Iron Chef
Each year the new volunteers (still trainees) are given a recipe and money to buy the supplies. This year I was responsible for helping to make that happen! All of the trainees cooked up their dish and prepared roti (Indian tortillas). We had a contest for the best main, best side, and best presentation plus a prize for the best two roti. It was a hit. I think the best part was the non-formal talk we had on the “Realities of Living in Fiji”. All-in-all, a great day! Traveling by Local Transport The rickety, wooden bridges that we cross going from my town center to the capital along King's road. The view is spectacular, but the roads are atrocious. I get around Fiji. I mean, I am pretty much a local. One of my favorite things to do is just ride. The buses here may drive like crazy, or stop a bagillion times in a 1 kilometer stretch, but they are care free, usually spacious, and breezy. No complaints here. Plus, I can snap random pictures out the open air windows. Below are a few shots of Western Viti Levu, Fiji. World Renowned Beqa Adventures Shark Dive I dove with BULL SHARKS!! Yes, that’s right. Huge, 18 foot, man-eating sharks and the crazy Fijians were willing to hand feed them like a baby cow. It was crazy! There were people-size fish, countless sharks, and spiraling schools all around. Just amazing! If you ever get the chance to SCUBA dive a “rare operations” such as with whale sharks, shark dives, manta rays, humpbacks, etc. I totally recommend the life enhancing experience for all! (Unless of course a shark makes you shat your pants. I do not think that would go over too well in a 7 mm wetsuit). How many of those monsters are there? Time is Coming to a Close Last night (June 24th) was a big night for me... one hundred and fifty of my closest Fijian friends and family threw me a going away party. It is tradition in Fijian culture for a person leaving a village to present some kava root to the village. There is often a big dinner and party associated with this exchange as well. The ceremony is called an itatau. I was seated at the very top of the table, a few speeches were exchanged, kava root was presented on my behalf for the food and another for me leaving the village, then, we all stuffed ourselves on a magnificent feast! There was baked chicken, prawns in coconut milk, fried fish, boiled salmon cod, fried eggs, cassava, sweet potato, soup, and much, much more. I was so impressed with the village’s production and actually felt a little appreciation for all of my hard work over the last two years. What a nice thing for them to do for me as a going away present! Vinaka vakalevu na noqu koro mai Nakorotubu. Loloma vei kemuni kece! Me, my counter part, the chief, and the eldest elder sitting at the head of the dinner table. Ulamila and I in our matching fabric! My new sulu jaba is just perfect. I will be wearing it to a few Peace Corps events in America. Surfing the Coral Coast It turns out getting up on the board and riding a wave is easy... if your waves are little baby speed bumps. The hard part is fighting the current to get to the next ride. Learning how to surf! My Bubu Vesi just returning from his coconut plantation where he was preparing copra to sell. The view along a 6 mile stretch between my village and Lydia's. Lydia and I finally got around to meeting up at the local primary school to put the finishing touches on the world map. Ili and my namesake: Alusio Jamie Vumainabuke! He is sooo precious! She can sleep anywhere!! 
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A couple of young boys take their bamboo raft out for a quick jaunt around the bay at sunrise.
Alusio Jamie Vumainabuke 
I am Leaving July 10th!My FRE-7 group who arrived in May 2009.
A lot has happened. I have a Close of Service date!! I leave my village July 4th and leave the country July 10th! Then it’s off to California to explore the West Coast and hang out with some friends, see family in Texas, and eventually make it to Alabama for Mom and Atlanta to plan my Sis' wedding! Whew, good thing I don't have to get a job immediately! Dim Sum The last time I was in Suva we had a big group get together for Dim Sum. It was the most amazing meal I have ever shared across a lazy Suzan. We ordered about 12 different dumplings/cakes/appetizers and got to try one of everything. It was soooo neat. Highly recommended. ItatauIn Fiji there is a cultural ceremony anytime a guest or villager leaves a village called an itatau. All of the FRE-7 volunteers in Fiji went to an itatau with the Peace Corps staff to get a good feel of how our own itatau will be presented in our respective villages. Three of the Peace Corps volunteers came up with a song to acknowledge all of the hard work that went into their support for us over the past two years. Here are the lyrics: The Office Song! We arrived here one day at the end side of May I think nearly 2 years now And man it’s been fun, but hooray it’s nearly done Before we go we want to give a few shout outs Goodbye Suva Fiji What would Peace Corps be without kemuni Hard work with a smile keepin’ it Fiji style Goodbye Suva Fiji It sure wasn’t fun when you had the runs Or that boil on your face But when we had a fever we just call La and Fina Felt better by the end of the day You get a package from yo Momma, Lutu and Delana will go pick it up for you And if you need a ride, there is no better guy They’ll do anything you need ‘em to do. You do all the dishes, you fill all our wishes Miri you keep the offices clean You’re even sweeter than those tasty treats That you help serve us at tea Goodbye Suva Fiji What would Peace Corps be without kemuni Hard work with a smile keepin’ it Fiji style Goodbye Suva Fiji When you walk into Peace Corps, she opens the door You see a smiling Sera You report OCL; it’s a drag but oh well at least you’re talking to Kelera These guys are the reason, every cyclone season We’ve got cash to make our escape Jacob and Andrew, you always come through Because of you we always get paid If ever you were in danger, or had a scary neighbor Or were involved in a barroom spat There was no need to worry, he’d arrive in a hurry Cause there no man tougher than Sat Goodbye Suva Fiji What would Peace Corps be without kemuni Hard work with a smile keepin’ it Fiji style Goodbye Suva Fiji Remember when pigs used to run All around happy and care free But thanks to Lisa and JC you remembered how To make a compost piggery There’s too much oil in the curry and sugar in the coffee And the kitchens are all unclean Mita and Luse always save the day And can give advice about those NCDs. Sometimes we weren’t careful, or particularly thoughtful And we caught ourselves a virus I know it’s absurd, I never remember my password And that’s why we keep Taufeeq at the office Goodbye Suva Fiji What would Peace Corps be without kemuni Hard work with a smile keepin’ it Fiji style Goodbye Suva Fiji And who could be finer than those lovely Americans Who help make things run smooth Rose Sheila and Ruth, let me tell you the truth If it weren’t for ya’ll we wouldn’t know what to do We arrived on the plane, we didn’t know a thang But you gave us some great advice Felipe and Grace trained us to be great It’s like we were born in this island paradise Achaa, kei sa hey, ko lesu beak mai vei? (Hindi) Man we sure are smart to speak JT and Mahen, yeah we give you a 10 For the language lessons you prepare and teach Goodbye Suva Fiji What would Peace Corps be without kemuni Hard work with a smile keepin’ it Fiji style Goodbye Suva Fiji It definitely doesn’t read as well as it sounds with the jingle and the “Wheelbarrow boys” singing. Close of Service Conference For our Close of Service Conference we went to a resort called The Pearl, the same one that Sis, Mom, and I stayed at when they visited. I hung out with the meke crew a bit and even won a drink from the bar for knowing how many islands there are in Fiji. They really shouldn’t let locals raise their hands! Anyways, somehow the performers got me out of my seat and onto the dance floor only to embarrass me with a silly dance! Passover Sedar We also got together for a Passover Sedar, which I didn’t know anything about and thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you Melissa and Jules for pulling it together and inviting everyone! Slide ShowJules and Sean also put together a spectacular slide show and movie clips of volunteers dancing over the two years. No one in the room got through it without a few tears streaming down their face from laughter. The dancing included several clips of Lydia singing and dancing to a dog at the beach. HILARIOUS! “The End” BashAfter our COS conference we headed to Nananu-I-Ra for a “close to the end” celebration. It was complete with birthday celebrations, a walk to the Labyrinth, lots of guitar playing, swimming with bioluminescence, and a huge bonfire. Quite an enjoyable time. Back in the VillageOnce again, time for a break from school. The kindergarten had an end-of-term tea where I was the special guest. 
My birthday was a hit. I had 5 celebrations! Count them… 5! One was a girls’ night at a local resort (including an earth oven feast, Fijian show, Easter egg hunting, and just plain fun with the girls),
That night they passed out in the grass, got rained on, and were forced to move onto the rock hard porch. the second with a friend at the waterfalls near my village, the third was a party my village threw for me, the fourth at lunch with all the volunteers of Ra, and the fifth was a special gift from my namesake and her husband (my counterpart)… sharing a cake!! Is she not the cutest thing. Lol. She got into the cake on the boat. Put a nice Ulamila handprint in the center. Lewa and my Yaca (namesake) enjoying the birthday cake! Way more than I expected or even deserve. I loved turning 26. One of my fears in life is growing old, but so far it has been a blessing. Being able to experience Fiji, continue to keep my friends back home, and make new connections daily has fueled me for two years now! Thank you to everyone who has helped me along the way and supported me in my crazy two year endeavor. I love ya’ll! Na Salasimede (Footpaths) The men have been working hard on the footpaths. The footpaths reach the community hall! We had a big celebration while Megan was in the village. Misc. My friend Filo and I. Beautiful lemon pepper swordfish steaks that I totally cooked myself! Mmmmm! Peace Corps came to prepare the village for my replacement volunteer. A typical Fijian returning from a hard days' work. This man was at the Peace Corps office. Can you believe it? An Alabama shirt with Bham, Gadsden, Auburn, and Pensacola. Craziness! Plus it was in orange and blue! WaR eAgLe!!!! 
Oh Sydney.
Great city with adorable clothes, nice neighborhoods, young corporations, fresh, bright, and happenin’. Although, I felt like it was too big. A tiny bit like New York city. Melbourne was just my size. Tranquil Darling Harbour Our carriage at the Central Rail Station YHA. We took a great free tour around Sydney with an entertaining young girl. Highly recommended. Did you know that Australians built a castle styled building on their coast so that Ireland would think they wanted peace and wouldn’t invade?! Also, Australia’s mint makes bills (as in paper money) for over 27 countries. It is plastic and therefore it is washable, bendable, and almost indestructible. Smart thinking. Also, the kangaroo and the emu are the two national symbols because they walk upright just like humans and so are viewed as domesticated animals. Transportation was easy within Sydney as well. Not exactly cheap or even affordable, but easily accessible. Megan and I purchased some kangaroo steaks at the grocery store and I grilled them up. Mmmmmm, pretty tasty. A very sweet, tender, gamey meat. Highly recommended. I think it is even healthier than venison. One package of Oreos: $4.94 Keep in mind, AUD is equal to USD Can you see that price tag? 11.98 per kg for bananas... wow. We had some orgasmic macaroons at Manly Pier. Manly Beach The icon of Australia: The Sydney Opera House The immaculate bathrooms at the opera house. I found my dream wedding ring at the Swarovski Crystal store. Well, maybe switch the crystals for diamonds... We also went to a Broadway play “The Next Room: A Vibrator Play” and kinda snuck into an opera, “Carmen”. The opera house is such an iconic complex. We hit up Manly beach, which was just a short ferry ride away. Cute little area. And stayed in a railcar at the Central Station YHA. Overall, fun place, but not where I would want to settle. Back in Fiji The mud pools! 
Australia here we come!
On the plane! Free alcohol. Not a good idea. Lol. We have set off on our big koala adventure! I just happen to slip and speak Fijian to the flight attendant and all of a sudden an Indian man starts spilling out his love and admiration for me on the plane. He decides he wants to marry me, but he has this arranged marriage with another Indian woman that he has fallen in love with in 4 weeks. He says if he had only met me a few months sooner we would be getting married. Lol. Funny how different cultures think. Anyways, Megan and I are really excited about our coming adventures in OZ! A couple of Irish friends of mine are meeting us at the airport and hooking us up with a place to stay for a few nights until our trip down the Great Ocean Road. We cannot wait for what lies ahead. I will post again soon! Much love! Shop ‘til I Drop Melbourne is the most spectacular city I have been in yet. So well laid out. Pleasant people. Everything has a SALE sign on it. Immaculate. Incredible public transport. Delicious Food. Fondue. Burgers. Festivals. BBQs. Sports. Beach. Did I mention shopping? Low unemployment rate. Minimum wage of about 15 AUD/USD. I think you may get where I am going with this. I want to LIVE here! Being silly in Melbourne Crates left after a busy day in the Queen Victoria Market. You should have seen the amount of fruit we bought for $1! Astounding market! Flinders Street Station... a wonderful train depot Megan and I stayed with two Irish friends of mine that I met at The BeacHouse in Fiji over New Years! They were the most astounding hosts anyone could ever ask for. And I mean that! They picked us up from the airport, gave us their bed, fed us every meal, and showed us around. We even had several good laughs with poor Liza being dragged around by an Australia bulldog she was dog sitting. They deserve so much happiness! Remarkable couple! Megan and I just hope to be able to repay them sometime in the future. Thank you Liza and Tommy. Our graciously organized BBQ. Melbourne lights. A black swan on the river. Delicious eggplant, olive, pesto, onion, and spinach pizza. Beautiful Pancakes and Peaches Our two days in Melbourne came to a quick end. For those of you who make it to Melbourne, I recommend you see Federation Square as well. We ran out of time. We hired a car for Monday morning and started our trip down the Great Ocean Road towards Adelaide. The drive went smoothly with Megan behind the wheel (my stupid license didn’t show up in the mail in time). Outback plants Outback Fauna Apollo Bay We saw 21, yes, count them, 21, wild koalas hanging out in the blue gums on the Kennet River/Grey River Road. One juvenile was even within arm’s reach! The pull over was literally a dirt road just off the main highway. Thank goodness I did research before starting our road trip! Other highlights include: watched surfers at the famous surfing coastline of Bells Beach, leisurely strolled around Split Rock Lighthouse at Aireys Inlet, ate a quite delicious burger with avocado and mushrooms in Lorne, saw an echidna crossing the street, spotted a kookaburra during our koala adventure, and caught the 12 Apostles at sunset! A perfect day! We were also told that a colony of penguins emerges from the sea just 25 minutes after sunset. 12 Apostles at Sunset One lonely apostle. Well, we waited a good 35 minutes in the 50 degree weather and never saw a speck of tuxedo… maybe we will spot them tomorrow returning to the deep at sunrise. Along the path to the 12 Apostles lookout. Stopping in Princetown to book a hostel proved to be a scene out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie, pushing us to continue on towards Port Campbell where we found a brand new VIP hostel with the most comfortable backpacker bunks ever! Highly recommended! London Bridge March 16, 2011 No penguins. Turns out in February and March they are molting and therefore do not venture into the ocean to feed until April when they have a waxy coating covering their feathers again (which is secreted by a glad at the base of their tail). Sunrise Mid-Day We did go back to the 12 Apostles at sunrise and during daylight hours though. Splendid little stretch of beach! While driving towards Portland we stopped at a fauna park where we spotted our first kangaroo. Although, because it was in a cage we were still not satisfied. White kangaroo in the fauna park Continuing on our way towards The Gramps (Grampians National Park) we found out the roads and trails have been closed off since January 2011 due to flooding. During our detour around the park to make it to our reservation in Halls Gap we were greeted by a herd (What do you call a pack of kangaroos?) of wild kangaroos feeding right off the side of the road. I felt like I was spotlighting deer in the back roads of Alabama. Oh the good ole days. WILD kanagroo in The Gramps Back to the kangaroos… so I pulled over, stealthily creeped up to a few of them and caught a few snapshots. They were cute, but didn’t come close to the adorable young koala from the day before. From Portland, up to Halls Gap, through Ballarat, and on to the Melbourne airport, there wasn’t much to see. Ballarat Australia reminds me of the Texas Panhandle actually. Lots of wide open fields with cows, windmills, and small country towns. We did see emus at Tower Hill, stopped at one aboriginal painting completed thousands of years ago, ate delicious brownie, boysenberry, and ferrero rocher cold slab ice cream in Ballarat, and got to drive almost 8 hours! Aboriginal Painting... thousands of years old. Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef Cute town. Lots of spectacular deals. Cheap accommodation. A free-to-the-public, lifeguarded, saltwater lagoon/pool along the esplanade. Main attraction: The Great Barrier Reef. Megan and I hung out around town shopping in the handicraft markets, the night market, and the one-of-a-kind boutiques. On Friday we headed out on a really nice vessel called the “Silver Swift”. We came to the reef during a slow period so the 120 capacity boat was practically empty. Megan Me I did 3 certification dives and Megan got to do 2 introductory dives. She pretty much went on the same dives as I did with no previous experience and LOVED it! During our trip below the surface we were faced with HUGE Napolean Wrasses (Maori Wrasse), a green sea turtle, white-tipped reef sharks, nudibranchs, coral gardens, bommies, gigantic sea cucumbers, and an array of fish. Because I have been living and diving in Fiji for the past two years I tried to keep low expectations of the Great Barrier Reef. Sadly, even not expecting much, I was quite disappointed. With a cyclone in early February and all the rain that they have been receiving the water was extremely murky. The dive captains said it had actually cleared up a lot in the past week. I would have hated to be here in February! The reef was also just basic. I think it is more of one of those “been there, done than” sort of things. I have definitely seen better coral and marine wildlife than I saw on the two reefs we visited, such as Vatu-i-Ra Passage in the Bligh Waters of Fiji and South Water Caye, Belize, plus much bigger animals in Hawaii. Underwater A large head of coral flipped during the cyclone in January. Tremendous damage all over the reef. All kinda of large game fish were circling under the boat. After getting out of the water the Napolean (Maori) Wrasse (endemic to Australian waters) hung out near the boat. He was HUGE. We were even able to pet it. Although, of course, it tried to bite me... what's new?! Around Cairns Megan plays the didgeridoo. After exploring all of Cairns we headed down to Sydney. Our flight was smooth and included two ice creams! Exciting stuff! Upon arrival in Sydney we were told that the shuttle that was supposed to pick us up had quite running for the night and so we have to take the 15 AUD train ride instead. One hour later we arrive at Kings Cross with the street jumping. We are warned by an older Australian couple that we are not in a safe area and that we need to go straight to our hotel. It wasn’t THAT bad. So we arrive at our hostel, the guy checking us in decides to stop in the middle of check-in to go and put away some tables on the patio. Then there are no top sheets available. We get to our room and it is no 3 bed en suite with kitchenette, it is a 4 bed with a window. There will be a serious talk with the manager on Monday morning! It is now Sunday morning, our flat mates decided to come in at 6 AM to wake us up for a chit-chat. It was actually a pretty interesting early morning talk. They are from Sweden, nice guys, living it up big in the same hostel for 4 months. Stupid! Anyways, we will be getting to know them more in the coming days. Today, we are off to explore the sights of Sydney! Australian Fruit Bowl Signs of Australia 
My Creepy Crawly
OK, so there is this tarp above my bed to catch the dust from my grass hut. Well, the other night I am laying on my bed trying to fall into a restless sleep and I hear a LOUD “thunk”. I lay still for approximately 5 seconds before scrambling out of bed terrified of what was lurking above. I grab my flashlight, but the tarp is solid black and therefore reveals nothing of immediate interest. All I hear is a constant scuttling back and forth, back and forth. Finally, I decide it can’t be a rat, because it isn’t heavy enough, it can’t be a lizard, because it would have scurried off by now, so it must be a spider with an egg sack, and now the egg sack is stuck in the tarp, spreading little baby spiders all over my house. Yuck! I grab my can of aerosol Mortein and start spraying uncontrollably. Within seconds a nasty, intimidating centipede comes crawling across the makeshift rope connecting the tarp to my roof. I was horrified! I immediately grabbed my broom and started whacking at the poor thing. He’s dead! I succeeded in saving my life from the deadly creepy crawly. I am pretty sure they are poisonous you know. Another Day in Paradise On our way to our beach! One of my favorite counterparts, lots of his family, and I, went on a picnic at our beloved beach, Conino! When we arrived the tide was coming in, perfect timing for a nice long snorkel. At first we snorkeled a fringing reef only accessible by boat. The coral was beautiful, but nothing compared to Vatu-i-Ra (Bird Island). I saw a swimming feather star for the first time. It was so angelic with its monotonous oscillating arms as it moved to the beat of “She wore a yellow polka-dot bikini”. Ok, not really, but it was a beautiful site. After that Sio drove us around the outer island and dropped two boys and me off on the barrier reef. I did a large, intertwining swim back to the picnic beach, totaling over 2.5 kms of snorkeling! Getting ready for our 2nd Annual 2.5 km Big Bay Swim across Na Viti Levu Bay at the end of this month. After arriving back at the beach, one of the boys walked up with a young sea turtle. I made sure they had plans of releasing the turtle back into the water before I would even begin to amuse them with taking pictures. They agreed, we took pics, and I got to release it back into the wild! The rest of the day was uneventful, but an extremely enjoyable beach visit! Visit to the Gold Mine Kavaia Inoke The night before picking up Megan I went to visit a Fijian that is like my little brother. He went with mom, sis, and I to the bird island and we became immediate friends. Kavaia lives in a town attached to the only gold mine in Fiji. At night we walked to the mine to enjoy the place lit up at night. It works 24/7, pumping in mud, filtering, pumping mud out, melting the gold, etc. I don’t really know the whole process. The neighborhood was soooo nice! There were beautiful wooden houses with huge shutters that lifted up. They were mostly built on stilts and had well thought out landscapes. Lots of people walked around at night, but it didn’t feel threatening at all. I really enjoyed my stay! Megan is here! My best friend Megan, who is a returned Peace Corps volunteer from Peru, has finally arrived! She came in early on Thursday morning and we headed straight to Rakiraki for lunch with all of the volunteers. While on the bus a current Peace Corps Fiji volunteer boards and just happens to know Megan from two years before. They met at a family member/mutual friends’ house in Ohio. How crazy huh!? Everything went smoothly for the day, we arrived in the village and she took the grand tour. She fell in love with my straw hut and really enjoyed the views from around the village. During her week visit we snorkeled twice, hung out at the beach in the crystal clear water during a lightening storm, went to my exhilarating waterfalls, gave leis to a few men (the flower necklaces were given to the leaders working on the footpaths and we were given huge, beautiful ones as well), enjoyed trying a few Fijian dishes, succeeded in catching prawns with traditional nets, and were serenaded by the kindergarten! All in all, an impressive visit! Trying on the professional gear! The kids are wearing my snorkel and mask while looking at my underwater pictures! So cute! Dogo (meaning mangrove) helping with the laundry. 
A Tribute to Our Jolly Ole Chief
Our chief passed away. Last Saturday. He was a happy fella. Turns out, the chief gets a very special funeral. Men could be seen (and heard) blowing into large trumpet shells, making sounds that resemble the bass keys of a church organ (Lydia decided it was the kazoos at the World Cup)… ALL NIGHT LONG. They made a continuous stream of humming from 4 PM the day before the funeral until the church service the morning of the burial. There were also tribal men (well, the youth boys of my village), in traditional grass skirts and war paint, guarding the chief’s house. We even had to have a chauffeur to get anywhere near the ceremonies. After a night of wailing snail shells we attended the burial on the beach. Our chiefly land is outside of the village towards one of our settlements. The chief's house being guarded by men in traditional wear. Salabogi blowing the trumpet shell around dusk. After the casket arrived, the men wrapped woven mats round the box, strategically placed rope under the casket to lower it into the hole. A prayer was said, the people threw a little sand onto the casket and then men began shoveling. After a small stone barrier was built around the burial site a handmade paper cloth, called a tapa or masi, was placed over the natural tombstone followed by the family laying flowers atop. Very quickly it was all over and the people loaded back into the boats to head back to the village. Carrying the casket to the boats. Loading the boat. Funeral at the beach. Wrapping the casket in woven mats. Blowing the snail shells during the burial. Forming the barrier to fill in with sand. Laying a masi cloth on top. Exciting side note about funerals: 1. I get a HUGE chunk of roast. They killed four cows for the late chief! So Lydia and I ate four meals in a row with beef tips. 2. I am given a new woven mat, which is always a blessing because mine deteriorate within eight months. 3. The cultural experience is priceless. How many people can say they have gone to a chief’s funeral? 4. All my educated friends come into the village. The friends and family of the people that live in the village year round come back to mourn the death. So exciting catch up time! Collecting Sasa So, I don’t think many of you over there in America really understand what “work” is. Stomping around in foot deep mud through mosquito and spider infested forests to find freshly fallen coconut fronds should be an Olympic sport. Lydia was a trooper when she decided to help me get sasa (coconut leaves) from the forest, up my steep mountain, and into my village. The following day I sunned the coconut leaves, during the funeral, and afterward Lydia and I placed the coconut leaves on the floor of my house in preparation for Megan! She arrives in 4 days! Oh my goodness, Australia here I come! Oh Fiji: Check out thjs poster another volunteer found lately… it is of “marine animals” and includes a tree frog, a tod (toad), a shark as a whale, a hippopotamus, a tadpole, and a boa constrictor among other things. Warning, this poster was produced in Fiji. Boys making their rounds. The star of the show. 
Major Progress
My Peace Corps experience took a 180 turn this past Monday. At the community meeting we ushered in a new village development committee, which means, we voted for new people to run the projects in the village and every person on the committee is a great worker, with ideas, organization, and leadership skills. My projects just received a major boost! On Tuesday, February 8, 2011, the men started working on laying the footpaths! Within one day they had a 50 meter frame built, started filling it in with rocks, and had an assembly line for the reinforcement rods. Now this is what I am talking about! Everyone is so excited to see so much progress that they wanted to work every day this week to see how far they can get. Whew. Huge stress off my shoulders. The first few hours of my village's new footpaths! First day's progress. Putting together the reinforcement one rod at a time. Making the rods into Fijian style reinforcement. Lysiosquillina maculata The weirdest thing happened to me today. I was looking at the fish posters on my wall and telling myself that I should leave them behind for the village to enjoy. I know that I will never be decorating my future homes with posters. Then, the common banded mantis shrimp stares me in the face with its beady eyes that can see 100,000 colors (10 times that of the human eye). I realize I have never seen a mantis shrimp besides on tv and in my invertebrate biology textbook, but ever since learning about their marvelously sensitive eyesight I have been fascinated. I carry on with my business, collecting my snorkel gear, hammock, and book for another Sunday Fun Day at the beach. (Sundays are religious here and no one does anything except attend church and sleep. Really, I am not supposed to do anything either.) I lock up my house, answer every inquisitive Fijian’s questions about where I am going, and head out into the intertidal zone as the tide slips out. As I round the cliffs dripping with runoff from the recent tor r entail downpours I am startled by a small, odd-shaped fish. As I peer closer I realize it is a mantis shrimp, none other than the common banded shrimp I was just studying in my bure. He continuously scuttles under different rocks as I try to get a better look. Finally, I corner the little bugger, reach down with an open palm behind him and two fingers just in front, and WHAM! He rears back his little club (technically a smasher) and smacks me in the finger. I start laughing, realizing that I forgot they could swing with a speed of 23 m/s, about the same speed as a .22 caliber bullet. Thank goodness he was a baby, only about 5 cm long, or else I could have been streaming blood. When I stand back up to begin walking I reminisce about all the other times I made this simple mistake: 1. When I went to pet a lemon ray and got sliced between my fingers by his stinger, 2. The time I found a fireworm on a wreck dive and started to pick up the beautiful red flames, only to be rudely awakened by sharp pains in my fingers and red needles that refused to dislodge, and 3. All those times I thought it would be fun to play with a sea cucumber, until I was surrounded by its sticky intestines it had expelled to keep me away. And another update on the footpaths… Mixing the coral, sand, and cement. Each step is done by hand. Covering the footpaths in preparation for the oncoming rain. One week down and 200 feet of concrete has been laid. Only problem, they tried to sneak in dead pieces of coral into the cement. I wanted to scream! Not only was it just collected from the beach that morning, but it is organic, and porous. We quickly put a stop to that. For some reason they thought it was OK to work without one of our two designated carpenters and so they continued to lay with a carpenter that I have never seen in my village. In other words, they asked someone from another village to come in and help us, who in turn gave the men crooked advice. Sometimes I do wonder about people’s intentions. Anyways, we made a compromise to crush the coral and wash it thoroughly before mixing it in with the sand, gravel, and cement. Hopefully this does not hinder the quality of the footpaths. I wish some of you could experience the conversations I have sometimes with Fijians. You would be appalled! Tea time after a hard day's work. Man we have a lot of men in this village. EVERYONE has been contributing! Lunch and a tea are provided by the women every day of work. Kindy studies the sea. Just after a rain storm. This is where the boys place rugby at low tide. My village. My baby. Tony driving his new bus. Vina making Fijian pancakes. The kids learn how to drive their new remote control Hummer. Netani is so intrigued. Two of the new children in the kindy this year. They have adjusted quite well! Baby Leone is growing so fast. John and Judy sharing pizza topping duties. Just another day in paradise. 
It’s been a long time.
I only wish this was true. I clipped it out of the newspaper last week. My life in the incinerator. New Years At the BeacHouse on the Coral Coast! I met people from Austria, Ireland, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, and the US. We had a group of about 20 people playing one game of Circle of Death. After I did an astonishing head stand (it was the rule when the last person drank) we all headed out to the beach for a huge bonfire to bring in the New Year. I hope to get pictures from a friend soon. Gone Fishin I returned back to the village on New Years Day. Soon after, the boys invited me to go spear fishing with them! It was an absolutely beautiful day for snorkeling. During our first anchor I immediately stumbled upon a school of cuttlefish. I was mesmerized. As I floated above the tantalizing array of color they began to do a ceremonious dance. Sort of. The cuttlefish closer to the surface were the babies, apparently learning from the adults who were much larger and performing at the bottom of the school. As one adult would jot underneath a coral I could see its eye sockets change from a white to a neon green, over and over. Then, its body would do “the wave”, changing from a deep brown to a white with light spots. I spent almost the entire snorkel just watching their astonishing act. I can only assume the demonstration was to attract prey from their lair, just to be gobbled up in the cuttlefish’s clasping beak. Here are a few shots from the day: The Bus Tumble The day I decide to go get the money from the bank in Tavua to purchase the supplies for footpaths, I am faced with a tough decision. Take the 12:30 bus and miss lunch with my fellow PCVs or take the 1:30 bus and risk missing the boat. I ended up rushing through lunch, running out the door at 12:35, and seeing the bus leaving the market. I run to a cab, hop in, and ask him to “get me on that bus”. Two dollars later I am riding the Sunbeam to Tavua. Upon arrival I hurry to the bank, grab the cash, and somehow make it back to the bus stand to catch the 12:00 Lautoka Sunbeam that leaves Tavua at 1:30. As we are riding down the road, several cars keep flashing their lights at us, most often in the states a sign of a policeman up ahead. This time it is different. The brand new Intercities bus (yes, that 1:30 bus I was supposed to take) has gotten into an accident and flipped onto its side. Two dead, several injured, and a waste of a brand new bus (supposedly the fastest in all of Fiji). Sorry, this isn’t very big news in the states, but the best I can do here in Fiji. SPCA I spoke with a woman from the SPCA back in August about spaying/neutering our dogs here in the village. At the time she said it would be free as long as we paid the transportation and accommodation/food for the volunteer. I received an email the other day saying that we would be receiving the services at a discounted rate, as in 30 FJD per dog. There is no way the village is going to go for this… but, here are a few dogs in the village that really deserve more TLC. Baby Leone Mother and Child. The cutest baby around. So fresh and so clean. Footpath Supplies Heading out to pick up the supplies. The day after the bus crash, the village boys went to the nearest road to pick up the cement, rods, and tools to lay our new footpaths. We took 6 boats and about 20 men to do the labor. After the supplies arrived at the landing the men had to carry them up our mountainous village to a basement for storage. Personal Note: I am ready to head back to the States. We had no electricity this week, I got sun burned really, really bad (because I wore my swimsuit for the first time in almost two years), the sun is grueling and miserable, I miss ice cream (esp. Brusters), friends, family, hamburgers, chicken fried steak, cheese, cold liquid milk, brisket, roast, beef stew, chili, clean spaces, driving, speaking English, having more than one room, warm showers, dependable people, time (as in: something other than Fiji Time), feather pillows, Chick-fil-a, television, 4-wheelers, electricity, a cold Bud Light, football games, pizza, affection, OK, the list doesn’t end. I will get a short break in one month, when Megan comes and we go to THE OUTBACK!! This is the family I had Christmas dinner with. My Bubu Ana, Bubu Vesi, and their grandson Adreu. This is right before he started Class 1 at the local primary school. He will be boarding Monday through Friday. Where are that boys' pants? This is my little brother learning to be a goat sheppard. Playin cards until the heat drifts off. Yes, this is a pet pig, that runs wild in the village. My little sister, Ema, is enjoying a little tickle from this nasty animal. This would be the boy who spilled the bubbles on my laptop. It is still acting up. Playing cards in my house. 
Christmas in Fiji.
Since New Zealand I have had two visitors, helped conduct a community capacity building workshop in the village, completed quotations for the virgin coconut oil supplies, handed out condoms to complete strangers for World Aids Day, and got all Christmas cards in the mail. Been busy. And rainy. Basket Weaving So my Dad always said that I needed to take basket weaving classes (as a joke of course). Well, I feel like I have completed the schooling, but still have no clue how to do it. Here are a few women in the village showing off their skills.The women in the village have been working on fans for the donors to our footpaths. There will be thank you gifts sent out soon... Fiji time. The talented women in my village with their handicrafts. Baby Leone is born One of my best friends’ wife just had her baby. He is the most beautiful newborn I have ever laid eyes on - literally. Absolutely precious. Here are a few pics of him and his father – Bogi (night). Father and son, baby Leone. Baby Leone's belly. My Town Every Thursday the volunteers in my area meet up in Rakiraki for lunch and socializing. This tradition has had a huge influence on my happiness at site. Without friends and the comforts of a town (such as ice cream) I would not have constant advice, people to speak English with, the exchange of books and ideas, plus fun weekends together. The bus stand in Rakiraki. Munching on a mango towards the end of the season. Condoms Anyone? .The volunteers preparing for World Aids Day. So World Aids Day was December 1st, but the volunteers in Ra put together a tent and awareness on the 3rd to reach out to more people (on a Friday). The health volunteers where the stars of the show, but of course I had my influence through handing out condoms to lots of strangers. Pinning an Aids ribbon onto a little shopper in the market. Community Capacity Building The government is here! They have come to start the process for our Virgin Coconut Oil business. They are impressed with the business plan, have set aside the funds to purchase the supplies, and are completing our quotations with plans to purchase next week! Currently there are two people in the village conducting a community capacity building workshop. Crazy thing, the man is from my host village near Nausori. Such a small country! Working on Community Capacity Building. The workshop has been more successful than expected. Most of the elders have been present everyday and they are learning community maps, assessing resources, how to brainstorm, dream, discover, plan, and act. We have covered questions ranging from the problem of child abuse and ways to solve it to when the first boat arrived in the village. The participants are learning so much about their history of achievements, traditions, enforcing laws, how to work together, recognize successes, appreciate potentials, visualize a positive future, clarify motives, and reach goals. Showing their community map. My Visitors A friend from Germany recently visited my village and got a taste for the real Fijian culture. Next, came Lauren - my best friend from Perth Amboy, NJ. Lauren and I visited Udre Udre's tomb. Legend has it he ate 872 people. Although, locals claim 99. Lauren and I visited our private beach and reefs. Lauren with her mysterious blue glove... yes, it is a sea star she mistaked for a laytex glove. A giant clam. I feel really bad that there were two days of work mixed in with her stay, but eventually we made it to the coral reefs, the watering hole, and a Fijian feast. She learned how to handwash clothes and just be disappointed that it rained the following two days so nothing dried. Tough lesson. Mixing the grog. Lauren's first taste of yaqona. Playing at the watering hole. Soon we will be leaving the village to explore the capital city, visit the orchid garden, play in thermal pools, and do some Fijian handicraft shopping. Getting outta here After leaving the village we hit up Suva for lots of souvenir shopping and the museum. Eventually we hopped in a mini bus for Nadi and continued our shopping spree. The day she left we visited the Garden of the Sleeping Giant and the hot pools/mud pool. The Sleeping Giant in the mountains. The giant is the reason for the so called Garden of the Sleeping Giant. Tranquil lilly pond in the gardens. My dragon orchid. Beautiful. Planting and prunning the orchids. The mud was towards the bottom of this small pool. Robots of mud. It was so much fun! I never knew getting dirty could be enjoyable. I am not sure it really helped our skin, but it definitely helped our spirits! Airport Lauren and Natalie Luisa just happen to be on the same flight back to the states, so I was there to with them both happy times back in America. The crew wishing Luisa farewell. Luisa and Taitusi's last few moments. Me seeing Lauren off at the airport. Funeral traditions A funeral means the youth must kill a cow and get it to the village holding the ceremony. After I returned to the village several of the young girls came over to play cards and show me some mekes (Fijian dances). I felt like an honored guest in my own house! They are so adorable. The girls being sweet to my Mogli. The sad puppies in the village are born only to suffer a long, excrutiating death. I am working on getting SPCA out here to spay and neuter. Nana Bulou and her daughter, Vina, playing a numbers game late into the night. Nothing to do. 
A few more pics...
On the ride from Queenstown to Christchurch. More emerald lakes. And back in Fiji: Playing flip cup during Beer Olympics the night before Thanksgiving. Everyone eating our Thanksgiving feast. 
I am in New Zealand!
