defense can be found here if you are really curious as to what I've spent the last 4 years on. Granted, it won't be as insightful with out all my words of wisdom narrating along with the slides. And the picture is of me and my good friends Courtney and Carole who ALSO defended their theses the same week as me - go us!

It is a little scary to be done with this whole thing. I have been working on it for so long, I don't know what it feels like to NOT be working on it. After finishing yesterday and submitting, Jody set up his SuperNintendo and I played Mario Bros all afternoon while he worked - it was the laziest afternoon I've had in a while. I loved it!

I am so excited about Fiji, but at the same time I am so scared!!! Before I got to just say "Yeah, I am moving to Fiji for 2 years" and people would just "ooh" and "ahh" and I would be excited to go. Now I ACTUALLY have to go and I am still excited but the phrase "scared shitless" comes to mind - 2 years in a foreign country with a language you don't speak and completely different cultural attitudes towards religion, gender roles, EVERYTHING. This is what I signed up for and I can't wait for it to start, but there is so much that I know is just going to give me a reality check as to what things are like outside of the privileged lifestyle I have been living. Oh - and there is a fly in my bedroom that I had to lure out with the light in my brother's bathroom across the hall and then had to rapidly shut the door to trap it outside ... the whole sleeping under a net thing to keep out the bugs is going to be an interesting experience for me.

So, the next 3 weeks will be dedicated to trying to figure what I need and pack up 80 lbs of crap for the next 2 years! That will probably include 4 cameras despite all the best efforts of my friends to convince me otherwise. I have asked a couple other photography minded friends/family and they totally agree the dSLR must come with - thank goodness!!

Holy crap - I defend in 2.5 weeks! Then its exactly 1 month until I go to Fiji. Someone pinch me. Then do my defense for me. It's 1 am right now and I've spent the last 2 hours reading the blogs of strangers that are already in Fiji for the Peace Corps. I can't stop! And I can't decide if it has made me feel more at east or more nervous!

So it has been quite some time since I have posted on this blog that no one reads, so I felt the need to put something in. It's been a busy few months since I got my Fiji placement - but nothing in regards to Peace Corps stuff. I think in the last month I will start to have to do things again, like get my flight to LA booked for staging and all that. There are lots of questions people have been asking me about Fiji that I do not know the answers too and I'm sorry! Some I do know, and I think I should do a FAQ section here, so here goes ...

Q: When do you leave?

A: I leave for staging on May 19th which is in LA, but then on the 21st of May, I leave for Fiji with the whole group of volunteers. I have gotten in contact with some via facebook, but this is my chance to meet them all, get last minute immunization shots, and sleep in a comfy bed for one last time.

Q: Where will you be living in Fiji?

A: No idea. They will tell me when I get there and they have figured out an assignment for me. Well, I have SOME idea - it will probably be on one of the main islands. I found out that due to unpleasant situations, women are not placed alone on the outer islands - they only go there if they are married and with their husband in PC.

Q: What language will you be learning?

A: In Fiji there are 2 main languages: Fijian (duh) and Hindi. There is a 40% Ind0-Fijian population so I could learn Hindi depending on who I will be working with. I don't know which language I will be learning.

Q: What will you be doing there?

A: I have been put in the position of "Environmental Resource Management Promoter" and I do NOT know what that means. :) There is a wide range of things I could be doing from environmental outreach, environmental surveys of reefs or mangrove forests, or even just cleaning trash off the streets. Who knows.

Q: Will you come back in those 2 years?

A: Probably not. It will be too difficult to get back.

So those are just a few questions I have been getting - the main ones I guess. Meanwhile, I have been working on the old thesis (dubbed Jake), going to Jackson Hole for snowboarding, visiting family in Chicago, and currently relaxing just outside of Boone, NC with some close friends. Life is good, but just waiting for comments back on the thesis to turn it downward again!