Oh my, this place is AMAZING! I am in love with Kiwi Land. I arrived on Wednesday and immediately headed out to downtown Auckland to check out the big city. New Zealand is immaculate! No trash in the streets, no cobwebs growing in the corners, and recycle bins all over. The current style of clothes is adorable! In Auckland I did a lot of window shopping. I want to wear that cute stuff… can’t in Fiji though. So, my new plan is to go on a shopping spree in Australia when I get done! Doesn’t that sound like a little slice of heaven! A unique symbol of Auckland, The Sky Tower The beautiful train station in Britomart. Two nights in Auckland, then on Friday I headed down to Taupo because I wanted to do the Tongariro Crossing. By the time I arrived at my hostel’s front desk they said the reservation office was closed and I would just have to come down in the morning, by 5:40 am, and see if they would let me get on. So, on Friday morning, I got up at the crack of dawn and waited for the bus. It pulls up, they tell everyone to get on, so I just follow the crowd. It worked out just fine, they didn’t even care that I didn’t have a reservation as there was plenty of room. The person who sat next to me turned out to be a really cool Israeli girl who was heading back home the next day. We hiked the challenging Tongariro together (and even did dinner and the bar together). THE TONGARIRO IS BAD A$$. The return bus will cost you NZ$55, but the experience was priceless. The weather in the National Park is extremely changeable and you can experience very different weather to what has been forecasted, this weather can often be extreme and dangerous. The winds can be so great sometimes when people reach the peak they have been blown off the mountain. Our weather was perfect! There was a lot of fog, but we were patient and eventually the fog moved on and would leave us a 10 second window to snap a picture of the emerald lakes against the red crater. The Tongariro Crossing The trail around the hills. Alpine shrub with Lake Taupo in the background. So much natural beauty! Amazing emerald lakes. I think they were so blue because of how cold they were. The red crater. The Tongariro Alpine Crossing allowed me the opportunity to experience some of the most scenic and active volcanic areas of the National Park. The track winds up the Mangatepopo Valley to the saddle between Tongariro and Ngauruhoe. It climbs to Red Crater (1886 m), then drops down to the vivid Emerald Lakes. After passing Blue Lake, the track descends around the northern slope of Tongariro, then descends further in a zig-zag to the Ketetahi Hut. From the hut, the track continues down the mountain through tussock plains, then into the native forest to the end of the track. A full 8 hours of walking. Absolutely amazing. One of the rest points along the Tongariro. It reminded me of the sign at the top of Mt. Victoria in Fiji. Growth in an apline shrub forest. The vegetation of an alpine region. The next day I headed on to Wellington! As I was riding the bus a young girl from England sat beside me. As we came into the capital we began talking about where we were headed. We ended up becoming good friends, exploring Wellington together, sharing MEXICAN food (fajitas, oh, I have missed you!) and my favorite New Zealand ice cream. We toured the jaw-dropping museum of Te Papa – Our Place. The trolley ride that takes you to a scenic overlook of Wellington. The Beehive Parliament Building in Windy Welly. New Zealand is on top of modern architecture and art! The streets are lined with sculptures, even the library is supported by palm trees. There are many museums, galleries, artistic shops and art auctions. Just beautiful! Must talk about the food too! Mmmm Mmmmmm. They have the best bakeries I have ever seen. There is no Texas BBQ here, such a bummer, but they make up for it with lots of cheese, fruit, and yogurt. Slight disappointment, it’s not berry season. Strawberries just came in, but my grapes came from the USA and blueberries, raspberries, etc. are really expensive. It’s all good though, I have never seen such beautiful grocery stores. Instead of those serve yourself candy dispensers, they have serve yourself nuts and dried fruit. I had to make myself walk right passed. Same with the chocolate isle. Unless America has changed a lot, I would have to say New Zealand is ahead – in the cleanliness, environmentally friendly, healthy options, and food in restaurants. I am really impressed! Interislander Ferry to Picton Onlookers while riding the Interislander Ferry to the south island. Picton Anyways, so Olivia and I decided to travel on together across the Cook Strait on the Interislander Ferry and then on to Kaikoura to view seals and sea lions. Bus ride to Kaikoura. Orchards galore. Kaikoura A lot of the beaches in New Zealand are just pebbles. Oh my. Picture perfect Kaikoura stole my heart away. Beautiful beaches with snow-capped mountains as the backdrop. A short walk along the peninsula and you can see sea lions and seals in their natural habitat. They would waddle onto the rocks, swim in angelic maneuvers, and bark at oncoming visitors. When I was working at Sea World a few years ago I never imagined getting the opportunity to see sea lions face-to-face in the wild. Such a treat! I was going to do a whale watching tour since there are blue whales, sperm whales, killer whales, dolphins, seals, penguins, and albatross, but I ran out of time. Soooo cute! First seal encounter in the wild! The girls: two Americans, one English. Taking flight. A seal that needs some sleep. The first night we stayed at the Lazy Shag. We met an American named Alli who turned out to be really cool. She was down to Earth, helpful, and always looking at the bright side. Enlightening! So, we all had the same idea of switching backpackers on the second night so that we would have free bike rental. We changed the next morning and immediately set out towards the seal colony. It was excilerating to ride through the cute coastal town with crisp wind running over my body. Once we reached the coastal section we were in Heaven. Absolutely breathtaking. Scary, barking sea lions within 2 feet, seaweed coming in and out with the tide, cliffs against the cold, blue water, and snow-capped peaks in the background. I would highly recommend Kaikoura to anyone traveling the south island. Kaikoura. My favorite beach town included a scenic walk/bike ride to seal colonies! Famous Crayfish Patties at: the Original World Famous Kaikoura Seafood BBQ. My enjoyable time ended too soon and I hopped on a bus to Queenstown. The really neat thing about Queenstown was the hostel I stayed at. While on the bus I met a really cool guy from the Netherlands who was going to the same backpackers, so we walked together. Paul was a really cool guy with great jokes! We got along great trying to read my Lonely Planet map and asking locals who had no idea where the jail or train station were (what is that all about?). We finally arrived and it was an old jail transformed into a backpackers. Fascinating idea! It was the cutest jail I have ever slept in (lol, the only one for that matter). It included “stripes” for mug shots, a few showcases of actual items used in the jail such as journals, Bibles, flood lights, and padlocks, a jail cell set up as it used to be, and a view of the solitary confinement cell. So cool! The Jailhouse in Christchurch. Decommissioned in 1999. I headed out of jail early in the morning to catch the TranzAlpine train to Greymouth. The views were stunning. I think this was the first time I have ever ridden a passenger train over a long distance. I really enjoyed it! I arrived thirty minutes before my bus departed for the Franz Josef glacier. The TranzAlpine through Arthur's Pass Trains and cars must share this bridge. Bus stop in Hokitika. I saw my first live kiwi here! It was in a nature center though. The small beach town of Hokitika. Capital of greenstone manufacturing. Pounamu, a form of green nephrite jade found in the South Island of New Zealand. Franz Josef Village. Hmmm. Cute place. I hope you have money though. Every tourist adventure in these parts costs a lot. Anything from sky diving, helicopter rides, glacier climbing, and guided tours. I was going to stay a day and to the glacier climbing, but, of course, running out of time. You need at least two months in this country! So, I started walking to the glacier. It was about 2 hours before sunset and the walk was 4 hours return. Well, thank goodness people have big hearts and are willing to pick me up. I had this amazing family from Malaysia offer me a ride after about 2 km. We took the trail to the glacier, snapped some pictures, and they brought me back to the Rainforest Retreat. It worked out so perfectly. Their children are adorable and they were an extremely intelligent couple. I have met some really awesome people on this trip. So Franz Josef is one of three glaciers in New Zealand. It is advancing about 1-5m per day and is the only glacier in the world at this latitude to come so close to the ocean. I read somewhere that the entire city of Christchurch fits into the glacier. I bet a helicopter ride would be the best way to view this one! Franz Josef Glacier. At night a few new friends and I went on a hunt for glow worms. We found them for free! Up at the Waitomo Caves it costs over a hundred dollars to view these in a cave. My glacier trip was also cut short because I felt that I was running out of time to explore The Fiordland National Park… the main reason I wanted to come to New Zealand! Bus to Queenstown. On the bus to Queenstown I met a German guy who wanted to rent a car. It worked out perfectly for me since he was heading up to Christchurch the same day as me and he wanted to do similar stuff around Queenstown. He rented a car, we shuffled ourselves to the Routeburn Track for a one day hike. The start of the Routeburn Track. The next day headed to Milford Sound for a scenic drive and boat trip. In a few parking lots that we stopped at there were unique birds. One was the Weka - looks like a kiwi with a smaller beak. He was so cute! We also spotted several Kea – Mountain Parrots. They are so inquisitive, curious, and colorful. We fed one chips (and probably shouldn’t have) so I could get a good picture. Then he just followed us around the parking lot. Drive to Milford Sound. So many sheep in New Zealand. I guess this would be why they are so famous for wool products. Famous ferns of New Zealand. The curious Kea. A weka or woodhen (Gallirallus australis). These are a flightless bird species of the rail family. It is endemic to New Zealand. Another Kea. Beautiful mountain parrots! It was definitely beautiful, but I think most people can skip the Milford Sound boat trip and be just as satisfied. Although, I did see two rare penguins and lots of seals (they call them seals, I need to do more research, but I really think they are sea lions). Milford Sound The picturesque Milford Sound. Queenstown at Sunset We finally headed back up to Christchurch for my flight to Auckland. All in all, the trip was a little different than I expected, but none the less, absolutely beautiful. More pictures to come in next blog. 
Patchin Up the Straw
I am laying in bed in a fitful sleep, dreaming about merrily playing in majestic waterfalls when I am woken by a natural waterfall on my arm. My roof has holes! The grass finally started to break down and allow water from our recent torrential downpours to enter into my house. I think the wolf huffed and puffed until he blew the water in. Not only was it dripping through the roof, but through a layer of plastic and a mosquito net as well. My little brother helping out with the grass. Two elders in the village puttin on a hibiscus show. So, the next day I expressed my concerns to the village men and much to my surprise, that afternoon they were digging trenches around my house and adding grass to my Fijian bure. I wish I could say this solved the problem... there are still leaks, but, much better than before! Patchin up the roof. Veisiko A few weeks ago I participated in my first veisiko (to visit a sick person and take a present). We went to my Tata Cakaulevu’s (Big Reef) house in a nearby settlement to bring him soap, sugar, rice, milk, toilet paper, etc. He isn’t really sick, but his health in deteriorating and he lives with his son and nephew, so they have no women taking care of them. This situation in rare in Fiji, especially because he is 30 minutes away from the village and often fends for himself at 62 years old. He is an extremely kind man and is always up for telling stories, helping you when you need it, and always offers food when visitors come over. Starting the hike to the settlement. Hand in hand. Hiking to the settlement. Early in the morning the women’s club set out towards the settlement with their Fijian dreke (basket made to carry on the back) full of household supplies. We walked through the forest, plantations, beach, and mangroves to reach his house. Upon arrival a sevusevu (kava) was presented and all of the women drank one bilo (cup). Then, the gifts were handed over and a few words of thanks were exchanged. Finally, story time. A few women went fishing to collect food for lunch. I headed on to our beach for a litttle R&R. Taking a rest before entering the house. The women giving their gifts. Tata Cakaulevu drinking grog. Hiking to the beach. Lunch at the beach. Coconuts? Halloween FIJI Style Some of the crowd. The famous 4: Lady Gaga. Construction and 70s. Yes, Santa went into the pool. Words can’t express the good times we had for Halloween. About 30 volunteers met up at The BeacHouse on the Coral Coast. With four Lady Gagas, Jesus, Santa, a Girl Scout, Stevie Urkel, and many more, the party was beyond imaginable. I think the pictures do not do it justice. We had several people thrown in the pool and maybe one dancing on a table. I’m not sure what all went down. Let’s leave it at that. Second Worst Boat Ride EVER Oh my, the trip back to my village. Lol, dreadful to say the least. The buses were fine. I called the boat captain twice to make sure he knew I was coming and to check in with him. Well, another woman from my village and I were on the same bus from Lautoka and so we were on the same bus to the boat landing as well. When we arrived, the boat was missing. Oh I could kill the captain! He is one of my best friends in the village too. He said it was because the waves were getting bigger and a storm was blowing in, but he should have called. So, Mili and I ended up waiting 5 hours for the youth boys to get done drinking beer and telling stories so that we could ride the boat with them. By the time we headed out it was dark, raining, the boys were drunk and wouldn't sit down, they smoked cigarette after cigarette (you would think on a fiberglass, open air boat that the smoke would just go up, nope), the engine stopped 5 times (something about the key was missing?), we hit reef once, stopped at two villages to buy kava, and I arrived at 11 PM, soaking wet. I think the staff in the Peace Corps office would have rather me stayed at The BeacHouse. I agree! The next morning I woke up with no voice (allergic to smoke) and miserably upset that I left all my friends behind. They were enjoying each other's company and eating cheeseburgers while I was miserable. It’s all good. Cliff Jumping? Two girls from the village and I hiked up to the highest point near my village. I was so excited to finally sit on the peak that I so often wonder at! Four boys followed us with dogs. Each time we passed a wild cow or goat the dogs went crazy and chased them down. At one point the dogs caused anaphylactic shock on one of the goats and it passed out. Somewhat funny, sad at the same time. As we hiked through the forest we found several fruit trees, papaya, ripe mango, passionfruit, grapefruit, bananas, plantains, and cocoa bean. The best fruit is free fruit! We also found this huge fungus/flower looking thing. Definitely made up for the horrible boat ride the night before! Fresh mangoes anyone? Sharing a papaya. On our way up... The group made it! The Top! That's my village down there! Look how BIG it is! Close up. My Mogli. So scared. Probably because she just got in trouble for doing this. They are too much fun. The Cool Kids. The Fijian-Red Neck Car. 
The Price Is Right
My Peace Corps Partnership Proposal grant is complete thanks to my dear friends and family. I would like to give a personal thank you to The Baldwins, Tim & Christine Connor, Lue Ann Lott, Dr. Cynthia Brooks, the Greater Birmingham Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Group, and David, Julie, Wil, and Lexi Chadwick. Without all of your gracious donations (plus those of you who donated that I am not aware of yet) my village would not be able to lay a safe and sanitary footpath for the use of generations to come. The village is ecstatic that the money has been so graciously given and with speedy delivery as the footpath is most needed during the wet season, starting in December. THANK YOU ALL SOOO VERY MUCH. Volunteers Learn Virgin Coconut Oil Last week I hosted three Peace Corps Volunteers. They came to learn how to produce the amazing product, Virgin Coconut Oil. Within Peace Corps I am considered the “Virgin Coconut Oil Queen”. Lol, it fits, simply because all growing up I was called “Mom’s little Princess and the Pea”. Of course, when I was little I thought she was calling me a princess that pees, so naturally, I didn’t like my nickname at all. Nowadays, it is sooo true. Back to VCO, the three volunteers learned how to collect the coconuts, husk, scrape, squeeze, ferment, separate, filter and sun. They were also taught the properties of VCO, different ways to run a business within the village, where to purchase the supplies, how to select families who will be successful, and other necessary information for starting a VCO business. Scraping. Squeezing Separating. Filtering. In the end, we made some VCO to use for cooking, as well as mixed up a few massage oils by adding essential oils. I hope they learned what they expected to and will be able to take their new skills back to their communities. HIV/AIDS and STIs – That Uncomfortable Talk A nearby Peace Corps health volunteer was also invited into my village to teach about HIV/AIDS and STIs. In Fiji, talking about sex and sensitive health issues is somewhat restricted so they have not been educated thoroughly on safe sex practices and when to visit the doctor. During the seminar the village was extremely involved, asking questions and demonstrating the correct use of a condom. Plus role plays and games, the village now has a good understanding of how fast sexual diseases are spreading within Fiji and how to protect themselves. Lots of villagers were there. Teaching the crowd. Lydia playing "questions and answers". The Smokeless “Rocket Stove” Experiment My nextdoor neighbor, Grandmother Lowata, using the Rocket Stove. Another Peace Corps volunteer spent some time in Fiji perfecting a smokeless stove deemed the “rocket stove”. I have recently introduced it to a family in the village to assess the benefits of making one for several families. By using the rocket stove they would spend less time in the forest collecting firewood as well as breathe in less of the harmful smoke inhaled while cooking over an open fire. The Freshest Chicken EVER While the volunteers where visiting, I thought it a good idea to buy a chicken from a villager, experience the killing, removing of the feathers, and cooking, therefore, eating the freshest chicken EVER. They were up for it! We bought our little mother hen and brought her up to my namesake’s house. As I handed it over to her, she immediately started to hold its mouth shut with her fingers. I hesitated, asking her if it would be quicker and less painful if we just chopped its head off. She agreed, taking me over to a raw, splintered two by four and holding its head tight across the wood, cleanly chopped the head off. I must say, I never expected this sort of brutality towards animals coming from my namesake. My namesake suffocating the chicken. Cutting off the head of the Mother Hen. I quickly asked her if a chicken really runs around with its head cut off. This chicken couldn’t have gone anywhere. She was dead to the world. Anyways, the chicken was placed in a basin and boiling water was poured over her angelic, white feathers. My namesake began yanking feathers out. I was astonished at how easily they release from the chickens pink skin. I gave it a try and ended up enjoying the quick, yet tedious work.Add hot water. Pull some feathers. Ta da. The freshest, nakedest chicken you have ever seen. Soon the chicken was ready to be degutted. As Ili cut open the belly and pulled out the intestines, a fresh egg splattered onto the ground. Other eggs were inside ready to develop. Each one was simply the yolk with veins running in all directions around the glossy, yellow exterior. As she continued to clean out the insides she opened the intestines and cleaned out all of the green, coagulated grass so that the intestines could be cooked into a stew with the other grotesque interiors. Oops. Babies in the making. Mmm, my namesake's favorite ingredients for stew. 
Beautiful view in my bay.
It’s been over a month! Sorry, I have not been on top of things lately. Candle Making Lots of women showed up for beeswax candle making. I taught the women and a few men in the village how to make candles out of beeswax. They were so impressed that the women’s group wants to make them to sell to a handicraft festival this month! New small business, even if it only happens once! So these are pictures of the women in our community kitchen making candles with molds from America. Preparing the wick before pouring the wax. Quality check. FREE Baby Swing Here in Fiji, the people have learned how to reuse products extremely well. Some end up in a rubbish pit, but often tin cans are used for ash trays, glass is used to store food, cardboard cartons and plastic bags are reused over and over as well as plastic bottles. Genius. Although, I never imagined a flour sack would become a baby swing. This is one of my favorite babies in the village in a handmade basinet/rocker. Isn’t it genius? Just a few sticks, some rope, and a flour sack and you’ve got yourself a free baby swing. JESSICA TIME Ah, sisterly love. Two of my favorite sisters. The time came and went, fast, too fast. My favorite sister (one and only ) came to visit me over the past two weeks. We had a great time giving each other sisterly advice, entertaining the kids in the village, enjoying Fijian cuisine, and traveling Viti Levu. The kids driving their homemade car around the village. Drinking a baby coconut shaped into a cup. Jessica atop our natural ship. This is my mushroom rock that I run away to when things get tough. For the first several days we were in my village hiking to our own secluded beach, snorkeling the village’s protected reefs, swinging on our vine rope into the watering hole, and taking a wet ride on a bilibili. Her first and only bilibili ride. The secluded beach was so enticing we had to visit twice! Jessica and I sharing my hammock at our private beach. Jessica brought bubbles, a Frisbee, tattoos, and chalk with her to play with the little munchkins. Playing frisbee with the kids. They absolutely adored her! The Frisbee was a total hit, everyone in the village wanted a “sticka” (tattoo), the kids had a ball trying to blow their own bubbles, and the chalk ended up on walls of houses, trees, and stones all over the village. We were also invited to several family’s homes for dinner or lunch so she got to try pumpkin leaves, prawn, fried rice, dhal, curry, roti, cassava, rourou, fried fish, and fish in coconut milk. Jessica gettin roudy with the little grommets. Giving the kids "stickas" or in our world, temporary tatoos. They got a kick out of it! Ever so happy. Cooking in my adorable kitchen Sis pulling out the chalk, watch out, they write on EVERYTHING. On the rocks... for now Our last grog session with lots of boys around 16 years old. How did that happen? At The Source The one and only Fiji Water plant. After leaving the village we headed to the one and only Fiji Water plant near Tavua, Fiji. This is where the source for all of Fiji Water is. We took a very informative tour from the second floor, viewing down through a glass window. The plant was big, but not nearly as big as someone would imagine when they think of how world renowned the Fiji Water brand is. Americans sure are smart at advertising. It turns out all of the water comes from one horseshoe shaped aquifer that is under the parking lot of the plant. The water that comes in your water bottle is never exposed to outside air. It is filtered then exposed to UV light to purify it before being bottled in Fiji water bottles made on site. The bottles are made from a resin that is shipped in from Thailand. It is dried thoroughly, melted, and then formed into a test tube shape. Next, the test tube goes into a heating machine with a mold for each bottle. The plastic tube is heated, air is blown into the opening, and the bottle expands to the shape of the mold. The mold is made out of metal and is kept cold so that as soon as the warm plastic touches the mold, the plastic hardens. The bottles are filled mechanically. If a bottle is below 498 mL or above 510 mL it is thrown off the line, emptied, and recycled. Otherwise, if the bottle gets dented in the process or the label is crooked, the bottle is given to employees. Everything you never wanted to know about Fiji Water. At the Source. Riding the carrier into the interior. After the village thing was done we headed to the tallest mountain in Fiji, Mt. Tomanivi, also known as Mt. Victoria. Don’t be alarmed, the tallest mountain is only 1232 meters and only took 2 ½ hours to climb to the top. Starting the hike up, together. We had to cross a few babbling brooks. The going got tough at about ¾ of the way up where it had just rained pretty good towards the top of the mountain and everything was slippery mud… and straight up. We had 10 volunteers and one Fijian climb with us, so everyone got separated towards the beginning, but in the end we all gathered at the top, drifting in the clouds. The view from just below the clouds. A spider web glistening after a light morning mist. We all made it to the top of the highest mountain in Fiji! The flora and fauna were breathtaking, with hundreds of ferns surrounding the trail. As we descended the mountain, loud-squawking red-throated lories dove through the trees above us. The Red-throated Lori is considered a rare species only found in this mountain region, and is therefore listed as an important bird area in Fiji. The Mine Rest House. During our stay in the interior, we stayed at an old Mine Rest House for ex-pats during the prosperous gold mining days. The house was very rustic, with four bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, toilet room, and shower. It slept ten and even had a fireplace that we lit up both nights. For 10 FJD ($5.50 US) a night, it was a cute escape! Next, we checked out a few backpackers resorts. Robinson Crusoe Island Our glorious, smelly bucket showers. There was a hilarious "ceremony" after the crab race to announce the winners. My friend Maika had to present the reward using a trumpet all taped together. Had to be there kinda things. At Robinson Crusoe we took bucket showers with rain water, but ate food fit for a 5 star resort. There were mekes (Fijian traditional dance, much like Hawaiian dances) at night and during the afternoon, so we enjoyed two amazing shows. Fire dancing from Samoa. The daytime show with more fire. Removing the potatoes from the lovo just before the fire walking. Yes, those potatoes are hot. Before each feast there was a lovo (Earth oven) which the men removed the cooked food and then performed fire walking. The stones were so HOT. I didn’t believe them until after all the men had done their stunt, they poured water on the stones and they still sizzled. So Jessica and I definitely had to try it out. Sis, fire walking, that face is for real. Me, fire walking. There was also free kayaks, snorkeling, a pool, free 15 minute massage, New Zealand ice cream, and plenty of hammocks. Kula Eco Park I want to eat you! Not too impressed. Nice park with some iguanas, parrots, and sea turtles. Jessica playing tongues with the boa constrictor. Na beka, a fruit bat. They only had two at the park... but there are thousands in my village. Who you lookin at? Another banded iguana who is a messy eater. A banded iguana. The BeacHouse Then we headed on to BeacHouse on the Coral Coast. We were totally impressed. For about $18 US a night we had a posh common area with a pool table, ping pong, hammocks, a pool, a neat bamboo swing, and plenty of activities to keep us busy. I am so building one of these near my village. The awesomest swing you have never swung on! The desserts were to die for and they supplied a kitchen for backpackers to cook their own food (although, the kitchen was not advertised as well as their surfing lessons, horseback riding, and one hour massages ($12 US). The happy hour made a 16 oz mug of Fiji Bitter about 1.75 USD. Overall, I was impressed and all of the volunteers on Viti Levu will be returning for Halloween! The Sri Siva Subramaniya Swami Temple on Main St. Nadi. Our trip came to an end before we even realized it had begun. We headed back towards Nadi, did some souvenir shopping, and I sent her off on the 757. It was a nice trip that I wished lasted longer. Miss you terribly, Sissy! Kindy Update The kindy on a fieldtrip to collect sand - the topic of the week - their choice! Learning about sand. Using one of their gifts from First Christian Baptist Church of Gainesville, Texas, magnifying glasses to identify what the sand is made of. Walking through the village. Footpaths Already on the Move A three year old sister of mine, Wati, helping collect gravel. My 72 year old Grandfather dumbing his first load of gravel at our collection site. My 73 year old Grandfather shoveling sand into the youths' pig feed sacks. Grandfather and grandson collecting gravel together. The men of the village have begun collecting sand and gravel for the footpath project. Only problem, I am still lacking about $2500 US for our project. They are now asking when they should expect the financial assistance and I can only tell them that we are still waiting. Does anyone have any good ideas on how to raise this money fast? I have thought about an ad in the newspaper, but there has to be a better solution. Otherwise, if anyone would like to help, please visit the URL below: www.peacecorps.gov/donate Once here, search for project number 411-146 or country “Fiji”. Thank you everyone who has already donated and I look forward to sending out Thank You letters soon! Carrying the sand from near the rocks in our bay into the village. The youth cleaning the sand. 
My beautiful beach, just a 10 minutes stroll from my house.
The view through our "ship" rock formation. This is one of the places I go when I want to meditate. Kara Comes to Visit I am working on inviting everyone from my area to visit my village. Kara, who got here at the same time as me last year, finally made her debut. We had a blast hiking the waterfalls, snorkeling my reefs, and eating my Yaca’s (Y-ah-th-ah) famous dhal soup. I took a few honey bee pictures up at the waterfall. About a year ago from today I was visiting these falls for the first time and one of these little suckers stung me on my big toe. They sure are beautiful though. The honey bees drinking fresh water flowing over the rocks from the large waterfall. Miss Hibiscus and Festival . This past week I headed down to Suva for a medical check-up and the Hibiscus Festival. It was a good trip. A little busy doing other people’s work, but I enjoyed sitting up front and center at the Hibiscus Queen talent show. I brought Filo along and she is seriously considering entering next year! How exciting would that be! The Hibiscus Festival is the largest festival in Fiji, but doesn’t even come close to a small town fair in America. Everything here is just miniature compared to developed nations. Fijian Raka (Rugby) On my way back up to the village I stopped at a 7s Game at a local primary school. I had three teams from my area competing against 30 other teams from around Fiji. Lydia joined me in watching the boys fight to the finish. The boys from my village split up into teams from nearby villages, so out of my three teams, two made it to the semifinals. I am so proud of them! Considering they only practiced for two weeks leading up to the tournament, they did well! Virgin Coconut Oil was Approved! My VCO project was submitted to the Commissioner West by Integrated Human Resources Development Program last Wednesday and was accepted! We will be receiving government aid to build a “mini” factory, buy machines, basins, bottles, labels, and training. I am stoked. Now it is time to see how serious the village is about this new business. I am hoping all of my efforts pay off by helping them to become financially stable. Things are just coasting along over here in paradise! Footpaths So, I have spoken a few times about my footpath project in the village. I am currently asking Americans to open their pockets and give a little to my footpath fund. The village is on a steep hill and during the dry season rocks come out from under you and in the wet season mud encompasses our feet. The children have some kind of scabies issue on their feet and dog, chicken, goat, and pig feces are scattered all over the dirt paths. Please, if you have an extra minute and a few extra dollars, consider giving to my Peace Corps Partnership Grant at https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=411-146. We really appreciate your thoughts and generosity. My sissy comes again in TWO WEEKS! Having our favorite cappuchino ice cream on one of our regular Thursday outings. Beautiful frangipani flower. 
My savior, Mogli, anytime I am lonely she is there to talk to!
They are finally catching on to pet care! I now have wireless broadband internet in my remote village in Fiji. It is strikingly odd considering I don’t even have cell phone service, but here in Fiji the wireless is operated via land line towers that transmit wireless landline service, which happens to work in my bure! August 2 – 15… Since my last post I have gone to Vatu-I-Ra Island (bird island, last visit was in May with Mom and Sis), dove near Nananu-I-Ra Island, and scoured my bure of dust and spiderwebs, as well as replace dust-ridden fabric. Bird Island Just arriving onto the smelly shore. You would not believe how many volunteers it takes to put up a one man tent. My recent trip to Vatu-I-Ra was much more inviting that my family’s previous trip. The sun was shining, the reefs were teeming with brightly dappled fish, and the wind was welcomed on the white sands (to drive the poop smell elsewhere). Five Peace Corps Volunteers plus our ex-patriots and I all headed out on Friday morning, returning on Saturday afternoon from an eco-adventure rarely experienced by others. If anyone is planning a trip to Fiji and would like to visit this 5 acre island, feel free to notify me and I can set up the details. I played with this sea cucumber until he expelled his intestines to make me leave him alone. I kinda felt bad. My favorite sighting of the trip. A beautiful anemone! Clean-up My newly remodeled house. Tuesday, from 8 AM to 6 PM, I cleaned fabric, scrubbed walls, collected leaves, sunned mats, and hung fabric around my house. The only reason I mention this is because it is such a big part of Fijian life to remove all of your bedding, plus your floor coverings, pillows, and fabrics and “sun” them for several hours, usually every few weeks. I, on the other hand, only like to spend my entire day cleaning every several months, so when it does happen, the result is unfathomable. Diving Friday, three Peace Corps volunteers, our ex-pat friend Judy, and I went on a private two-tank dive out to the island of Nananu-I-Ra. The reefs weren’t really teeming with fish, but with soft corals and nudibranchs. Both dives consisted of several bommies with tight valley-type cave systems which were covered in yellow soft coral. The first dive, Tequila Sunrise, blew my mind. The yellow soft coral (Dentronephthya sp.) outlined by the preceding dark blue waters were perfectly depicted as the name foretells. There were huge gorgonians (fan corals) covered in multi-colored feather stars and a polyclad flatworm (Pseudobiceros sp.) that closely resembled a Spanish Dancer nudibranch. A polyclad flatworm. I wish I took this picture. As the dive master softly nudged the flatworm he disembarked from his coral and swam through the water in majestic waving actions, much as a flag blowing in the wind. I also found an anemone shrimp that was completely concealed with his clear body except for tiny purple and white spots on his head and tail. The only color within his carapace was near his anus, quite a unique creature when you see right through it, but don’t spot organs or blood. I spotted a moray eel, a lionfish, tube worms that resembled species from deep sea vents, and I found an empty Cypraea argus cowrie shell. I think my favorite sighting of all was a huge colony of red bulb-tipped sea anemones with pink clownfish protectively guarding their potent home. The reason I was so impressed with the sight of these common Entacmaea quadricolor anemones was because during my college days at Auburn I did a research project on “The Effects of Light on the Bulb-Tipped Anemone, Entacmaea quadricolor”, but I never knew that a red variation existed and they were quite a beautiful sight. The red anemone. I did not take this picture either, but this is what they looked like. Pushing along the boat in shallow waters. A beautiful rainbow with a pot of gold in my bay! 
Town went well. I still have not gotten my Connect Internet hooked up on my computer. I am supposed to have internet access here in my village, eventually…
While in town I did get to talk to my Bestie, Kate! It was so good to hear from you and all about your new job! Congrats! Early Childhood Education Week Natalie's village kindergarten. Lisa's village kindergarten. We helped with the facepainting booth. What a brilliant idea! Friday I went with my kindergarten to a local Primary School for Early Childhood Education Week. Last Saturday, in Suva, I saw a huge gathering of parents, kids, and kindergartens at a local park having a blast playing games and watching entertainment. I thought ours would be something like that since it was for about 20 kindergartens, but no, there were no games, only about 3 schools performed, and the children were actually quite bored. I wish it had turned out to be a “fun” event, but I guess it was good for the kids to get out of the village setting and see other children their age. Lots of kindy kids show up for Early Childhood Education Week Yummy, milk pops. The rain comes and goes. Fundraising Event My Bubu Moli traveling down memory road. Attended in 1935 - 1945 They were so cute! Saturday was filled with our local Primary School’s Fundraising Event. Their 75th anniversary! People came from all of the surrounding villages, plus all over Fiji, and possibly a few from overseas. The old scholars lined up behind a sign that revealed the years they went to the school. It was so cute to see the 1935-1945 group marching around the circle, several of them getting assistance from classmates. Towards the end of the line were the children currently at the school. Pretty neat! So the fundraising (soli) brought in approximately 10,800 F$. The school was elated! The students and some alumni performed meke. It was quite entertaining. Giving their hard earned money to help the next generation. They are currently trying to add an extra classroom so that students can spend Form 3 and Form 4 (grades 9 and 10) at the school as well, thus helping those who do not have enough money or family living in a city where the secondary schools are located. They are also wanting to build a new two story dormitory for all boarding students as the current facilities are made out of bamboo siding and are quickly deteriorating. Lydia and I. Both of our villages are on the coast and our village's children have class together! The current students marching along. Sunday Fun Day Lydia came over for Sunday Fun Day. Because everything is “not allowed” on Sundays, she and I are going to try to get together and make fun! So during our first Sunday Fun Day we headed to a nearby settlement and my white sandy beach. From about 2 PM to 6 PM we were hiking around the next bay over, admiring orchids and rock formations, eating stewed pumpkin leaves, slurping scavenged papaya with sun bleached shells, and chit chatting with the locals. Being a Peace Corps Volunteer in Fiji is just too easy. Eventually Lydia went back to her village and I was left alone to finish the second Harry Potter book and start on the third. Slowly, but surely, I will get through the series. Chronicles of a Fijian Life Sorry I have not received my camera in the mail yet, so I will be telling a short documentary this week. The HIV Tattoo. The boys in the village feel that it is necessary to give themselves tattoos. This is all fine and dandy until you see the needle used to permanently mark themselves with their aspirations and screw ups. Here we have a typical Fijian tattoo machine. It consists of a sewing needle, a piece of this wire, a pen without the ink tube or the end cap, some tape, a button, two wires, and a piece of copper. Now, if it were me I would never have been able to come up with this kind of contraption. For the youth Fijians, I think they are naturally mechanically minded and destructive. So the boys connect three D batteries, end to end, then connect the red wire to the (+) end and the black to the (-) end, the button starts turning, causing the needle to move rapidly up and down as well as side to side. The boys press it to their skin and wait for the blood to start oozing. My main concern, sharing needles is no joke. HIV was non-existent in Fiji about 10 years ago and is now spreading rapidly with a lack of education, high sexual activity, and limited access to condoms. No wonder Peace Corps has a large impact in Fiji, our health sector has a lot of basic information that the Fijians have not yet been taught. Weighing Cocoa Beans on the beach Visited Lisa Uniforms travel to the interior, the awefully long bus ride to Lisa's village Lisa making a Rocket Stove... let's see if it works! 
Last Thursday I took off to Suva for a High School Concert and the Agriculture Fair. My Out of Community Leave was perfect! The concert was so much more than I expected. Two of my really good friends, Filo and Ana, were in different items throughout the concert. Filo was up on the stage as a teacher and as a traditional Polynesian dancer whereas Ana was dressed up in a fancy, red dress doing a “grow up to be a lady” number. I ended up finding myself enjoying a multicultural show. The students performed traditional dances from the Lau Group, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Polynesia, Korea, and India. It was absolutely amazing. Plus they through in some modern rap, pop, and country dance moves. The choir sang several uplifting beats with several beautifully sung solos. Really, I can’t say enough about how well St. Joseph’s High School did at their annual concert!
Filo and Ana before the concert. The next day I spent running errands in Suva, walking around the Agriculture Show: “Grow Local, Buy Local”, and helping NCSMED with their honey and beekeeping stall. Our Beekeeping display at the Agriculture Show. While at the show I was able to get vital information from Fiji Locally Managed Marine Areas (FLMMA), SPCA, IHRDP (National Planning/Fiji Government), Fiji Nursing Association, Coconut Industry Development Authority (CIDA), Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Bird Life International, Ministry of Health, information on climate change, planting giant clams, goat rearing, chicken raising, marine protected areas, and I actually found a much needed poster of the food pyramid here in Fiji. They only have three categories instead of six like in America. I will be teaching the topic of nutrition to the kindergarteners and their parents on Wednesday! I also scoured the show for posters, bringing home about 35 new ones. I bet the villagers are getting tired of my decorating the community hall with random information. Anyhow, I am not sure if I have mentioned this before now, but I am going to start a “Fijian Documentary” on my blog. So far it doesn’t have a name, someday I will think of one. I will be starting it as soon as I get my new camera, but for this week I can do a short example on what the new idea will involve. The Salusalu Boogie A salusalu is the equivalent of a Hawaiian Lei, but Fijians do it quite differently. First they scour the land for a Crinuni asiaticum (viavia) tree. The trunk of this tree grows in shiny, white, fibrous layers. The viavia. The women bring their large bush knife with them to chop the tree down at the bottom of the trunk. They cut the top end off so that only the mid section of the trunk remains. Next, they cut the trunk lengthwise and unravel the layers until they are left with a shiny, white piece about 3 inches by 6 inches. Tying the viavia into the voivoi to make a salusalu. Step two involves the women hunting down different leavesand flowers including hibiscus, Phaleria sp. (sinu), and Evodia hprtensis (uci). A twine of voivoi (dried pandanas leaf – explained in a later documentary) is then braided, interspersing a piece of folded viavia into the braid. After the length of salusalu is finished, the flowers are tied together and placed securely in front of the folded viavia. Finally, the salusalu is given time to dry and the next day will be tied around a highly respectable guest or member of the village. Salusalu is a symbol of importance and often used at times of celebration. The beautiful arrangement of flowers the women place in front of the viavia. Putting all the pieces together. Early Childhood Education Week My kingergarten in front of the banner I made for Early Childhood Education Week. Tying the salusalu onto our Chief. Torika placing the salusalu she made onto her Bubu. The week of July 26th through 30th is devoted to Early Childhood Education throughout Fiji. Of course, that means I am a busy bee running around in preparation for our activities in the kindergarten. So sweet. The children playing with their toys sent from First Christian Church in Gainesville, Texas. Today, Monday, we had our kindergarten’s opening day. The Chief of the village accepted the kindergarten as a part of the community and thanked the teacher and I for all of our hard work. The children performed a few songs, made their own salusalu to give to an elder, and we had a huge community tea. Guest speakers included the kindergarten committee’s chairman, Sisi (the teacher), and the Father of the Catholic Church. Later in the day I spent 4 hours hand washing my clothes from this past weekend, then took a nice, relaxed break from Fijian life by hiding in my bure. My little brother singing into his Bible. The children waiting to pray so that they can eat lunch. Lots of Bubus. The men drinking that nasty muddy water... kava (yaqona). Junior playing the lali (drum made of bamboo or vesi wood). Lol. Look at Pau, she is meditating with frangipani leaves. Sisi teaching the kids. Three of my Bubus. Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 Kindergarten went well again today! We had two guest speakers: the headmaster from each of the two closest primary schools. They both spoke on behalf of the importance of early childhood education, they saw the kids’ folders, and enjoyed a nice feast with us. Everything went well and the week is off to a good start. How sweet, father and son. Coloring Reading, they LOVE the books. Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 Bubu Moli and I on Wednesday. Bubu Moli and I back in August Today was my day. Lol, well, it was my turn to be the vulagi dokai (Guest Speaker). I spoke on the importance of nutrition, the food pyramid, as well as interacted with the kids on what is a fruit and what is a vegetable. Following my talk, Bubu Moli spoke on the interactions of food within the body and reinstated what I said, but in Fijian. Thank you Bubu Moli for your gracious help! Bubu Moli teaching about the passage of food through the digestive system. Aren't they cute! Unaisi, isn't she beautiful. Anyhow, everything went well, the kids were well behaved today, and everything is ready for visiting a local Primary School on Friday. I think they are calling this event “Fun Day” in which every kindergarten in the surrounding area, plus the parents, are coming together to celebrate. Tomorrow is town, yay! My papa, Ulamila. She is growing so fast! 
The Sparks Flew
Phew it’s been a while. So, I am now a Fiji sensation. Lol, kinda, sorta, really. Everywhere I go people are stopping me and asking if I am the one on Close Up. You should be able to check it out at FijiTV.com then the icon Close Up. It was aired on July 4th which in Fiji numbers means 4/7/2010. Also on the 4th was our big Independence Day celebration with pecan pie coming in as the winner and a quarter shaped cake as the creative winner. Definitely amazing American food and American friends. After my TV premiere we conducted a fireworks war, to say the least. Good times. You should have been there! Since then I have gone to Nausori/Suva for the new volunteers’ swearing in ceremony. Staff at swearing in. All of them made it through training! 35 newbies! I have really been enjoying their company this past week. I don’t have one complaint about the new group. They are all extremely mature, intelligent, and enthusiastic about getting started. I just hope they don’t get their hopes and dreams busted at the seam when they realize living in a rural village is much less “work” than they are expecting. There is lots of down time. While I was in Nausori I attended a music festival (if you can call it that) twice. It had two ferris wheels and three rides for the kids, plus about 15 stands selling BBQ. I didn’t even have to read the menu at each one, I had the ‘to go’ box memorized. Every single one offers fried egg, lamb flank, two “scrap meat” sausages (sometimes fried), some stir fry, and a slice of cucumber. All of this for just 6 F$ (3 USD). I mean, there is no better deal out there for a heart attack in a box. Anyways, the music was good enough. One night was an Indian pooftah (transvestite) dancing around half nude and the next night was island music which included lots of acoustic gospel songs. Oh yes, Fiji is predictable. Random festival game I also had the opportunity to stay a night at the Westin in Denarau, only 400 F$ a night, but absolutely worth it if you have money to waste. I went with Lydia, my best PC friend in Fiji (probably because we are always stuck in the same boat…) and we ate at The Hard Rock Café and hung out at the wharf. She is now with her mom and dad in Taveuni. Oh so jealous! Speaking of down time, I have been waiting on National Planning/Integrated Human Resources Development Program to come to my rescue on this Virgin Coconut Oil business for about 7 months now. I have been promised economic and technical assistance since December. The TuragaNiKoro and I at the IHRDP meeting. Well, the first sign of hope came just two nights ago! On Tuesday, during a wedding ceremony, I was whisked away to speak to some military officers in another house. What? I was so confused. Then I was told that the police and military were here for something to do with Virgin Coconut Oil. Lol, because the current government is run by all military officials it was simply a few prestigious military gentlemen, one police officer, and one lady who works for IHRDP. They were really here! We discussed the possibilities and my business plan and I am now satisfied that someone out there is able to help us. Yay! Hopefully our village leader has been writing good reports in the past few quarters or else we are doomed. The kids during the wedding ceremony. Other exciting news: I have finally decided the reason I am so content in Fiji. I have lots of friends! Well, they feel like friends to me. I guess because when they pass my house they always say “hi” and “what are you doing?” Then, when I walk around the village I am always invited for tea or a meal. My greatest gift though is my namesake, her husband, and their child. They are the root that holds me up. If I am ever upset, wondering about a Fijian tradition, trying to figure out how to run a village, wanting to learn how to cook, fish, put a napkin on a baby’s butt, or just want to hang out, they are ALWAYS there for me. Without them I would not be near as happy as I am. I know you may never get to read this Yaca, Sio and Papa, but thank you for everything you are to me! Another thing on Wednesday, July 14, the LOWEST tide I have seen in Fiji. Look at the reef, it is suffocating above water. A few of these corals have expelled (bleaching) the tips of their polyps who were stranded. They will recover pretty quickly. It was really neat to see the reef without wearing a snorkel and mask!
The Run-Away Hat
So the other day Lisa and I are enjoying a breezy, open-air bus ride and chit-chatting away when all of a sudden her most beloved ball cap flies off her head. It all happened in slow motion as she looks at me then out the window. I ask her if she wants to stop and get it, she hesitates, I ask again, by this time I can see the importance of this hat beginning to well up in her eyes. I reach over her, grab the string that rings the bell, throw all of my stuff in her lap as the bus comes to a halt, and I tell her to go on, I will take a taxi. Lol. What a heroic thing to do. Right. So, I am running off the bus with a bouncing backpack attached to my shoulders as people on the bus are yelling, “Vano I vei? Cava?” (Where are you going? What?) I say “Na sala”, meaning “hat”, but it also means “road”. I am not sure if they knew I was running after a hat or running down the road. Man, the Fijian language is too simple. So as I am retracing our tracks I am also yelling at the bus “Vano, kua na wawa!” (Go, don’t wait). They wait anyways. I run down the hill, snatch up the hat about ¼ mile away, then begin to run back up the hill, in flip-flops, as the bus is slowly coasting backwards towards me. As I make a flying leap back onto the bus the people are cheering and clapping as if I just saved a life. It was a sight to see! E Dua Na Peace Corp’s Vakamau (One Peace Corp’s Wedding) One of our Peace Corps Volunteers got married to a Fijian man about a week ago! The wedding was traditional with the PCV and husband wearing masi cloth (a plant stem turned into a paper-like cloth). Many people came to wish her the best. After the village wedding, everyone headed over to The Uprising for the after party, where events turned into crazy dancing and lots of laughing. I kicked some butt in pool (billiards), drank some boxed wine (classy huh!?) and enjoyed the weekend with friends! Vakatulewa It has been a while. Since my last blog John and I taught a stay in school program to the 7th and 8th grade at a local primary school. It went extremely well. The two teachers who sat in on the program had just a few suggestions that we agreed with and have now incorporated into our two hour session. I was delighted to be told that the information is quite important for the children to hear because they are not given an opportunity at home to discuss different education options, potential careers, or the long-term benefits of making good decisions now, early on. I am pleased that we were asked to come back and speak to the parents at a PTA meeting as well as encouraged to talk to secondary schools as well. Talking to a successful Fijian businessman the other day also opened my eyes to the struggles of secondary school boys dropping out of school to work in the sugar cane fields. The children’s parents are to blame because these kids are only 12-16 years old, an age in America where children are forced to attend school, whereas here in Fiji, children are sometimes encouraged to drop out so that they can make some quick cash for the family. We see the importance of our program being stressed towards the parents as well, but how to reach the parents and make an impression may become a new challenge. Beeswax Candle Making The day after our Vakatulewa program was a success John and Leslie were conducting a beeswax candle making workshop at an Indo-Fijian’s house. I somehow finagled my way into the workshop and gave a few creative ideas of my own. It was really neat to see Indians and Fijians working together. Since I live in an all-Fijian village, I very rarely have to opportunity to enjoy the Indian culture. They had each brought a different Indian dish for lunch so I was also able to try all different authentic South Indian food. Killed two birds with one stone! Leslie had received grant money through the Peace Corps Partnership Program to order all kinds of candle molds, wick, pots, and bee equipment. This workshop was the first time she was able to use her new candle making supplies. The angels turned out beautiful as well as my staggered bamboo votive idea for tourists. I think the women were really enlightened and excited to start their own creative innovations. Bamboo What an awesome plant. It feeds pandas, builds bilibilis (bamboo rafts used for transportation down rivers), transforms homes, and to my recent discovery, makes amazing musical instruments. As John and I were cutting the bamboo for the candles I saw different lengths of bamboo piling up on the ground. I knew there had to be a use for them, and then I remembered all of those visits to the science center with Wil back in Birmingham. At the McWane Center there was a line of different sized metal tubes that were used as a human size organ/xylophone. I picked up the pieces, took off my flip-flop, and poof, a different sound came from each piece of bamboo. I was so excited that I took the bamboo to the candle making and then the ladies started describing other instruments such as guitars, flutes, and harps that can be made from this beautiful plant. My next hobby, a bamboo band in the kindergarten! All Vol The new Peace Corps volunteers of Fiji, so named FRE-08, have arrived and soon enough we will have a time to get to know them. I am so excited. In two weeks we will be eating at staff’s homes visiting with 35 new volunteers! We are getting four new volunteers in my area alone! Thank goodness I am close to other Americans, this fact has literally kept me sane. Why Fijians Don’t Need a Lot of Money I finally figured it out. Yes, they are subsistence farmers and can grow almost anything they want to eat, and yes, they can raise chickens, cattle, and goats, as well as fish for meat. What I did not understand until just recently is how most of their work is communal without an exchange of money, just favors. This is why they have such a strong kerekere (borrowing, helping) system. Within our village of about 230 people we have two experienced carpenters, a plumber, an electrician, experienced divers, experienced farmers, musicians, singers, preachers, mat weavers, scientists (very general use of the word), teachers, boat captains, fishermen, livestock farmers, fighters, and government officials. The idea of having everyone in the village specialize in a different expertise enables them to “use” each other without the need to pay any money. There aren’t many things that they need to purchase from town besides flour, sugar, soap, and noodles. It is quite different from America, but at the same time just as efficient. No one is trying to cheat them on how much it will cost to get their boat engine fixed, no one is charged to run a pipe to their shower, everyone pitches in when it is time to build a house, and people get along because they never know when they will need the other person’s skills. I guess I should just compare it to ancient civilizations, before currency was ever exchanged for help. Why Fijans Say We American’s Have a Lot of Money Exchange rates, amount of work, education, and industrialized are my top four reasons for receiving this statement on a daily basis. Exchange rates – About 1 USD = 2 Fijian Dollars. A good salary in Fiji is 15,000 FJD versus a good salary in America would be about 60,000 FJD. So, of course, if a person making a normal living in America decided to up and move to Fiji with money saved up while working in America, they would appear to Fijians as being rich. Although, the point must also be said that a bunch of bananas in an American supermarket might cost you 5 USD versus the same organic bananas sold in Fiji would be 0.50 USD. Let’s also compare a utility bill. On average, each month of electricity might cost you 150 USD, whereas here in Fiji, a typical month would cost you 4 USD. Don’t forget though, you would be exchanging 24 hours of electricity and air conditioning for 2 hours electricity per night from a generator. So in America, people go to school. They often graduate with honors and continue on to a higher education such as a bachelor degree. In Fiji, probably half the population does not make it through 10th grade. (Hence, the reason we are stressing our new “stay in school” program) Also, in America, as well as any other developed nation, people work hard, on average, 40 hours a week. I would have to average a work week for Fijians to be about 10 hours. This would consist of men going to their farm or women weaving their mats. So the workload does not really translate into a large salary. All three of the reasons above could really fit into one category – industrialized/developed. Fiji is a third world country and therefore Fijians have a completely different concept of daily needs than a typical American. I am not saying that one location/lifestyle is better than the other, just different. Kindergarten in Review The kindergarten is going great! The children are learning a LOT of English words and songs. They are really enjoying the structured class time. In the past few weeks they have been learning all about themselves. This week they have been focusing on body parts and articles of clothing (in English). Their primary schools are going to be so impressed. I have also been putting together a “Thank you” book for First Christian Church of Gainesville, Texas. It will be a while before everything is ready, but we still have you in our thoughts and prayers. Each day we go into the kindergarten and use the supplies ya’ll so generously gave to my community and thank God for thoughtful people like ya’ll. Thank you so much for your time and immense help. The kindy also has a guest speaker on Wednesdays which consists of someone from the village coming in to teach things such as weaving, meke (songs), and the “old” language of our village. We have already learned how to brush our teeth and soon we will be learning how to correctly wash our hands. The Bamboo Band will be coming along soon as well. Plus, an Earth day (great idea given by a nearby Peace Corps volunteer, Lydia) where we will build tire swings, plant seeds and flowers, remodel our sand box, and use recycled materials to make toys. In other words, the kindergarten is keeping me on my toes with new projects. I have one favor to ask on behalf of the kindergarten. We would really like to have a doctor’s corner, but the hospitals around here are not prepared for patients let alone able to give away used equipment. If anyone comes across a stethoscope or blood pressure band (Neither have to work) please let me know. Thank you for your help! Virgin Coconut Oil Again, still waiting on the government for economic support, but the villagers are so keen on learning how to produce VCO that they have asked me to conduct a hands-on workshop, teaching them the process step-by-step. So, next week will be days full of scraping, squeezing, filtering, and sunning. I am so glad the community is eager to learn. 
This picture was supposed to go with the Vanua Levu trip. It is two volunteers behind the first waterfall at Bouma National Forest, Taveuni, Fiji
Saturday, May 8, 2010 They finally arrived! I set off Saturday morning for Nadi to pick up my Mom and Sister. All day I was counting the minutes and trying to keep myself occupied with traveling, reading, and visiting with a lovely family from Melbourne, Australia. Eventually the time came for me to head to the airport. At about 11:30 PM their plane hit the tarmac and they strode in with tears, smiles, and pounds upon pounds of luggage. We headed to Smuggler’s Cove on New Town Beach and had “girl talk” for hours before falling asleep. Sunday, May 9, 2010 Jessica's first Bu... baby coconut juice. Today was supposed to be a relaxed, recover from Jet Lag day, but we had to travel down to Pacific Harbor by bus. Waiting for a bus to Pacific Harbor. The ride was exhilaratingly fast, going around curves in a bit of a hurry, passing log trucks going uphill, around a sharp curve, and in a no-passing zone. But, we are alive to tell-the-tale. After arriving at our resort for the next two nights we find out that our reservation was lost somewhere between my phone reservation and the military coming in this weekend to reposes a nearby resort and shark dive operation (Beqa Divers) for not paying land lease fees (or something to that effect). So most of the guests from the shutdown resort were scrambling for an affordable place to stay and ended up with our reservation. I am not naming the place though, because it appeared to be a very nice backpacker’s resort that I would rather not give a bad name. The person who owned the small lodge took us in his truck to find another suitable accommodation. The first place we checked out was at first very becoming and quaint, but the more we searched the place the more problems we found (black dust-like particles in the beds, no toilet paper in the bathroom, mosquito infested surroundings, and a stove with dishes that came from a hurricane in 1944). So, in the end we ended up at The Pearl. Absolutely no complaints, as this resort is heaven in Fiji. So, it turns out that lilly pad flowers close up at night, we never decided if a new flower came up the next day or the same one, but Jessica was definitely amused. Lol, read this sign in front of The Pearl. The beautiful Pearl hotel in Pacific Harbour. Mom and Jessica were able to try Fijian food at a Lovo night held at The Pearl along with some Fijian entertainment. Wow, two dark babes holding my sissy, so jealous... lol, until she complained of being covered in their sweat. Monday, May 10, 2010 We enjoyed a night in relaxation without a hint of lint in our bed sheets. At dawn we woke up and prepared for our exhilarating trip down the Navua River with Rivers Fiji. Our continental breakfast was set out for us an hour early to accommodate our early departure and the rafting operation couldn’t have been more convenient as Rivers Fiji is located at the entrance to our resort. The drive into the interior of Fiji was beautiful, but Jessica had a mishap before we arrived anywhere of significance. We were hiking into the woods a bit and she gets caught on a line of barbed wire. At first she is unfazed by it, but after a few more minutes of pain and some blood she realizes it is probably a little worse than she had hoped for. Back at the Rivers Fiji bus she is searching through the first aid kit to doctor it up before the trip down the river. One of our highlights of the trip. At the end of the rafting trip the kids helped Jessica and I let the air out of the raft. Family rapid trips are the best! Their free massage, I politely declined the pain in the back. The small hike to the beginning of our rafting trip down the Navua River. Yes, she made a big splash. Our picnic spot. Do you see that tiny little boat down there? Wow, is all I can say about our white water rafting trip. It was absolutely breathtaking. Soaring cliffs rose on either side of the blue-green waters with 100 foot waterfalls cascading intermittently. The guides were rambunctious young Fijian men who knew how to put on a good show. We were flying down rapids backwards, jumping off cliffs, and swimming next to “Anaconda’s” shooting stage. There was even a free massage at the end which Jessica and Mom decided to partake in. By the end of the rushing waters we regard ourselves as providential to have had the experience of a lifetime in the interior of Fiji. Tuesday, May 11, 2010 Today we are headed up to my village for my family to see the “real” Fiji. We first focus on getting all of our luggage to Suva to visit the Peace Corps Office and do a little shopping. As we wait on the side of the road for a mini bus we are approached by a taxi driver who offers to take us for 80 F$. I think anyone who has not lived in Fiji would have probably taken him up on his offer, but for me, I know better. A mini bus comes to a screeching halt within about 5 minutes and we hop in paying only 7 F$ each. Upon arriving in Suva, the mini bus driver even takes us all the way up to the Peace Corps Office. Score! Oh Public Transport Shopping in the handicraft center in Suva. Mom bought herself a kava bowl and Jessica a rat preventor. Lol. Mom and Sis meet everyone in the office and then we are off to shopping and eating. Maya Dhaba was good as always (the best Indian food in Fiji) and mom and sis purchased almost everybody in their lives a souvenir. Mission accomplished. A typical breakfast, lunch, or dinner for a Fijian. Mom was disgusted. Yeah, typical "work" in Fiji. Sleep where ever you can find a comfy spot. This is the public bathrooms I deal with. The worst part, it costs 50 cents to use it. Eventually, we caught the 2:30 PM bus up to my boat house. Arriving around 6:30 PM in the pitch black was not really how I had this planned, mainly because Jessica and Mom were not going to get to see the astounding, cliff-ridden coast from my boat dock to the village. Thank goodness I arranged a private hire boat before I set off on this trip of ours so that when we arrived the boat was waiting. A few strapping young men from my village were at the boat house selling their sea cucumber catches-of-the-day so they helped carry our luggage to the boat. The boat ride was enjoyable with the bright starry night bidding us a safe trip. Upon arrival we were ushered to my house for rest and then required to present our isevusevu (gift to the village for entering). I made sure this was the first time Mom and Sis tried yaqona/grog/kava. The women in the village made beautiful salusalu (leis) and after the official ceremony everyone entertained us with songs and mekes. Sooner rather than later we bid the villagers goodnight and headed off to bed. Wednesday, May 12, 2010 Eparama with Robin. My family at a Fijian function, how adorable. The kids doing a meke. I think the girl on the far left was the only one who really knew it by heart. I think Mom's entire goal of this trip was to hold a baby. Breakfast time. My only two sisters in this world! Me playing nurse Jamie to Jessica's barbed wire crater. Jessica is a true Fijian. Just hanging out. We learned the hard way that wine atracts roachies. Bubu Vesi, one of my favorite elders, so jolly, all the time. She can actually hand wash clothes, and she claimed to enjoy it! Hear that Rafa? Yes, Mogli always watches me cook, I think because she expects scraps thrown to her like a dog. The next morning I made breakfast and we set off for the waterfalls. As we were on our way to the first watering hole Buka Jr. was following us on bareback. He eagerly offered Jessica a ride on the horse. She jumped on like a professional and rode along the trails towards the cattle farm. Her new special friend. Eventually she returned the beautiful stallion and walked on to the watering hole. Yaca found this baby octopus to use as bait. I begged her to let him live. Guess who won? Of course the princess who always gets her way. Papa and Mogli snoozing together. The cave of luminescent spiders. The goat feces infested cave. Oh glorious water. Now Jessica is climbing a waterfall. I never knew she was such a monkey. I guess I should have known based off of her nickname. The little rugrats at the watering hole. I was happily surprised with a new addition to our watering hole. One of the youth tied a thick vine to the top off our Mango tree so that we could easily rope swing into the pool. Jessica and I had a ball swinging and calling out like Jane of the Jungle. Next, my journey up the river continued with climbing big boulders, straddling cliffs, and crawling through caves. Mom reluctantly declined the hike to the top as she was having difficulty with the extreme rock climbing. Jessica and I continued on a little further so that I could show her our waterfall surrounded by vines. My favorite Mom. Yes that is me up there yelling like Jane. Climbing the cliffs... freelance. Climbing the vines. And more vines. As we came back towards the village we were ready for a shower and lunch. After cleaning up we rested until about 6:30 PM when we were ushered into Tata Maoni’s house for another celebration with songs, grog, and mekes. Again, the family at a Fijian event. Sissy's first bowl of yaqona/kava/grog! Mom's fist bowl of yaqona/kava/grog! Mom experiencing the Taralala. She looks so beautiful. Thursday, May 13, 2010 Today after breakfast we headed over to Sisi’s (Sisilia) settlement for a visit. Lol, I will give her the benefit of the doubt, it is a VERY steep, slippery hill. Along our walk to a nearby settlement to visit Sisi. As we arrived Sisi had prepared salusalu (leis) for each one of us. The ibe ni kana (cloth for eating) had also been laid out. I could not believe it. She cooked us fresh prawns, tavioka, sweet potatoes, watermelon, and papaya for lunch. It was a beautiful spread. We all sat down to eat, enjoying our food and conversation. Within minutes the food was devoured and we laid down for a nap. Upon waking up Jessica and I were ready to hike to the upper waterfalls so all four of us walked back to the village. I think this was a posed shot, aiming for that bright red Colgate curtain ring. After reaching the watering hole with several kids in tow, Jessica, Sisi, and I abandoned Mom at the pool and we headed up the trail to the falls. The water at the highest fall was just as I remembered it, a 40 foot drop, cascading towards the bottom, with a deep pool surrounding its landing. We swam, talked, and took pictures, eventually heading on down to the second waterfall through a goat feces ridden cave. This waterfall consists of four closely linked falls completing one 45 foot combination. It sadly did not appear as I remembered it for the simple fact that I was coming down into the falls instead of climbing up against the water, making the descent a little more difficult than my usual ascent. Eventually Sisi figured out the easiest way and we all clambered our way down. The neon red spiders were within the last bit of the waterfall, their triangular back patch glowing in the darkness. Walking through the small pool at the bottom gives you that eerie, webs-entangling-me kind of nightmare. Finally we were clear of the spiders and able to wash off the sticky, enclosed feeling. Only 20 minutes passed and we were reentering the village. In my bure. Mom was passed out on the floor, Jessica hopped in the shower, and I began preparing dinner. How did I get stuck with all the cooking duties? After dinner we enjoyed rest and relaxation for one night, knowing the tomorrow night would be our itautau (going away ceremony). Friday, May 14, 2010 Me and my two sisters headed to visit my namesake, Sio, and my papa (Ulamila). Me attempting to ring our lali. Yes, several people got on to me for this, it's apparently not allowed. What a beautiful day for going to our local beach. Yaca, Sio, and Ulamila were back in the village as of last night and they were excited to entertain Jessica and Mom for the day. We all packed into the boat and drove out to the beach. The day consisted of shell collecting, drinking baby coconuts, floating in the water, and enjoying the scenery. I can't believe I really let him put a huge knife to my throat, it was quite an uncomfortable feeling. Mom and sis relaxing in our crystal clear water. I think Mom took this one, but I am in love with it. Ulamila and I. Going to our local beach. Tonight was our going away ceremony entailing a traditional yaqona ceremony, a speech from Bubu Moli, and their “Isalei” going away song. Soon we were dancing, passing out chasers, and watching plays preformed by the kids. It was an amazing production and I am so proud of my village for their hospitality and aim to please. My mom and Sister really enjoyed their stay. Ah, sisterly love. Jessican's first experience with Fijian dancing... they call it the Taralala. I have always wanted this picture taken. The kids here LOVE their picture taken and then getting to look at it. Saturday, May 15, 2010 Today is Vatu-i-Ra! Our packing is rushed but the excitement is building. I have wanted to visit this Bird Life sanctuary since arriving in the Rakiraki area. We board the boat, with everything from a compass, flares, and lifejackets, to food, water, and cameras. The ride to the island was breathtaking as the sun had just risen. We arrive sooner than expected and have ample time to explore the far reaches of this 2 hectare island. I climb both cliffs, hold two different species, and take close-ups of babies in their nest. We find eggs, nice shells, amazing manure, and a small reminder of the people who oftentimes sleep on the beach. It begins to rain and the boat captains attach a tarp to the trees for shelter while building a fire for warmth. The ambiance is magical. This refrigerator was disgusting inside. Hope you are sleeping well Kava. So, this is me and sis as kids with our pet ducks. So Mom deemed this as a repeat of the above picture from when we were little. Our remarkable bonfire! Birds of Vatu-i-Ra. And yet, another species. Eggs just laying on the beach. Thank goodness there are no rats and few visitors. Cool shot. Who me? A baby of a different species. Atop the other large, mountainous hill of manure and rock. Poor bird had a broken wing. We found out later about the bird lice... ooops. View from the top. Two of our captains, Sanaila and Kavaia. Ah, a baaabbbyyy. Nope, no cavities. Polly want a cracker? My favorite bird at Vatu-i-Ra, he has such a puzzled look. Sisterly love. I promise this was not posed. Sunday, May 17, 2010 – Friday, May 21, 2010 Our beautiful Fiji Tall Coconut trees. First sunrise at Naigani Island Resort. Today we arrived at Naigani Island Beach Resort. The beach is beautiful, the staff are friendly, and the food is OK. I do not recommend this resort for many reasons, but mainly because they are not stocked with simple necessities. For example: only 3 beach chairs, out of pool towels, the pool was extremely dirty, no tequila, no passionfruit juice (which goes in half their drinks), the hot water was turned off for two days, there was no ice at the resort for two days, most of the smoothies were warm, the food was overpriced, the oars were broken, and the dive equipment was an off brand (Boss?) and I was warned by other guests that the equipment leaks and was not safe. Their internet site also promises a very rare experience of swimming with wild dolphins. After arriving at the resort to book the excursion I am informed that this trip was never really a concrete excursion and never worked out. Somehow, all of our disappointments were marked as not essential, and we had a great time. One day we took a kayak trip to Picnic Beach and snorkeled around. The lagoons of Naigani Island. Another day was a day trip to Levuka, Ovalau. 203 grueling stairs in Levuka, Ovalou The old colonial Levuka, Ovalou, Fiji Islands I really enjoyed the old colonial buildings and stories. Another day we hired a boat to take us around the island for sight-seeing and snorkeling. Naigani was an enjoyable time and the small crowd (a family of 10 from Australia, two couples from Australia, two couples from New Zealand, one man from America, and two girls from the UK) made the experience very relaxing and intimate. I wish I could give a good review, but there was just too much dissatisfaction. Look at this neat nudribranch. His underside is the part at the top of the picture and his topside is the camoflauge pattern at the bottom of the picture. I am surprised I saw him in the sand. View of Ovalou from Naigani Island. Sunrise over the millionaires' island. She was better than me and Jessica combined. Mom at her finest. Nemos so close to kissing. Sissy snorkeling, a natural. Lol, I think we need new paddles. This is what vacation is for. Overlooking Naigani Village. Beach Babes. Eventually, Friday came around and it was time for us to head back to Nadi. We traveled through Suva for last minute souvenir shopping and lunch, then headed on by minibus to Nadi. The last night together was hard as we knew we didn’t have much time left. In the morning we were so rushed to pack and get to the airport that there wasn’t much time for goodbyes. As they were entering the security area we hugged and then they were off. The shorter the goodbye, the easier it is. I walked away alone, towards the public bus stop, carrying a heavy backpack (and burden) on my shoulders. Another year alone… hopefully Sis will come see me again and Dad is trying. So, back to my life. 
Mogli doing something she is not supposed to.
Week of April 23rd – May 1st Been cleaning up the house for mom and sis. Wow is having a bure a chore and a half. Removing the mats, raking out all of the sodden, dank coconut leaves, burning them, collecting pine needles in the forest, removing newspaper from the posts, taking down dust covered cloth from the ceiling, washing laundry, sunning mats, beating mats, patching mats, buying liner, laying out the pine needles, allowing them to sun, laying down the liner, laying down the mats, and finally, spraying a little air freshner. I promise I clean my house a lot, but there happens to be a drainage ditch that runs next to my house and likes to divert into a corner of my house, soaking the dirt floor, therefore soaking my coconut leaves, and then my mats. Impossible to deal with! Wati They will be here soon though! I also went to the health center with the ladies and their babies this week. Upon returning to the village my namesake and I got out onto a reef surrounding a nearby island. I walked around the beach towards a Grandmother’s farmhouse who is from my village. She served me up some fresh squeezed lemonaid and gave me two oranges for the road. Fijians are so caring. Learning karate... Fijian style. My namesake and I ended up walking all the way back to the village after she fished and I scavenged the forest for papaya. Just before we reached the village we found a “pear” tree, which, much to my delight, turned out to be avocados. Thank you Lue Ann for the great idea of sending Fritoes’ scoops! Perfect for my Mexican guacamole dip! My brothers and sisters having tea. The rest of the week I pulled together the Peace Corps Partnership Program Grant Proposal. We had to finish taking measurements, then I got the job of running around town in circles going from one hardware store to the next getting quotations. I felt like I was bargaining with a Mexican at a Flea Market or maybe just buying a car at a used car lot. We would discuss prices, different options for tools, and what the least amount quoted was so far so that they could under quote the last guy. Hey, it is saving Americans money one dollar at a time. My favorite fish - a Semicircle Angelfish Finally, Thursday through Saturday I am staying with John and Judy. Judy and I went on two dives with Ra Divers on Saturday morning and they were the best dives I have EVER been on. Absolutely beautiful. I will try and get pictures up as soon as possible. Clownfish - Fiji is full of 'em Week of April 15th – 22nd Mogli playing with her new mouse toy, another amazing gift from Lue Ann. I don’t have much to say this week. Thank you to all of you who were so spirited and caring enough to send me care packages recently! I have been in hog-heaven lately, but I am trying to remember it was all for Easter and my birthday and that I cannot expect the special treats very often. Thank you very, very much for thinking of me! I didn’t do much other than lots of snorkeling An eel just off my village's beach. Upside-Down Jellyfish The cliffs and the reefs along my beach. and movie night for the kids and the women. With the women I watched Pretty Woman and I cannot believe I had never seen it before. Other than that, reading, writing lots of letters, watching movies, and crocheting a baby blanket, I have nothing of importance to report. Oh, and of course, my Mom and Sis are coming in 2 ½ weeks from today! It’s countdown-the-days time! Ahhhh! So excited! On my walk to Lisa's village - Wednesday, April 14th 
Wow, absolutely amazing trip! Judy and I saw 22 volunteers during our trip from Suva to Taveuni. I jumped off a 50 foot waterfall on my birthday and dove one of the top ten reefs in the world, the Great White Wall, Rainbow Reef. So our trip started out in a torrential downpour. The boat I planned on taking out of my village decided not go and so I ended up getting a private hire boat to the dock. As I was crossing the road to wait at the store the early bus flew by with Judy sitting shotgun. Man, how did I miss that bus? Oh yeah, that time change thing the day before, that is how I did not know a bus was scheduled to be passing by. Peace Corps has still not issued me a radio and so I never got the memo that the time was going back an hour the day before. Anyways, I waited an hour for the next bus and everything was smooth sailing from there. Upon arrival in Suva we dropped things off in the Peace Corps office and were off to buy ferry tickets and food. Around 4 o’clock we boarded the Suilivan. The great thing was Judy paid for first class with a bunk bed and so as she showed her ticket I just walked right in behind her, first class for free! The entire ferry was extremely nicer than I expected. There were couches, benches, flat screens, two empty cafes, and airplane style chairs. For the 55 Fijian dollars it was a deal! By 5 AM Tuesday morning we were in Savusavu, Vanua Levu. Beautiful Savusavu Bay. The bubbling hot springs. While walking around the quaint town of Savusavu we easily found our backpackers lodge (Hidden Paradise). The owner, Elenoa, was a beautiful, educated woman who was more than welcoming and offered us a complimentary breakfast each morning. The small yacht town of Savusavu entertained us with shopping, snorkeling near Jean-Micheal Cousteau's Resort, a neat pearl farm, natural hot springs, and an Easter celebration at a local school. An eel. Touring J. Hunter’s Pearl Farm proved to be an educational experience. The world renowned company uses Mississippi Mussels as the bead, which is inserted by an expert Japanese man into a Black Oyster gonad and placed on a string 15 feet deep in the nutrient rich thermocline. I snorkeled the farm and found an oyster shell with a black mother of pearl nacre as my souvenir (since the pearls ranged from 500 to 1000s of dollars). Next, we toured the hot springs right behind our lodge. A family was visiting their pot of boiling pudding. The water literally boiled up from the Earth. Judy and I ended up shell collecting at the pools because the Fijians bring their catches there to remove the slimy interiors and cook. The restaurants in Savusavu were limited, but delicious! We ended up eating at the Captain’s Café three different meals. Their chicken sandwich with grilled onions, a slice of ham and cheese, and slices of pineapple was to die for. Highly recommended. The shopping was also limited, but the Bargain Box never fails to have lots of good deals. Tokasa just had a baby three weeks ago and I found her baby all kinds of clothes for 25 cents each! Great finds! The last day we visited Hannah’s school (Peace Corps volunteer)for an Easter celebration which included singing, a meke, Bible verses, and a re-enactment where the children beat up Jesus with their belts… hilarious! Finally it was time to get on a bus that was jam-packed with people and things. Literally I had to push the standing people back so that Judy and I could get on. Although, just before we left, several people got off and Judy and I found the last seats to be had. At last we were off, traveling along the beautiful beaches of Vanua Levu to Navutu landing. We arrived in the pitch black, boarded the boat and were off to Dolphin Bay Diver’s Retreat. The Dive Shop. Cute! My room at Dolphin Bay Divers Retreat. The arrival at Dolphin Bay was surreal. Cyclone Tomas had just wiped out the landscape a little over a week ago and the clean-up efforts were just getting under way. There were Fijians holding lanterns at the landing and tiki torches lighting the paths strewn throughout the resort. We were told to grab any type of lodging we could and we would work out the details in the morning. Judy and I were led to a rustic, yet beautiful bure with Pure Fiji soaps! Lol, it’s the small things that usually get me! Soon we were handing over all of our fruits and vegetables. Hey Nemo Natural Coral grapes, ok, I don't really know what these are... Shore Crab A HUGE triggerfish. Some kind of Indian-ocean Lionfish... very poisonous spines. It's me, Again! Anemone Shrimp... Do you see him? Sean, another volunteer. White-tipped Reef Shark Moorish Idol The volunteers, being safe with our lifejackets... on a DIVE boat. Hmmmm. In the morning we were sat down to a delicious plate of fruit, toast, homemade bread, and condiments. Soon, Judy and I were off on our own private SCUBA adventure. We had two dive masters, the boat captain, plus Judy and I went to the Fish Factory and the Mini White Wall on the Rainbow Reef in the Somosomo Straight. Absolutely stunning. The white corals were teetering from an overhanging coral head on the Mini White Wall while the Fish Factory was more of a beginners dive, not too impressive. I saw so many neat nudibranchs (sea slugs)! See pictures! Nudibranchs (glorified slugs) Not sure, it was just beautiful. Close up of the White Soft Corals. The Mini White Wall. It's Me! The next day I was told we would dive the Great While Wall first thing. So, I geared up, boarded the boat, did a backward roll into the deep blue sea, and scoured the wall for the soft white coral. It was not to be found. The wall was blank all the way down. The dive instructor (who also owns Dolphin Bay Diver’s Retreat) took us on a dive that they knew would be a bust. I feel like it was not right for them to promise me something that they knew was not going to happen. This is the one big drawback to my diving experience with Dolphin Bay Diver’s Retreat. Beware, the soft white corals only come out during certain moons and during particular currents. Experienced dive operators in the Rainbow Reef area know this and you should enquire beforehand. The boys we dove with put on an absolutely amazing meke for us! A beautiful Sea Cucumber. I want a purse in this pattern! My new favorite fish, a Semicircle Angelfish. Cleaning Station The rest of our stay was amazing! Judy and I hiked to a nearby resort and snorkeled several hours back. I found a Spanish Dancer nudibranch that was about 25 cm long! Isn’t she just magnificent!? Spanish Dancer Nudibranch The jellyfish everyone was getting stung by. My new favorite Giant Clam species. Tiger Cowry Unidentified fish... There was one day that the other six volunteers and I wanted to snorkel. Within 100 feet into the water they were attacked by swarms of jellyfish. I was luckily in the back and in a wetsuit and was not touched by the jellies. The ocean just loves me, that’s it. Our last day was on us before we knew it. Around noon we took the resorts boat over to Taveuni, caught a taxi with some Australians and a girl from the UK. Within 2 hours we were at Lavena Lodge with six male volunteers! The timing turned out perfectly. They arrived the night before and left the same day we did. Their typical picture Kids in Gloria's village, still having fun two weeks after a devastating cyclone. The first full day the boys, Judy, Gloria, and I all headed in Bouma National Park for the waterfall hike. The first waterfall was only 10 minutes walk in. It consisted of a 60 foot fall with a 15 foot cave just behind. We were anxious to see the third fall and so continued on for another 30 minutes until we reached the second fall. It was a beautiful 55 foot fall with a good pool at the bottom. We swam for a few minutes and experienced a slice of a natural massage, then we were off to the third waterfall. For some reason the boys were too anxious to wait 1 minute for me and I happened to miss the turn for the trail. Hiking in Bouma National Park Three of the boys at the first fall. Wow. Most peaceful spot I have ever been. Playing in the second waterfall. Walking back to Lavena Lodge. So I got an extra 45 minutes, no biggie, good exercise. Finally I found the turn that I missed and hiked through fallen trees, mosses, ferns, and hurricane turmoil. We discovered later that the trail was closed to the public because it hadn’t been cleaned up yet, but we arrived so early in the morning that the park desk was not open yet. Anyways, the third waterfall was the best of them all. We all jumped from a 20 foot cliff half way up. As you can see below, the photographer missed the actual falling part. Lol! As we came to the entrance to the park, we still had 3 hours before the bus, so the boys ate lunch and we went back in to swim some more. About an hour before the bus was to come by and get us the boys get the bright idea to walk home. So, thank goodness Judy and Gloria were troopers because we all ended up walking back to Lavena Lodge. It was a beautiful hike along the road, passing several foundations and houses that had just been blown away two weeks before, children playing in the streams, boys pushing their wheeled sticks, and men back at work in their fields. We even saw two kingfishers (striking blue birds). O Taveuni. That night Gloria threw me the cutest birthday party. She cooked up some crepes, set out some very prized gummy worms, animal crackers, Hershey’s syrup, bananas, boysenberry jelly, and syrup. The boys sang me Happy Birthday and we were off to eating the delicatessens’ treats. My birthday party! The next morning (my Birthday!) Judy and I headed out along the Coastal Walk tour towards beautiful beaches and yet another waterfall, this time with a natural slide attached. When we arrived at the waterfall we snorkeled through the river to get to the falls. Soon I was climbing the rock wall and sliding down the natural slide. When the boys arrived (they kayaked in) we went to the top of the 50 foot fall and I jumped! It was exhilarating. I had about two seconds of free fall to contemplate what was going on and consider how I wanted to land into the water. It was definitely a small adrenaline rush! The walk back to the lodge proved to be a much quicker walk than the walk to the falls. For some reason that is always the case, it is quicker returning from B to A than going from A to B. Why is that? Suspension bridge to the coastal walk waterfall. Just chillin. Bus at 5:30 AM. Finally, April 7, 2010, our glorious trip to Vanua Levu and Taveuni came to an end. We boarded the bus at 5:30 AM and headed to the airport. Everyone was leaving the same day, but by different modes of transportation. Judy, Graham, Jeremy, and I were heading out by plane, the other boys were taking a boat/bus combination. The crazy thing is as soon as our bus reached the airport it broke down, leaving the boys stranded. They hopped on the next truck that drove by since the bus had stopped indefinitely. Our plane ride was worry free and the fringing reefs were overwhelming. Time for take off. The fringing reefs. Nausori town - where we did our training the first two months. Upon arriving in Suva we headed out to eat at my favorite restaurant and then I bought myself a birthday cake and ice cream from Gloria Jean’s. Wow, it was the perfect indulgence! Black forest cake and chocolate ice cream, mmmm! Today was also do my Federal Taxes Day. Back in Rakiraki with men from my village. On Saturday of this week John Caleira was sweet enough to take Lisa, Lydia, and I, plus our cats, to Nadi to get spayed/neutered. Our cats will never have babies! Controlling the Fiji cat population one three cats at a time! Everyone in the village asked about Mogli and what happened to her, so I was able to show them pet care by example. Isn’t it convenient how that works!? We are so proud. Sunday, April 11, 2010 Back in the village I thoroughly cleaned by bure, April 12, 2010 had a successful community meeting where I taught waste management, April 13, 2010 walked to the best beach around, and snorkeled around an island, April 14, 2010 measured the village for footpaths (salasimede), and I walked to Lisa’s village so that I could catch the early bus to town. And here I am now… blogging for you! Bubu Ana making Virgin Coconut Oil!
Respecting the Dead
100th Day Celebration The Fijian culture has a ritual of feasting on the 10th day and the 100th day after the death of a loved one. Everyone in the village gets together to help hunt for the meat (usually pieces of a cow carried from the far depths of the rainforest), climb the tallest trees and dig the deepest roots (lol, to gather breadfruit, cassava, and dalo), gather the firewood, prepare the ingredients, cook, feed over 100 people, clean their dishes (usually two plates per person), and clean up the table spread. So much work, but because they are working together each group has their own job. Men collect meat and root crops, youth collect firewood and help cook, women prepare, cook, do dishes, and clean up. Sounds like women got the raw end of the deal right?! They always do. This week we celebrated the death of my Bubu Livia. She was only in the village for about a month after I moved in, but I did visit with her a lot in that initial “getting acquainted” stage of my service and she was always a kind, gentle, and animated elder. Pictures are from the day of the celebration/remembrance feast. Before the feast Preparing the food. During the Feast My namesake eating a huge, nasty pig bone. Sio, my namesake's husband. Hell yeah! Santa does rock! Our Catholic Church My favorite boy, Niko 10th Day celebration for my Bubu in a nearby settlement Welcoming Life My good friend Tokasa finally had her baby! A healthy, beautiful baby boy! She got pregnant a month after I arrived in Fiji and ever since I moved to site I have been keeping watch over her and becoming good friends. She was placed in a village near the hospital about a month ago and while I was away for the cyclone she had Joji! These pictures are of him at one week old. The mom and the baby. Joji! Brushing our Teeth I have been doing this small, yet effective workshop with people/groups around the village for a few weeks now and I finally got around to the kindy. The kids loved it, although, there was a 15 minute video that I could not get my computer to play. Oh well. First, the teacher and I read them the large Colgate book, then I demonstrated how to brush their teeth with a large scale set of fake teeth, and finally, we all brushed our teeth together. Sisi teaching the children how to brush their teeth. Go time. Pacing the Sun-Drenched Sands When I wake up at the crack of dawn (or before) I get the urge to go watch the sun rise. This morning was a 5:45 AMer and I could not get back to sleep for the life of me. The stars were brightly shining and the sun was set to rise late within the six o-clock hour so I started off along the beach towards my favorite rock. I stopped several times to enjoy the stillness in the air and the brilliance in the sky above. Upon reaching my rock the sun was just breaking. The sunrise was nothing to be excited about but as it came up higher and higher I was able to see all kinds of purple jellyfish, crabs, shells, corals, sea stars, and breathtaking scenery. I started snapping pictures revealing the suicide attempts of these beautiful jelly creatures (Upside-Down Jellyfish, non stinging). Crown-of-Thorns Exploring the Ocean’s Secrets I got a 3 hour snorkel excursion in yesterday. The reefs just in front of my village are sparse until you reach the edge of the coral where it drops into the depths of the deep blue. The wall of a reef has always been my favorite area to snorkel and dive because it is 3 dimensional as the eye travels down. As soon as I reached the lip of the summit I spotted a minute, yet vivid nudibranch. Traveling on were schools of tiny fish as well as game fish that any fisherman would be proud to pull in. My ultimate prize was this cowry shell, of course I had the arduous task of allowing the snail to die so that I could keep his marvelous home. Earlier yesterday morning is when I spotted the upside-down jellyfishes’ attempts at suicide on the beach. As I was snorkeling I passed one of their kinds, a giant, purple jellyfish that was stunning in the afternoon sun. Grog Washing the Grog Pounding the grog. Misc. View at the beach where I wait for my boat. View of the Cycle My Mogli 
Since nothing really happened this week, except playing Scrabble, watching movies, and telling stories. Oh, and of course eating good American food! So, instead, I thought I should give a quick overview of Fiji. I know I have covered most of this throughout my blogs, but here is a quickie:
1. Fiji is a former British colony, independent since 1970, and lies about half way between, Papeete, Tahiti and Cairns, Australia. Most all of the nation's 333 islands are of volcanic origin. 2. Ethnically, the first Fijians were of Melanesian origin. Based on archeological evidence (primarily pottery), it appears that the islands were settled in three waves-1600 BC, 400-100 BC and 1000-1800 AD-by people immigrating from what is now Papua New Guinea. Because of various incursions, however, especially by the Tongans, many Fijians of today combine Melanesian physical characteristics (short stature, dark-skin and fuzzy hair) with those of the Polynesians (tall, muscular, fair and straight hair). 3. Cannibalism was deeply ingrained in the Fijian culture long before the birth of Christ. Indeed, the custom was an important aspect of the Fijian religion in which the great warrior-gods were themselves cannibals. The prime (U.S.D.A.?) idea behind this gruesome practice was to consume those who were captured in battle, because, as Rob Kay, the author of Fiji-a Survival Guide, points out: "Eating your enemy was the ultimate disgrace the victor could impose, and in the Fijian system of ancestor worship this became a lasting insult to the victims' families." Not surprisingly, as Kay continues, there was a good deal of "vicious infighting, internecine warfare and vengeance-seeking that went on in pre-Christian times." 4. In 1874, when Fiji became a crown colony of England, it was decided that substantial economic development was necessary. Concluding that the production of sugar cane would be just the ticket, but unwilling to exploit the indigenous Fijians, the governor at the time, Sir Arthur Gordon, decided to import workers from India. To that end, beginning in 1879, and continuing until 1916, some 60,000 Indians were brought in to tend the fields. By 1999 almost half of Fiji's total population of 850,000 was of Indian origin, and, as a result, Mahendra Chaudhry was elected as Fiji's first Indo-Fijian prime minister. Unfortunately, because Chaudhry endorsed land reforms (previously only indigenous Fijians could own land), and a social justice bill that reduced government programs for the "native" people, in May 2000, in a coup during which four rebels were killed, both he and his government were overthrown. Shortly thereafter, in yet another destabilizing twist, the insurgents themselves were ousted, and in August 2001, new elections were held. Today, still facing seemingly intractable problems, it remains to be seen how the current government will fare. 5. Perhaps the most famous Fijian social custom involves the drinking of kava, a concoction made by mixing ground, dried kava roots, a shrub related to the pepper family, and water. The resulting beverage, which is served in a large wooden bowl, looks very much dirty dishwater, and has a peculiar, but not unpleasant, taste. In older, pre-blender days, the roots were chewed to a pulp by young virgins, whose saliva, it is said, somehow reacted with the root's active ingredients, thereby intensifying the buzz the kava drinker might feel. Well, now you know. Since we did not get blown away by Cyclone Tomas I thought before the next one comes and wipes out the entire country, I should have a little information in writing. In the past week I have been spending a lot of time on the internet researching and planning strict itineraries for a trip coming up to Vanua Levu, "the visit" by my mom and sister, and a trip to hike to the highest point in Fiji. Lots of traveling to look forward to! I have found that this is the only way I get through each week, is by having something to look forward to in the near future! Oh Fijian coping strategies. Anyways, talk to ya'll soon. Miss you Bestie, Sissy, Mom, and Dad. 