So it is official. I have been invited to join the Peace Corps in their Environmental Management Program in Fiji! I will be there from the middle of May 2009 until July 2011!! I am so excited and so damn scared you would not believe it. I accepted the invitation and proceeded to the bookstore to find what I could on Fiji. I was a little disappointed and only found a couple small travel guides telling me about the Fiji I will probably never see. I also found a book called Getting Stoned With Savages. It is about a man's travels to the Pacific Islands and is actually a sequel to his first book The Sex Lives of Cannibals (which I recently received as a wonderful gift from my friend Courtney!!). So hopefully I will get an honest look into what it is like to live in the islands. I also read the 109 page welcome book for all those traveling to Fiji with the Peace Corps. It got me pumped up and of course, nervous at the same time. Anyone not nervous to make such an enormous life choice is in for a big shock in my opinion. I look forward to the opportunity for growth, though. It is going to be an experience of a lifetime. I also can't wait to share with everyone all the exciting things I am going through. I can't be sure of where in Fiji I will be living until I get there, therefore will be unsure of my access to communication besides snail mail (imagine if you will, the slowest snail on the planet, put 10 pounds on his back, and THAT may be what is actually carrying my letters to you). But I plan on updating when possible and throwing some photos up here as well if I can. Of course, I have until May 2009. I am also noticing I am promising a lot considering the ease of internet access I currently have and the little I have actually update this blog. Im new to this - cut me some slack. Meanwhile, there is still this pesky thesis I have yet to write and have completely lost focus on - all I can think about is catching my own fish. And blue water ... and cockroaches ... and rain ... and coconuts ... and lush forests ... and gastrointestinal disorders ...

Check me out - I am famous! Also read about LEEP and how wonderful this organization is!

After a deferral scare, the Peace Corps has decided that I have no medical or mental health problems and that it would be safe for them to send me to a far off land! I am now waiting for them to officially extend an invitation my way for service in the Pacific Islands. WOOT! Apparently the process can still be competitive and someone else may be nominated for the position I was previously nominated for. Fingers are crossed, but I've done all I can. It's out of my hands now.

I've been going through an old movie phase and have watched a lot of Audrey Hepburn movies. I can't decide what my favorite is so far - but I am leaning towards Sabrina. Audrey Hepburn plays the part of Sabrina, a chauffer's daughter. She starts off being in love with a man she doesn't know. She also does not have a lot of confidence in herself at this early point in the film. So she takes the chance to go to culinary school in Paris and falls in love with Paris and becomes more autonomous. When she returns, she finds herself falling for a different man, the brother of guy number 1. This man she gets to know, and is not simply in love with the idea of him, but who he is. Lots of women get so caught up in trying to get a guy to like her (like Audrey Hepburn does with William Holden) that she does not take the time realize she has a choice, and she should not have to wait for a guy to pick her. In the end, she chooses Humphry Bogart. You go girl!! My other Hepburn favorites: Breakfast at Tiffany's (of course!), Roman Holiday, and Happy Face (ahh Fred Astair).

So I've just finished reading "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. I found it to be quite good. I know it's a cliche "vagina book" as my friend called it the other day, but that doesn't mean it is bad. I have read plenty of non-vagina books and enjoyed them just as much. This book was recommended to me by my mom, who said it reminded her of me as she was reading it.

I've never been divorced nor have I ever lived in an ashram in India, but I do heart traveling. I would do exactly what she has done given the opportunity. I'm having trouble choosing the 3 countries I would pick to spend a year of life ... I loved Italy, but have never had any connection to it. Although, Cinque Terre was by far one of my top 5 places I saw in Western Europe. I also loved the Bavarian Alps (Home to Neuschwanstein Castle), but never had the desire to learn German. I loved living in Northern Ireland and my visit to the Aran Islands and could live there for a time, doing nothing but tending sheep and knitting woolen sweaters for tourists. Here the set back is that I DISPISE Guiness, with a passion. I could spend the first 4 months of my hypothetical year in Barcelona, Spain. I loved it there - mostly because of Gaudi, the famous architect from Catalan. I could hone up on my Spanish and just enjoy the relaxed culture, good food, and afternoon siestas. Italy is where Elizabeth spent 4 months studying Italian and searching for pleasure in food. Food isn't as important to me and I don't know if Barcelona is where I would find pleasure. I've always felt at home in the tropics, therefore my search for pleasure would have to start there somewhere. Isolated, but happy. Snorkeling.