Cyclone Tomas -
Some bad weather is a comin. Cyclone Tomas is estimated to hit us early Monday morning (Sunday morning for you folks in the Promise Land). It is at least 7 times the size of Fiji! I have found a new favorite website through the US Navy stationed in Pearl Harbor. The latest update by the Naval Oceanography Portal is as follows. 131500Z POSITION NEAR 12.6S 179.0W.TROPICAL CYCLONE (TC) 19P (TOMAS), LOCATED APPROXIMATELY 380 NM NORTHEAST OF NADI, FIJI, HAS TRACKED SOUTHWESTWARD AT 06 KNOTS OVER THE PAST SIX HOURS. ANIMATED INFRARED SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS CONVECTIVE BANDING WRAPPING INTO A LOW LEVEL CIRCULATION CENTER AND A 130703Z SSMIS IMAGE SHOWS A DEFINED MICROWAVE EYE. THE INTENSITY HAS NOT INCREASED AS EXPECTED IN THE PREVIOUS FORECAST AND REMAINS AT 65 KNOTS BASED ON PGTW, ABRF, AND CPHC DVORAK INTENSITY ESTIMATES. UPPER LEVEL ANALYSIS SHOWS THAT TC 19P IS LOCATED IN AN AREA OF LOW VERTICAL WIND SHEAR (VWS), BENEATH AN AREA OF DIFFLUENCE PROVIDING GOOD RADIAL OUTFLOW. TC 19P IS CURRENTLY TRACKING ON THE NORTHWESTERN PERIPHERY OF A SUBTROPICAL STEERING RIDGE THAT IS WEAKENING DUE TO A TRANSITORY MID-LATITUDE, UPPER LEVEL TROUGH. THE SUBTROPICAL RIDGE WILL CONTINUE TO WEAKEN AND ALLOW TOMAS TO ROUND THE RIDGE AXIS BY TAU 72 AND THEN BEGIN TO RECURVE TO THE SOUTHEAST. TC 19P IS FORECAST TO CONTINUE TO INTENSIFY THROUGH TAU 72, WHEN OCEAN HEAT CONTENT WILL DECREASE AND VWS WILL INCREASE AS TOMAS BEGINS TO INTERACT WITH THE BAROCLINIC ZONE. NUMERICAL MODEL GUIDANCE IS IN AGREEMENT WITH THE RECURVATURE SCENARIO, HOWEVER THE TIMING OF THE RECURVE DIFFERS SLIGHTLY. THE GFS MODEL IS AN OUTLIER WITH A SHARPER TURN AND A SIGNIFICANTLY FASTER TRACK SPEED THAN THE OTHER MODELS. THE CURRENT FORECAST IS BASED ON THE CONSENSUS OF AVAILABLE GUIDANCE, WHICH INDICATES A TRACK OVER VANUA LEVU, FIJI WITH SPEEDS SLIGHTLY SLOWER THAN CONSENSUS AT THE EXTENDED TAUS TO ACCOUNT FOR GFS. MAXIMUM SIGNIFICANT WAVE HEIGHT AT 131200Z IS 19 FEET. NEXT WARNINGS AT 140300Z AND 141500Z. TWELVE-HOURLY UPDATES. See that little speck of green land in the center towards the bottom, that is Fiji, the islands of Vanua Levu nothward and Viti Levu in the south. Now isn't that a mouthful of oceanography terminology. A simpler report from the Fiji Radio website is as follows: Tropical Cyclone Tomas is now 600km North-Northeast of Udu Point at of 3am this morning, and with average winds of up to 110km per hour. In the latest special weather bulletin released by the Nadi Weather Office it says that Cyclone Tomas is moving west at 9km per hour and gradually intensifying. Compared to the last special bulletin that was released last night at 9pm, Tomas has changed direction. Before, it was moving southwest with winds of up to 90km per hour but now its heading West, growing more powerful and packing winds of up to 110km per hour. However Cyclone Tomas has slowed down. As of mid-day yesterday it was moving at 10km per hour before picking up speed as of 9pm last night, moving at 15km per hour but now its only moving at 9km per hour. But our weather forecasters are still wary and maintain the Cyclone Alert issued yesterday is still in force for the whole Fiji Group. On this forecast track the cyclone may bring damaging gale force winds over most parts of Fiji in the next 36 to 48 hours. People are advised that flooding of low lying areas and coastal areas is likely to occur within this time period as rain becomes frequent. For all those who have boats out at sea, you’re advised that a strong wind warning is in force for all Fiji waters with speed of up to 35knots. Rough seas and damaging waves are developing and you’re advised to take the necessary precautions. Meanwhile senior weather forecaster at the Nadi weather office-Robin Nateniela says if Cyclone Tomas maintains its current path, its likely to make landfall in Fiji from Vanua Levu. “At the moment we are just about to issue an alert special weather bulletin for Fiji which is basically an alert and mainly for Cikobia at this stage with an alert we expecting the on set of strong to gale force winds in the next forty eight hours where as the rest of the Fiji group is generally are not being affected at this stage but we will closely monitor the movement of TC THOMAS as it moves westwards perhaps in the twenty four to thirty six hours we can have a concrete detail on what path will it take and will it actually be in the next twenty four hours and the places that’s gonna be mostly affected.” The Disaster Management office is also on full alert in anticipation of what Cyclone Tomas may bring to the Fiji group. Although the cyclone is projected to hit the North of Vanua Levu by late Sunday, DISMAC Acting Director Pajiliai Dobui says all necessary precautions must be taken now to prevent any mishaps. “For those who are living in low lying areas, I think its best if they move to higher ground and also for those who are living in residences that may not withstand the force of the wind, please be advised that it is best to consider moving to other residences or to your friends or to evacuation centers that are available while you still have the time.” DISMAC has also alerted their different evacuation centers around the country who are on standby should the need arise. “At this stage all the divisional operational centers is on standby. It has been activated and all are on standby. And similarly all the evacuation centers have been advised to be ready and available in case we have evacuees coming in tomorrow morning or sometime tomorrow in case of the cyclone.” Dobui is also advising the whole Fiji group to be on high alert as the course of the cyclone can change abruptly. Cyclone Tomas is projected to hit Northern Vanualevu on Sunday afternoon. Well, now you know. 
Sorry I have not blogged in a while.
On Thursday after town I mentioned to John and Judy about the only tourist attraction in our area which was Udreudre’s tomb. So, supposedly, this man ate 872 people, everyone one he ever killed in war. Legend has it that his main diet was people, which to eat that many it would have to be your only source of protein. Anyways, John gladly stopped so that Judy, Lisa, and I could see this weedy concrete block at an unmarked location on the side of the road. On Thursday evening and Friday John and I made blackboards for the kindergarten! I had bought paint in Suva and John was willing to sell me some scrap wood so we got to work making 12 individual blackboards and one large one for the teacher. They turned out great! Now that kindergarten is back up and running it appears that there will be 15 students this term. So, we might have to pull together a few more. This week I went to Nausori for Ulamila’s first birthday party! The angel! It went extremely well. A Fijian’s first birthday party is often the only birthday ever celebrated. There is a traditional giving of grog called an isevusevu, plus the baby is dressed in masi cloth (made out of a plant), a family member other than her parents holds her during the ceremony, everyone sings “Happy Birthday”, the baby blows out the candle, cuts the cake, and then the first locket of hair is cut. Afterwards, everyone eats, visits, and gorges themselves on cake. The birthday parties are quite European influenced, although, the presents are not opened in front of everyone, but instead are taken into a back room to be opened later. The traditional birthday suit. This is what we eat. Mmmm. Me and Papa. I helped cook, take pictures, entertain guests, and did ALL the dishes, whew. I stayed at a friends’ house (relatives of the birthday girl) and we had a lot of fun watching movies, taking walks in the rain, and telling stories! Thank you Filo and Ana for the good weekend! I had plans of coming back on Sunday, but it turns out that Monday was Prophet Muhammed’s birthday (I made the mistake at lunch on Thursday of saying “Why do they have to close everything down? No one celebrates Prophet Muhammed’s birthday.” That statement got shut down real fast. Apparently Indians celebrate his birthday. So, I stayed through Monday, only to get stuck in a bind with no buses running on the eroded King’s Road. Look what I found at the party! WAR EAGLE! He said his brother went to Auburn about 30 years ago and recently brought him back this shirt! Cool! First Auburn thing I have seen in Fiji that I did not bring here on my back! Filo and Ana going to school. On Monday, Filo and I made a quick trip to town to go see the Health Center about my infected leg. I had a bug bite around Thursday and started to scratch it breaking the skin open into a small scab. Well, that scab got infected and turned into a volcano. I went to the health center to get some antibiotics and the nurse tosses me eight 500 Mg penicillin pills. That won’t get me far. She didn’t even look at it. I can see why so many people die in Fiji and never have a just cause. There are so many people who say so and so is sick and a week later they are dead, with no reason other than an upset stomach. The health care in this country could use a reboot. The friends I stayed with. For some reason a tropical depression coincided with a tsunami warning on Sunday (because of the earthquake in Chile). The tsunami did not turn up any results, just another scare. I am starting to treat them a lot like the Fijians, because the warnings are as often as tornado warnings in the Texas panhandle. The tropical depression on the other hand rained for two days straight, shutting down the bus system back to my site. On Tuesday I made it to Suva and went to the private hospital to see a dermatologist about my inexhaustible dandruff. He prescribed me three things, one a ketoconozole tablet, two an antifungal cream, and three, another shampoo. The good thing is I think this combination is working! I was put up in a hotel where I blasted the air conditioner, watched tv, and enjoyed a bed that I wouldn’t have to make in the morning, oh, plus hot water! Each time I visited the Peace Corps office I asked the doctor to tend to my volcano and she politely obliged. I think I really enjoy having a doctor helping me with my every need. Thanks Peace Corps! Finally, on Wednesday I made it back to site, only to turn around the next morning and head to town. Nothing exciting in town, highlight, I drank half a beer at lunch. Today I delivered the new blackboards to the kindergarten teacher. She was sooo excited and thankful and saying that she could not wait to use them with the kids on Monday. We are lucky to have such a devoted teacher who really cares! P.S. I am starting the proposal for footpaths. So those of you who are interested in helping my cause it will be posted on Peace Corps’ website in due time. P.S.S. Those of you putting together a goody package for me… I would LOVE some Dove dark chocolate or caramels, chili cheese Foritoes, graham crackers, and Easter candy! I miss out on most of the BIG American holidays here in Fiji, so packages to remind me are always much appreciated! Thank you so much Teresa for all of the Halloween candy last October! New bestsellers (books) are always good too! The kindy's new chalkboards that John and I made. Since Wednesday I have been taking it easy because my leg has needed time to heal. I was told not to get in any water. Around here, all of my activities involve water. Most of the week I was preparing lessons for the kindergarten, helping the teacher during class, reading my new trilogy, Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials”, and visiting my neighbors. For those of you with an invitation to the Pacific Islands, or really Peace Corps service in general, I wanted to list a few of the things that I am really glad I brought. 1. A travel feather pillow. Most pillows in undeveloped countries are made out of indescribable hard objects. 2. A nice towel. These little boogers are useful every day, and in Fiji, four or five times a day. Bring a large one that you can cover your entire body with to get from your distant shower lean-to to your grass hut. 3. Good knives. You do a lot of cooking from scratch because American foods are not readily available. Also, be prepared to sharpen them often. 4. Your favorite book. Selection is limited and very expensive. 5. Plenty of underwear/bras as you will not find nice quality under garments in your third world destination. Take my word on this one. 6. Your favorite spices, as the country you are going to may not have ANYTHING American. Things like Italian seasoning, garlic salt, and season salt. They will be a lifesaver when it comes to bland food or cooking gone wrong. 7. Last, but not least, a sense of humor. People will say things that you do not appreciate, like, “You are fat” or “No, you need to do it this way”. These lines sound like they won’t bother you, but when you hear them day in and day out, you will get quite annoyed. I just wish it was polite to say in return, “You too” or “If you want something done your way, then do it yourself”. This is not a complete list by any means. My favorite item is my mask and snorkel. If I didn’t bring them from home I would be suffering terribly. Also, make sure you have a trusty companion back home who will send you whatever you need, whenever you need it, for example, your mom! So this past Saturday a man who served for the US Army in Iraq has moved back to the village. He is an injured war veteran and got caught up in a roadside bomb that severely injured his spinal column. I am excited about him moving into the village because he is experienced, easy to talk to, and people will head his advice. He is in my favorite mataqali (family) and plans to build a house in the coming months. He brought his eighteen year old son who is also one of my new best friends! Yay! During the bosevakoro (meeting of the village) on Monday the village decided to help me put together a small group to start working on editing the proposal, taking measurements, and getting a quotation for the footpaths. I just hope after we get the money the youth are willing to build them. I guess I should not stress until the time comes. I also announced “THE BURE THEATER”. I now have a movie theater in my house on Wednesdays for the youth, Fridays for the kids, and Sundays for the women. It has been a hit even before I was able to announce it. The first night with the kids I had 9, the first night with the women I had 6 (and served hot chocolate and popcorn), and I have a feeling tomorrow youth night will be huge! The village seems to love the idea! I also announced that IHRDP (Integrated Human Resource Development Program) will be coming March 17! This is a big day for me as they are coming to assess the interest of Virgin Coconut Oil production in the village. I am really excited and hoping that all goes well! 
Dogo
Not a lot happened this week, I blame it on no electricity… if you were here you would understand. So hot, no ipod music, no movies, no blog writing (computer dead), no cell phone (dead). Thank goodness for my dependable gas tank to cook or else I would really be stuck in a hard place. So, this week we will have story time through pictures. This picture is two of my sisters and our cousin. They were flicking their fingers in the sky and telling me that the elders do this to make the rain go away. I tell you what, Fijians are sooo superstitious. Random flowers around the village. Crab Claw (plant) covered in ants Beautiful, and it grows on a weed! Lots of mangoes survived Hurricane Mick! Kindergarten! Two different days this week. There have been a lot of kids out of the village for various reasons so it is a little bare. This year there is a solid 12 students. They have never seen or heard of a train and we were reading a Sesame Street book about Elmo riding the Subway in New York. So, I taught them the sound of the train and then we formed a train and choo chooed our way around! Two different days of the boys playing rugby at low tide. The women had been fishing on our restricted reef. Apparently, after one person breaks the rule without punishment, everyone thinks they can. So, our “off limits” reef is now overfished within one week. Done fishin' The women coming in from fishing the off limits reef. Oh Mogli! My village! If you love me you will send me some chocolate/candy/cookies/sugary treats! P.O. Box 338 Rakiraki, Fiji Pacific Islands 
I thought I would add some pictures of the nasty “Fijian grape” thingies with glue that we tried in the market in Suva.
Saturday, February 13, 2010 Caught an early bus back to Rakiraki. When I checked the mail I found a slip for another package from Mom! Yay! I ended up making it back to the village around sunset so other than unpacking and dinner I didn’t have time for much. Sunday, February 14, 2010 The first time ever for me to try fresh passionfruit! The first time I tried the flavor was in Fiji’s passionfruit ice cream of which I thoroughly enjoy! Today I walked to one of the settlements and one of the boys handed me a round yellow fruit a little larger than a golf ball. I took a bite out of each end and spit it out then devoured the rest of the fruit. It was sooo delicious! Today, Sigatabu (everything prohibited), I decided to have a spiritual cleansing at a nearby reef. Technically I am supposed to respect the elders today by going to church service and not playing, singing, drinking, hiking, or really enjoying an entire day out of every week. I have decided that I will respect them by enjoying my day outside of the village. I just cannot sit inside my one bedroom house of sticks an entire day out of every week. It is just too boring and hot for that business. So, anyways, the reef I went to check out required a nice little swim across deep waters infested with upside-down jellyfish. I knew that they were not the stinging kind, but it was still eerie. I had someone waiting on the coast for me to help guide me to the reef and make sure I was safe, but being out there alone, even on the reef, was intimidating. After the nice salt bath, I decided it was time for a river cleansing. We headed to their watering hole, ate more passionfruit, and played around. Fiji is so relaxing and awe-inspiring. The trees support huge lingering vines while in the distance tall, angelic palm trees sway in the breeze. The water is crystal clear and drinkable teaming with prawn, fish, and eels. We stayed until it was too cold to bear any longer. The boys’ bilibili arrived shortly after dinner (bele in lolo with tavioka), parking right up into the entrance to the water like a boat ramp at a lake. We boarded our raft and glided back towards the village. The sun was setting, leaving a genuinely enjoyable end to the day. I learned a few things about the Fijians superstitious ways. There are three new ‘things prohibited’ I learned. For one, you are not allowed to whistle at night because it draws demons. Second, you are not supposed to yell in the village, I think because it is rude, but more likely started as a rule because it calls demons. Third, if a baby is sleeping at night you are not supposed to enter the house until you have sat outside for a while, waiting for the bad souls to pass, otherwise they follow you into the house. Hmmm, they seem to have kept the superstitious part of their culture/religion, but allowed Christianity to rule everything else. A little hypocritical, right? Oh, also, owls and snakes are bad omens/evil. Monday, February 15, 2010 I did absolutely nothing today. Read a lot. Laundry. Cramps. Yep, that’s about it. The men had their ‘work’ day today where they go around the village cutting grass, trees, fixing things, etc. They worked their butts off all day and the women cooked them lunch in the community hall. Personally I think the village is coming together nicely. Tuesday, February 16, 2010 Well, February is half over and I don’t remember February 1st ever happening. Time is flying by! First thing this morning I raked up all of the grass the men cut around my house yesterday. Since our meeting last Monday it seems as if the village is much more organized and willing to work. I did all of my laundry from Suva last week and around noon I passed a couple scraping coconuts to make Class B coconut oil. I caught them just in time and asked if they wanted to use their coconuts to make virgin coconut oil. Soon enough I was teaching them the process and explaining to them why you can’t use certain coconuts and why you add hot and cold water, etc. They were very receptive and excited to be learning! The layers will separate while they are sleeping tonight and I will show them the next few steps tomorrow! We also had a women’s club meeting from about 5:30 – 7:30. We decided on prices to charge for sewing a sulu jaba or men’s shirt, where the money had been spent from the club’s funds, who was going to take over the committee, and how we are going to fundraise the next event. It turns out we will be joining with Luisa’s village for a two-village women’s fundraiser (ruarua na koro, soli ni marama). When my turn came around I said that I was going to quit giving the women’s club my money if it was going to used to buy kava, cigarettes, or food. My money is being given to help the women make a living such as sewing, virgin coconut oil, chicken coop, dishes for the community hall, or any other purpose that I believe in. When I am asked to give money towards buying a new pot I am more than happy, but not if some of my money will be spent on a drug. Then, I taught them all how to brush their teeth with a new Colgate teaching aid! At went down with a huge applause, probably because they were getting free toothbrushes and toothpaste and I pulled out a prop of large teeth. It was a hoot! Next we discussed the virgin coconut oil again and they were all interested in my namesake and I teaching them before IHRDP brought Lua out. They are all anxious to know the process and decide if they are willing to do it full time. As soon as we start making profits, they will all be in! Let’s just keep the ball rolling. Apo helping his mom make brooms. Finally, the sun went down and I watched a few episodes of Glee. At first I was skeptical, but really, the tv show is quite entertaining. The acting could be a little more realistic, but the performances are interesting enough. Wednesday, February 17, 2010 I got a lot accomplished today! We continued with the virgin coconut oil training, separating, filtering, and sunning today. Almost done with the process! One more day of sunning and one more filter and we have pure virgin coconut oil! There was a great turnout of women who wanted to learn too. We were going to separate at 10 AM this morning and there were 5 women there ready to learn. Instead we separated at noon, with a turnout of 8 women! Then, as I am cleaning my dishes, my Na asks if she can start her own batch! We will start that tomorrow after town. After the enthusiasm and interest from the women today I was inclined to draw a new step-by-step masterpiece of how to make the VCO. It is beautiful if I might so say myself. I added the new things my namesake had learned from the business owner in Nausori, so we should have a pretty good system going as soon as we have all of the supplies needed. The women learning how to separate the layers and filter. I also continued on with my Colgate lesson on ‘How to Care for Your Teeth”. The women are especially interested because there is a free toothbrush and toothpaste at the end of the talk. I am already out of toothbrushes and am going to have to get more from Suva. A success story! I have found the way to get women to come to meetings or workshops – FREE GIFTS! I used to go to those sales pitches just for the free dinner and possibility of a free MP3 player, I don’t blame them at all. Anyways, had visitors, went around the village and visited with others, played with my baby (Ulamila), did lots of dishes and helped out in the kindergarten. Busy day. I learned that the more I do each day, the happier I am and the more successful I feel. Hopefully it will cool off soon and the small chores I do each day won’t wear me out to the point of exhaustion. I also got some REALLY GOOD NEWS! My sister and my mom are coming to see me in May! I could not ask for anything else for my birthday! I am soooo excited and ready to make once-in-their lifetime plans! Oh yay! The boy! 
Thursday, February 4, 2010
This morning I had to decide which boat to take… the regular Thursday boat that stops at every village, or my Ta’s boat which was overloaded and small. I decided on the regular boat, My Tata Mai Moli’s colorful, wooden boat so that I could lay down on the bow. I was in no hurry, but the decision turned out to be a stinky one. I got stuck sitting right next to two goats. One was small and one was quite large. I was told the Indian’s buy the small ones for the sweet tasting oil and they buy the large ones for the meat. Halfway to the dock Humpty Dumpty decides to fall, well, jump. It is all slow motion until Leone jumps up to drag the goat back onto the boat and I move back out of the dangerous horns’ way. It takes two more people to help Leone pull the goat back onto the bow. The rest of the trip Mr. Humpty Dumpty was tied down to the boat by his legs and neck so that he didn’t pull that little trick again. They were both forced to sit or lay in their own urine and feces. I on the other hand just tried to avoid the feces. I do not get away from the goats there. Once we pull load into the carrier I am told to switch to the bigger carrier. I get in first, forcing me to scoot down next to the poor goats again. Oh well, they were sold in town for a pretty penny. The highlight of today, well for one, I got my pictures from September that I could not retrieve off of my memory stick, and for two tomorrow is Lisa’s birthday so we had cake and ice cream after lunch. What a treat! The rest of town was normal. When we reached the village ( I didn’t want to = Au bese) get off the boat. So, I rode along to the settlements past my village and got to study the tide pools full of crabs, fish, snails, and a weird fire worm looking creature that may have been a mantis shrimp. All I know is it looked like a centipede that lives under rocks in salt water. Back in the village did a whole lot of nothing. Friday, February 5, 2010 Slept until 10 or so then went to help in the kindergarten. After kindy I enjoyed a nice dip in the watering hole with Mogli (my cat). She followed me over half way and then started getting spooked and was jumping from tree to tree with lightening speed. I eventually picked her up and carried her down to the river so that she would not run off into the woods. As I swam she walked back and forth along the pool’s edge, talking to me and studying the fish in the water. After a while we headed back, with her chasing after my heels the entire walk home. She is such a cutie! On the way back I passed a few of the boys cutting wood with the biggest chain saw ever. They are making their own posts for a new house in one of the settlements! Back in the village I took a couple of showers to escape the heat, read a little, worked on my Fijian dictionary, and wrote Megan a letter. I hope she is doing all right over there in Peru. Tomorrow I will be going to town because my sink will not turn off and I think I need to replace a black, rubber seal. Saturday, February 6, 2010 It is very rainy today. Just maybe the rain season is a little late. I was not sure if the boat would be going, but sure enough, around 9 o’clock, Pio came down to ask if I was going to town. By this time I had decided to stay cooped up in the house enjoying my bed in the rainy weather. I did not leave my bed except to cook pancakes until 2 PM. Then I was up and active pulling weeds, doing laundry, took a few showers, same ole, same ole. Sunday, February 7, 2010 I fell asleep at like 6:30 last night! What is my deal? I got up at 6:00 AM and walked around the peninsula to sit on the beach and watch the sunrise. It was breathtaking. The weather was actually slightly breezy, the birds were softly chirping, and there was rain in the distance hinting at a small drizzle coming my way. Do you see my seaturtle shaped by the waves on the limb of a delapitated tree? After the photo shoot I ran into two different Bubus (elderly). They had so much spunk this morning. Hugging me, laughing, telling stories about their children. The Bubus are extremely entertaining and kind. I have not come across one person over the age of 70 that I didn’t just fall in love with. One of the Bubus. He was quite giddy! Crazy looking flowers. I also crossed paths with one of my sisters and her children. They were collecting oranges for breakfast. My sister found out that I had taken a picture of her three year old son and begged me to print it for her as he had not had his picture taken since he was an infant! Back at the house I had several visitors, did all of my laundry, watched my little brother (Suli) and his friends use sticks to brush cut the village, sounds and all, and ate rice, the only food left in my cabinet. Kids heading to church. The Gentleman of the Village (Turaganikoro) came over and we planned everything that needs to be discussed at the big meeting (bosevakoro) tomorrow. We will be re-voting for the Turaganikoro as well as picking committees. It is truly a big deal and will hopefully organize the village into working committees for the rest of my stay. We will have a women’s group, working committee (footpaths and generator), youth committee, health committee, water committee, village committee, development committee, and who knows what else. “Committee” is my “shrimp” of Forrest Gump. Finally it was bed time. A friend came over and gave me an amazing massage until I passed out cold. Monday, February 8, 2010 We had our BIG bose today, and I wish I didn’t stay in the village for it. I was needing a replacement for the kindergarten committee, a footpath committee, we were voting on Turaganikoro, as well as changing out our village committee. Everything would have gone the same way whether I was present or not. I told them about the enrollment and term fees for the kindergarten and the news on the Virgin Coconut Oil, but as far as progress goes maybe the new staff will be more productive and organized. It looks like I just have to wait and see. Bosevakoro The meeting started at 3:00 today, but was supposed to start at 2:00. So from 2 until 7 I sat in the community hall drawing, taking notes, trying to figure out what was being said in Fijian, and trying to figure out what information they wanted me to reveal. It seemed like every angle I hit they were rushing me along. Honestly, I would have loved to have rushed their hour long conversation about a village fundraising event. I swear it took about 45 minutes to pick a day and another 45 to decide how to allocate the proceeds. Apparently what I feel is important and progressive is a little different than the Fijian’s idea. Thank goodness I was not PMSing this time. So, the bose took up the entire day. Other than that I showered and tried to scrounge up some food to eat. Since I was planning on leaving Saturday I did not buy any food in town on Thursday. It’s been extremely tough eating rice for most of my meals. I leave for Suva tomorrow morning! Tuesday, February 9, 2010 Early morning off to SUVA! Beautiful boat ride, bus ride, and arrival in Suva. The weather is cooling down a bit because of the tropical depression coming our way. Upon arriving in Suva I checked into the hotel, went to the market to buy fruit for some friends’ mom, and went to their house to pay a little visit. All went smoothly and I was back at the hotel will all of the Peace Corps Volunteers making food for Mexican night! We cherish to times we get together because of the food! Well, a side benefit is the company… JK. The conversations were good and the games even better. Good times with Peace Corps. Mexican Night! Wednesday, February 10, 2010 Training starts! I got up at 6:00 to walk around Suva but as I walked outside it was pitch black. All I knew was that I did not get up so early for nothing, but the dark streets were laden with trouble. So, I went down to the bus stop and hopped on a bus that goes in circles around Suva and enjoyed a tour of the city at sunrise. Honestly it was extremely calming and enjoyable. If I lived in Suva it would be one of my coping strategies for 70 cents a pop. Soon enough my counterpart for the training was on her way in from Nausori. I met her at the bus stop and we headed on it to the training conference: Alternative Livelihoods by John C. and Leslie. The training is going very well with so far no complaints. We did a skit, played a game, and learned a lot about preparing a business plan. After training a little pool time, then Pizza Hut! I swear the Pizza Hut pizza in Fiji is way better than in America. It is so fresh, crispy, and perfect! Maybe I have lowered my standards a bit, but definitely a nice treat! Thursday, February 11, 2010 More training, this time, financial training. Several people are a little frustrated with the charts and math, but honestly it is quite a simple example. My counterpart (my namesake) is loving all of the information because John and Leslie are speaking about beekeeping, her ‘other’ business. She is getting lots of facts and figures while learning how to calculate the information. Score! Since we had already written a lot of the business plan we were able to edit a lot of the information and prepare a final “Business Plan for Village Level Virgin Coconut Oil Producing Enterprise”. We also somewhat named the company “Virgin Niu”. Virgin because it is virgin coconut oil, and the ‘niu’ means coconut in Fijian. I thought it was a cute and somewhat mysterious name. We will see what happens with it in the future. Throughout all of the financial training, VCO proved to be the most profitable, making at least 11.70 F$ per hour and up to 27.76 F$ per hour. An extremely high hourly rate for Fiji! An average hourly rate is 2.50 – 3.00 F$ per hour. After training my namesake and I went around town with her husband and baby. We visited the park, shopped a little, and then it was time for her family to head home. She and I continued to walk around Suva as she taught me what Suva used to be (well, maybe 10 years ago). We stopped at the market in front of some odd looking green balls. The seller preceded to tell me they were Fijian grapes. Sceptical I wanted to try one. As I bit into it my lips burned like a really sour candy and my mouth transformed into a goey mess. The inside of this "Fijian grape" was a nasty glue substance. Ok, note to self, if other people are not eating it, don't try it. We checked out menus at all sorts of restaurants we had never been in (even a restaurant on a boat in the bay!) and goofed around. She is so much fun! I really enjoyed the time we spent together this afternoon! Some of our entertainment along the seawall. Eventually it got dark so we headed back to the hotel and went to a volunteer’s room for a mini party, with lots of chocolate! The aftermath of purchasing beer and chocolate. Friday, February 12, 2010 More training, today it was short and sweet, about Benchmarking, Bookkeeping, and a ledger activity, then certificates and we were free. Final last moments. My namesake and I went shopping for the items on the cash expenses list in our business plan. We got a better idea of what it would cost to start our business and keep it going. Then we ran several errands, stopping by the IHRDP office, post office, pharmacy, Fiji Times, and others. Eventually it came time for her to head back to Nausori to see her family. I stayed in town running more errands in the torrential downpour. I hopped on a bus, went to Cost-U-Less, spent lots of money, then met up with John and Judy for dinner at my favorite restaurant “Hook and Chook”! I got the Fish Burger and it was to die for! Afterwards, we stopped by MHCC and got two huge pieces of cake and gouged ourselves in chocolate! Mmmmm.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Kindergarten did start today! There were even several children who already had their uniforms! Adorable! Most of today I read through the “Choices” information and pulled together a few ideas for conducting the workshop. Also packed for Volivoli this weekend! Thursday, January 28, 2010 Town! It was quite a relaxed town day as I did not have a lot of things to get done. I talked to my sister, her boyfriend, my Bestie, my mom, and sent a few texts to my adopted mom, Teresa. Good times on the internet. At lunch two volunteers were missing, but overall good conversations about how to improve Peace Corps’ Site Development program. Lots of good advice, but in the end, we decided that every site and every volunteer are different, so none of our advice would be adequate for every village. They do a pretty good job as it is, but could try a few of our ideas to match communities with volunteers. Anyways, upon arriving at John and Judy’s estate we rested a bit and got started on the final groundwork for “Choices”. A short overview: This program is designed to teach the students the importance of staying in school. It consists of two 1.5 hour sessions to classes 7 and 8 in Fiji. The program teaches students the following: • Factors influencing who we are • School decisions and career consequences • How their decisions today affect future opportunities The seminar is designed to stress the importance of education, allowing students to make a prudent choice to continue their education while still in their youth. Similar programs overseas have proven to reduce student dropout rates. We are really hoping for a high success rate and eventually put together kits for other Peace Corps volunteers and the Ministry of Education to use in the future. There is probably a lot of tweaking to be done, but in the end we will have a solid workshop with laminated posters and prizes for the kids! I am pretty excited about changing Fiji’s educational future! Just helping one child to open his/her eyes to the importance of education will make it all worth it. Before dinner we fit in time to fix the bridge on my guitar. I finally received my Christmas present from Mom which included lots of yarn because I want to make the pregnant ladies in the village a baby blanket and a How to Play the Guitar starter book. Two new hobbies! John is so helpful and knowledgeable in woodwork that he knew exactly what to do and had all of the tools to do it! There is no one else in Fiji that does the kind of woodwork that he does, so I know the best person around for helping with this kind of problem! Thank you John! After sanding and re-gluing we set it aside for 24 hours to dry. Time to eat pasta! Dinner, mmmmm, desert, dark chocolate covered cranberries from America! Mmmm mmmm! They went to bed since Judy had just gotten back from America and John had worked all day with beekeepers and the government! I laid in bed and watched “The Proposal”, laughing my head off. I also got to use their Bose headphones. Oh my goodness, Bose really knows what they are doing. It was like I was in a personal theatre. Anyhow, if you have not seen “The Proposal” I highly recommend it! Friday, January 29, 2010 I got to go diving for the first time in Fiji!!! Although, I am nervous that I got to see the best of the best and from now on I am going to be spoiled. I went out to Vatu-I-Ra with Ra Divers out of Volivoli Beach Resort and the views were spectacular. Vatu-I-Ra is a bird sanctuary owned by the village next to mine. Ra Divers has to ask my family for permission to dive at their island. I have been wanting to snorkel out there since arriving at site. The only time Ra Divers ever goes out there is if they have a big group wanting to go on three dives. So it worked out for me that I got to go and just do two dives! I saw one baby sea turtle, one nudibranch, and one lionfish. So, it wasn’t really eventful, but absolutely beautiful! It took me a while to get back into the swing of diving. My first dive was quite scary because I did not have enough weight on, my borrowed mask didn’t fit my face well enough so it was leaking, and then the current was extremely strong at the surface. The second dive was a drift dive towards a huge coral head. It was so neat! I didn’t have to move my fins or even turn direction, the current just pushed us right along like the turtles in the East Australian Current in Finding Nemo. Anyways, I was on the boat from 8:15 AM until 4:00 PM and had a wonderful time, besides the nice, red sunburn line along my upper thighs, where the ‘sun don’t shine’. I bought a 10 tank dive package so I will be going again soon. Only problem this trip, I did not have any of my gear, including my camera, so next time there will be pictures. After reaching John and Judy’s house we rested a bit, worked on “Choices”, had corn fritters and leftovers, then watched Pixar’s “Up”. Can’t say it was my favorite cartoon or computer enhanced children’s movie ever. I still need to watch the last 18 minutes. Lol. Saturday, January 30, 2010 Built a bookshelf! John built the kindergarten a bookshelf about two months ago and ever since then I have been using it in my bure. I refuse to give it up to the kindergarten until I have one of my own! (Lol, no really, I have been waiting on the kindergarten to start up again.) First, we took 12 feet of dakua (maybe, not sure what kind of wood) and cut them into the shelves and sides. Then we moved the circular saw to cut just halfway into the wood to make rivets for the shelves. Next, we sanded all of the pieces and rounded the edges with a “belt-sander wanna-a-be” and put holes into the ends with a “hole-maker”. Eventually it was time for assembly and glue. We spread the glue, pieced it together and hammered in the nails. Finally, we attached the ply board backing and painted a lacquer finish. He is going to do the second layer for me and bring it to me on Thursday! Isn’t he so helpful and sweet? All of that sounds so simple, but in 90 degree heat plus humidity it was hard labor that deserves more than 2.50 F$ (1.25 USD) an hour, the most common pay per hour for labor in Fiji. Whew! Crazy huh!? After making the bookshelf, I stringed my guitar, took a shower, and head to town with John. We had lunch, shopped for groceries, then we parted ways and I boarded a carrier and a boat, arriving back in my village around 7 PM. Just before dark. Oh, another thing that I am really excited about, that no one in America cares about. I found some processed cheddar cheese made by Kraft that might last me a week or so! It tastes a lot like White America, which is my favorite! So for dinner tonight I made a grilled cheese sandwich with fresh basil leaves and sautéed onions. It was absolutely delicious! Sorry, I must brag about the few comfort foods I get here in Fiji! After dinner I watched Kate and Leopold with a few neighbors. Sunday, January 31, 2010 Slept in until 9 AM! It was wonderful! Except for the fact that I was in a deep sleep and Sio came yelling at my door for me to wake up. He and I talked for quite a while about random village stuff and virgin coconut oil. He is going to talk to IHRDP tomorrow in Suva. He also informed me that he is taking my best friend in the village, Marica, to Nausori to help raise a newborn. She never told me! She didn’t even say bye, just disappeared. I was told later that this is because she didn’t want tears or a tough goodbye. I understand. I will see her soon enough in Nausori! Today, I tried to learn how to crochet. I screwed it up and decided to make an anklet and a bracelet out of the crazy knotted line. I think I will just go to training next week and beg the Peace Corps volunteer that inspired me to start crocheting to teach me. She would be more than delighted I’m sure! Other than that I started to watch a movie with one of the men in the village and he passed out within the first 5 minutes. So I woke him up, kicked him out, and decided to shut my doors and wear less clothing. It is soooo hot! The rest of the day consisted of napping, reading, and visiting with youth. Monday, February 1, 2010 A NEW MONTH! I cannot believe January is already gone! I feel like I accomplished a lot in one month, especially for the village to be pretty much shut down. Still waiting on that big community meeting though. I feel like it is hurting our entire village. The committees are nonexistent and no one is really leading any work. Apparently we have to keep waiting on the chief to call the meeting… Today I tried crocheting again. A little more success, but I must be doing it too tightly because it is quite difficult for me to find the next hole and push the needle through. Practice makes perfect. A good repeat of yesterday. Tuesday, February 2, 2010 Today I went up to the valenisoqo after kindergarten and helped Sisi rearrange the kindergarten things. We carried up the bookshelf that John had made for the kindy and we just talked for a good two hours. Eventually I headed back down, made lunch, wrote a letter, and read a book until John showed up in his “bright blue star spangled banner” kayak. He had caught a HUGE salmon cod (In Fijian a donu). It was beautiful and one of the biggest ones he had ever caught! Fish for dinner! After frying up the fish filets we doused them in teriyaki sauce, a team effort. We ate, then I made us some Bananas Foster. Good meal with almost no cost! Then it was movie time. I made him watch half of a girlie movie, “The Proposal”, since I like it so much. I think there is something wrong with my transformer. Whenever I have my computer on and charging the screen flashes white. I am a little nervous that the generator has screwed something up. Maybe I should try to charge it in town from now on… Anyways, we had good conversation, and eventually fell asleep. Wednesday, February 3, 2010 My famous pancakes for breakfast, a search for Mogli, then John was off into the blue. As he was leaving I gave his kayak a little push and immediately he acted like he was rolling over into the water. I freaked out thinking I made him fall over in the kayak. He was just playing games for attention. My heart seriously skipped a beat thinking I might have hurt him by pushing his boat out for him. Whew. Finally he laughed and did a few more tricks. Whatever John. As John was leaving Naleba came over. Pretty soon we were changing clothes to head up to the waterfall and natural pools. During our hike up he pointed out a spot where when he was young him and all of the kids his age had a dock for their bilibilbi. They would start at the ocean’s edge and at high tide would race up the river to this spot (standing on their bilibili and pushing along with a stick). The last person to reach the dock would be the policeman and all the children up ahead would be the robbers. They would run through the bush to the large pool of water and jump in to get away from the policeman. After playing for a while in the pool, they would all run back, hop on their bilibili, and race towards the sea. Again, the last person to push off on their bilibili would be the policeman and all the children in front of him would be the robbers, with the policeman trying to push the robbers off their raft. Lol. Sounds like a lot of fun! We continued along the river, climbing boulders, fighting off sticky spider webs, and balancing on slippery, wet rocks. As we neared the big waterfall he picked up six rocks. He gives me three and he keeps three. He said that the first person to reach a watering hole should throw the rocks in as a sign of good luck. Sort of like a prayer or wish, a lot like what we do when we throw money into a fountain. I have never been with a Fijian who has done this and so he explained that it is an old tradition not really practiced anymore. It was fun to do anyways. After playing in the falls and natural pools we hiked back down on the trail, passing different people from the village doing different work. A few were napping, one going up to the settlement on the mountain, several playing in the big watering hole at the bottom of the river, and some collecting coconuts. It was such a beautiful day with a good breeze and soft rain showers. And guess what, tomorrow is TOWN! Yes, ice cream! 