Her next stop was for spiritual guidance at the Indian ashram. As someone of Jewish faith, I would take the next step in my religous education in Israel. I would enjoy spending some time living on a kibbutz with my family, studying the Hebrew language and some Jewish texts. To me, that is an obvious step. Gilbert does not hold back on the experience she has in India. I am impressed with how she presents her devotion. I thought I would hate reading that section of the book because it would be boring, but it wasn't at all.

Lastly, Gilbert goes to Indonesia to learn balance with a medicine man she had met years previously. I don't exactly know what the search for balance entails, even after reading her book. But the last stop on my tour - I would like to bike ride around the islands of Australia and New Zealand. I could find balance in my mind and health while balancing on 2 wheels. To me, this is one of the parts of my hypothetical year that I would very much like to see actually happen.

That didn't so much as review the book as talk about how my book "Snorkel, Pray, Bike" would pan out. But I was impressed with the book, and think the author did an excellent job of explaining the choices she made and the life she lived over that year. I'll end with my favorite quote from the book.

"There is much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under my jurisdiction. There are certain lottery tickets I can buy, thereby increasing my odds of finding contentment. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I eat and read and study. I can choose how I'm going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life - whether I will see them as curses or opportunities (and the occasions when I can't rise to the most optimistic viewpoints, because I'm feeling too damn sorry for myself, I can choose to keep trying to change my outlook). I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts."

Last night was the start of the Jewish High Holiday's. Rosh Hashana is the Jewish New Year and is a time for reflection on your past year. I went to shul (services) today and thought about a lot of things. I've gotten to thinking about my current lifestyle, my future, and what kind of person I wish to be after I finish school.

First - a step back: I have to admit - I've been bitten by the travel bug quite a bit. It's my mother's fault. She has always enjoyed travelling and I can't get enough of it. Before arriving in college I had already been to Spain, Costa Rica, and Israel. I don't say this to brag, but only to show how lucky I feel I am. In college I wasn't happy with the University at which I ended up. So I travelled more - Northern Ireland, western Europe backpacking trip, Caribbean SEA semester, Morehead City field location. If I was allowed to go - I went. I also was single my entire college life. I never connected the two together until I asked a friend why we never dated in college. His response was "I was never surprised that you were single. But not because of your personality. Because you were always talking about travelling."

Now to go in a totally opposite direction - my Jewish faith. I love being Jewish. I've always been proud to be a part of a culture and group of people that have been through and survived so much adversity. My mother did an excellent job of raising me Jewish in a small southern town in which I had to drive over an hour to get to Sunday school. I never had a lot of Jewish friends though, and thus in college I kind of let it go to the wayside. Lately, I've found myself surrounded by some amazing Jewish people, and I've start to become reacquainted with my culture and faith. I love it. I wander around my new Jewish-run household and look at all the things I hope to one day have: sedar plates, kiddish cups, menorahs, shofars, etc. Then I think about my plans for the future - the Peace Corps.

I want desperately to be in the Peace Corps - I want to travel to an exotic locale. I want to emerse myself in another culture to the point where I feel like I have lived there my whole life. I want to be able to use my education to help people who want my help. But how does that get me close to my other dream - being a Jewish wife and mother and having a Jewish home that I can be proud of. Is there no way to have both? Has my love of travel and desire to make myself more cultured, interesting, and to see places some people only read about kept me from meeting a man that could fall in love with me?

As a follow-up to my last post - Wicked was excellent! Highly recommended to all. I hope to see the musical one day - perhaps when it comes to Atlanta in October.

I recently saw a friend writing down what brings her joy. Then I had a conversation with another about what brings us excitement. It reminded me of a book I once saw that listed 100 or 1000 things that made the author happy. Thats all it was - a list. After I saw that book I had started my own and found it last time I went home. The things I put on it then are quite amusing. I've decided to do an updated list of 10 things that make me smile. I'm not exactly sure what I'll come up with ... so here it goes.

1. Family and friends (seems such an obvious starter); 2. Capturing a good imagine in a photograph; 3. Good long bike ride; 3. Chocolate; 4. Finding things once thought to be lost; 5. Daydreams; 6. Traveling to new places; 7. Making new friends; 8. Coming home after a long day; 9. Suprises; 10. Snorkeling.

This past weekend I payed a visit to Barnes and Nobles - a place which I don't think i've visited in a while. I had forgotten how much I just love to browse. Now I know the library is the same, and more economic and environmental - but there is something about looking through new books that haven't been broken in yet that ... I can't believe I'm using this term ... hypnotizes me. I was in the store for over an hour before I realized it. And still managed to stay another 30 minutes. I also only stayed in the very front of the store. To venture further back could have been dangerous.

I managed to scour the bargain bins and found a few treasures! One - a birthday gift for my landlady. Next - a book on how to learn languages! Not a specific language, but several procedures on the best way to learn a language and how to take advantage of the free time we all have in our daily lives. Excellent read for me if I enter the Peace Corps and am subjected to a 3 month intensive language training course. Lastly I found a manual for my digital camera - MY model of my specific not Nikon not Canon digital camera! Completely unexpected but was my favorite find of the night and it was only 6 dollars! I hope this allows me to get the most out of my dSLR. I also bought a novel called Wicked. It's the story of The Wizard of Oz but from the Wicked Witch's point of view. I've heard excellent things about the show so I thought I'd give the book a chance. The only bad part about this idea is that if I ever DO get to see the show, I am surely to be disappointed because every book I read that I see the movie/show that goes with it, the show almost always disappoints because no interpretation of an excellent book ever does an excellent book justice. But I will review the book when I finish. Which brings me to the idea of suggesting some of my favorite books, with possible reviews if I can find the time. Let's start now.

I was recently discussing this book with a friend and I love it so much I will being my list of suggestions with it. It's called Maiden Voyage, and it's about a young girl who sails around the world on her own. I've loved this book since the moment I started reading it because I would love to be Tania. She makes the choice to sail alone over the safe option of college paid for in full by her father. She completely fucks up in the beginning because she is trying to navigate with a broken sextant and has to rely on hailing nearby ships for her coordinates. Not her proudest moments. BUT - she eventually learns to navigate with out electronics. Having done this as well - it's no easy feat, especially on a tossing and kicking 26 foot sloop (I did it on a slightly more stable 124 ft ship). She meets many people along the way that help her. I can't decide if I think her weak for constantly needing the help of men around her to accomplish her goal or if I am impressed with how she will ask for help when she knows she needs it. An admirable quality. She seems to have an ease with meeting people on her journey and comes out the other side a stronger person. I will always wish to have an experience like hers, which could explain why I've read the book 3 times already.

Looking Science-y

Cultures Bubbling

My dad and I poking our heads through submarine holes.

Trying to crank the propeller of the Hunley.

So my parents will both be happy to know that today marks the completion of a long awaited experiment. No, I don't know what the big hold up was, but I'm glad to finally have accomplished something in my years at grad school. The photos are of my looking all science-y and part of the experimental set-up: Symbiodinium cultures being bubbled with air. In the next week I plan on spending more long days in the lab to analyze the plethora of samples that I collected. Hopefully a pattern emerges. My dad and stepmom were in town this weekend and I had a wonderful visit! We went to see the HL Hunley which I shockingly enjoyed! I am not a huge history buff as I do terribly with remembering dates. But I really enjoyed the story of the sub.On top of that, we ate many great meals and I have discovered my love of tilefish as well as rediscovered the wonders of creme brulee - the best desert in the world. That will be all for now considering I have a movie date to get to. If you havent seen Saved, I suggest you do.

I've started this blog as a precursor to what I hope will be a blog coming to you from the Pacific Islands when I am in Peace Corps service. I am currently trying to finish up my master's thesis in Charleston, SC right now on coral's and DMSP production. I am an avid photographer and bike rider and enjoy trying to use my car less and less not only for the good of my heart, wallet, and environment but also because bike riding is a freeing feeling. Photography allows me to pretend that I am creative and artistic and leave the science part of my brain behind just for a little bit. I like shooting nature mostly, getting really into macro (close-up) stuff, and I like the idea of shooting close-up images of people's skin art (tattoos, duh). I hope the next post comes with some more exciting news - perhaps word of a completed experiment or plumetting over a waterfall in a barrel.