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Well, the kindergarten was supposed to start today, but most parents were taking their kindergarten age children with them to the primary and secondary schools to drop off their older children. So, maybe tomorrow. Honestly, we would have a must better success rate if we just started a fresh week, on Monday next week because the parents have to pay dues per week and we have not organized a opening ceremony with the vakatawa (priest). As soon as I found out kindergarten was not starting today I hopped on the boat with my family to go to town. Ta was taking all of the primary age kids to school along with their parents then heading to town because my little brother is sick. When we got into town I blogged, bought some veggies, and picked up my Christmas present from Mom! Thank you Mom! It is everything I wished for and more! The Christmas tree Little Debbies definitely did not last long. I ate 3 out of 4 today! Mmmm mmmmm. It turned out that the private doctor was not open and for some reason Na would not take him to the public doctor (for free). Who knows. After waiting around town for hours, Ta finally showed back up from a nearby town where he sold 120 sasa brooms to an Indian man. I try to tell him that he is selling them for too little, just 2 F$, when the Indian men take them to Lautoka and Suva and sell them for 4 F$, doubling their money. First Ta spends 1 F$ on the coconut leaves for one broom, then spends money on inner tubes, nails, and his own labor, plus money on gas for the boat, then transportation to get the brooms to the town past Rakiraki, and finally sells them at 2 F$ each. I have not figured out the math yet, but honestly, he cannot be making a profit worth all of the trouble. Also, cutting down the coconut leaves is reducing the amount of coconuts per tree, putting a damper on the virgin coconut oil business that will be coming in March. One thing after another. Bottom of my village. When we finally left the boat dock we headed to the primary school. I realized as soon as we got there that Na and Ta each had a meeting. Oh my goodness. The women’s meeting was over pretty quickly, but the men’s meeting is never over quickly. After about an hour I went to sit on the boat and take a nap. I didn’t sit there too long before some of the kids came over to talk. After they left I ate some dried fruit and frosted flakes. First thing I have eaten since breakfast and it was going on 6:00 PM. Finally, around 8:00 PM Na, Ta, and the other villagers came out to the boat to head back to the village. At home I made a vegetable salad and watch half of “The Kite Runner”. Moce mada. The kids watching Ice Age. Wednesday, January 27, 2010 Well, I guess kindergarten is not starting today either. Either that or the teacher just did not come by my house this morning before heading up. I think the decision was made yesterday to start on Monday, I just wasn’t around to hear the news. No problem, I need to work on the “Choices” program anyways. 
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Town – everyone came to town today! John is back from America and Lisa had a visitor from America and Joe showed up! It was great. I also got to talk to my sis and her bf on Skype again! Thanks sis for making such an extraordinary effort! After lunch John and I discussed a program called “Choices” presented to low-income schools in America. We are going to tweak the program a bit and conduct workshops with class 7 and 8 here in Fiji. It is a program that strives to teach young adults about why they should stay in school and get a higher education and how many more opportunities they will receive with a high school diploma or university. We are planning to launch in early March and IHRDP already said they would help fund the program! Yay! Things are coming together! Friday, January 15, 2010 Tomorrow I am going to Suva! Yes! Marica came to my house this afternoon to see if I wanted to do something. Of course! I have been pretty bored lately! So, we decided to walk to a settlement. It was low tide so we walked along the beach. I was remembering these crabs that we saw when I came for my site visit in July and I have not seen them since I have been living in the village. They were a little smaller than a fist and when they pulled in their claws they looked like a perfectly camouflaged rock. No one eats them so maybe they are a seasonal animal and they will come around again in May or so??? I am pretty devastated about it because they were the neatest little buggers. At the settlement we visited the boys who are busy building a new house. Only two out of seven were working, so we headed over to visit Sisi, the kindergarten teacher. She was so rambunctious today! She was running around laughing like she had a new love in her life. She had just cooked some dhal soup and fried up some fish and invited us for lunch. Oh my goodness. Some people can really cook! She made dhal soup, but added pumpkin, pumpkin leaves, eggplant, tomatoes, and some amazing natural herbs. She also had breadfruit and cassava prepared. It was an amazing lunch out in the middle of remote island Fiji. What a good life! After returning back to the house I cleaned up, packed my bags, ate some hashbrowns and an apple with peanut butter and raisins (thought of my sis), and headed to bed. Saturday, January 16, 2010 Suva here I come! Hopped on the boat at 7:15 AM, got dropped off at the road, and caught the brand new “charter” bus to Suva! I had an entire three seater to myself! It was heaven! The weather was perfect, I had a new National Geographic to read, and I was on my way to a hamburger! Boat dock in Suva Upon arrival in Suva I ran several errands including getting a poster laminated for my bure. It is a really neat poster that has different trash items shaped like sea creatures and describes why the trash is harmful to the animals and how long it takes for the trash to decompose. I love it! I also found a really cute sulu at the flea market for 5 F$! Good purchase! Suva market... Mom you would LOVE it! After shopping I asked my counterpart who is going with me to training this week if I could come to his house and meet his family. Of course they would love to have me! Who wouldn’t… lol. He came into the city to pick me up (by bus) and we headed over to his house. I had brought his mom a bouquet of flowers, the American way, but what I missed was the Fijian tradition of bringing yaqona. Ooops. My issue with yaqona is that I don’t drink it, it tastes like dirt, the Fijians spend way too much time and money sitting around drinking just to get tired, it causes them to smoke more, and it keeps me up at night until four in the morning when they are singing at the top of their lungs in the village. Although, I was definitely in the wrong by not bringing any to a house that I had never visited. I just thought, because the house was in the city they go by city rules. I was wrong, but it turned out not to be a big deal. They had plenty to last from 5 PM to 2 AM. Of course I ended up sitting there almost the entire time just trying to figure out what they were saying in Fijian and avoiding the smoke if at all possible. I played cards, watched a Philipino soap opera, and spoke to one of his brothers about registering the village and what ancient laws still stand based on traditional tribal lands. He had documentation printed from a book written in 1869 by an English man. I am assuming Fiji did not know how to read or write in these times and so an Englishman had to write their laws for them. Almost every Fijian word was spelled wrong. Lol. I also walked with one of the cousins over to the University of the South Pacific and we got ice cream at McDonalds. Overall good visit, but it made me miss my family! Sunday, January 17, 2010 A Fijian hair salon. I ended up staying the night. In the morning I went for a walk with two of the brothers around the neighborhood. In Fiji there is low income government house right up next to Fijian level mansions and then you walk into a village, with nothing separating these areas. It was so bizarre to see women and children running around dirty, to others getting in their nice SUVs and leaving their gated home, to the “ghetto” where boys are seen playing touch rugby in the middle of the compound. I am glad I explored the neighborhood. When we got back to the house I realized it was really close to time for Avatar in 3D to start at the movie theater so I invited my counterpart to go to see it with me. We both felt really silly wearing the glasses, but the movie was probably a better experience in 3D than regular, so I am glad we got to go! It really reminded me of one of my favorite cartoon movies as a child, “Fern Gully”. The only thing missing was Batty. I am almost positive they got the idea for Avatar. After the movie we got pizza from Pizza Hut! It was his first time to have pizza from a restaurant! Pizza Hut of Fiji is delicious, but that may be because I have lowered my standards a bit. I am really glad I treated him to pizza and a 3D movie! Fun! The gang. Back at his family’s house I took a nap on the porch, then packed up to meet up with the volunteers in Suva. Around dark I arrived at a married couple’s house where we relaxed and told stories reliving our past few months. I love catching up! Everyone is doing well and really enjoying Fiji as far as I can tell. We still have 4 months before the newbies get here, but we are really looking forward to the new group! Although, sad that certain people from the group before us will be leaving in July. Monday, January 18, 2010 Today was a total work day. I have to get registered to teach (or really just to be in the classroom) through the Fiji government, which involves a very complicated process. I had to do a character check, police clearance, health check, proof of identification, pay processing fees, get passport pictures, have headmasters sign the application and fill out a needs report, as well as turn it into the correct house in Suva. All in all I had great directions from a Peace Corps volunteer so it made the process much smoother than if I had no directions. I also had to speak with Bob and Sai at IHRDP. When I stopped by in the morning they were making final decisions on whether or not they would select my proposal. Within ten minutes they were discussing bringing in the Virgin Coconut Oil trainer to set up a week for her to visit the village. Later in the afternoon I met back up with them and the trainer and we decided on a time frame and an execution plan. It is really going to happen!!! They are going to assist in getting machines, VCO training process, business technicalities, supplies, labels, and the market. I really hope everything comes together the way they have described it to me. I am so excited and cannot wait to bring the message back to the village! In the evening I met up with most of the Suva volunteers and others in town for a beer at Mad Dogs. It was more catching up time as most of the “others” were from Vanua Levu and I had not seen them since moving to site in July. Several of us ended up eating dinner together at Maya Daba, the best Northern Indian food around. I mean, I do not like Indian food, but I can never pass up a meal at this place! Mmmm. After dinner we split and went back to our hosts’ houses. Tuesday, January 19, 2010 Today I finished up my teacher registration forms, got work done in the Peace Corps office, and headed to the only museum in Fiji. I really enjoy being counted as a local in Fiji. The entrance fee was only 2.20 F$. After touring all of the old canoes and bamboo rafts I headed into the ice cold gift shop. Soon the doors opened up into a nice museum of old artifacts and detailed descriptions of Fijian history. I would like to list a few of the things that I found to be of importance: The traditional use of yaqona and the arrival of the grog bowl into Fiji The arrival of tobacco in Fiji, although, they may have been smoking Fijian tobacco before the Europeans brought it in the 1850s. This is a killing stone from Namosi. It was used to kill victims captured from war. The victim’s head would be put on top of the stone then bashed with a club, mashing the skull and often decapitating the victim. I taube lubeniwai – A necklace made from whale’s teeth, stained with kura scrapings and lime. Enemies or commoners were thrown alive into holes dug for house posts as part of an old belief to strengthen and uphold the foundation of the house. This necklace was hung on a house post to keep the human sacrifice quiet. There are three prominent religions in the Indian culture here in Fiji: Islam Muslims believe that Muhammed was the last in a line of prophets beginning with Adam and including Moses and Jesus. Prophet Muhammed brought the message of God to the people in a pure and uncorrupted form. This message was revealed in the form of the Holy Quran and is supported by the Hadith, which are the records describing Prophet Muhammed’s actions and words, thereby providing guidance for a purposeful life for all followers. The three fundamental Islamic beliefs are in Tawhid, the oneness of Allah; Risalah, prophethood; Akhirah, life after death. The basis of Islam is total obedience to God. There are five pillars of Islam: Shahada – the profession of faith and belief in the oneness of God or Allah and the prophethood of Muhammed Salat – the prescribed daily prayers Zakat – welfare contribution to the needy Sawm – fasting during the Islamic month of Ramadan Haki – the pilgrimage to Mecca Islam Celebrations For Muslims, the most importance time of year is Ramadan, a 30 day dawn-to-dusk fast. It was during this month that the prophet Muhammed received his revelation from Allah. Ramadan starts around December or January. Id-ul-fitr celebrates the end of Ramadan. Special dishes are prepared and alms are given to the poor and presents to the children. Id-ul-adha commemorates the devotion of Prophet Abraham. Sacrificial meat is shared among the relative, neighbors and poor. Milad-un-nabi commemorates the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammed. Islam in Fiji The indenture system brought many Muslims from India to work in Fiji. The early immigrants joined together to preserve their religious interest and welfare and formed the Muslin League in 1926 as a national umbrella organization for Muslim interests and the various Muslim groups. Hindu The Hindu religion originated in the Indus Valley 2500-1800 BC. Life is perceived as a cycle of life, death, and rebirth – samsara, in which all deeds were repaid in kind karma. The four main aims of life are: dharma – right living leading to religious merit and higher rebirth artha – wealth acquired in an honest way kama – satisfying legitimate desires moksha – liberation from the cycle of rebirth through merging with the Brahman (supreme soul) Hindus pray at home inviting pundit (priests) to conduct puja (religious rites) for them. The Hindu religion is polytheistic, a belief in many deities. The gods Vishnu and Shiva are of particular importance. Vishnu took human form to enlighten civilization during times of moral decline. The most important of the incarnations are Rama and Krishna, about whom the great literary epics Ramayana and Mahabharata were written. Hindu Celebrations Navratri occurs every six months and is celebrated for nine days and nights. Diwali, the festival of lights, is an end of the year celebration during which prayers are offered to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. While the festival signifies many things, the most popular describes the return of victorious Rama from killing Ravana. Additionally, all household lamps are lit to celebrate the return of the sun which a water spirit had hidden during the (Indian) rainy season. Diwali, usually in October or November, is a national festival and holiday in Fiji. Holi, held in March, celebrates the exploits of Krishna, with the throwing of water and colored dyes. Janmashtami, the anniversary of Krishna’s birth occurs in August or September. Hinduism in Fiji The caste system in India divides the Hindu society into classes based on hereditary occupations and rank. It has become meaningless in Fiji although many customs and taboos persist, and orthodox is apparent. Many people still prefer to marry within their caste. The religious organization of Arya Samaj (Sanskrit for noble persons) was formed in India in 1875 for the revival of the vedic religion based on the ancient sacred writings of Hinduism. The society was formed in Fiji in 1904 and now all of its thirteen branches come under the Arya Prathinidha Sabha in Fiji. The other major Hindu group in Fiji is the Sanatana Dharma (Sanskrit for Eternal Religion). The Hindu Society was established in 1976 as an affiliation of many different Hindu organizations, including the Arya Samaj and followers of Sanatana Dharma. Sikh Sikhism, an offshoot of Hinduism, is an eclectic monotheistic religion. Sikhs have their own temples, gurdwaras, where they carry out prayer meetings and read their holy book, the Granth Sahib. The Sikh religion was founded by Guru Nankdeva during the period of religious revival in the early 15th century. He emphasized the fundamental truth underlying all religions. The religion is non-sectarian and promotes harmony with secular life. It is a religion that is not based on image worship but bestows ultimate reverence on the sacred book. Sikhism is a conduct-based religion. There were ten gurus who succeeded Guru Nanak, the last being Guru Gobind Singh who introduced a special type of baptism called khalsa after which the appellation of Singh was suffixed to a devotee’s name. To defend the faith, Guru Gobind Singh trained his followers to be brave and courageous. He commanded that they should wear kaccha – breeches, kesa – long hair, carry a kangha – comb, a kirpana – sword, and a kara – steel bracelet. Sikh Celebrations Sighs celebrate Baisakhi, the founding of the Khalsa in April or May. The Granth Sahib is read in its entirety at gurdwaras, followed by a procession and then with feasting and dancing in the evening. Also in April or May, Nanak Jayanti, the birthday of Guru Nanak, is celebrated with prayer readings and processions. All of the above information was taken directly from the museums archives. Please note that it is verbatim. After the museum I found blackboard paint and brown rice, ate the most amazing Kabob King grilled wrap, and met up with the volunteers and my counterpart to head to the Coral Coast. When we got there we set up tables and waited on dinner. After dinner a few of us walked down the beach getting eaten alive my mosquitoes. Wednesday, January 20, 2010 First day of Life Skills training. I was up at 5:00 AM to work out with Melissa, which killed me since I went to bed at midnight. We were supposed to get up at 6:00 AM for a morning walk, but it was raining and people decided to sleep in, so breakfast at 7 and class at 8:30. We opened with a welcome speech, guest speaker, and vote of thanks. Then we were off to learning about the problems in the villages with the youth and communication methods. The day was very interactive and had good information. Fijian counterparts At night we went to The Pearl to hang out on the comfy couches at happy hour. Thursday, January 21, 2010 More training. Several of us actually got up and went on the walk. I found some amazing shells on the beach! We sat for a few minutes and listened to one of the trainers play the guitar then we were back to the camp to have breakfast and start class. A few policemen came today and a woman who discussed drug abuse statistics in Fiji. The policemen were asking us to list all of our issues in the village and I just hope they were not doing it for Intelligence work. Yeah right. Anyways, I learned from the Fijians how the elders expect a lot from the youth, and the youth are never given a break. I have noticed in the village how when I mention something that needs to be done I hear the men say “Tell the youth to do it”. I never put together that everything is left to the youth. Even at yaqona sessions the youth are responsible for mixing the grog, pounding the gorg, bringing water to the drinking location, and sitting in front of the grog bowl distributing it all night. For some reason I though they wanted to do this service, but apparently it is because they have to. Also, the youth were complaining about how the elders have not been teaching them traditional/cultural skills, talents, and knowledge. The elders require them to know it, but are not sharing the information. This is a huge issue that I was not even aware of for the past 6 months. I will always be learning. Lunch Tonight I went to The Pearl again, dragging the Fijian boys with us. They enjoyed their time playing pool and eventually left to visit a nearby village and drink grog. Oh well, we are different cultures with different desires. They stayed out until 2 and 4 in the morning! Wow. Friday, January 22, 2010 Wrapping up training. We discussed problem solving and resources available to youth. It was a pretty short day with a another message from the country director and certificates of completion handed out at the end. For dinner we had a barbeque and I helped several of the Fijian boys ‘man the grill’. At sunset I headed to the beach to enjoy the views, which is when the pictures below were taken. After dinner I headed to The Uprising with the FRE-07s and had a great time hanging out with my Vanua Levu friends that I had not seen in several months. Good times! Saturday, January 23, 2010 Time to head back to the village. I am not excited about going back… I guess because the holidays in the village were so stressful that I expect it to be the same way when I arrive. So I left the Coral Coast around 8 AM, bus to Suva, bought some groceries, then the bus towards Rakiraki. While I was sitting on the bus a young man attending the South Pacific Bible College sat next to me. He was about my age so I started the conversation by the typical question “Where are you going”. It turns out his mother had Ciguatera poisoning and he was going to visit her. She was doing well and was going to survive, no doubt, but he wanted to visit her. Then, we got into the topic of religion. He was telling me about this professor named Charlie that was a “scientist” who preached about why science is never fact and that the Carbon 2 dating we have been using has proven to be false. He was saying something about a new Carbon 3 dating method that has proven many bones, stones, etc. dated tens of thousands of years old are now turning out to be about 1000 years old. I have not read this yet in any newspaper or National Geographic, so I am not so sure where his professor is getting this information. Who knows, it is next to impossible to believe strongly in science and religion. It is almost as if you must pick what is convenient for you to believe in. You could say that evolution really occurs, but that God meant for it to happen, but then where does Adam and Eve come in? Also, what about the hundreds of religions that came before Christianity or even monotheism? Are all of the people before the year of Christ wrong about their deity/deities and went to hell… for 250,000 years? Why would a loving and just God decide to save 2,000 years worth of people and not the 250,000 or so years before? Why does he kill thousands of people in the Bible if “Thou shall not murder” is one of the Ten Commandments? Why does he allow so many people to have many wives if “Thou shall not commit adultery”? I take a quote from Thomas Jefferson himself “I am satisfied, and sufficiently occupied with the things which are, without tormenting or troubling myself about those which may indeed be, but of which I have no evidence.” Also, as Richard Dawkins puts it in his book The God Delusion “Any creative intelligence, of sufficient complexity to design anything, comes into existence only as the end product of an extended process of gradual evolution. Creative intelligences, being evolved, necessarily arrive late in the universe, and therefore cannot be responsible for designing it”. I am not trying to preach to anyone, or question anyone’s religious beliefs, I just have many unanswered questions that leave me staggering in the dark. For now, I will believe in Darwinism until some miracle changes my theory. When I arrived at the boat dock all of the Ra Peace Corps volunteers were there because they had just swam across Viti Levu Bay and had a picnic on the beach! How cool is that. Hopefully I will not miss out the next time they organize it. There were about 10 of us sitting on the beach waiting for a bus, the tide, or their ice cream to melt off the stick. Eventually all waiting ceased and Lydia and I boarded our boat home. On the boat ride Lydia and I had a heart-to-heart and she said she was proud of me for how I have opened up to the culture since arriving in Fiji. I have noticed lots of changes in myself lately and all for the better! Peace Corps’ website and Peace Corps volunteers’ blogs were right when they said you will learn new things about yourself during the two years that you otherwise may not have ever learned. View coming up to my village on the boat. Back in the village I was welcomed home with open arms. Everyone seemed excited to have me back and life became normal and productive again. As soon as I sat down I got started on my trimester report for Peace Corps. I did not get one for the first three months of service so I am about six months behind. The more time I spend on it the more thorough it will be. Sunday, January 24, 2010 They did not drink yaqona last night for the first time since before Christmas. It was so relaxing to go to people’s houses last night and visit without the smoke and yaqona bowl! I am hoping that the last several weeks were the way they were because of the holidays! Nothing today but trimester report, reading, napping, cooking, and entertaining guests. Monday, January 25, 2010 The bugs are awful! I came back from the Coral Coast covered in red mosquito bites and they are still itching, plus flies and no-see-ums everywhere. Oh the hot, wet season. The rain has helped my garden though! My basil plants are about two feet tall and I have cucumber, tomatoes, and long beans growing! It is fun to eat what you grow! Today I sunned my mats, washed dishes and door mats, pulled an ample amount of weeds, and tried to get my bathroom drain unclogged. No success. We were supposed to have that meeting of the year (bose va koro) today, and again, it was not announced, so no meeting. I am getting frustrated because I cannot help or do my work without the enthusiasm or organization of committees. I need to reorganize the kindergarten committee and youth group as well as start a footpath committee. These things are being put off for weeks at a time because the village meeting has not been happening. 
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Something I forgot to mention last blog was the “qiri kava” in Lydia’s village. It turns out around New Years there is a tradition of banging tin drums with sticks up until a week after the New Year. For some reason my village did not participate in this obnoxious, but sometimes melodic form of racket (I can only assume it is because of the funeral on New Years and the 10 days of respect). It is a tradition held by the children and they get such a kick out of making as much noise as they can during the one week that it is not restricted. I admit that Lydia and I had our own little jam session as we belted out an American nursery rhyme. The children were soon all enthralled and insistent about showing us their talents. Here are a few pictures behind the curtain… One of the drummers. The crew. Monday, January 11, 2010 I was really hoping for there to be a meeting this morning, but it turns out there wasn’t enough notice so the village rescheduled for the last Monday of the month. No problem, as long as I can attend it I am content. Since there was not going to be a meeting I spent most of my morning cleaning up the house and watching Mogli eat lizards – four today! I spent my afternoon up at my namesake’s house playing with the baby and baking banana bread. I followed the recipe exactly, but I can’t say I would ever make it again or recommend it to anyone. My namesake’s scones are sooo much better. After lunch time I was so hot there was no way I was walking out into the sun. I stayed inside most of late afternoon reading “Brisinger”, “The Tenth Circle”, and “Marine Conservation Biology”. Tuesday, January 12, 2010 Another day I was supposed to have a breakthrough meeting, this time a women's club meeting, and it didn’t happen. I am getting quit used to disappointments. There are two visitors coming from America that are going to be staying at Sio’s house and they are supposed to walk into the village sometime tomorrow. They work for an NGO for beekeeping in the US. I cannot believe an NGO can send people all the way to Fiji for two weeks. We were also supposed to have a kindergarten committee meeting about the uniforms, start date, enrollment fee and term fees. Of course, this one did not happen either as the main people in the committee were not around to discuss the topics at hand. Wednesday, January 13, 2010 Today is the day the volunteers/NGO visitors were supposed to come visit. I got a call last night letting me know that they were not coming. It turns out there were all kinds of plans made for them and then they dropped out last minute appearing to be more of tourists than NGO workers. Man, I was so excited to host some visitors and teach them about the Fijian culture! Oh well, definitely their loss. If I was going to a far away country I would be delighted if someone had made plans for me to visit the real culture of the land and stay in the homes of locals. They missed out on such a good opportunity! So instead I went to the swimming hole. Floated in my raft for a while. Hiked up the river until I reached the big waterfall. Sat there and enjoyed the scenery for about an hour, then I heard some kids up above me giggling. I followed the sound and found Buka, Asina, and Pio playing in the watering hole at the bottom of another large waterfall. They were scared of the eel that lives in the pool. Lol. The last time Buka, Buka Jr., and I were up there we saw one circling the bottom. Anyways, I had brought up my pampason float and blew it up so the kids could float under the water fall. It was so neat to be out in the middle of nowhere with no worries but a harmless eel. The next thing you know we are hiking up to the top of our mountain looking for the dam. I had looked back a couple of weeks ago and never found the end of the pipe. I was only about 15 feet from the dam when I had turned around and went back down! The dam is really neat. It was build over 20 years ago and is still holding strong. The water comes out of a natural underground aquifer/spring. It literally looks like the water comes out of a small rock. There are two filtration systems. One of sand and small stone, the other of small stone and large stone, plus the way it filters into the concrete dam somewhat assists in catching sand grain. It is such a beautiful thing. The only problems with our water are people wasting it as well as melted pvc pipes that we plan on replacing soon.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Town! Talked to mom, sis and sis’ boyfriend today! Yay! Thank you Rafael for helping her figure out Skype! It was so refreshing to talk to you! So nothing exciting happened in town. I have another package from my Bestie Kate! It is currently in Lautoka, so I am waiting for its arrival this Thursday! In town I purchased Avatar and I was so excited to watch it. I asked the girl in the store if it was a clear version off of a legitimate dvd and she promised me it was. Nope, definitely filmed in the theatre as the color was off, the screen was out of focus and there were shadows. I could only bare about 5 minutes… this movie will be returned next Thursday! I ended up with Ice Age 3, falling asleep immediately. Friday, January 8, 2010 I had a plan today to go out on my bilibili to my favorite rock. Well, I get down to the water and it turns out a boat was heading to my favorite beach, so Marica and I hopped on. We went around the peninsula and picked up my namesake at a nearby settlement and headed to the beach! I hiked around for a bit looking for some free food – papaya! I only found one good one and sat on the beautiful coast scraping ripe papaya out of its skin with an oyster shell. Yummy. Then I was off to snorkel a bit and sunbathe. My mistake – I did not put any sunscreen on so of course now I am burnt. Just in a few spots that never see the light of day in Fiji. Finally Ili had caught a few tiny fish and so the boys cooked them up on hot stones. They ate (I have begun to hate fish – too many bones and the fish are just too pretty) and we headed back to the village. After arriving back in the village I cleaned up a little and headed over to a friend’s house to play vidividi (a table low to the ground with wooden checker pieces that you try to hit into the holes in the corner of the table – somewhat like pool, but with your fingers instead of a stick). Soon enough Ulamila wanted to go to sleep and it was too loud in the house so we headed back to mine and laid down to put the baby to sleep. My namesake and I stayed awake for a while talking… lol – gossiping. Always good times. There is some drama in this village! Finally, sleep. Saturday, January 9, 2010 Absolutely nothing accomplished today. Naps, stories, eating, sleep. Sunday, January 10, 2010 Today I headed on the Methodist boat over to Lydia’s village for church. Each month the churches of our coast get together for a joint sermon. Of course today was communion and so the service was three hours long. It is so hard to sit Indian style through a religious sermon in another language. Three strikes against me at one time. I survived and then went to the community hall to have lunch with everyone. Again, fish in lolo with bele – the typical Fijian meal. So, as soon as we got back to Lydia’s bure we made breakfast crackers with cheese, tomatoes, Italian seasonings, and mustard with tea. Thank goodness for the grocery stores that sell enough variety to invent good American food. By the time all of this was through it was close to 5 o’clock so Lydia, Luisa, and I just sat and talked until the tide went out and the boat was ready to leave. Back in the village I showered, ate, and headed to bed. Somehow I get plenty of naps, but by 10 o’clock I want to go back to sleep again. It must be this heat. Monday, January 11, 2010 The BIG day! We have the first bose (meeting) of the new year and I have been told that all of the committees will be re-elected. I am even hoping to switch out a few people in the kindy committee and start a footpath committee. It is also the meeting where we select a Turaga Ni Koro (the gentlemen of the village who is very important in Fijian culture). I am really fond of the temporary Turaga Ni Koro that we have had since I arrived in the village and I am really hoping that they pick him again for the next three years. We will see! So much rides on the outcome of this meeting. Especially when it comes to organization and how much work I will be able to get done. Currently the committees aren’t very organized and the roles are not being upheld. For example, the chairman is never supposed to touch the money, only the treasurer, but the chairman may be getting money from the committee and spending it for the wrong reasons. We must reiterate the purpose of each role and make sure the roles are not being bamboozled or else they will continue to crumble like they have been since I have been here. Guess what, the meeting did not happen. It is rescheduled for Monday, January 25th. Hopefully that will be the big day! 
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Wow. Long day. I walked around the coast at high tide to our beautiful beach. I think I might not be explaining this feat very clearly. This involves at least 7 miles through mangrove forests, deciduous forests, beaches, ocean, rivers, ponds, climbing over bulky coconut leaves, large, rotten coconuts, massive mangrove stumps, heaps of leaves, and deep hornets nests. So the walk took about 3 hours, for one because I was with an older, slower crowd, and for two, it was a treacherous hike. By the time I reached the beach, food was cooked, so I ate boiled fish and tavioka. I cannot eat one more fish, one more bowl of rice, or roro (taro leaves, like a nasty boiled spinach). Fijian food is just not to my liking. Anyways, got lots of good exercise, rested on a beautiful beach in Fiji with good company, and had some cross-cultural conversations. Mostly about how Americans do not like being called fat and the different between an American conversation and a Fijian conversation, being as vague as possible. Tuesday, January 5, 2010 I gave my little sisters a choice, play cards, or go out on the bilibili (bamboo raft). Of course they chose the bilibili. After pushing my prized flotation devise into the water I noticed a sa musu na kau (break in the wood) towards the bow of my ship. I spent the next 30 minutes undoing my beautiful, intricate rope so that I could replace the wood. Finally I was done and we were off. The waves were crashing against us with the force of cyclone winds (ok, I am definitely dramatizing, just trying to make it interesting). We were fighting the current just a bit and using na cula (the stick used to push boats and bamboo rafts) was not working productively. Eventually I was in the water dragging the girls towards the settlement to visit the mangrove river. Upon arrival, inside the trees was frigid, but the coolness of the shadows was welcoming compared to the sweltering sun. I blew up my pampason raft and the girls played a bit while I snorkeled for fish larvae. I think because our mangrove forests experience the rise and fall of the tides they are not suitable for fish rearing. I only saw three adult fish swimming among the staggering mangrove (na dogo) roots. Soon enough the girls were cold and ready to head back out into the sun. Easier said than done. We were fighting the current flowing into the mangrove forest in water deeper than I could touch, so dragging the rope was not an option. Eventually, between pushing with our stick and grabbing mangroves to pull our way through we made it to the ridge of the mangrove swathed coast. Moving along the coast back towards the village was invigorating. I was getting calf muscles while enjoying the company of my sisters, beautiful views of walled cliffs, and pure, flourishing reefs. Oh Fiji, maybe I should just build a house on the coast, buy a boat, and start a million dollar business. All of this is feasible and sounds like a good idea right now. Although, yes mom, I will come home and visit first! After making it back to the village I showered from a bucket (water is not running again) and I read some of my “Marine Conservation Biology” textbook. Since I have all of this free time I have been devoting a lot of it to learning. Not sure what I will do when I get back to the states (or stay here ), but I am trying to prepare myself for anything I decide. My cat, Mogli! At night, the kids came over wanting to finish watching “The Little Mermaid”. I put in the movie while I ate a cucumber, carrot, and onion salad (with homemade vinegarette dressing) and did dishes. It ended, then I started Garfield for them. Both movies were a hit! Thank goodness for pirated movies (5-in-1 for $1 USD)! Monday, January 4, 2010 Today was a lot of savasava… laundry. I cleaned my entire wardrobe plus both sets of sheets, all towels, and sunned my mattresses. Spent most of the afternoon “drying” the clothes by taking a nap kei wawa tiko ena siga katakata sara ga i (and waiting on the blasting hot sun to) maca na noqu i sulu (dry my clothes). Yes, you will start getting Fijian language lessons for all of those who I know will benefit from this knowledge for the rest of their lives. Lol. I wonder why I even attempt to learn it. I am told (by Fijians mind you) that over 75% of their conversations in Fijian are just “the weather is nice today” kind of conversations. From what I can pick up… 75% of what I understand is “she was seen with him by the river”. Oh goodness. Lots of laughter and happiness though! Later in the evening when the generator came on I invited my younger sisters and brothers over to watch “The Little Mermaid”. They loved it and want to see the rest tomorrow night! Sunday, January 3, 2010 It is much easier for me to type 2010 on my computer than 2009. 2009 always became 200- and I would have to fix the 9 each and every time. Thank goodness for a new year! Lol. Today I have been laying in bed all day long. Got up at around 9:30 am for tea, got back in bed, up again around 8:00 pm to make some dinner, of which was not very appealing. My family was very concerned for me today and I really appreciated the love and kindness they showed me. My Na was right there whenever I needed her, bringing me tea, company, and my Bubu, who massaged my belly with coconut oil. It felt so good. My Ta also checked on me a few times, making sure I did not need to go to the hospital. I told them I was pretty sure it was just a virus that I caught from a baby in the village. She was throwing up two nights ago and I had been around her a lot recently. I think it will pass by tomorrow. No worries. Thank you family for taking care of me! I have been wanting to put together a list of cultural traditions (well, daily norms) beheld here in Fiji. 1. Closing your door is considered rude and not commonly done in the village. 2. People are welcome to walk into your house without asking. Sometimes without you even near your house. Oftentimes they won’t leave when you tell them to. 3. The village has a kerekere system. This involves a communal sharing of most objects and food. Even money is ‘borrowed’ from each other, but not usually paid back. 4. As a women you must wear a piece of cloth around your waist called a sulu. If you are not wearing a sulu then you are wearing a long skirt. 5. The women are commonly seen doing the cooking, laundry, dishes, cleaning, taking care of the children, making brooms, weaving mats, and telling stories with the other women. 6. Men are primarily seen at their plantations planting taro root, cassava, sweet potatoes, and kava kava. At night they are almost always around the kava bowl telling stories and smoking Fijian tobacco. 7. The kids are regarded as the prized procession. It takes a village to raise a child. Everyone gives up what they have for the kids. All food, candy, blankets, pillows, etc. are offered to the children first. Even at meal times the children often eat at the same time as the men. The women are last. It pleases the women to know that what they cooked is feeding their family and so they wait to make sure everyone else has had their fill. 8. Fijians are easy to please. They enjoy telling stories, swimming in the ocean or river, helping loved ones, listening to the men play music and sing, go boating, fishing, spear fishing, planting, smoking, shopping, weaving, playing, cooking and cleaning. 9. The children often help their parents with everyday chores. After the hurricane, my two eight year old sisters helped my clean my entire yard. They picked up mangoes, raked leaves, and disposed of the rubbish. They are often seen in my Na’s kitchen making dinner, often cutting vegetables for curry or kneading dough for roti. I have also witnessed them doing laundry on several occasions. 10. You are not to wear a hat indoors or in the village. The Fijians do not believe in placing anything on your head as it is a holy body part. 11. Get used to conversations that go in circles, repeat the same monotonous information, and never make you more intelligent for being a part of it. Today, I had a 10 minute conversation that went in circles about how I have shoes that are good for walking on the rocks and so my feet do not hurt, versus the boy I was with did not have any shoes on so his feet had pain walking on the rocks. This makes me faster. Again, I was wearing shoes on the rocks… and so on… 12. Last but not least, they are fascinated by: A candle, a cat’s purr, 16 lane interstates, how small Fiji is, my Skype dates, how I make toast (really, how I cook anything), my lack of vosa vaka viti (speaking Fijian), and my SCUBA booties. Saturday, January 2, 2010 Today a boat load of people showed up from Suva to pay their respects to Ta’s sister who had just passed away. They brought all kinds of food. The Fijian custom is for the guests to bring the food and the host village to cook it. So everyone was set to their tasks. I gave myself my own task of taking pictures. I have a good reason behind this task. Early this morning I headed up to the community hall to help Na clean the hall’s laundry. As we were washing, one of the boys came up with a bucket of water and splashed Na, soaking her cloths. This is custom at New Years. You are only supposed to soak your cousins, but I have a feeling it gets out of hand every year. This event alerted my senses that I need to find a reason for people not to dump nasty water on me today. First, I must get a few cousins drenched. My first victim was my cousin, Billy Moce. He was hanging around about to go into the woods and I was standing right next to a tap with three basins at my feet. What better use than to saturate a close friend. He did not get mad, just explained that I would see a day of pay backs. Hmmm, I can wait. Na showed back up and we headed down with the laundry to hang. Soon after, I found my bucket of water in my kitchen and attempted to soak another cousin, Tai. My Na knew the plan so right before I got to him she yelled ONZ, alerting him instead of me (since I am not yet attuned to their vocabulary), so he dodged just in time. I tried again about 2 hours later and he did not receive the soaking with such vigor as Billy. Why get mad about something so minor? Oh well, bump on a log. Finally I decided to help cook, but doing good deeds do not always get rewarded. I was dragged to a faucet by two boys with a small red basin. Of course, I fought, and was soon drenched to the core. It was a hot day, our water had not been working in most of the village, so the clean, cold water actually did more good than harm. Although, soon I was following a triage of people down to the watering hole to take a shower. After playing in the river a while, I headed back up into the village and began feeling a little wheezy. I woke up this morning with a dehydration headache so I just chalked it up to dehydrating and started drinking lots of water. I tried to ignore the onset of sickness, but it crept up like a roach in the night. I wanted to be a good sport tonight so I tried to hang out with everyone down on the party porch, but my head was aching from dehydrating and my stomach was doing somersaults so I headed to my straw hut. No sooner than I laid down did my stomach tell me to get back up. I opened the door and gagged myself until I got some of the pain out of my tummy. I still was not myself, but felt well enough to fall asleep. Oh, and two people called me on my land line today! My mom from America! Thank you mom for the random phone call! It makes me feel special when I hear from people back home, especially my mommy! The other call was from Filo in Nausori! She called to wish me a Happy New Year and to tell me she had been thinking about me while she was in Suva celebrating the New Year Mardi Gras style! Cool! Wish I had gone to stay with them for the New Year. I think I wasted a lot of vacation days staying in the village. Oh well, the village is my family. Friday, January 1, 2010 We were the second country to see the light of the new year! We did not really acknowledge it though. My Ta’s sister had been in the village for the past several days and she happened to have been discharged from the hospital after 10 months. She passed away while everyone was in town yesterday. So the funeral was scheduled for today. Everyone was looming about and not really in the New Year’s mood. My baby! Soon enough, I found out that the boys were going to a nearby settlement to kill a wild cow for the funeral feast. I asked if I could go along to take pictures of the process. They said sure and we were off. Well, I did not walk into the woods with them where the bull was supposed to be tied up because of my toe. The bandaid had fallen off in the ocean and I did not have tennis shoes, so I waited behind. To be honest, I wanted to stay behind. It turned out that as we approached the settlement I saw Sio’s boat so I knew he was at my friends’ house. I walked down to the house and they were all celebrating the New Year with Sio’s brother and family from Australia! There was even cold beer! I took several shots and enjoyed their company for several hours until they decided to head home. As we packed our things into the boat the boys came back down out of the woods with no cow parts, just a heartrending look on their faces. The ‘wild’ bull had run away and was nowhere to be found. So, they were off to a different settlement to find a different cow. I decided to head back to the village as I had not eaten a thing all day. The hike up to their house was strenuous. I carried several of their things, plus my own, and the sun was shining hotter than possible in the US in July. My sweat was balling up on the tresses on my skin and teetering towards the ground. Blah. Salty sweat. Soon enough I recovered and headed down to my house to cook. Later in the night I headed up to the community hall and visited with a few of the women, then went to a Bubu’s house where all of the boys were drinking grog and I said my farewells and headed to bed. Whew. They drink way too much grog! It turns out, the electricity came on around 10 PM and everyone headed to the community hall for more grog, music, and dancing. I of course was a party pooper and had already gone to bed. Oh well, next time. Thursday, December 31, 2009 New Years Eve! Well, just another day in Fiji, just like Christmas Eve, although, town was not near as packed. None of the volunteers were in town today because they all had New Years plans somewhere in Fiji. I decided to stay back and save money so that maybe I can get a dive package soon. I guess I should get on top of that before my time in Fiji is up. Today I bought a settlement some new dishes, sponges, soap, and an air tight container for sugar. I don’t know what has come over me, but I have felt obligated recently to help people out with necessities. I know I am not supposed to be assisting monetarily, so I do it in the form of gifts. It has been making me feel better! I also bought an ice cream cone, which I die for every time I know Thursday is coming around. Then I saw a little girl in town from my village and she was eyeballing my ice cream cone, so of course, I gave it to her. After coming back to the village a few of the younger boys came over and we watched The First Knight. I think they liked it, but Fiji’s taste in movies is quite different than mine. I have not figured out what kind of movies they like to watch besides Bollywood (for the Indians) and teenage movies like Clueless. While I was in town I also bought two dvds for the kids. They are often overlooked when it comes to movie time, so I got The Little Mermaid series and The Prince of Egypt series, plus Garfield as a freebie. The other day I was in a neighbor’s house and I asked about 30 people in the room if they knew who the character was draped over the arm chair in the front of the room. Not a single person had any idea… it was Garfield! So, maybe one night I will get the chance to show the owners who Garfield is. 
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
2009 is almost over, and Fiji will be one of the first countries to see the year end and the new year begin! That is pretty neat. Although, I have a feeling the celebration will not be near as interesting as it would be in Times Square or Australia. We do what we can over here. Tuesday, December 29, 2009 I had plans to go stay in a nearby resort today, but the boat captain went to a nearby village for a fundraising event and got drunk on grog and decided not to go to town today. No problem, besides I told Megan I would talk to her on Skype. So sorry Megan. Hopefully you will still be in town when I go tomorrow. Today I ended up going to a nearby settlement to go fishing with my namesake, her hubby, and their baby. Ulamila I was supposed to help fish, but before the fishing began I stepped on a rock covered in small oysters and gashed my big toe to pieces. Well, it isn’t quite that gruesome, but it is bad enough to stay off it for a few days. Mother’s always know best. My namesake told me to wear my water shoes and I went in flip flops, then I took them off before I reached the kids I was going to play with. Man, never take your shoes off in Fiji! The entire day I rested, ate dhal soup with breadfruit grilled on the hot stones, made with tender loving care by the boys. Yes I ate this. It is breadfruit grilled on coconut leaves and coconut husks. Mmmm. Then we took naps off and on and I visited with everyone. I even taught one of the boys about the universe and other galaxies, planets, stars, moons, and suns. He was stunned that there are more suns and moons than Earth’s. Although, he did understand evolution and explained to me how things do evolve and when God created the animals he planned for them to evolve naturally. It was all set in motion and plays as God directs. Well, I appreciate his view. At least he recognizes that some science is true. Do you see me taking the picture? Look closely! Eventually the sun began to set, I went on a short bamboo raft ride to pick up a couple of dozen coconuts and then we hopped in the boat and came back to the village. Overall the day was extremely relaxing with good conversations! My most recent bilibili ride at sunset! Monday, December 28, 2009 That same Bubu that asked me not to hike on Sunday and is always preaching the word of God to me hinted at me to give her money for the fundraiser tomorrow. I would not be offended if she hadn’t just scolded me for not respecting the Sabbath Day. Needless to say, I do not give villagers money for any reason. I do not believe in the kerekere system (borrowing, more like “can I have”) when it comes to cash. There has to be a limit on what all you give away. Bananas from your plantation or limes from my tree is one thing, hard earned cash on a volunteers budget is another. She said she was praying to God that someone would give her that $10 for the fundraiser. I told her that if she did not have the money, do not give it. After that, I went up to my namesake’s house and played with the baby. Then I took the baby down to a nearby settlement and gave them a rake and some plastic bags I had been saving. We told stories for a while and then my baby and I headed back to the village. Upon reaching my house I asked my Ta for the measurements for the footpath. He handed them over and I started to analyze where the footpaths are to be built and how much it will cost. There are a few places I think I will cut out of the measurements to save on money. Because I am writing a Peace Corps Partnership Proposal for the purchase of the supplies, I do not want to ask for more than absolutely necessary. The rest of the evening I read Brisingr and walked around the village visiting each kava kava (grog/yaqona) circle. Most of the yaqona drinkers were in a nearby village for their fundraising event. Apparently it was a big party and most people got drunk on yaqona. It was probably fun up until the point when people were slurring their words, closing their eyes, and spilling coconut shells of yaqona. I was told Lydia was there so I can get a run-down of the events from her on Thursday! Sunday, December 27, 2009 Oh Siga’abu. I really am not a fan of Sundays around here. We are not supposed to do anything as I said before, and today I got in trouble for hiking up the river. The water is not running again, so the whole village went to the pool of water in the river to shower. There were way too many kids in the watering hole and I felt like exploring so I went up river. While I was taking in the breathtaking view of a waterfall a few of the boys passed by and told me to come with them. We went up a little further to another waterfall and I lathered my body and washed my hair. For some reason, I was still not content. The weather was absolutely beautiful and I had my senses alert and felt adventurous. So, I continued up the river, finding green moss laden volcanic rock, swinging Tarzan vines, boulders not even Indiana Jones could budge, and glowing spiders inside a cavernous waterfall. Time passed quickly and before I knew it I was to the big waterfall; one of my favorite places to be near the village. Here and my rock on the beach facing the wide open crystal blue waters of the Pacific Ocean. So this waterfall cascades off rocks about five different times, ending in a pool of water that flows through a cave. It is quite easy to rummage around on the falls. I found a good sitting spot about halfway up and almost within the same moment a torrential downpour came heaving down from the Heavens. I was lucky in that I was sitting under a cliff of stone and was able to just enjoy the scenery and sporadic rain. Finally I began my ascent a little further into the forest following the pipe line to the dam. I searched for over an hour for the end of the pipe and an end was nowhere to be found. I should bring someone who knows where exactly that crazy spring is that we get our water from. I was able to do a lot of research on the current pipeline system. I was hearing plenty of water flowing through certain spots and a trickle through others. This led me to believe that the pipes are either clogged or constricted (from melting) in several different locations. Again, hire a professional! So, I never found the end, but I do have lots of proof of my tribulation. Nice scratches to add to the ones I received climbing up the craggy cliff last Monday. Wara na leqa (No worries). Well, I say no worries, but apparently a very religious Bubu in the village was worried about me and said she was praying for me while I was gone. I think what she was praying for was for me to be more respectful of the Fijian’s Sunday rituals. As in, if I am not going to church service, then sit in my house and do nothing. That is the respectful way. Honestly, I am just being really stubborn, but how is that respectful towards me. What if I do not want to be confined to my house? I am not hurting her any by getting out of the village. I can pray just as easily sitting by a waterfall as I can sitting in my bure, even though I don’t. Whatever. Times are changing and several people are oblivious to it. I will try harder to respect their wishes, but not if it hinders my experience or happiness. Period. After I got back some boys stopped over at my house and fell asleep on my floor. I do not blame them. When the sun is excruciatingly hot, the floor of my house is the coolest place in the village. While they slept I wrote my application for Alternative Livelihoods training through Peace Corps in February. It is ready to be emailed for review! Next, we watched a little bit of Saving Private Ryan, and then I headed up to my namesake’s house to make a phone call and they just happened to come home while I was trying to catch a signal. I rested with them and played with the baby until they were ready to go down into the village for a grog session. We visited with them and two other houses trying to put in some face time. The grog sessions are really the best time to socialize… it unfortunately also involves inhaling a lot of secondhand smoke. Finally I was ready to go to bed and came home by midnight. Blah, good night. I thoroughly enjoyed my day out. Thank you Fiji, for being so accommodating to my pleasures. Saturday, December 26, 2009 Today is the day after Christmas in Fiji, but Christmas Day in America! So Merry Christmas! I headed to town today to talk to mom and sis on Skype. I waited on Kate and Teresa hoping they might get on, but I should have just called them. Sorry guys. I love and miss ya’ll and hope you had a very Merry Christmas. Town was empty today so I got a lot accomplished (besides food from the market… the market was empty too). Since the cyclone we have had unripe tomatoes, no cucumbers, plenty of bananas, and discolored cassava. I am starting to wonder how long it will take for the crops to recover. This is supposed to be an active cyclone year, but the harm they do on crops within the village is devastating. So I finally finished the business plan for our virgin coconut oil business. I am currently contacting several people within the government for economic assistance. Everyone has been extremely interested and supportive so far. I am told that they have been getting business plans for farming, but no other form of alternative income generation, so our project will surely be funded. Yes! I am also in the process of measuring for footpaths and getting an estimate on supplies, plus environmental education, health awareness, waste management, no smoking campaign, life skills, kindergarten lesson plans, teeth care, and alternative income generation. The village will also be needing seminars on the importance of education. A RPCV who served in Fiji about 22 years ago has retired and he and his wife have moved between my village and town. He was conducting a program back in the United States called “Choices”. It is a 3 hour workshop held in 9th and 10th grade classrooms revealing the raise in salary and choices of careers if you get a higher education. It will be perfect to integrate into the Fijian school system around class 7 and 8 (last grades in primary school) because most students drop out after primary school and never make it to what we call ‘9th grade’. The main reason they do not attend secondary school is because of the cost to go. The children coming from a village must move closer to the schools and live with other family members or board at the school, which is quite expensive for a Fijian pocketbook. There needs to be more awareness on why to receive at least a high school education and why they should attend university. In the next year the village wants to replace many pipes in our water system. We get water from a dam in our mountain fed river. Several of the members of the village set their land on fire to replant vegetables and the fires get out of control melting the piping. At the present moment we have water off and on. One person is saying we need larger pipes to supply more water to the water tank. The problem appears more of a wasteful water situation plus melted pipes. Think of a clogged artery or constricted arteries, less blood travels through them, thus, less water will be refilling the tank at any given moment with concaved PVC pipes. With the taps on even when people are not using the water, plus pipes being restricted as to how much water can flow through them equals a water problem. There are people in the village who just want to replace the whole system, but before we fundraise for thousands of dollars I would like to get a professional opinion. So today we got quotations for new pipes, but I hope to find a much cheaper solution. 
A Christmas Tree Worm
Soft coral NEMO! December 25, 2009 Merry Christmas!!! It’s like Christmas never happened. I do not know what I expected, but I am not sure it is really Christmas Day. There was one church service, not everyone went, a lunch with family, no presents exchanged that I ever witnessed, and no one dressed up or playing Christmas music. So different. I know next year to go out of the village for Christmas to get more of the holiday cheer and traditions that I am used to. Giant Clam So, because there wasn’t much going on in the village for the birth of ‘Christ’ I decided to give myself a Christmas present of snorkeling in crystal clear waters just outside my door. Going away from the village I was fighting the current, so the trip felt very tiring and good exercise. I took a rest at my favorite rock before heading back with the current, making the trip much more enjoyable. Below are several of the things I saw right outside my village’s coast. I am so lucky! The beach I took a break at. My rock is up ahead! December 24, 2009 I spent Christmas Eve in town. Go figure. The biggest shopping day of Fiji (and America) and I head to the nearest town. Great! Too many people, too much pushing, too many PA systems, and no good veggies in the market because of the hurricane equals ‘I didn’t get anything accomplished’. Oh well. I am going again on Saturday to talk to family on Christmas Day in America. Other than that, I spent the entire day in transportation to town or from town. Waiting on the wind to die down so that we could take the boat out or waiting on the bus to leave town, either way, learning patience. Good news! I got a new National Geographic in the mail today… and… a 5 page letter from my Bestie… AND a present from my Bestie! A much needed and appreciated disc man plus things for the kindy, candy, and tissues (I use the bathroom in public restrooms a lot and I think she has figured out how often I need tissue)! Thank you so much Kate! You are the bestest friend ever! My koki (parrot) that ran away. 
Wednesday, December, 23, 2009
No signs of Christmas, just lots of people asking me if I am staying in the village for it. Really, I do not think it is going to be much different than any other day. I woke up this morning to the water running! So I quickly took a shower and soon after the water ran dry again like the intermittent showers in a desolate desert. Oh man. I wanted to do laundry, so, again, I searched the village over for running water. I got almost all of my laundry done before my new source started the loud war cry of air emitting out the nozzle. Whew. I just want clean running water and electricity. Is that too much to ask? This morning while I was doing laundry I overheard my little brother talking about a ‘koki’. My parrot has disappeared, so I looked up to make sure it wasn’t my injured baby. I saw a magnificent green bird attempting to take flight, but continuously getting dragged down by a string tied to its leg. It took me a deep breath to contemplate how to handle the abuse. I stopped what I was doing, went over to the boy, gave him a good knock on the head, and picked up the bird. Untying the poignant sole, I could tell the boy was ashamed for getting in trouble. Good, hopefully he is learning that it is not ok to torture animals. I took the bird over to a tree and allowed him to set sail into the clear blue skies. Turning to the boy, I told him “abu”, not allowed. He sat there for a complete ten minutes thinking about what had just happened. I feel like tying a string to his leg and telling him to run, watching him fall down, and asking him how he likes it. I do not want to blame him. In all honesty it is wholly the parent’s fault, but somehow I have to get through to these grommets. Next it was lunch, start my dictionary, so brightly named “The Next Fijian Dictionary” because the only dictionary in Fiji is titled “The Fijian Dictionary”. I read a little of the Iliad, took a four hour nap, collected my clothes from the line, took some naproxen sodium, and now resting my tummy from the monthly pain. Urg! Tuesday, December 22, 2009 Today was quite uneventful. I spent most of the day in my house writing letters, telling stories with visitors, finishing up the Odyssey, and cooking. Resting from yesterday’s escapade. Monday, December 21, 2009 Woke up, made French toast, and started to work on collages of all of the people in my village. While I was cutting and resizing pictures, Sio stopped by and asked me to go with him and a few other people on a boat ride to a nearby village with a hospital. So, I packed up a few things, grabbed my machete, and headed off to the boat. We boarded, road to a nearby settlement, picked up a few people and headed to the other village. It turns out we were taking two boys around age 10 to get circumcised. Ouch. I was speaking with one of their mothers and she told me that they do not do it when the children are born only because they are behind other countries in health care. This was a surprising reason to me. I would think it would be just as easy to do it when they are a few weeks old as it would be at age 10. Anyways, the boys received a shot, then the cuts, and it was all over. They have pain killers to last a few days and I think they aren’t feeling much pain. Thank goodness, sounds dreadful. After the hospital I walked around the district police post, visited a few policemen, and then walked up the road to overlook another village. They truly have a piece of property in paradise. I was told that there used to be a Japanese man that lived in the bay and was the first person in Fiji to start cultivating pearls. He was very successful and eventually was shooed away. I then stopped over at a Bubu’s house and spoke to him about virgin coconut oil. He used to be a primary school teacher and he knows English very well, so of course I really liked him! Finally everyone was done at the “hospital” (a third world country hospital consists of a three room building with four hospital beds and a cabinet of supplies). I asked the boat captain if he would drop me off at the beautiful beach in the bay between the two villages. As I got out of the boat on pristine white sand I trekked up to the woods and found two papayas and a coconut. I immediately ate one papaya and stashed the other away in my bag along with the husked coconut. Walking along the beach, in search of the tall, rocky mountain, I was dodging mud hornets and scurrying crabs. I was in search of a rocky mountain that I had visited once before. As I got closer I could see the colossal cliff which loomed over the surrounding land like a black dagger thrust out from the bowels of the Earth (Brisingr). Very soon the plantations at the bottom of the mountain were in view and I was determined to find the trail leading up to the plantation. Soon I was on the right path and back-tracked a little to reach the starting point of my new trail. I was not very prepared in the fact that I did not sharpen my machete before I left so I was dependent on hacking the grass and ferns as hard as I could and then stepping on the reeds that were breakable with force. Finally the trail had begun and I was fighting off thorns, tall grasses, tangled ferns, and sharp volcanic rock. About 45 minutes later I was successfully out of the grasses with beads of sweat dripping off my face. I could see the rocky crag up ahead, but still far in the distance. I heaved my way up the rocks until I could spot the tree that was to be my destination. Slowly but surely I stepped from one stone to the next, with my sights set on one wall of rocks that used to serve as a barricade in tribal wars. The tree was set just in front of the fighting arena. As I tiredly brought myself up to the wall, I took a heavy seat on a flat rock, in search of shade. Whew. It was time to replenish myself. Reaching into my bag I found the husked coconut I had stowed away earlier at the beach. I cracked it open with my machete and drank as much of the coconut water as possible, pouring the rest into my water bottle. I enjoyed a small snack of fresh coconut meat while I rested my aching body and enjoyed the breathtaking view. (Can you tell I am reading The Odyssey?) The most important task of my trip was carving my name in the tree, next to a few other boys’ names. I would be the first girl to reach that trialing destination. Finally I was rested and began to set my sights on a trail around the craggy cliff. As I began to travel down, I was soon sliding on my butt more than walking upright. The trail was covered in leaves and branches that had fallen from the cyclone last week, so it was impassible on foot. I was grasping every tree and vine in sight to make sure I did not break a bone out in the middle of nowhere. As I safely arrived at the bottom of the mountain there was a house in view. I found small goat trails that led to the house along the beach. Walking down through the mangrove infested shores I finally reached the settlement of choice, a good friend of mine, Espli. He was nowhere in sight, off collecting coconuts to sell in the market. I dropped off the papaya that I had collected at the beach earlier in the day and began the coastal walk towards my village. My legs burned in the salt water from the cuts I received while walking through the bushes. About an hour later I arrived at another settlement where they graciously gave me 14 large, ripe bananas. I accepted with a big smile and then was off to the village to cook some lunch/dinner. It felt so good to reach the village knowing that I could have food and a good shower. Although the water was not running when I reached home, I was smart enough to keep a bucket of water for emergencies and I ended up taking a sponge bath just to hold me over until the water was running. I cooked my favorite dish, except I was out of carrots. I improvised by using potatoes, cucumbers, and onions in soy sauce. I had tortillas and refried beans left over from yesterday so my meal was complete. Mmmmm. After dinner I rested, told stories with some of the boys, and then went to a house nearby to speak with the district officer who was in the village evaluating the damage from the cyclone. Fiji really does not appear to be too third world. They are very adamant about keeping to their old traditions and culture, thus keeping them behind in some ways. At the same time, they have all of the necessities, including health care and governmental assistance, at their fingertips. I feel that my service here is to guide them in such a way that they become dependent on themselves instead of handouts. Peace Corps Fiji is awesome! Sunday, December 20, 2009 Oh Sigatabu. The day of everything prohibited. We hopped on bus around 7:00 AM and headed back to the boat dock. Bus ride was uneventful accept for one of the older men smoking right next to me and me having to tell him it was not allowed and that he was being very disrespectful. Then a few of the boys were hung over from drinking grog all night and I had to put a few of them in their places. Oh man, that grog/yaqona has got to go - very bad for their health, mentally and physically. Their hangovers are more obnoxious than a drunks’. We finally arrived back at my village. Thank goodness. The trip was only one night, but honestly seemed like eternity. When I want to sleep or eat I get sooo cranky. I took a much needed shower, then chopped all of my hair off. For one, I have way too much dandruff from my hair staying wet all of the time. Shorter hair should dry faster. Two, I wear it the same way every day, up, and I am ready for a change. Three, too many people have mentioned it lately. It must need to be done. I cooked up some cucumbers, carrots, and onions in soy sauce, some tortillas, and refried beans from America! Oh my goodness, it was just like being at Amigo’s in Hoover. Yum! Then it was nap time – like a 3½ hour nap. It was glorious. When I woke up several boys came over wanting to see the pictures from the wedding. As soon as they were done the electricity shot on and I put on Point Break. A little action, a little love, surfing, stealing, and they use the word grommet. Doesn’t get any better than that! After the movie a Bubu stopped by for tea. She is from another Peace Corps Volunteer’s village, but spends a lot of time here. She was hilarious. Everytime a boy passed by she would holler at them not to pass by my house. That my footpath was private and they needed to go around. She is pretty upset that things have been taken from me. Go Bubu! Around 11:00 PM she left and another friend came over to tell stories. Most nights in the village are late nights because everyone takes naps and then they are not tired at the end of the day. Good night! Saturday, December 19, 2009 Six days to Christmas and in Fiji you would never know it. The Choir Today I hopped on the boat around 6:30 AM to head to Suva for my Turaga Ni Koro’s brother’s wedding. He is in the military and has been serving in London, so for him to be back in Fiji was a big deal! As soon as we arrived at the boat dock there was a chartered bus waiting on us. We boarded, rode, and arrived in Suva. Tea was served, we changed clothes, and then headed to the church for the wedding service. I was quite surprised to see that it was a very traditional wedding. The bride and groom were dressed in a masi/tapa fabric that has been made in Fiji since forever ago. It is a paper material pounded from plants and then painted with a tribal design. They were decked out from head to toe in paper! I sat in the choir section for a little while and sang with the choir, then focused on taking pictures and staying awake. After the wedding we headed to the reception where yaqona was served, a few whale’s teeth were exchanged, and then we ate. The cake was to die for, go figure. By 8:00 I wanted to go to bed, but there was absolutely no where to sleep without lots of commotion and light. During dinner I was visiting with some friends/family that live in Nausori and they were kind enough to invite me to stay at their house. Of course I took the invite and we were back at their house and in bed by 11:00. Thank goodness, otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten any sleep. Thank you family! Friday, December 18, 2009 Lots of small things today. The visitors for the funeral are all still in the village so I stayed around to say bye to a lot of them. Around the time the tide was going out a few boys and I dragged my bamboo raft out into the water and I retied it with rope instead of just vines. It’s like a new toy! My little sister and I played cards for a while, she helped me attempt to build a house for my parrot (Did I ever say anything about my koki that had a broken wing? I was keeping a bird in my house for a few days trying to see if she would heal, turns out she jumped down out of the rafters and left the house while I was napping the other day. Hopefully she is ok.). Hopefully the house will become a chicken coop and I will have lots of free eggs soon. Then we went up to the community hall and she ate with everyone while I got more nails for the house. When we went back down I decided it was time to head out on the bamboo raft to collect sand from a nearby beach for the floor of my kitchen. My little sister and I headed out on the bilibili. Wow, the wind was quite strong today, and I forget my water shoes, so I ended up dragging my sister on the bamboo raft through coral, rocks, sand, and strong currents. Thank goodness I could reach the whole time and I never got any cuts. We arrived at the beach and as we were collecting sand a young strapping lad came up offering to help load the sand onto our raft. Fijians are so sweet. After the bags were full and loaded, my little sis and I played in the sand and built a sand turtle! It was so much fun to feel like a kid and not worry about Fijian rules. As soon as I leave the village I am always rebellious, just because I am not under strict rules of a dress code and actions. I would have been one of those kids that acts out against my parents if they were strict on me. Thank you Mom for raising me right, with some slack! Ways you know you have adjusted to the Fijian lifestyle: When you are leaving the house, you look down to see if you are wearing a skirt/sulu. When you are drinking your tea you do not remove the floaties, particularly the ants. When a huge cow is slaughtered and people leave the village with a thigh over their shoulder does not phase you. When a Fijian asks you to eat with them you already know the course, fish and cassava, the answer is almost always “No thank you”. When people pass by you call out to them “Somi Ti” (Tea at breakfast)? Another volunteer and I believe this saying is derived from when the Europeans arrived and asked them if they would like “some tea”. Kids are walking around with a huge pig skull in their mouth, and all you can say is “kana vinaka” (tastes good)? On Sundays nothing is allowed, no playing, no singing, no music (except gospel), no cooking, no cleaning, no loud noises, no cutting grass, no planting, no anything, but you get used to this and all you want to do on Sunday is sleep anyway – I still have not mastered this one, and never will. Your excuse for being sick is “the wind was blowing in my face yesterday on the boat”. When you are talking to your friends back home you accidentally speak Fijian to them. Oops, sorry Katers! Thursday, December 17, 2009 Cooking for the funeral. Funeral Day. I stayed out of the spotlight by watching a movie in the morning and sleeping all afternoon. We will just have to call this a day off. When there are a lot of visitors in the village I am required to meet every single one of them and hold a conversation in Fijian. I sometimes lose my mind in situations like this so I just removed myself for the day. Honestly it turned out quite lovely as I had a nice time on my own. A few people stopped by to tell stories, but overall relaxing. Tonight I went up to the community hall and hung out with the boys drinking grog. Good times. There are a few things that have occurred that I try not to blog about, but because something minute has happened so many times I feel like blogging it. About three weeks ago while I was in town buying things to make banana pudding for the first time someone stole my three bananas waiting to go into my deliciousness. Well, the village was alerted… lol. No big deal. Well, it wouldn’t be a big deal if things weren’t stolen four more times after this incident. Two weeks ago I had one banana and three plantains stolen… then, a few days later, two bars of soap. Now, this past Wednesday, I put a new bar of soap out and took a shower. I headed up to the Turaga Ni Koro’s house and drank a bilo of yaqona, then went up to the community hall to visit with the boys. When I returned to my house, about an hour later, my new bar of soap was stolen. Now, there is no reason for a little kid to want my soap, they don’t care about being clean, so I am almost positive it was a youth (16-35 unmarried). The only problem, I am not allowed to go snooping around in their bathroom, even though I know who it was. Now, I will be putting locks on my bathroom and my kitchen. Not fair. Wednesday, December 16, 2009 I thought I was going to get to rest today until I was woken up by a friend who informed me that no one would be going to town tomorrow so if I needed to go that I should hop on the boat with Ta. Well, Ta was already in the bay starting the engine. I grabbed my bag and letters to mail and ran out the door to catch him. I walked out into the water and my little sister brought over a boat for me to get in. They pulled me all the way to Ta’s boat so that I would not get wet! So sweet! The ride to town was glorious; only Ta and I in the boat, plus plenty of sun, and smooth water. I laid out to catch some sun and took a little nap. Oh, speaking of the word NAP, Fijians know a lot of English but for some reason they do not know the word nap. It is very interesting to me considering they take 1-3 naps a day. I am on a mission to teach the village the word Nap! The entire day in town, with not too many things on my list to do. It was so relaxing. I was able to talk to my mom and Kate on Skype, plus do all of my shopping at a leisurely pace and walk around the town five times. We did not leave town until 5:30 because we hadn’t sold all of the coconuts yet, so I had plenty of time. Then, we headed back to the boat house and waited another five hours for the boat to leave. We are having a funeral tomorrow for one of my Grandparents (in Fiji) and so we were waiting on relatives coming from Nausori and Suva to meet us at the dock. Around seven o’clock the owners of the store invited me to have dinner with them! They are Kai India (so they were born and raised in Fiji, but are of Indian decent) and my dinner was authentic dhal soup with tea. Oh so yummy. They said anytime I am hungry just to ask for food and they will give it to me. I think that might be a little awkward, we will have to see, but I really want to try more authentic Indian food so that I can learn to like it! 
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Wow, last night was a scary site. My bure is covered in dust, posters, all kinds of things that I threw around before leaving, and very moist. Today is going to be the longest cleaning day ever. My house is on the left. This is the yard I got to pick up. First thing is first, picking up hundreds of mangoes from the tree above my house. I would have staying inside my bure if it hadn’t have been for this huge mango tree hanging off the side of the cliff waiting to fall on top of my house, oh, and Peace Corps would not approve. Given that it is made out of straw, the Three Little Pigs should have copied the Fijian Bure design. Yeah, they would have been cleaning dust 5 times a day, but that little wolf of theirs would never have blown down their house. I am amazed at how well it is constructed. There were just a few branches out of place from the roof. No leaks, no shifts in the frame, just lots of wind must have circulated inside. I spent the entire day picking up mangoes, kura, leaves, branches, and tin, raking, cutting grass, pulling weeds, plus sunning my mats, cleaning everything off like there was a fire, and washing clothes and dishes (between the spurts of water). If I did not have the kids’ help there is no way I would have ever finished my yard. Thank goodness the children are disciplined in this country and are more than willing to help cook, clean, cut grass, do laundry, etc. Wonderful Fiji! Anyways, today was the most work I think I have ever done in one day and I am ready to rest, maybe even beg for a massage! Goodnight. Monday, December 14, 2009 The day of Cyclone Mick. Wooo eeee! Today was exciting! There were torrential downpours, hurricane force winds, things flying everywhere, and overall happy people! For some reason around noon the boys of the village decided to walk to a nearby settlement to go crab fishing. What? There is a cyclone coming in a few hours! Well, they went, had a great time, and played in the ocean more than they fished. I don’t think they even caught one crab. Boys will be boys. The wind was a good 35 km/hour at this point with the rain slapping your face if you turned the wrong direction, but still enjoyable for them. A friends' kitchen after the cyclone. The cyclone hit around 3:30 PM and brought an amazing show. The men in the village were worried about their boats and kept going down to the coast to haul water out and re-anchor. It was definitely something to see. I left the original house I was staying at because there were about 10 kids from 5 months to 8 years old crowding me every second of the day. I wanted to pull my hair out. The next house had a great view of the bay, but was very windy inside and leaking water. Not really a safe haven in a cyclone. So, the third house was just right. You know, just like Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I would be Goldilocks today. The third house offered me tea, pineapple, cassava, plantains, plus socks, a blanket, and a pillow. There were two Bubu, two Na, one Ta, and four good kids. The house felt very secure, no leaks, no wind, and even had a fireplace (well, the kitchen for making tea, but it was set up just like a fireplace without smoke)! I was able to get comfortable enough to take a nap, I read lots of The Odyssey, wrote my sister a letter, enjoyed telling stories, and played with the kids. They also had one of the doors open that faced the bay so we could see the storm rolling in. Perfect! The trees were blowing like you see on the news when a hurricane is hitting Florida. Actually being there instead of watching the screen is so much more fun! Again, thank goodness my village is on the side of a hill, I feel for the other volunteer near me who is one foot above the high tide mark. I want to know how she faired, along with all of her belongings. Cyclone Mika did not do lasting damage to the village. My bure on the other hand is a disaster waiting to be discovered. I know with all of this wind as soon as I walk inside I will want to begin cleaning. Ugh, I do not want to see it. Sunday, December 13, 2009 Oh Sigatabu… Sunday in Fijian means the day where everything is forbidden. When I say everything, I pretty much mean it. Absolutely no fun: no games, no laughing loudly, no skipping church, no walking around, no playing in the water, well, nothing… Absolutely no work: no laundry, no cleaning, no cutting grass, no pulling weeds, no planting cassava, no picking flowers (ok, an exaggeration, they pick flowers to put in their ears for church, but soon it might be banned as well). Most Sundays, they even cook the day before so that there is no cooking on Sunday. So, what is there to do on Sundays in a village in Fiji? Break all that’s forbidden! Well, I have stopped going to church, I go on walks, and the other day, my Bubu next door reminding me that it was Sunday and that I was not allowed to pull weeds. Oops! I can’t just sleep all day like they expect me to do. Crazy! Anyways, I wasted away the entire morning talking to the Turaga Ni Koro in my house. We had hot chocolate and peanut m&ms for breakfast, I cooked him some amazing vegetable stir fry for lunch, plus we shared lots of heart to hearts. I think at some point today I ended up falling asleep for an hour. The good part is “the phone call”. While I was I cooking dinner I was alerted that Peace Corps was trying to get in touch with me. Apparently they had already called four or five phone numbers in the village. I rushed down to where the last phone call was. I rang them back and received a frantic voice on the other end. She was surprised that I had not heard about the cyclone that was headed our way. She said we were on steadfast and needed to be inside our designated, safe location, with fresh water, food rations, and important personal information. Just a side note, this call was given 24 hours before the cyclone was to hit. What was I going to do at someone else’s house for over 24 hours? Well, play lots of games, read, sleep, and eat. Back at my house, I packed a bag, and headed over to my Nana’s house. The weather looked quite normal, and honestly was all through the night. Saturday, December 12, 2009 Lots and lots of rain. My garden is in a two inch flood zone apparently, so my seeds will probably float to the top before long. I slept in until about 8 AM, which a month ago would have been 7 AM so I don’t feel the least bit guilty. This time change thing is ridiculous for a country that only fluctuates from 12 to 13 hour days. Today was a blast. On a whim, a friend and I took off to one of the settlements nearby for a visit. It of course was pouring down rain the entire time. We walked through the woods, the mangroves, the white-sand beaches, and of course waded through waist deep sea water. Upon arrival at the settlement nobody came outside. So we called our “Mai Na Vaka Yadua”. Still no answer. Oops, we ended up waking up my Bubu. He told us to check out the boys’ house and see if they were home. Only one of the boys, and we happen to wake him up too. We let them both go back to sleep and headed off to the most beautiful beach around. Through mangroves, the woods, and white sand beaches again, we arrived to find two women fishing, a man snorkeling, and several youth hanging out waiting on a boat. Now, this is quite an odd site, because the beach is at least 3 miles away from the village. Lucky for us we were able to catch a boat back around 3 PM (I was complaining of starvation at this point). Back at the village I was able to cook and eat until my stomach was content. Later in the afternoon I went up to my namesake’s house and hung out the rest of the evening talking about the virgin coconut oil business plan and joking around. Good day! Friday, December 11, 2009 I woke up at 5:55 AM today, wondering what time it was. At 6 AM there was a light tapping at my door. My Bubu Vesi had brought me a papaya and 8 bananas. How sweet and caring of him! This is what Fiji is made of! I immediately got to work on my garden. The friend that I stayed with Tuesday night gave me some basil, so I was excited to plant it! I got out my machete and baby shovel and began digging up dirt off of my hill and replacing it in front of my bure. Soon I had four kids helping me. They went and got their father’s machetes and were cutting the grass on the hill and beside my house. It was all done in about an hour. Of course I rewarded them for their help with chocolate and then began planting other seeds. I planted the basil, some butter beans, long beans, carrots, and cucumbers. We will see if any of them make it. As I was taking my grass clippings to the designated dump site, my Bubu Paula called me over. He gave me 10 plantains, all ripe! Oh my goodness, I am a weakling when it comes to ripe plantains. They taste like big, sweet and sour bananas. They can be cooked all sorts of ways, or eaten raw. For lunch I made the fresh vegetable wraps, but this time I cooked the veggies on the stove with soy sauce, my favorite dish in Birmingham, AL. Oh my goodness, it was heavenly. I want people back home to try cooking some zucchini, squash, onions, and tomatoes in soy sauce, like sauté, and then place them in a tortilla. Wow! I shared with the Turaga Ni Koro and he loved it! After lunch I promised Bubu Paula that I would make him something with his plantains. I made chocolate bananas foster, with Bounty Rum and all. It was amazing if I must say so myself. I think I like it better without the rum, but it was the idea of true bananas foster (Is bananas foster even made with rum, or something else?). Next it was shower time, read book time, and make spinach noodle and tomato mac n’ cheese (with parmesan cheese). Pretty dank. Tonight it was raining. I think the rainy season is here, so not many people were out and about. I stayed at home reading The Odyssey and fell asleep early. Thursday, December 10, 2009 Upon arrival at our docking village there was a newly built house! The provincial office in Rakiraki gave it to us as a waiting house for buses, but honestly our village and the surrounding villages wanted it as a waiting house for the boats. We have a new Boat House! I should name it. I am definitely going to decorate it with Alcohol Effects, Tobacco Effects, Marijuana Effects, Food Fish of Fiji, and HIV/AIDS posters. It will be a stylin’, educational waiting house! Very exciting! I got a letter from my friend in Peru today. She has been having a rough time with Peace Corps. I am totally bummed that she has had to experience a few awful events. Hopefully she is recovering and turning to friends and family for support. I admire her courage and persistence. I think I would have already quit. She also sent me this beautiful cloth coin purse full of Peruvian chocolates! The cloth is used in the southern parts of Peru as a baby hammock and in their clothing. Thank you! Today was a relaxing day in town. I talked to Mom on Skype, ate lunch with the volunteers, shopped a little, and bought veggies. The exciting part came while we were on the carrier back to the boat house. John C. had asked me to stop at his road to pick up a counter for my kitchen and a book shelf for the kindergarten. We stopped the carrier and I jumped out to help. The bookshelf is beautiful and the countertop is perfect! He is such an amazing handy man (along with all sorts of other talents!)! The bookshelf ended up in my house until the kindergarten starts again because it fit so perfectly under a shelf next to my bed. I always have junk on the floor so I threw it all on the shelves! I may have to beg him to help me make another one. I feel so bad, but his talents must be utilized! Hehe. Thank you so much John for your generous gifts! The kindergarten teacher might not know about it until the start of the next school year, so there will be a thank you note from her next year. We finally reached the boat house, but the waves were pretty wild today. We waited until 5 PM to set sail, reaching my village without any trouble! Wednesday, December 9, 2009 What a gorgeous day! Her house is covered in mosquitoes unlike mine, but we burned a sandalwood mosquito coil all night and day. When we woke up we ate yogurt with plantains then we headed to the provincial office. Wow, Alfred, the man I spoke to, has so much hope and support for us! He said that there was a Fijian man that came to the office the week before for a training and that him and his wife had quit their jobs (in Suva and at Fiji Water) to make Virgin Coconut Oil in their village in Vanua Levu (the other big island of Fiji)! He was telling Alafareti (Alfred) that my district (plus Lydia’s) should be producing VCO and that he was more than willing to come help us get started. He and his wife in Vanua Levu are selling their oil at $80/Liter to Thailand. Honestly, this price sounds outrageous and impossible, so hopefully soon I will be able to speak to the man directly. Plus Alfred said that he would write us a letter supporting our project. Score! We left the Provincial Office and headed to a nearby village to buy eggs. They didn’t have any. Then we headed to the Ministry of Agriculture. They weren’t present. So we headed back home and I started to write the business plan for our village. It turned into an eight page, full-blown professional business plan with a few details from the budget missing. When I get back to my village later today I will ask Sio about the budget so that it will be finalized when I go to town next week! This project took me most of the day. For lunch we had fresh vegetable wraps and chocolate bananas for dessert. Dinner was a chaana/Indian meal with garlic bread. I have never been a fan of Indian food, but the North Indian dishes really grow on me. This particular one was delicious, so I included the recipe below: ______________________________ Tuesday, December 8, 2009 Today I got two more Christmas gifts in the mail, and I am done shopping for Christmas! Sorry if you did not get a gift, money is tight, and there is not really anything worth buying in these stores. Mostly the things Australia didn’t want. I ended up doing all of my shopping at a place called Jack’s of Fiji which is the most popular tourist shop. I will start working on getting real Fijian handicrafts for birthdays. I got to eat my amazing hamburger at Hook and Chook today! I also went to see NEW MOON! I loved it. People gave me mixed reviews, so I was nervous to go, but because I had read the books I was determined to see all of the movies! It followed the book almost exactly. The characters were similar to what I had imagined, but the Cullens’ house in Forks was not what the book described, or at least what I expected. The acting wasn’t right on, but good story overall. It’s a good thing Jacob got cuter towards the end. His looks in the beginning were disappointing! I got a helmet from the Peace Corps office! So, it turns out I am supposed to wear a helmet on a horse. I do not remember this rule from training, but apparently it says so in the Policies and Procedures Handbook. So I signed out a helmet for riding the horses in the village. I also got 35 toothbrushes from the office for teaching a Colgate seminar on tooth care! The people of my village know to brush their teeth, but they do not know how often, how to stroke the teeth, or to floss. So I feel like a seminar will be short and sweet and teach the kids the proper way as well! Since my boat is not leaving until tomorrow I thought I would stay in Suva the entire time. When I talked to IHRDP and they told me to speak to my local Provincial Office I decided to head back towards my village so that I could pop my head in and speak to the Provincial Administrator. I caught a bus at 5:15 PM and arrived at a friends’ house at 8:30 PM. We stayed up about 2 hours talking! It was so good to catch up with her! Monday, December 7, 2009 The original plan was that I was going to be going back to the village yesterday or today. Well, never plan on things to go the way they are supposed to here in Fiji. I am relying on some friends from the village, who are staying in Nausori, for a boat back to my village. So, they decided to stay through Wednesday, so I stay through Wednesday. No problem. Today I headed to IHRDP at 10 AM for a meeting with the Virgin Coconut Oil executives (lol, a Peace Corps volunteer and his boss). My namesake came too with a sample of our oil from our village. IHRDP was very impressed that we had already begun to produce it without any training. I explained to them that we are very determined and that a lot of research has been done to start our business. They said that they work with the village for 2 years, do all of the training, business management, buy machinery, bottles, find the market, make labels, etc. What an incredible job they are doing to help Fijians get a business going. I admire their job. We are on their list for possible projects, so now what we need to do is go to our local provincial office, and then write a letter to the commissioner. As soon as I left their building I headed to the Peace Corps office to write the letter, print, and make plans to bring it to the Provincial Office. At the Peace Corps office I made fliers for different workshops, including: HIV/AIDS, Noncommunicable Diseases, Waste Management, Money Management, Business Management, Smoking/Alcohol, and Virgin Coconut Oil Training. I feel like if they have a piece of paper in front of them with the time, date, and meeting place they are more likely to remember and show up. We will see how that goes. Also at the office I printed off my Virgin Coconut Oil Diagram and Instructions so that there would be a copy for most of the women and coconut plantation owners in the village. Everyone is so interested in the possibility! Well, I couldn’t resist, I went to another movie! Armored. Not so good, but I was in a familiar place with a coffee dipped cone in hand. It was somewhat of an action movie, but at the same time you could predict what was going to happen, too many people die, and it is a typical movie where the characters had so many other options, but they take the stupid route. Like having a police car 10 yards away, but for some reason you never utilize it to escape. De De Dee. Oh well, Hollywood directors are running out of topics I guess. I am pretty excited about Avatar and Sherlock Holmes! I think Avatar will even be in 3D! After the movie a few PCVs and I got things to make pineapple pizza and spaghetti. So, I bought my supplies and headed back to the house. Sunday, December 6, 2009 Boats in the harbor. Not a lot to do on a Sunday in the city. Slept in, played on the internet, made a Skype date with Mom at 4 PM, and headed to town at 2:30 PM. Lisa and I found the coolest food court known to man! Ok, the coolest known to man in Fiji. There are about 10 kiosks/restaurants, but each one serves something from a different part of the world. There was Meditteranean, Chinese, South Indian, North Indian (Maya Dhaba – YUM), Fijian, what they call American, Japanese, and an upscale bakery. The food looked fresh and different. I will have to go back and try a few dishes. At 4 PM I talked to Mom for about 30 minutes and then Charter cut her off so I left to walk around Suva until Lisa was done with the internet. It was such a relaxing feeling to walk around the city without hundreds of people pushing through you. There were no thoughts of anyone picket-pocketing me, I wasn’t running over little kids, and the shoe shiners weren’t stopping me every 5 steps (when I am wearing flip-flops). Very pleasant. Lisa and I had a dinner date, supposed to be at Hook and Chook, they were closed, so we ended up at Pizza Hut. Of course an American owned restaurant is open on Sunday. The chicken supreme is supreme! The Pizza Huts here are so much better than the US, but maybe that is because my expectations have been lowered. On our way home we decided to pass our turn and check out a new restaurant down the road from our friends’ houses. It was a beautiful place on the water, with the first salt water aquarium I have seen in Fiji! Plus the bar owner supplied us with free beer for the rest of the night (we only had two each). He said they would be playing new release movies on the big flat screen as well as Utube videos. What a fantastic idea! I have never been to a bar with Utube videos! Plus there will be game nights and karyoke. Neat new place! He says that when people throw trash over the back deck he will give them a warning, the second time they throw trash they will be kicked out of the restaurant/bar. I hope he holds true to that! Trying to teach one person at a time that they need to change their ways is difficult. If you grew up throwing trash on the ground and thinking it was ok, you would do it the rest of your life too. It is hard to change someone’s habits since birth. Saturday, December 5, 2009 Most of the volunteers in Suva headed to the trash pick-up/tree planting event. It was pouring down rain, I didn’t sign up to help with any of it, and I figured playing on the internet would be more productive. At 11 AM Catherine asked me if I wanted to go with her and her friend to Pure Fiji to shop at their outlet! Of course! I was planning on going there on Monday for a tour, but maybe just talking to them in person would answer my questions. Her friend came and picked us up and we went shopping! Wow, Pure Fiji really has a monopoly. They have so many more products than I see on the shelves of stores. Their factory is immaculate, their sales team is right on key, and their owners have been in the business for 12 years. So they pretty much control the virgin coconut oil products of Fiji. I asked the manager if they needed any more oil and where do they get theirs. He said they buy 4 tons from Taveuni each month, plus 2 tons of Class B oil from Lautoka each month. I asked further about the cost of transportation from Taveuni and if it is a village or factory. Low and behold it is cheap, but coming from a factory. I am disturbed by this fact because most likely that factory is owned by an American, Australian, or New Zealander. Hardly any of the profits are being kept in Fijian hands. I think my village will have to see how much they can produce and to what quality, then head over to Pure Fiji and make an offer. Later today I went to see 2012 at one of the only two movie theaters in Fiji! It felt like home. The Village 6 is kept in new condition with a Bose sign next to the entrance (I highly doubt they put Bose in the theater, but it’s the thought that counts). A movie costs 5.50 F$ which is like $2.75 USD, cheap! Plus they sell ice cream cones (this weekend it was coffee flavored) dipped in chocolate, like Dairy Queen! I do not know of anywhere else in Fiji that has dipped cones! A special treat! The movie itself, not so great, a new spin on Armageddon. 
Friday, December 4, 2009
We set up a booth with some Peace Corps flyers and posters and waited for interested persons to stop by. Honestly the rain scared people away. Not a big crowd. I ended up leaving to shop for Christmas presents. Got mom and sis’ gifts in the mail! Be watching out for them. Sis, yours is in the mail to your new address. At 1:00 PM I went to the dentist and got my bottom retainer re-glued. It definitely only took 5 minutes. More shopping, more work in the Peace Corps Office, then off to Catherine’s house for a potluck. Man, Peace Corps is a job of extremes. After dinner we all played a game of Pictionary on paper. The game involved ten of us. We each had ten pieces of paper. The first paper we wrote a saying, word, or phrase then passed the stack to the person to our left. That person would read the phrase, put it at the back of the stack and draw it. He would pass the drawing to the next person where they would write what they see and the next person draws what the person before them wrote. So, at the end of the 10 person circle the original writer could look through his stack and see where the story ended. Many were hilarious. Let me give you an example: I wrote: Drinking water from a root Next Person drew: A person with a tree and a cup of water Next person wrote: Plant a garden and watch it grow Next person drew: A person with scary eyes next to a square of squiggly lines Next person wrote: Alien with crazy cat eyes Next person drew: A square headed cat/person with a hat/spaceship next to them Next person wrote: Spongebob Squarepants eats a cat. Next person drew: Spongebob Squarepants and a cat with an arrow pointing into Spongebob’s mouth Next person wrote: The cate attacks Spongebob Squarepants Next person drew: Spongebob Squarepants with a cat reaching out with claws. Must say, they got pretty silly, and we were really trying to follow the picture or saying. The next game was name three famous people, describe them, then describe them in two words, then act that person out. Three different rounds with two teams. Good games, good times! Thursday, December 3, 2009 LOOOONNNNGGGG Day. Woke up at 5:20 AM to be ready by 6:00 AM. I head to the boat captains house and he was headed out to pick up coconuts from the nearby settlement. I ended up hanging out with the captains’ 26 year old wife waiting on him to come back. She is amazing! Another one of my best friends in the village! She has three adorable kids and a great husband. Cute, cute family. So he comes back about an hour later. I headed to the front of the village to hop on the boat following two small boys carrying a dozen coconuts each. I climb over all of the coconuts and sit at the bow of the boat. We head off for town. Low and behold we only get to the first settlement before we have to stop. Wow. We end up drifting through a river among mangroves. It was beautiful. My new destination on my bilibili at high tide. I can’t wait to take some good pictures! The mangrove forest. So two hours later we arrive at our boat docking village and I am forced again to climb over about 100 dozen coconuts to reach the beach. All of the coconuts I had to climb over. Next, wait for a carrier. I end up smooshing my body into the hole of a tire and riding 30 minutes with the wind blowing in my hair. Upon arrival I only had time to get on the internet for half an hour. I waited on mom, no show. I waited on Kate, no show. I waited on Teresa, no show. So, got nothing accomplished. The kindergarten teacher had asked me to go with her to a kindy luncheon and gift exchange. I was told to meet at 10:00 AM at the market. I get there dressed and on time and she is wondering around the market not dressed or ready to go. Typical Fijian time - I just get so frustrated with me being on time somewhere and then I find out we aren’t using a watch, just learning patience with every passing minute. I wait until after 11:15 before we catch a carrier to the village. We are greeted warmly, I am given the most important seat in the house, as well as I drink grog first. It is hard to decide if Fijians are doing this out of respect or more so to showcase you like a circus animal. I try and take it as a compliment either way. Other volunteers don’t always take a liking to the attention. The party was supposed to end at 1:00. I had to catch the only bus after noon from town at 2:30. The party wasn’t over when I hopped on a bus at 1:45 back to town. The teachers drank some grog, had a meeting, exchanged gifts, then ate a feast. I escaped the feast. Lol. Oh Fijian food. So after I was safe on the express bus I was able to relax and read a little “The Sex Lives of Cannibals”. I got in Suva, dropped my stuff off at the hotel and went straight to my favorite restaurant for a hamburger. I walk in and hear my name. There are several volunteers just starting to eat! So I joined them. We decided to go see 2012 after dinner. Oh my goodness, one of the only times I have felt like I was in America in Fiji. The theatre was so much like theatres in America, although, theatres in Fiji offer cappuchino ice cream with the hard chocolate crust like Dairy Queen! So cool. The movie, not so cool. An Armageddon look alike. After the movie I headed home and went straight to bed. Wednesday, December 2, 2009 Going to town tomorrow! I have been craving ice cream for days! I am also going to Suva this weekend. I was flossing earlier this morning and somehow I flossed my bottom retainer off a tooth. So, apparently Peace Corps wants me to get it fixed in Suva. I was planning on going down this weekend anyways for work leave. I have to meet up with IHRDP, Manjesh, and Sateesh. Lots of research on Virgin Coconut Oil. We are currently looking into a market in New Zealand as well as possibly markets in Fiji, although, to promise a certain amount of product, we must have the machines to reduce the labor and time. I am planning on touring a virgin coconut oil factory in Nausori and possibly a government housing based VCO company. We will see… Friday and Saturday are also International Volunteer Days. Friday is a parade/walk through Suva City plus booths and entertainment. Saturday is trash pick-up and mangrove planting. Not sure yet if I will be able to help out on Saturday, but I will be in the walk and sitting at the booth. Yay! Go volunteers! My two sisters singing a meke at the concert. Today I left at 9:00 AM to head to the nearby district primary school for their end of the year concert. Well, the concert/entertainment did not start until 1:00 PM. Also, Lydia did not appear until after 12:30 PM. Long day! The concert went well, the kids were adorable, and the company was good. SUVA! Yes. I slept in a little, got up, ate everyone’s yogurt , then headed to the PC Office. We all gathered in our white shirts and PC sulus. Around 9:30 AM went down to the flea market to wait on the other volunteers around Fiji to get in line and ready to walk. The police band. By 10:30 AM we start the walk. Much bigger event than I expected! Very successful even in the torrential downpour. Although, after the concert the school committee did not have any respect for all of the family waiting to take their children home after school. So the children, women, friends, and family all waited until 8:00 PM for this meeting to be over. Of course the men were drinking yaqona so they did not realize the passing time. I decide to ride with someone else around 7:00 PM but find out that he has gone to another village to drop his mother off (and buy diesel). Two more hours pass. At 8:00 PM the meeting is over and Ta is ready to go home, but he did not prepare enough diesel to get us back to the village. So, we wait on the man I was going to ride with to come back. He comes back without any diesel, the store was out. I still board the boat with the other man and get home around 10:00 PM. So my 6 hour day at school turned into a 14 hour event. Exhausted. Thank goodness this weekend is a work weekend in Suva. Tuesday, December 1, 2009 The trophy with the winner! So John got up this morning, hopped back on his kayak, and headed to Lydia’s village. A lot of the day I spent at my namesake’s house. We had a VIRGIN COCONUT OIL CONTEST! I bought a trophy piece of a man holding up a rugby ball (well, the coconut of course) and I screwed it to half of a coconut shell. See pictures below! The Turaga Ni Koro ended up winning! I told him he better display his trophy proudly. He just seemed to think the prize was silly. Oh well, I thought it was a worthy prize. The rest of the day I visited with some villagers. Monday, November 30, 2009 Lots of laundry and dishes. Today John came to see me on his kayak. Well, honestly he was coming to check on the queen bees that he had brought a few weeks before. It turns out they had a normal success rate – about 80%. After talking for a bit about the challenges in Fiji – AKA Peace Corps – we went up to my namesake’s house. I watched their baby Ulamila while they checked the bees. Ulamila Then the boys drank grog while I made Zattaran’s Red Beans and Rice. Finally I offered for us to go to the big pool of water to cool off. After jumping off the cliff a few times we headed back, made dinner, and went back up where the men were drinking yaqona. Eventually I fell asleep by the grog bowl and was wakened to “Time to go to bed”. John and I headed down and passed out. Sunday, November 29, 2009 Well, Fiji’s daylight hours only range between 5:00 AM – 6:00 PM versus 6:00 AM – 7:00 PM, but for some reason they decided to respect daylight savings this year. So, the time went ahead an hour today, which is throwing me off for church. I actually moved my clock back, went to the water hole for a shower because the water wasn’t working, and I ended up swimming through church service. I get back ready to get dressed and church is ending. Oh well. Other than that, I just chit-chatted with the 18-year-old girl in the village who is 5 months pregnant and one of my best friends! My namesake, her husband, and Ulamila. Saturday, November 28, 2009 Yesterday I was told that my blogs are written backwards and that people have to start at the bottom for it to make sense. Sorry guys, I can definitely start writing them this way if it follows a better order. I have never really thought about it. Today I woke up, caught a taxi with some friendly Fijians down the road headed to the Miss South Pacific Pageant to sell some corn, and headed to the market for last minute shopping. I picked up my new sulu jaba (the flower print shirt and skirt that is worn to any event, whether it be church, a funeral, or just everyday wear) and I absolutely love it! I paid out the butt for the material and for the seamstress, but I am proud of my new “suit” and will enjoy wearing it! I think my Yaca is going to have one made for me as well. Then I will have four! I also mailed the Chadwick’s Christmas presents and a small thank you to the First Christian Church. I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get all of my errands done in an hour so that I could catch my bus. So, I made it with two minutes to spare. Wow, I am not sure I ever want to ride the bus on a Saturday again. Getting on in Suva was not a problem. We were full, but I thought nothing of it. We pull into Nausori and there are 30 or so people waiting to get on our bus. You wouldn’t believe it, but we smooshed every last one of those people onto our full bus. There were at least 20 people standing in the tiny aisle. I thought the bus driver was crazy. Apparently he was just trying to make money. I ended up sharing a two seater with three other people. So it was me, this 10 year old boy who ended up sleeping in my lap, a Bubu (grandmother) and her 6 year old granddaughter in the other seat. I did not feel like it was fair that I paid my way for a seat on the bus and I ended up getting ¼ of a seat. Tis is Fiji. So I, somehow, sanely made it to my boat landing and again, somehow, made it off the crowded bus with all of my junk. Then it was time to wait on the coast for about two hours until the people came from town. I was pleasantly surprised when I walked down to the beach and Asa, another volunteer from an outer island, was sitting on the sand talking to a few Fijians. He was going to visit Lydia to learn how to beekeep! Cool! So, at least for those two hours I had someone to talk to. Finally my Turaga Ni Koro shows up and we board the boat to head back to the village. Long boat ride, I am home safely, with the electricity on (but no extension cord or light bulb in my house). So, I continue to use my handy, dandy lantern. I really like the lantern better than irradescent light anyways! I’m content! I think I am going to head down to the house below where all of the men are drinking yaqona. Time to socialize a bit. Miss ya’ll terribly! Wish I could be there for Christmas! Friday, November 27, 2009 Got up early, again, so that I could get to an internet café and talk to family! I was really hoping to talk to the Hoseys, but they were not at Teresa’s house, so I missed out. We will schedule another time. I did get to talk to my mom, sister, Aunt Lisa, and cousin, Daniel! Always exciting! They had all just finished eating and were in good spirits. I think my sister could have used another glass of wine, but other than that they are all doing well! Thank you sis for talking to me so long! It made me feel like old times. You know, those days were we could hang out all day giving advice, telling stories, and goofing off. Sorry I am not around. The rest of the day was filled with running errands, doing work at the Peace Corps office, eating some amazing fish and chips (at Hook and Chook, although Peg Leg Pete’s in Pensacola, FL beats Fiji’s). Buying Christmas presents, watching the biggest Christmas tree in Fiji be erected, and shopping for a guitar. I found one! Although, the bad news, it needs new strings, and I left it in the office thinking I could go get it the next day before I left town, but low and behold, the next day is a Saturday. Dang it… I didn’t think this one through. It’s all good though. I will get it eventually. I searched and searched until I walked into this random pawn shop in Suva, the lady handed me the guitar, and I felt like I was holding my own child. Ok, maybe not that much love, but it felt natural for real. I am excited to see my love again! The night consisted of bar hopping, eating dinner, hanging out with a cool Australian guy, and going to bed by 11:00 PM. I am such a party pooper. Thursday, November 26, 2009 Turkey Day! Got up early, took the boat to the landing and hopped a bus to Suva. Well, I ended up getting off in Nausori to search for a guitar in the pawn shops. No luck. Although, soon after getting off in town I saw Graham, one of my closest Peace Corps friends! So, we ended up hanging out in Nausori until we got our errands done, and then we hopped on a minibus together and headed to Suva. Upon arrival we stopped in the nearest grocery store and purchased beer, wine, butter and ice cream. What else would you need in Fiji? We hired a taxi to our friends’ house were all the volunteers were meeting up for our Thanksgiving feast! Oh my goodness, people rolled in by about 5:00 PM and we had WAY too much food. The table spread included kumala yams, mashed potatoes, mac ‘n cheese, ravioli, dips, chips, fruit salad, ambrosia salad, cranberry sauce, pizza dip, mango salsa, ferns, gravy, veggies, and what we like to call our chicken “turkey”. There are no turkeys in Fiji and so the ones that are imported are outrageously expensive, so we settled for a large chicken. I ate so much that I did not want to eat dessert. Although, the way it works in a volunteer setting with amazing food in front of them is more like a fight between a vulture and a hyena for the leftover skull of a lion. Pretty much, first come, first served, and often times, the only one served. So, I had to fill my plate with dessert (and ice cream) forcing me to start eating before my stomach was prepared. I ate waaayyyy too much. I felt like my stomach was going to expel itself. The worst part of it was we were playing a bag game where we sit a paper bad on the floor and you have to stand on one leg, bend down, and pick up the bag in your mouth. Each time the bag got shorter, a lot like the limbo. Let me tell you, it was not easy when my stomach was 5 inches bigger than normal. So, needless to say, I was unable to play past the third tear, and I needed to lie down to avoid throwing up. Yes, I ate until I was sick. So, I missed out on a lot of the fun. Oops! So, the day was eventful, good time with friends, and ended with a wonderful sleep. 
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Another day of training. Today we covered Governance. It turned into a really good conversation between the volunteers and the Fijians. We learned a lot more about how the community meetings are run, how people are punished for breaking rules, and the ways that minority groups get their opinions heard. We also went over our trimester reports and how to fill in the computer program correctly. Since I was not in the system this past trimester report I had not seen the way we are supposed to fill them out, so I was glad to have the opportunity to play around in the program before the next one is due. Very productive this morning! We were done at lunch time, so my counterpart and I went to The Uprising Hotel for a gander, The Pearl to meet up with Peace Corps volunteers and Pacific Harbour to shop. We found my favorite scent of Virgin Coconut Oil lotion and a small bottle of massage oil. Perfect for his wife! Then we headed back to the Christian Camp for dinner… of which was fried fish with mashed potatoes, a salad, and bread, plus they made of special meal for the Fijians of fish in lolo and cassava. They had wanted fish and cassava since we arrived at training! It was sooo sweet of the camp to cook them what they eat everyday! After dinner I took an hour nap, woke up, and had a cartwheel contest among the volunteers. I definitely won with 22 cartwheels. The runner up (Lydia) did 15! Superstar! We all swung on the swings and talked, then headed to the beach for a few rounds of beer and story time. My counterpart was struck by how different conversations are between Fijians versus Americans. He noticed how our conversations revolved around movie stars, sex, hydrogen atoms, and our childhood whereas the Fijians conversations are about what they ate for lunch or when they went to sleep the night before. Lol. Major difference! I am glad that he had the opportunity for the first time to sit with a group of “white people” (honestly, they call us all Kai-Valaqi, which is a white person or European) and see how we are different. Enlightening! Friday, November 20, 2009 Last night, my counterpart ended up getting drunk (Good for him! The villagers never have the opportunity to drink. I hardly ever drink, but I am glad he had the chance to do something different!), going to bed at 2 AM, waking up at 4 AM for prayer service, then leaving at 6 AM to catch a bus back towards our village. Although he did not feel 100%, he was a trooper on the way home. Thanks Counterpart for an enjoyable trip! So today we traveled back towards our village by going through Lautoka. I had plans of talking to Punjas who has a line of Virgin Coconut Oil products on the shelves. After calling them, I found out that they are not producing VCO products at the moment. He did tell me that if we have a few tons that we are willing to sell at the right price, then he may be interested in purchasing it from us. Until then he had no need to speak to me. Wow! We just have to get started and find the buyer after we have the product. I also searched for coconut oil scrapers in the hardware stores because I was told Lautoka was the place for find those things. Nope. None in sight. The stores didn’t even know what I was talking about. So, we will look elsewhere. For us to produce a lot, we are going to need machines and electricity though. Hopefully the generator is getting fixed! Saturday, November 21, 2009 So yesterday I decided to stay with John and Judy instead of going back to the village. I wanted to make paddles for my bamboo raft. So, I got dropped off on the King’s Road at their junction and had John come pick me up. What a sweet, sweet man. He is willing to help anyone no matter what he has to go through! Thank you John! Upon arrival Judy made my banana pudding and tea! We talked over tea and then she started making dinner and we ate. I fell asleep by 8 PM because of the long and hot bus ride. I have learned never to take the bus through Lautoka again unless I am staying over a night somewhere. The ride is much longer taking this route and costs more. This morning we woke up, had yummy yogurt with muesli, pineapple, and banana, and headed out to the workshop to make paddles out of Dakua! John says that Fiji should grow Dakua to send to America because it is the best wood he has ever worked with. He says it does not split, is light, but sturdy. So, we got out the belt sander, rotary sander, jig saw, hand saw, and some cool wood chipper manly toy. We marked our paddle with a pencil, used a hand saw to cut it out, used the jig saw on the curves, used the cool wood chipper tool to thin the paddles width, then used a rotary sander (I do not think this is the real name. Made this one up and the cool wood chipper tool) to more neatly shape the curves. Between the belt sander, the rotary sander, and manually sanding, I have two beautiful paddles to take me out to the “off-limits” reef. Exciting! Thank you again John for all of your help and expertise! You and Judy teach me so much every time I visit! Sunday, November 22, 2009 I learned a lot today, but still took a three hour nap. How do I sleep so much? This is my work in Fiji! Sio, this amazing beekeeper, has done all of the work for me for the Virgin Coconut Oil. He has found a market outside of Fiji, set up a system of selling 20 – 20 L containers each time, and spoken to a few of the families in the village with coconut plantations. He and his wife have begun the experimentation process and have almost perfected it! We will start producing it this week and in two weeks time have a good system down! There will be a monitor, probably me since I will not be producing it but I can oversee the process, that checks that each step is done sanitarily and efficiently. We also have an opportunity to borrow an electric scraper that will take off half the time it takes to scrape the coconut meat out of the shell. Also, we are going to look into a mechanical press to get the most VCO out of the coconut meat. It appears that we will be in business soon! I learned that bees are being harvested for their venom. The juices they release into your skin when they sting can also be used in acupuncture to heal aches. Who would have thought more pain would cure previous pain? I believe that it works though, since the world is starting to lean on organic products and natural medicines, we will begin to find all kinds of unique cures in the wild! The research and findings have only begun. Oh, also, when a Fijian baby is healthy and ready to be taken off of breast milk the mom sends the baby to a family member for a week who cannot breast feed. The relative must start bottle feeding the baby so that when he/she goes back home, he/she is off the breast. Why don’t Americans do this? I guess some do, but for the most part I have not heard of this genius idea before now. I guess the relative has the hard job. The amazing beekeeper I mentioned earlier is also going to try crab farming! I do not know if I mentioned it earlier, but as far as Peace Corps knows, there are no success stories of crab farming in Fiji. Noqu Yaca (my Namesake) is going to try it here in the village! She says that she has gathered information from a village near Pacific Harbour that is successfully raising the crabs that sell for $8+ each. This is a lot of money here in Fiji. She says that you must cover the inside of your crab farming hole with the linoleum/plastic floor covering. The crabs dig holes horizontally in the mud instead of down, so covering the sides prevents them from escaping. She is going to catch about 20 young mud crabs and place them in her crab hole and try a trial and error experiment. The people already doing it down south also told her to feed them coconut meat and the small fish that people catch but throw back into the water. She must let the fish rot for one day so that the crab will use its scavenger instincts and eat it. Really the whole idea sounds too good to be true! Good luck to Yaca! I am so glad that Fijians are willing to experiment and try something new. They have so many natural resources that are not being utilized, and therefore die or are eaten by animals. Use them! Make money! One more thing they do… make candles from their bee wax! How cool is that! I have wanted candles ever since I came to my bure and realized how the mildew smell takes over. Mom sent me some “new car” trees, which are doing this trick for now, but candles are a must. The bee wax candles are brilliant! Yaca is also going to start writing down recipes for my small income generating idea. Hopefully I am right about this! Sorry no details, I have to protect my inventions! Monday, November 23, 2009 I am exhausted. It is only 10:00 AM and I have already made vanilla pudding, pancakes, macaroni and cheese (parmesan), cut my grass (which involves a machete, rake, a huge basin, and a dump site), made an area behind my house for a garden (cannot plant until March), and took a shower. No I did not eat all of that – I took lots to neighbors and saved some for dinner. Productive morning. Wow, I just had Yaca’s Dahl soup and it is the best I have ever had! I think she said she uses coconut milk in it. She is definitely the right person for the recipes job! The rest of today I made Christmas cards, collected shells for the cards, helped make the thank you notes for First Christian Church, and went on a walk to my favorite rock! Ok, the coolest rock around… it is shaped like a mushroom because of the wave action, but it has a dip in the side facing the ocean that is the perfect size for me! I sit there watching the waves roll in, study the reefs, great view of Ovalou, and there is an amazing rock structure that juts out just beyond my rock. It is on the tip of a small peninsula and overlooks a beautiful bay with a beach and coconut plantations. I will have to show pictures later! I tried to make mac ‘n cheese with parmesan cheese. It worked but was way too parmesan cheesy, so I made some tomato and onion Italian sauce that I poured over the shells n’ cheese. Amazing! I think this recipe needs to be added to the Peace Corps Recipe book. I also made vanilla pudding by scratch with Maria. I have been using it as my yogurt and pouring granola on top with dried fruit. Thank you mom for the dried fruit! It comes in handy in all sorts of ways! Tuesday, November 24, 2009 So Thanksgiving is in two days! Yay. I would be more excited if I didn’t have several important people in the village telling me I am levulevu (Fat). The only thing saving me is that I know I have not gained any weight in 8 years so I know if I am gaining… and I am not! It is part of their culture to say that every so often, possibly even every day. One day I am fit, the next fat, and the next losing weight again. Hmmm, I just want to know how they can tell that I gained an ounce, then lost two ounces. Oh Fijians. Anyways, today I spent all morning in the Kindergarten helping out with painting and fingerprints. The children are adorable, but not kept in a strict, “busy” routine. So, if they get too much sit and listen time, they tend to get up and run out of the room and then around the village. The teacher is getting stressed about it, but I try to explain that it is just the age of the children. They know their parents are close and the children know they will get away with it since they run wild through the village all day, every day. In time they will see that it is more fun in school. We only have three more days of class this year! The new school year starts mid-January! Sisi wants to save all of the supplies until then so next year will be a whole new Kindergarten experience! She really is the best teacher we could have asked for. She is fair, honest, does not raise her voice, respectful, kind, and is only teaching for the kids. A teacher most schools only dream of. After a busy day at the kindy I came home to eat, do dishes, laundry, shower, and now type. This heat is exhausting. Today it is very windy and cloudy, so much more tolerable than yesterday! I am headed to Suva in two days, so make sure those of you who are available on Thursday (in America) get on Skype around 3:00 PM! I want to see all of your smiling faces! Wednesday, November 25, 2009 Hmmm, woke up at 5:30, made breakfast, read some of Homer’s The Odyssey and fell asleep again. Lol. The good life. After waking up 2 hours later I went up to the kindy to help out a little, then headed to Noqu Yaca’s house. They were making their candles out of their beeswax as well as experimenting with virgin coconut oil. Sio is separating out every layer and placing it in the sun to see what happens when they heat up. Several are producing Class B oil (the kind the Fijians rub on their bodies) as well as more Class A oil (Virgin Coconut Oil)! So, we won’t have to waste too much of the by-products of producing the oil. I know I have mentioned this before, but until we did our own tests we weren’t sure how to produce useful products from our “waste”. Anyways, two more people starting making it today. The oil is working while they sleep! Oh, the other day Bubu Moli invited me to lunch at her house today. So I cooked up some spaghetti and brought it over with me. She had a pumpkin, tuna, and noodle soup prepared as well as Sisi brought over some curry. Lots of food! I really enjoyed the company and trying new dishes! So sweet! Early evening I went down to the beach were the boys were playing rugby and experimented with my camera a bit. I need some major help on the aperture and shutter speed settings. I guess the more I practice the easier it will get to manually set. Anyways, time to go to bed. Headed to Suva tomorrow for Thanksgiving!!! Yummy, more food to make me fat! 
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Today was the first day of the kindy! We started off with a prayer session and a short Bible lesson. Then the kids were invited up to the front of the class room and were introduced to different stuffed animals, different sounds, songs, toys, and how to follow directions! They will learn so much as soon as we get supplies and a structured curriculum. If we had just waited until January… she would not feel so strapped for activities because she would have supplies to lead lessons with. The donation should be here soon though, which will help her a lot! So the kindy started off with a good start! The rest of the day I rested, did laundry, read, slept, and cooked. Nothing too exciting. Wednesday, October 28, 2009 Today I headed early in the morning over to a nearby settlement of about 6 houses. I was going to visit a friends’ father who has been sick. His entire body has been sore, probably because of the drugs he has taken/used over the years. He is only 60 years old, but his body feels like 80. I try to tell these boys around here to quick smoking, drinking rubbing alcohol, and sometimes even filtering shoe polish and drinking it. Urgh. Lots of explaining to do! Anyways, after visiting the father the friend and I walked to his plantation planning to turn some soil and plant some cassava. Of course I found an amazing cliff that I wanted to climb nearby. Apparently I am not allowed to climb a mountain covered in rock and tall grasses alone. He bush cutted the trail in front of me as we climbed the rocks to the top. The view and wind were absolutely amazing. You could see all of the reefs, beaches, settlements, and cliffs from where we were. I just wish I had my camera. It was a very relaxing and exhilarating day! I ended up catching a boat back from the settlement to my village. As I arrived at the village I noticed the nurse’s boat in front. She comes once a month to administer medicines to those who cannot afford to go to the doctor (called the ‘hospital’ here). I inquired about a village nurse since we have two previous nurses in the village. She said that all they are allowed to do is hand out panadol (Tylenol) and bandage cuts. So, practically useless. There really isn’t a need for a village nurse I don’t guess. That concludes the project of establishing a village nurse. Yay, one thing down, lots more to go. The rest of the day was cooking, relaxing, same ole, same ole. Oh, tonight a friend from the village came over and told me about a Virgin Coconut seminar in Suva on Saturday. I have a Halloween party with all of the volunteers on Saturday night, but I think I can make it back in time. The VCO seminar is pretty important to the start of our potential future village business. I think I am going to try and head to Suva on Friday. Thursday, October 29, 2009 Today went to town. I did not get a lot done other than sign over the papers for the kindy donation! There are eight packages! Wow! I am so surprised at the generosity of the First Christian Church (Disciple of Christ) in Gainesville, Texas, USA. Aunt Sarah, Uncle Mark and the church have performed a miracle by sending so many supplies to our kindergarten. Thank you so much for all of your donations, support, and prayers. I know the children will benefit from the supplies for years and years to come! I cannot wait to get them in the mail! I did not do a lot in town today because of going to Suva tomorrow. I will have many opportunities to get what I need when I return from Suva. Friday, October 30, 2009 Got up early today to pack and clean so that I can head out to Suva. We left at 9:30 AM from the village to catch a bus at 11:30 AM to Suva. The bus ride is about 4 hours down a bumpy, gravel/dirt road along beautiful mountains and forest. We ended up getting off in Nausori at my friends’ house. I stayed the night there visiting with a business man getting into the Virgin Coconut Oil business there in Nausori. He gave me several good ideas and advice on how to produce our own VCO within the village. Saturday, October 31, 2009 I visited my friends’ family most of the early morning. We left for Suva around 8:30 AM so that we would make it to the seminar by 10:00 AM. I was supposed to buy John and Judy some corn chips from Cost-U-Less this morning (the only American grocery store in Fiji), but they were closing the store because some extension cords had fallen from the ceiling. So we headed on to the seminar. It was supposed to be a full house of 60 + people. Although, because this is Fiji and they had changed the date and time so many times, a lot of people did not get the message or already had plans with such short notice of the changes. Oh well, they can read everything she said in her manual on VCO production. It was really based on the nutritional benefits of coconuts. Of which I posted below: Coconut Tree: The Tree of Life Why is a coconut tree called “The Tree of Life”? Let’s all find out together. The Coconut Tree is known to have many uses, from its roots to tips (leaves), from culinary to non-culinary. In the Philippines, the coconut tree is considered as the “Tree of Life”. You must be wondering, why is that so? Allow me to cite the different parts of the coconut tree and its corresponding benefits and/or uses. Let’s start with… 1. Coconut Roots Coconut roots are used as beverage, dye, mouthwash, and medicine for dysentery (formerly known as flux or the bloody flux). A frayed-out piece of root can also be used as a toothbrush. 2. Coconut Trunks Coconut trunks, its hardy and durable wood is used for building small bridges, preferred for their straightness, strength and salt resistance. It is also used to make benches, tables, carvings, picutre frames, tables, tool boxes and construction materials, among others. Paper pulp can also be extracted from the coconut trunk and other woody parts of the tree. 3. Coconut Branches Coconut branches (leaf petioles) are strong and flexible enough to make a switch (a flexible rod, typically used for corporal punishment). 4. Coconut Leaves Coconut leaves can be woven to create effective roofing materials, or reed mats. It can also produce good quality paper pulp, midrib brooms, hats and mats, fruit trays, waste baskets, fans, beautiful midrib decors, lamp shades, placemats, and bags. The stiff leaflet midribs can also be used to make cooking skewers and kindling arrows. Dried coconut leaves can be burned to ash, which can be harvested for lime. 5. Coconut Fruit Coconut fruit produces buko, often used for salads, halo-halo (crushed ice with sweetened fruit), sweets and pastries. The “sport fruit” of the coconut known as makapuno is primarily harvested in the Philippines. They are sold in jars as “gelatinous mutant coconut” cut into balls or strands. Considered a delightful delicacy and largely used for making preserves and ice-cream. It is possible for it not to be kept in storage and still, will not germinate. 6. Coconut Meat Coconut meat is the thick white, fleshy substance found inside the coconut shell. It is edible and can be used fresh or dried in cooking. It can also be used to obtain coco flour, desiccated coconut, coconut milk, coconut chips, coconut candies, bukayo or local sweetened shredded coconut meat, latik copra and even, animal feeds. 7. Coconut Water Coconut water provides an isotonic electrolyte balance, and is a highly nutritious food source. Uses of coconut water include: coconut water vinegar; coconut wine; production of the chewy, fiber-rich “nata”, good as a dessert and as a laxative; as a growth factor; and as a substitute for dextrose. It is also used to cure renal disorders. “Bukolysis” is the medical process of reducing or dissolving urinary stones from the urinary tract, using buko water from 7 to 9 months old coconuts. If you heard of “water therapy”, there is also such thing as “buko/coconut therapy”. 8. Coconut Milk Coconut milk is made by processing grated coconut with hot water or milk, which extracts the oil and aromatic compounds. It should not be confused with the coconut water mentioned above, and has a fat content of approximately 17%. When refrigerated and left to set, coconut cream will rise to the top and separate out the milk. The milk is used to produce virgin coconut oil. It is a common ingredient in many tropical cuisines. In Thailand, coconut milk is the base of most Thai curries. 9. Coconut Oil Copra is the dried coconut meat and, after further processing, is a source of high coconut oil content (as much as 64%). Coconut oil is the most readily digested, of all the fats, generally used in the world. Its chief competitors are soya bean oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil. It can be rapidly processed and extracted as a fully organic product from fresh coconut flesh, and used in many ways including as a medicine and in cosmetics, or as a direct replacement for diesel fuel. Virgin coconut oil is found superior to the oil extracted from copra for cosmetic purposes. 10. (Coconut) Apical Bud Apical buds of adult plants are edible and are known as “palm-cabbage” or heart-of-palm. In the Philippines, it is known as ubod and considered one of the finest vegetables. It is considered a rare delicacy, as the act of harvesting the bud, could kill the palm. It can be served in many appetizing ways. Cubed in fairly large bits, makes a wonderful addition to Spanish rice, or in their long strips, to Arroz a la Cubana. It is also eaten in salads (mixed with mayonnaise or thousand island dressing), known as “Millionaire’s Salad”. 11. Coconut Infloresence Out of the bud of the coconut tree’s infloresence is a fermented juice called coconut toddy or, in the Philippines, tuba. The principal uses of the toddy are: as fresh beverage; for producing alcoholic beverages; for producing vinegar; for making sugar; and as a source of yeast for making bread. 12. Coconut Husk Coconut husks are made of bristle fiber (10%), mattress fiber (20%) and coir dust and shorts or wastes (70%). Coir is used in ropes, mats, brushes, caulking boats and as stuffing fibre; it is also used extensively in horticulture for making potting compost. The husk can be used for fuel and are a good source of charcoal. Dried half coconut shells with husks are used to buff wooden floors, making it clean and shiny (free from dusts). In the Philippines, it is known as “bunot”. Fresh inner coconut husk can be rubbed on the lens of snorkelling goggles to prevent fogging during use. 13. Coconut Shell Coconut shell produces the core of the most saleable household products and fashion accessories that can be turned into lucrative, wide-selling cottage industries. In the Philippines, dried half shells are used as musical instrument in a folk dance called “Maglalatik”, a traditional dance about conflicts for coconut meat within the Spanish era. They are also used in theatres, banged together to create the sound effect of a horses’ hoofbeats. Half coconut shells may be deployed as an improvised bra, especially for comedic effect or theatrical purposes. Shirt buttons can be carved out of dried coconut shell. Coconut buttons are often used for Hawaiian Aloha shirts. You see how amazing the coconut tree is? In fact, in the Philippines, it is considered as one of the major dollar earner industry that provides livelihood to most of the country’s population. Indeed, a Tree of Life! And did you know that in World War II, coastwatcher scout Biuki Gasa was the first of two from the Solomon Islands to reach the shipwrecked, wounded, and exhausted crew of Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 commanded by then, the future U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Gasa suggested, for lack of paper, delivering by dugout canoe, a message inscribed on a husked coconut shell. This coconut shell was later kept on the President’s desk, and is now, in the John F. Kennedy Library. Sunday, November 1, 2009 Last night I headed back towards home and stayed at a resort called Volivoli with all of the volunteers on the big island. There were about 20 of us staying together in backpackers dorms. We celebrated Halloween by dressing up in crazy Sulu Jabas (Traditional Fijian attire) or whatever we wanted. I was a taboo Fijian cook. Pretty much wore a swimsuit and a Vera Bradley apron. Real cute! Lol. Anyways, I stayed sober and the party went on as always. We jumped the bonfire, did cartwheels on the beach, and danced until 10:30. Yes, I guess because everyone started drinking at 1:00 PM they were dead tired very early into the night. So, everyone went to sleep, woke up this morning, had breakfast together at the restaurant and began separating to our villages around Viti Levu. I headed over to John and Judy’s house for a Terrioki Fish dinner. Judy is the best cook in Fiji (it does help that she is from Alabama and has lived in Texas for the last several years – she knows what is good)! Monday, November 2, 2009 Today I stayed with Judy while John went to tend to bees all around Ra. Judy and I went to town. We had fun shopping together as we were in no hurry and treated like tourists (usually a bad thing, but today I did not mind). After getting our grocery’s we headed back to the village and made grilled cheese sandwiches, relaxed, took a nap by the pool, and took a hot shower! Never take hot water for granted. Cold showers are obnoxious. Well, there were no boats back to my village today because of the weather, and it turns out my ride for tomorrow isn’t coming either because he was unable to collect the coconuts today to take to market tomorrow. So this means that I am stuck in the village for another night. Hopefully when Peace Corps comes on Wednesday we will have a boat hired to take me back. Urgh. I just feel like I am imposing on all of my friends on this side of the bay because I don’t have a boat. Sorry John and Judy! Thank you for your hospitality and friendship! Watched Whale Rider tonight. Tuesday, November 3, 2009 Today I got up bright and early to go with John, beekeeping. He is a genius when it comes to bees. He has been a beekeeper in the Ukraine, United States, Fiji, and I think Romania. He gives all of his time for free: ranging from seminars for beginners to specifics such as splitting hives. For four weeks he will be going to different villages all around Ra teaching them how to raise a queen, giving them queen cells, and teaching how to split their hives. A few months ago he went around to all of the villages teaching them how to raise bees, the daily duties of a beekeeper, how to extract, etc. He is also working with a Peace Corps Volunteer, Leslie, who goes with him to all of the villages and teaches as well. I should mention, he is a RPCV from Fiji, who served in a village very close to here about 20 years ago. Very intelligent man! I ended up staying with John and Judy again tonight because of the bad weather and boat situation. We made chicken alfredo and grilled fresh okra that I picked from the farm today. We started to watch a movie, but of course I fell asleep within the first 5 minutes. Wednesday, November 4, 2009 Finally headed to the boat-docking village and found two boats from my village throwing out their anchors to go to town. I stopped my Ta and told him Peace Corps was coming today to do a site visit and that we needed to hire him to take us to the village. He sent Pete on his way to sell the coconuts in town and I called Sis while I waited on Peace Corps. They showed up, we went to the village, did an isevusevu, visited for a while (answered about 35 questions), had tea, headed back to the boat-docking village, and Ta and I caught a ride to town with them. In town I headed straight to the post office to collect the donation from Gainesville, Texas! Between the help of two men and me, we carried the 7 boxes and one poster tube down to the carrier truck. For just 1 American Dollar the boxes and I safely traveled 15 km to the boat, where we loaded them and took them out to remote Fiji. The boxes are now in my bure waiting to be opened on Monday after school. Thursday, November 5, 2009 Today I woke up late, about 8:30AM, and headed up to help with the kindy. Most of the day I was in the Kindergarten storage room organizing the shelves so that all of the new supplies would have a designated location. I will probably be the responsible one for making sure it stays organized. The teacher just has too much to do each day, including walking back and forth from her settlement, about a 30 minute walk and taking all of the supplies in and out of the room for use each day. Hopefully soon we will have teacher’s quarters so that she does not have to travel so much. Yesterday when Peace Corps visited they told me about “Life Skills Training” at the beginning of January. Our youth group just started back up two weeks ago (first time in about 2 years) and I know the manager of the group would definitely benefit from this training. So today I wrote my letter of interest/application so that he may go with me. Only ten volunteers are invited so hopefully my letter is good enough! Friday, November 6, 2009 Today I woke up at 5:30 AM and started cooking. Go figure. I made this amazing pineapple syrup, although I was going for more of a pineapple jelly. Oh well. It tastes darn good on my pancakes and French toast. Anyways, went up to the kindy again today to help out. Hung several posters and played with the kids (and their old, worn out toys). Before heading up to the kindy I pulled all of my mats and mattresses out to sun. There have been several rainy days which started to make my house smell a little like mildew. All is better now. After kindy, the teacher and I talked about how everything was going. She is totally worn out each day and often takes a nap on the floor in the Kindergarten room after class. I could never do her job. The kids are way too high strung around here. Hopefully after they learn what each day in kindy is going to be like they will calm down and follow directions/orders. Until then they run around like chickens with their heads chopped off. Whew! The supplies we will open on Monday will help her a lot with lessons and activities to keep them busy. Right now she is just scrounging for the next thing to talk about or a different song to teach. Later in the afternoon I wrote Mom, Sis, and Kate each a letter. You all should be getting them soon! Well, they won’t be mailed out until Thursday, so not too soon! Went to bed at like 8:00 PM because I turned off my lantern thinking that the boys were going to come back by my house and wake me up to go to Tata MaiMoli’s house… but they never woke me up. So, I slept all night with my door wide open, oh well. Saturday, November 7, 2009 Today I woke up early, made pancakes, ate with Tai, cleaned dishes, and began carrying boxes up to the kindergarten. I borrowed a hole-punch from the school and then visited a nearby house who gave me a papaya. Yum! I came back down and began organizing my next two months when Na asked me to help her make two cups of tea for the visitors. I did not even know we had any! It turns out one of them was from here, but living in a nearby village and the other one works for Mineral Resources of Fiji. He knows all about generators and came to look at ours. He spent about two hours wrapping the shrouded wires and cleaning up the fuse plate. All of his expertise and the generator is still broken. He is taking the motor for a week to see if he can get it fixed. It would be a miracle if we did not have to pay for the repairs! We are actually having a fundraising event this Friday to raise funds for the generator. If it is fixed for free or for a small price the rest of the money raised will be saved for future repairs, maintenance, and inspections! Wow, what a good plan! After tea with the visitors and pictures of him trying to fix the generator I cooked up some tuna fish salad and an amazing fruit salad of (kavika, papaya, pineapple, and banana), I headed to the trash pit to get rid of my plastics. It is impossible for me to pass plastic, glass, tin, and clothes and not pick them up. So I ended up spending about 1 hour cleaning up around “na qara” (the hole). When I came back home I was covered in “buno” (sweat) and “duka” (dirt). I showered and then went to find my missing cat and chickens. They were only 3 houses away, but that meant that I had to get the box, try very carefully to pick up the chicken and the seven chicks (yes, I think one got eaten or lost last night) without getting snapped at, and carry them to my house without the mom reaching over the edge of the box to snip my hands or head. Lol! The village definitely got some entertainment out of my crazy actions. Who cares, they already wonder about me. What is one more thing for them to talk about! Now, I am just sitting here trying to catch up on my blogs. Towards the middle of November I am going to Peace Corps Training near Pacific Harbor on the Coral Coast. We have 4 days of Project and Design Management Workshop. I have asked the Turaganikoro to go with me, but his wife has been sick so I am not sure if he is up for leaving her. We will see. Anyways, I should turn my computer off, the battery is a precious thing. Sunday, November 8, 2009 Well, tomorrow we are opening the donation! I cannot wait to see the looks on the parents’ faces! Today I spent about 5 hours on laundry. Just washing it! Not including time to dry and hang. Ugh. I miss washing machines! I did not go to church, but instead listened to my ipod and told the village I was having church at my house. Hey, I was listening to Christian music. Good enough right? After church two different people brought me cooked prawns! So I ended up have prawns for lunch and dinner! Plus Mogli got the heads! Can’t beat that! After doing laundry and lunch I took a good two hour nap. Good sleep! Then three of the women in the village came over and we played Uno and had tea. They taught me to soak the crackers in the tea and then put butter on them. It was almost like a thin sweet cake with sugar. I think it is the closest I am going to get to Jim N’ Nicks’ sweet rolls while I am here. Speaking of which, mom, can you get me a recipe that is similar to theirs? I will try and make them! After playing cards and washing dishes I took down my clothes, folded them, and then headed up the village to visit houses. I stopped at Bro Gata’s and visited with Bubu Rai and then went to Tata MaiMoli’s and visited with their family. On my way back down I stopped where the boys were smoking Fijian tobacco and one of them was holding a kitten very similar to Mogli, but a little bigger. I decided to bring her to my house, feed her, and see if she wants to stay. Na Na Ma does not want me to keep her because of the 8 new chickens. Mother’s always know best and I should probably listen to her advice since she was the one who gave the chickens to me. Animals are just so mistreated here that I want to take in the ones that are not cared for. We will play it by ear! Speaking of the chicken, she does not want to stay near my house so I chase after her and the babies every night to keep them safe in the kitchen. Mili told me today to tie a string to the mom’s leg to keep her close to the house until she understands that it is her new home. I feel bad about doing this, but to avoid chasing her, pissing her off, and getting snapped at I should probably try it. Sounds like sound advice! Well, I must start writing my Work Plans, oh, Peace Corps busy work… Monday, November 9, 2009 The donation went very smoothly today! I explained to the students as well as their parents and several members of the community where the donations came from (exact city in Texas) which actually turned into a geography lesson. Then, the children were allowed to open the boxes and pull anything out they wanted to play with. Everyone was so delighted and the children could not believe their eyes. There were so many things that they had never dreamed of, plus a lot that they had no idea what to do with! Lol. They will soon learn what a ‘craft’ or ‘art’ is. I am ecstatic! They will actually be given the opportunity to use their imagination! The parents were also extremely thankful. I took this picture of the children holding up a “Vinaka Texas” (Thank you, Texas)! They cannot wait to come to school tomorrow and play with the new things! Thank you so much First Christian Church (Disciple of Christ) in Gainesville, Texas, USA! Thank you to the Minister and his wife, Rev. Mark and Sarah Loewen, the Outreach Committee, and the congregation for all of your generosity and love! You all have done more for my community than you will ever know! We will get a big ‘thank you’ out to you as soon as possible! I really appreciate all that you have given in the name of the Lord. You all truly are Heaven Sent! So after the opening of the donation we had a kindy committee meeting and then I headed to the nearby settlement to help build my bamboo raft. Well, when I got there the boys had already built it. Man! I wanted to learn how. Oh well, not I have my own raft and the only thing left is making paddles. Maybe this weekend at John and Judy’s! Tomorrow is a fundraising event for the Women’s club. It is only $2 which will go towards buying new pots and pans for the community hall. On Friday we have the big fundraising event for the generator. I have not had electricity since I moved to the village. So I am quite excited! Oh, and the Turaga ni koro agreed to go with me to my training next week! Yay! He will learn a lot and I will be able to have a pleasant time. My Ta has been making poor decisions lately, so I am glad that someone else is willing to go. Hmmm, time to sleep. Moce mada. Tuesday, November 10, 2009 This morning I helped out in the kindy until noon. Then, I took two of the children back to their nearby settlement to give their mother a break from walking back and forth. When we arrived she had lunch ready and a pineapple! I love free fruit! I ate and then headed back to the village. ---------------- Wednesday, November 11, 2009 Today was quite an eventful day! I had breakfast and headed up to the kindy to give Sisi some pineapple, then headed up the hill to make a phone call to a friend in Nausori. I got the number for the Department of Energy, called, and found out that we are going to have to take our generator to Lautoka or Suva to get it fixed. They said after the generator is in the hands of the village it is no longer the DOE’s responsibility. I really wish they would help villages keep a $35,000 investment in working order. Otherwise all of that money goes to waste. But, what can you do. So our soli on Friday will raise $1000 to take the motor to Suva to be fixed! I do not know why it takes a Holiday season to make the village fix the electricity. Oh well, it has been quite pleasant using just a lantern! Next, I walked towards Beqa Settlement where my bamboo raft (bilibili) was waiting! Saimone and I collected coconuts and tied them together before boarding my new craft and voyaging it to the village for its debut. She is a beauty! I am also going to make two paddles with John towards the beginning of December so that I can take my new love out to the tamboo reef! Oh, I am not sure I ever told my blog the name of my house: “Aurisese Balavu” which means Long Shorts. This is because the boys like to roll the bottom of their shorts up. They say it is the style. This is from the 80s in America, so I try to get the boys to unroll their silly looking shorts. Hence the name Long Shorts. So, I have now named my bamboo raft “Vinivo Lekaleka”, Short Dress. Lol. Sounds lame in American terms, but the Fijians get a kick out of it. Sisi used the perfect word the other day for the Fijian language. It is poor. Very broad. If you want to say Thank you, Your welcome, Good, any many more - you use the word Vinaka. Who knows if you are trying to say the papaya is good or thank you for the papaya. You have to listen to the context, or observe the situation, or just guess. Very confusing sometimes. There are words like cula, which could mean the stick used to push a boat, a needle, or culacula is sewing. Anyways, short Fijian language lesson. After beaching Vinivo Lekaleka I went up to my house to collect my 11 coconuts to make Virgin Coconut Oil with Marica. We spent about an hour scraping (kari niu), squeezing lolo, and mixing the coconut milk to prepare it to sit over night. As soon as we finished, the Turaga-ni-koro had his horse waiting for me to ride! He was so nervous that I did not know how to balance on a horse and that I would fall off. Well, just walking around on the horse I was fine. I tried to get her to run and she wouldn’t so Pio got on in front of me and we ran with her. Oh my goodness, thank God Pio was there for me to hold on to, because if I was alone I definitely would have fallen off. There are no saddles, so not a lot to grip on to and the ride was extremely bouncy. I wonder if I can find a good saddle in Fiji? After my exciting horseback ride on the beach at sunset…lol… seriously though, I took a shower and visited several houses. Fiji really is a nice place to live; you just have to get over the cultural differences. They know how to have fun, joke, entertain, and give until they have nothing left for themselves. There are a lot of things to be learned from them! Thursday, November 12, 2009 Went to town, did lots of emailing. Talked to Mom on Skype for an hour. The best part of my day… I got a package with new Tevas plus TWO PACKAGES FULL OF CANDY! Lol. Things that I cannot get here in Fiji. One was from Kim Knott, in Gadsden, AL. Thank you so much Kim for the letter, PICTURES, candy, new dice game, stickers, and crayons, etc. for the kindy! You truly are too generous! I miss you all so much. I am glad you are doing well in Gadsden! The other package came from Teresa Hosey, in Hoover, AL. Oh my Teresa, my other mom. Thank you so much for thinking of my on Halloween! I love the card (it is now on my wall) and all of the amazing candy! The Butterfingers will always remind me of Jimbo and the Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups remind me of Justin. Oh, and the Peeps are soooo perfect for smores! My dad sent Graham Crackers about a month ago, but I did not have marshmellows to cook up the smores! You have given me the opportunity to teach Fijians an American Camping Lesson! Lol. They will LOVE the new treat! Thank you so much! Please tell the family I miss them terribly and I hope they are all doing well! And thank you so much Mom for the new Tevas and air freshners. My house smells a bit like mildew because of the woven-mat-on-top-of-leaves construction. The dirt under the leaves does not help either. So the “new car” Little Trees are coming in handy! The Tevas fit great and I am currently wearing them it! Thank you for getting these things to me so fast! So the ride home on the boat was miserable. Only because the waves were probably 5 feet and I just wanted to sleep. Very bumpy ride. I got to talk to Kate by text message and I called Dad just to say hi, so I got a few things accomplished. There was a lot more I needed to do. Like call Aunt Sarah. I am so sorry Aunt Sarah for the lack of communication. I have honestly not been to town in a week and a half. So pretty much since the donation arrived in Rakiraki and I picked it up. No electricity, no cell service, and a lack of money have hindered me from communicating with America in general. The village is very, very appreciative for the donation, more so than you can imagine. There just aren’t too many avenues to take to relay their gratitude. I will work on getting a thank you out to the congregation as soon as possible! Thank you sooo much for all that you do and have done! Sunday, November 15, 2009 Left the village today with Pio to attend Peace Corps training in Deuba. We hopped on the nicest bus in Fiji and headed to Suva for breakfast. In Suva we ate American food at KFC! Ok, the exclamation point is for the Pizza Hut pizza I stole from Lydia. It was much more amazing than the snackers I ordered. So anyways, sorry to talk about food so much, it is a rare occasion for me to get good food. We finally headed back to the bus station and hopped a bus to the Christian Camp. Upon arrival we picked a bunk bed, dropped our things, and headed to the beach across the street. One of the community partners and I walked to a nice, new resort owned by two men from Texas! Small world! I only got to speak to the new head cook though, who is from Brisbane, Australia. We came back to the camp and started a volleyball game. I went between swinging, taking pictures, and playing a little bit of volleyball. Lots of fun! Dinner, card games, then bed. Tuesday, November 17, 2009 Today we covered goals, objectives, the criterion matrix, tasks, and timelines. Hmmm, hopefully the Turaganikoro is getting a lot out of it. We are definitely working together to write up a work plan for our virgin coconut oil business. After training we went to Pacific Harbor to shop, watched a meke, and I collected companies’ names that make products with Virgin Coconut Oil so that we can start searching for a market. Wednesday, November 18, 2009 Wow, another day of training. So Pio and I put together our project proposal today. I would really just call it a project plan, since we are not asking for grant money. It turns out we can start making VCO in the village on a small scale for around $130 Fijian… about $65 USD. Definitely doable! On our way back to Rakiraki on Friday we are planning to stop in Lautoka to search out some hard-core coconut scrapers. We should also look into empty 250 mL bottles for packaging the oil for sale. We are pretty excited! After training and presentations the volunteers played a little friendly sand volleyball. I am quite amazed at how well we all get along. We support each other, cheer each other on, enjoy telling stories, drinking a few beers, listening to music… really anything. All of the volunteers in rural Viti Levu are like a family! We are getting together again in Suva for Thanksgiving! Speaking of Thanksgiving… those of you who would like to speak to me on Skype… I am going to try and be on Thanksgiving day (in America) around 3:00 PM to possibly 5:00 PM. I would love to feel a part of the festivities in each of your homes, so find me on Skype please! I just got back from a night with a beer in hand, a bonfire on the beach, and good company! I cannot believe the U.S. Government sent me here to have this experience of a lifetime! Whether I am in the village teaching in the kindergarten, surfing the net in town for ways to do crab farming in a rural village, to hanging out with volunteers on a secluded beach telling good stories, I am elated to be here! Any of you would love Fiji! Come visit me! I am starting to understand a lot of the Fijian customs and traditions. Most of them are just out of respect for elders. The no hats rule still gets me, as well as the women must wear a skirt rule, but these two taboos come from generations and generations doing the same things and Fijians being scared to change. Also the things they cook and the songs they sing: about 10 dishes and about 10 songs. You eat the same thing every day (fish and cassava), play the same songs on the guitar, and farm the same root crop, everyday. 
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Today I came to town prepared to stay the weekend at another Peace Corps volunteer’s house so I did not do much in town but relax and talk with Fijians. The Ra Women’s Arts and Crafts Show was in the center of town so I looked through their handicrafts and jams. I used to internet for a little while to post my last blog and talk to Mom on Skype. Checked the mail, got a really fun letter from my Bestie, Kate! Thank you for the fun stationary! Really, did not accomplish a lot today. Right now I am at the volunteer’s house and we are about to shoot fireworks for Diwali! Life is so easy! Friday, October 16, 2009 This morning I went to town to talk to Kate on Skype! Yay! Kate! I am so glad I got to talk to you! We definitely should talk more often. Too much gets away from us when we don’t keep in touch! I am so proud of you and I am glad you are enjoying your new job! Anyways, in town I ended up buying a 4 inch mattress. Mine was about 2 inches and just not enough. Luisa, John, Leslie, and John Caldera are canoeing to my village and staying the night next weekend so I thought a new mattress for them would be killing two birds with one stone! So, I got the thickest for the most affordable amount. Tomorrow is going to suck getting it on the bus, then on the boat, then up the village to my house. Good thing I have good friends here! The girls and I are going to cook pizza tonight so I was carrying a new machete, a rake, a double mattress, 2 kg flour, pineapples, tomatoes, onions, cheese, and my backpack with my computer, bread, butter, and several other items. What a pain! Anyways, tonight will be relaxing and tomorrow will be a fun day on the beach! Saturday, October 17, 2009 Going to John and Judy’s house today! We got up at 6:00 AM to head to the ex-patriots, John and Judy Caldera, to go to Nanu-I-Ra Island. Upon arrival the tide was extremely low and we had to abort the boat to get up to the beach. I took a gander into the woods and found 4 ripe papayas which we devoured immediately. Then we walked around the coast looking for shells, snails, jellyfish and sea stars. Everyone but me went snorkeling, while I basted on the beach, getting gnarly sunburn. I slather myself in aloe just about every 3 hours trying to make sure it does not peel, but it surely hurts! Not sure how many times I am going to try to learn this lesson! Fiji is so much closer to the equator, so burning comes much quicker and more severe. Hmmm, thoughts for next time. Anyways, they enjoyed their snorkel then we ate some cookies, peanuts, crackers and peanut butter. I think every volunteer is living off of peanut butter by now. Lol. There is a lack for protein in most meals. We packed up around 1:30, headed to the house, where Judy had prepared chicken alfredo, curry with roti, coleslaw, and BANANA PUDDING! She is from Alabama, so of course it was absolutely AMAZING! I had two big servings! Then it was shower time (oh, the only place in Fiji that I get hot water). We headed out around 2:30 to catch me and Lydia’s boat back to our villages. By the time I got home it was dark, time to unpack my wet clothes and join the youth in their yaqona drinking. I think if I even drink one bilo in the next few weeks I will literally want to puke. I am so sick of dirty water that makes my tongue numb! No more please. Sunday, October 18, 2009 Thank goodness for the break this past weekend. I think I was at my wits end with the whole kindy thing and now I have a new light on the situation and a new plan. If there are any problems that arise between now and the end of the school year, they are not my problem! Simply because I tried to help them plan and if things do not work out it is not my fault. Anyways, Au sa woi. I am finished with that subject. Today I went to Catholic church with family and of course read another few chapters of the Bible. I get caught up listening to the singing or watching the service more than reading. Whatever keeps me awake I guess! After church two of the boys (plus everyone else in the village watching) cooked pizza. One of the boys cut the onions, tomatoes, pineapple, and shredded cheese, while another one helped roll the roti (tortillas). My tortillas always turn out looking like Texas instead of a circle. He did a much better job. So it was thick roti, with homemade spaghetti sauce, shredded pizza cheese, sautéed onions, and grilled pineapples. I know I always talk about food, but to Fijians cooking American food is so interesting! Good times, good food! Later today, I discussed with the Vakatawas (preachers) about seminars that I can hold during youth camp week. This coming week the youth will be spending the night in the community hall and waking up at 4:00 AM for prayer service. Then from 6-8 they will be working the grounds, cleaning up the village. From 8-10 they have breakfast, bathe, change clothes, rest, then at 10 they go back up to the community hall to learn anything from their spiritual life to waste management. I will be holding a waste management seminar tomorrow and a no tobacco movement on Wednesday. Of course I am very excited since both of these topics are very important to me, the environment, and the villagers’ health! Tonight there was a meeting held between the preachers and the parents of the youth to discuss the events for the rest of the week. A lot will get done around the village this week! Yay! Monday, October 19, 2009 I was supposed to hold the meeting at 2 PM today, but of course snorkeling became my first priority, oops. So I ended up holding the waste management seminar at 4 PM. It went extremely well. At first I taped a timeline on the wall ranging from 1 month to 1 million years. I had drawn different objects that are often tossed on the ground and asked each person with an object ‘how long they thought it would take for the object to become dirt’. There were many surprised people as well as many educated ones who knew exactly how long some of the things took. Can you believe a cigarette butt takes 40 years to disintegrate? An aluminum can, like Coca-Cola cans, take 200-500 years. Why do Americans like to drink cokes out of cans? And the stupid little plastic 6-pack ring holder takes 100 years. Wow! Enough about trash (rubbish here, influence of the Australians). We did accomplish a lot today. I explained what we need to be burning, burying, composting, and recycling. Where we should dig new rubbish pits (at least 30 m from any water source). We established four different spots in the village to dig the pits and how to keep them covered. I explained that the water getting into the pits just causes pollution to seep into the ground, into the water table, and travels straight for the ocean. How the piggeries on the river are sending nitrates into the ocean, causing algae to grow, covering the reef and killing the coral. They understand, are excited to start picking up trash around the village, and separating! Success! The Turaga-ni-koro even had me walk around with him to make sure the spots we are digging the holes are appropriate for the environment. I actually think where we previously (like 5 years ago) had pit toilets are the best spots because the ground will be nice soil that can be used around the village, easy to dig because there won’t be any rocks, and in a good location off to the side of the village! I also prepared for my no tobacco campaign for Wednesday. I have several large, nice-looking posters and plenty of brochures. Plus, there is a hotline in Fiji for those trying to quit and an organization willing to help me with resources as well as those people wanting to quit. I am focusing my talk on “tobacco” which hopefully will come across as ALL tobacco. Those who do not smoke cigarettes smoke Fijian tobacco called ‘suki’. I am concerned with both forms, but do not have any information on the suki. I am pretty sure they put pesticides on the plants while they are growing, but I know they do not add near as many chemicals. I should call the organization before I start the seminar. Anyways, I have made lots of posters and I think I just need an opening icebreaker. Other than that my enthusiasm will show! Tuesday, October 20, 2009 This morning I woke up, made French toast, hiked up the mountain to help the youth clean up the village, and then hopped on the boat with Na, Ta, and all the kids to head to the school to cook. We will be staying the night tonight so we can cook lunch, dinner, and breakfast. Yesterday when we went snorkeling the boys were spear fishing and caught over 100 fish. We smoked them last night and brought them to school today for lunch and dinner (plus bele - leafy green, tavioka, vudi - plantains, and breadfruit). I can’t believe you can feed over 100 kids, two meals each, for virtually free. Crazy! Anyways, we just finished cooking lunch, serving the kids, and now we are waiting for dinner time. I am planning on going to Lydia’s to stay the night so that I have a clean house and maybe some American food! I guess I should mention, the Headmaster at the school needs a laptop. There is a diesel generator that runs most nights for 3 hours that he would be able to charge it on. There is also a photo copier/printer in the office in perfect condition that children’s reports and school related paperwork can be printed on. I am looking for a generous person, church, or organization that can donate one to the school and possibly one to my village. There are currently no computers along this stretch of peninsula and technology is an immediate need. Please contact me by email if anyone can help out. Thank you! Wednesday, October 21, 2009 So, last night I went to Lydia’s and spent the night. Nothing worth mentioning. This morning we helped a few men dig a new rubbish pit… near the ocean. Ta and Na picked me up around 9:30 AM and we headed back to the village. Stopping several times: once to fix someone’s generator, another time to drop off pre-mix, and another time to tell some fishing intruders that they had to leave our waters. By the time I made it home it was time to prepare for my No Smoking Campaign. I had several posters, fliers, brochures, handouts, and pictures, hoping to get the point across about the harmful side effects of tobacco. Well, they listened, but I do not think they really cared. Nicotine is just a habit too hard to quit. In the village, EVERYONE smokes around the grog bowl, so it is also a social peer pressure thing. Along with, they were brought up around parents and friends that smoked so it seems normal to them. I just hope that I touched one person to help them save years of their life. Anyways, the seminar went flawless until they wanted to know if Fijian Tobacco (Suki) was ok. I did not have a straight answer for them so they decided that white people’s tobacco is bad and Fijian’s tobacco is good. Hmmm. Not really what I wanted them to go home thinking, but oh well. Suki is definitely a little healthier than cigarettes, cheaper, and not imported, so the money stays within Fiji. Thursday, October 22, 2009 John, Leslie, John Caldera, and Luisa came to my village today on their kayaks! It was so interesting to see them all at the same time in MY village! Yay! I really enjoyed their company and of course their food. Lol. Hey mom, I need some Mediterranean seasoning packets, I think they are Continental brand! You should try them too with some chicken and rice! Well, my visitors were exhausted so we just rested, cooked and went to bed early. Friday, October 23, 2009 Kayak Krew left at 6:00 AM this morning so we all got up at 4:30 AM to prepare for their departure. They had to travel 13 kilometers today to see the next volunteer. Wow, they are troopers, and against the wind the entire time too. Blah. Someday I will get to go on one of those trips! Anyways, today was a big youth day since the youth camp is coming to an end. They practiced their drama several times, had prayer sessions 3 times today and I pretty much did not see any of them all day. Quite boring. Saturday, October 24, 2009 Today the Kayak Krew is supposed to show up again on their way back to their respected villages and homes. John, Leslie, John and Luisa came back around 3:00 PM! We pulled their boats onto shore, they showered, rested, did their isevusevu (give yaqona as a gift for hospitality and entry into the village), and started cooking. After eating and cleaning up we went to the community hall to shoot fireworks with the youth. It was short and sweet. We came back to my house and passed out early. Sunday, October 25, 2009 The Kayak Krew left around 8:00 AM. They headed for Lydia’s village for a short visit and then planned to head back to their houses. I slept a lot today. Went to church at 11:00 AM and at 3:00 PM. The 11:00 service was everyone in the village combined and the head preacher of our tikina (kinda like a county in a state - but a tikina of Fiji) came to preach. He was actually enjoyable as he was enthusiastic, brought posters, and kept all of the the children’s attention. Fiji needs more preachers like him! At the 3:00 service the youth did their drama. Siti (15 years old), who was Satan, wore my Nei Levu’s glasses from the 80s and a suit jacket over his head, leaning on a stick as he walked crouched over. It was very amusing! So today was just filled with church and eating, plus a lot of grog drinking for the villagers after dark. I have decided that it is best for me to just sit with them while they drink and smoke. I do not want to partake in smoking or drinking water that is laced with a plant’s root. Not my cup of tea. I am also starting to feel left out sometimes, and quite literally, laughed at. I do not know a lot of Fijian still, as much as I try. There are no rules for how they form sentences. You just have to know how each sentence needs to be put together for it to make sense. So a lot of the time I know the vocabulary, but piecing it together is all wrong so they all laugh. I can’t be so sensitive. I should just laugh with them. But honestly, it just makes me want to be alone, or get bitchy towards them. I must find a coping strategy and quick. Sorry about my venting. This is how I feel today. Monday, October 26, 2009 So today is the monthly community meeting. I am supposed to be teaching waste management after the meeting, but who knows if that is actually going to happen. I am prepared for it in English, but not in Fijian. Ta says he will help me and no worries, but you know that sink that he started a month and a half ago. It was not finished when my guests came. Over the weekend I decided to jack it up myself so at least the water would drain out of the tub (‘sink’) and stop breeding mosquitoes. I worry about everything he tells me. First think this morning he was supposed to weed the yard, did that get done, no. The kindy is supposed to be safe and healthy for the kids before we start teaching. Well, the kindy starts tomorrow and nothing at all has been done. If the Health and Safety Inspection Organization came out to check the kindy before they register it, we will undertake some fines. The tap leaks, there is a slippery concrete hole under the water spout, the bathrooms are not up to the HSO’s standards, there is metal coming out of the windows of the kitchen, the community hall needs repairs, and there is no house, bathroom, shower, or kitchen for the kindergarten teacher. I just hope they get on top of it all before anything hinders the kindy for next year. 
My family at the watering hole. When Buka started the fire and melted the pipe we had no water for a few days, so this is where we went to collect fresh water!
Old fishing method... fish trap of rocks. Tuesday, September 29, 2009 All FRE-07’s Training. I also went back to my host village with all 5 of the volunteers that also trained there and had dinner and visited. I got to see my sister, Delana, who is moving to Vanuatu soon. Crazy! Wednesday, September 30, 2009 Training - I got a lot out of today! We had small group sessions where we could pick the topic for each 30 minute interval. I learned about youth camps, youth groups in rural villages, waste management, footpaths, savings and credit clubs, etc. Good topics. I am also now planning on getting my village footpaths because Peace Corps made it sound so simple! Yay! I know the village needs them because of all of the rocks and mud, plus the eroding issue. We will probably raise the money over the wet season and begin installing around April. Thursday, October 1, 2009 Last night we were all invited to the country director’s house for a bbq. Oh my goodness, best food in Fiji and her house is beautiful! We had hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken, salsa and chips, cake, Cadberry ice cream, fruit, and salads. Mmmm! After leaving, of course because we were all together in Suva, we went out to the bar. I danced and danced. For some reason I am not embarrassed to dance or sing in Fiji. I feel so free, only because I know nobody in Fiji cares and they enjoy it more just to see people being crazy. More gossip! Anyways, most favorite night in Fiji so far! About 35 or so of us went out together and we all had a great time. Can’t forget Monte’s competition with the flaming boy plus Graham deciding he could do the Cotton-Eye-Joe on the bar! Lol! Today is all volunteer day and so everyone is in town for training. We were at the hotel all day at a conference with organizations from all over Fiji came to speak with us. There were about 20 tables set up with people ranging from Ministry of Fisheries to Colgate. It was very helpful and entertaining to go to each table, ask what they can do for me, and take all kinds of free stuff. Now getting it back to the village is going to be a pain in the butt. Oh well, tis Fiji. Tonight I think we will hit up a few bars! Go figure! Friday, October 2, 2009 Last night was fun, but the night before was soo much better. I ended up going home early because I was tired and sick of the smoky bar. Although, I ended up going to one bar until 6:00 for happy hour, then hit up a Chinese restaurant where we played a little Russian roulette with shots of beer, then ate an amazing Indian dinner next door to the Chinese restaurant, then headed to back to the club from the night before. Good times. I also learned that I love Indian food, at least at this restaurant. I went with three of the boys. We each ordered something and shared. Out of all four things I really loved them all! I have never liked Indian food before, but I guess that is because I had never really tried different dishes, just Curry. I still do not like Curry, blah! Today I do not have to do anything, but shop! Hell yeah! Since I only have a boat going back to the village on Thursdays and Saturdays, so I get to hang out in Suva an extra day! Saturday, October 3, 2009 Yesterday I went all over town looking for the things I needed for work in the village. The main thing was vials to test the water in the village and in the settlements. I went to Live and Learn because they told me the day before that they would have some for me. I get there and they say that they are running low and to try Sopac or the World Health Organization. So I go in search of WHO and finally find someone with the vials. She hooked me up with like 15! I only need 7, so I am excited that she was so generous. I was able to give some out to a few volunteers too. They are H2S testers that will tell me if the drinking water is contaminated with poop (simply put). In town, I also spoke to the highest person in Suva about getting a Digicel tower near the village. I now have a phone number of the Chief Technician that can help me further. I now have a TFL land line so that I can be reached anytime! Number: +11-679-358-5581. Anyone is welcome to call me… but expect it to cost the same as any other long distance call to Fiji (just a little note for anyone sketch that may find my number). Also, for those volunteers that have already gotten an invite for May of next year, you are more than welcome to email me or call! The packing lists say not to bring fleece or jeans/pants… I personally recommend both. Ok, sorry, got off subject. Last night the volunteer couple living in Suva invited everyone that was staying the night to come over for a pot luck. We had so much fun cooking together, enjoying each other’s company, and playing dress up. It was hilarious! Julie and I cooked Pizza, we had a couple different veggie salads, potato salad, a Greek salad, and Root Beer floats for dessert (thanks to Brian and Sally)! A really good time! Today, just hopped on a bus this morning, road to Namuaimada Village, and took a nap on the beach waiting for the rest of my village to come back from town so that we could hop on the boat back home. This was an all day affair! Sunday, October 4, 2009 Cleaned my house, gardened, unpacked, and relaxed. It is taboo to do anything on Sundays, so usually I just read and walk around. Monday, October 5, 2009 Laundry. Lots of laundry. I went snorkeling with four other women in the village on the bilibili (a handmade raft out of bamboo). The raft was sooo scary! Lol. I could have sworn we would not all float on it, but amazingly we survived. One of the women, Mili, had never snorkeled before, again, a person living so close to these beautiful reefs who has never seen one underwater. She is from the interior and moved here about 4 years ago, and, as a side note, is married to our TuraganiKoro (voted chief). The first time she snorkeled she found oysters. She popped the first one open and began eating it raw. Blah! Although, the second one she opened contained two Pearls! Crazy! Pearls are pretty rare in Fiji as far as I am told. She was sooo excited! Hopefully they get made into jewelry. The women were so much fun and we laughed just about the entire time. The reef was also absolutely beautiful. I have been very skeptical of our reefs around here since the first two were quite dead. This reef is directly in front of our village and it was so lively, colorful, and teeming with fish! Yay! I also finished “The Kite Runner”, time to go search for the movie! Tuesday, October 6, 2009 Finished up my laundry. Wow, three weeks of clothes, it sucks to wash it all at once. One of the women and I walked around the coast to a nearby settlement looking for shells. The views are breathtaking around here. You should all be jealous! Wednesday, October 7, 2009 Today I was invited to hop on the boat that was going out fishing for the feast. Do you remember the funeral we had a month and a half ago. Well, in Fijian culture they have a feast 10 days after the death of someone, and then the 50th day, and then the 100th day after their death. So today is the 50th and we must go fishing to catch food for the feast! There were about 8 women and 8 male youth on the boat. The women hung their lines off the side of the boat while the boys and I went snorkeling (I like to pretend we were just watching the fish, the boys were actually spear fishing – pictures below). The weather was chilly so I snorkeled as long as possible as it is warmer in the boat. You would not believe this though, but as I am snorkeling I spot a White-Tipped Reef Shark and snap a picture. I come up to the top of the water and tell a boy nearby that there was a shark right below him and I showed him the proof. Well, I go back to snorkeling, de de dee. About 15 minutes later I see two sharks circling each other about 10 feet away. Well, I decided I wanted a better picture so I start to swim towards them and I snap 5 pictures. What do you know, I get a little leery, decide to find the boys so that I am not the only target, and they have all gone back to the boat. What? They are in these waters everyday and they decide now to be scared. So, I decided in my best interest to head back too and become a bigger vessel. Boys… lol. Good snorkel all together. The boys caught lots of fish. It is amazing how they spear fish. It just takes a stretchy band and a metal pole. They have precise aiming and excellent skills underwater. I was totally amazed and now I am determined to learn! At night I sat around with the boys while we smoked some of the fish. Told stories and then had a grog party at Tata Laisa’s house. Everyone was asking me questions about America. I answered things ranging from “Is there reef in America” to “Tell us about the twin towers that fell”. My favorite was “How many lanes are there on the street”. I explained about how cities are very different in size, but that in Atlanta where my sister lives there can be up to 16 lanes. Their eyes got huge and they gossiped about it for a while. I also did something I probably shouldn’t have… I told them that Lisa was related to Obama. Lol. It is just a test to see how long it takes to get back to her. The villages gossip a lot and pretty much everyone is related somehow… so they share information quite rapidly. We will see how long it takes for Lisa to ask me about it! Anyways, the party was very enjoyable, my favorite night with Fijians so far. There were only 5 women at the grog session, but they were all my age and laughed the entire time (because I was calling the boys things that are usually not allowed, oh well). I went to bed at midnight… after drinking too many bilos of yaqona (coconut shells of kava). Thursday, October 8, 2009 Went to town and talked to mom on Skype in the internet café. Within one hour there was an 8.3 earthquake in Vanuatu, a nearby country. Of course, Joe, the peace corps volunteer serving a third year, thought it was necessary to go to higher ground. I think he feels responsible for our well-being, which is not going over so well with the rest of us. Anyways, so I sat at this water treatment plant for about 2 hours. By the time the tsunami warning was canceled, all of the stores in town had closed. So, I got nothing accomplished, besides buying some tomatoes, carrots, bread, and cucumbers – the necessities, right?! I hopped on a carrier at two o’clock, just to arrive at the docking point with the boats beached because of low tide. Wow, sat there for several hours waiting for the tide to come up. It came up within three hours, but then the waves were too big to head back to the village so we sat there another two hours. I called dad and Jessica and found out a lot of startling information! My dad has quit his job again. No surprise. Although… my sister almost got married in Vegas last week. What?! She said she just knew he was the right one, within three hours? I am skeptical. I really hope that it works out for them. They are going to date for several months and she may be moving to California to live with him here pretty soon. He lives in Los Angeles and she is in Atlanta, so I am hoping they can work something out. Just a little bazaar! His name is Ryan and he is a small time actor and may be in the upcoming Iron Man 2! Pretty cool! He is also going to give the comedian career a try in the coming weeks. I bet he is a good guy. I cannot wait to get the pictures of their trip! Friday, October 9, 2009 Hopped on the same boat as Wednesday and went to a nearby village, just to visit and meet the people. We docked the boat on a tiny strip of beach and headed into the forest. The village was about a 20 minute walk into the forest. Cute village, I like mine sooo much better (just like my waterfall). They now want a volunteer, but I am not sure if Peace Corps is willing to put another one in this area. Eight is plenty in my opinion. It was a short visit, then we headed to the beautiful beach around the peninsula to collect hermit crabs for fishing, bananas, and papaya. Then we were off to the reef for fishing – I slept. Lol, the fish just don’t like my hook and I am not patient enough, just like in America going fishing with Justin. At night I went to the bachelor pad of the village and played my ipod on their radio. Oh my goodness, it was music to my ears. The two sets of speakers that I brought from America do not work… they get this weird static sound. So I have not been able to listen to my music very often. Listening to it on their radio was a good release! Saturday, October 10, 2009 Wow, today was a day full of exercise. I walked to Lisa’s village, with is an 8 km hike up and over a few mountains, one of which is quite large. My village rugby team had taken the lead so I was on my own. I caught up with a few boys from a nearby village about halfway so the second half of the hike was bearable. So, we went to Lisa’s village for a huge sports day. There were 32 scrimages between 16 different rugby teams. My team lost all three games, but I did not care, they still played their best. I was responsible for the juice (lol, watergirl) and the photography. I visited with a lot of people from other villages and watched Lisa play net ball – the lamest combination of basketball and ultimate Frisbee – with no net. Why do they call it net ball? So stupid! Anyways, those are the two most popular sports here in Fiji – rugby and net ball. The games which lasted from 8 AM to 5 PM, but I began my journey back to the village around 4 PM to arrive before nightfall. I hired a car to take me up to the top of the mountain. Why a car I will never know. It ran out of benzene less than half way up so I paid the entire fare and had to walk most of the way. Urg! It was sooo hot that I became delirious. I took several breaks and sat on a cliff overlooking my village, the sea, and the surrounding mountains. Why am I so lucky? Oh, and of course I had a big chunk of Dove dark chocolate in my backpack that I thoroughly enjoyed melted. The sun was going down so I began the treacherous hike back down the mountain to home. Upon arrival, the village was having a party for some visitors. I took a shower, put on my party best, and headed to the grog circle. The smoke was engulfing so I did not stay long. Just listening to a few songs is enough anyways, they only know about 8 different ones and so they play the same song over and over. Sunday, October 11, 2009 I did not sleep well, I woke up with the worst headache, only on the right side, between my eye and my ear. What does this mean? I assume it is because I did not drink enough water yesterday, but I sweated a ton. So, water overload today. Easier said than done. Our water went dry last night before I went to bed and it is still dry this morning. Considering it is a Sunday, I doubt that anyone will go up the mountain to see what is wrong. Oh Fiji. I visited the Methodist church this morning and really enjoyed it. There were two different stories told: one from Jeremiah and the other from Luke. Three different people spoke and they actually told me the hymns so that I could sing along. Methodist in Fiji is quite similar to Catholic though. Anyways, after church a lot of people came over to view my pictures from America. It was so good for them to see the people that mean so much to me because the villagers feel closer to me now as well. People are just now starting to warm up to me and feel comfortable coming to my house. Thank goodness. Oh, while people were visiting me there was a 25 year old boy that said “your cat has asthma or something”. I laughed trying to figure out what he meant. Then I realized he meant her purring. He had never heard a cat purr!? So, I told him that it was normal and that all cats purr when they are happy. Lol. Isalei (how sad). Monday, October 12, 2009 Today is Fiji Day! Not a lot of celebrating though. I guess they only celebrate the holidays in the cities. Rural areas just do not go to school. Of which apparently my families’ kids are skipping school again this entire week. I do not know how to get through to Ta that education is extremely important, especially in a third world country where it will take an education to do anything outside of the village. Oh well, I guess this week instead of a headache, gas costs too much. Excuses… So, today for Fiji day I decided to clean up the seawall. My village has been throwing trash over the hill onto the beach between the land and the mangroves. So at high tide the trash is swept onto the seawall creating a nasty mess. Marica, one little girl, and I cleaned up the area, separating burn materials from bury. They caught on very quickly so I think teaching the village should come pretty easily. I also found out that since I mentioned us starting up the youth group again that there will be a meeting on Wednesday for the youth group! Yes! Progress with just a few words! I know that through the youth group (aged 16-35) I can teach the village a lot about waste management and community service. My village is amazing! Last night I went over to the bachelor pad and hung out with the boys. No drinking, just talking, so it was my kind of entertainment! I fed them tuna and crackers, a very common combination here in Fiji. I usually do peanut butter/jelly, they do tuna in oil. Tuesday, October 13, 2009 Today I had a women’s club meeting at 10:00 am. We decided to have a fundraising event in November for new pots for the community kitchen. In December we will have another fundraising event for the church. I will also go to the youth group meeting tomorrow to find out when the village will have a waste management seminar (held by me) and pick up the trash around the village and beach. I accomplished a lot today by just walking around the village and finding all of the trash holes. There are five in all and two of them are perfect spots for new pits. Hopefully sometime in the next two weeks we will dig new holes and learn how to properly dispose of trash. I am pretty excited that the task came easily! I also made examples for my timeline of how long it takes for trash to disintegrate. Can you believe it takes that long! More on this later. 
Sorry I do not have a blog for this week... but I do have a few pictures!
Spearfishing ME! White-tipped Reef Shark! I saw three yesterday! 
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