As my time at Peace Corps comes to a close, I am realizing how invaluable this experience was and how it will affect the rest of my life. I have learned more than I would have ever expected about myself, my country and how individual lives can affect this world. I hope that once home, I am able to share this experience with anyone who is interested in listening and engaging in constructive discussion.

Many say that a picture is worth a thousand words. I would love to share my photographs and experiences with you. Please feel free to contact me for more information on my photography or if you would like to know more about any one of my prints.

Wow, it's been a while since I've been to this blog and I'm wondering if anyone even checks it anymore. Well I have officially been in Fiji for 2 years now and I have been accepted to stay a 3rd year and move to the capitol city of Suva to be a Peace Corps Volunteer Leader. I am not looking forward to leaving the simple village life in Korotubu but it will be good to get in some professional experience working with development agencies at a higher level.

Besides this bit of news I have tons of new stories to tell. As far as work goes, we have started and are on our way to completing the footpath in the village and we have started the GEF project with the waste management workshop in February. The biggest success from that was that a household actually built a composting piggery on their own afer learning about how it doesn't smell as bad and more importantly is better for the environment.

I will try to get back here and blog more often so check back and see what I've posted.

I had the amazing opportunity to be in my friend Asenaca's wedding on Kia island last week. I had been to a Fijian wedding before, but this time it was way more memorable. Not only beacuse I got to wear the traditional masi cloth, but because a good friend was getting married. A whole bunch of us from my village piled into 3 boats to go to Kia island for 48 hours where we drank kava, swam in the ocean, danced and got very little sleep. We had so much fun that our boat must have sensed that we didn't want to return and decided to catch on fire. Never fear, my ever resourceful host father had it fixed and we were on our way only 3 hours later.

Besides the wedding, things are normal here. Still waiting for my footpath and UNDP money to come through. Both projects have had the "Funded" stamp of approval since July but we have yet to see any money enter our bank account. Pending a phone call later today, I could be starting with a 3-day waste management workshop on Sept 8-10. I haven't started planning so if we get the money today I will be uber busy until then, but then again we could not get the money and I will have another month of occupying myself with fishing, card games and village fun. So thus is life in Fiji...although I'm not technically busy yet the prospect of work is stressful. Time is flying by and nothing has started yet...things are looking like I might be here longer that I originally expected.

Until today I never really thought about the view out my kitchen window. This is due to the fact that Peace Corps Fiji requires all volunteer houses to have mosquito netting, hurricane screening and anti-theft barriers on all windows. I guess I just always focused on the layers of steel between me and the view to give it any thought. Today was different. For whatever reason, I was thinking of an old commercial about a builder deciding how to orient a house so the best view was out of the kitchen window. That prompted me to notice the difference between this particular kitchen window, in a tropical paradise, as compared to the few I’ve previously had in Mediterranean SoCal. While nothing spectacular when compared to some of the sights to be seen in Fiji, my view is good enough. At dinnertime, you can see the sunset through a grove of coconut trees in the background, and duly located in the foreground is my neighbor’s shed used for drying coconut to make copra. Some days there will be goats grazing, something I really look forward to because my neighbor is also a “goat talker” and they often bleat in beat. And now I must stop my window into the life of a PCV (pun intended) because all this content contemplation has caused me to burn my rice. Coupled with the bean dish with an excess amount of salt, I’m not looking forward to dinner...so much for flying solo and not consulting a cook book.

The past month has been super busy. I was in the capital, Suva, for a few days helping with training for the new volunteers and then I flew back to the US for a surprise visit to my sister and brother in law’s graduation from medial residency. I got to spend 11 lovely days with my family (meeting the newest addition, the loud but beautiful Phoebe) mostly hanging around the house, swimming and eating my year quota of nectarines in a week. When I got back to Fiji, Suva trapped me with its big city charm and ability to get a months’ worth of work done in 5 days. Teri, a volunteer in the capital did a very good job of entertaining me…we went zip lining and sailing for the weekend. During the week, I finalized our budget for the UN grant and made up a timeline with a rep from WWF. We should be started with the 37,300FJD project by the time this is posted. Getting this done lifted a big uncertainty weight off my shoulders but placed a new “I hope this project goes well” weight, which is considerably heavier, back on. The first thing on the agenda is a workshop explaining how to manage and evaluate a project of this size. Next will be a 3-day workshop on waste management, facilitated by myself. I am really nervous about this one since my technical Fijian needs improvement. After an extended time away from the village, I really wanted to get back. Luckily Air Fiji, one of the domestic carriers, is about as reliable as, well, anything else in Fiji. After missing one flight, I had to wait another 24 hours to catch the next one. Once on the plane I was so excited to go home, I could barely look out the window to see how much longer we had to go. Problem was it felt like we were flying in circles…I forced myself to look out and in fact we were circling the Labasa airport. I could recognize the mountains that lay just before my village, I was so close! But the airline failed to clear the flight before leaving the main island so no one was at the airport to clear us for landing. Just like that, 10 unhappy passengers were on their way back to the main island to spend the night wishing they had caught the ferry instead. The next morning we all got to the airport at 4:30am to try our luck with the first flight. Thirty minutes after we were supposed to take off, we boarded the plane only to be told to get off because they couldn’t find the switch to turn on the runway lights. The next time we boarded there wasn’t anyone there to sign off the plane…finally the third time we boarded we took off and landed 36 minutes later at our destination, a full 15 hours later than we were supposed to. It was great to get back to the village. After a long kava session, I knew I was back when I had to force down the sheep neck stew that was placed in front of me for dinner. If that didn’t tell me I was back home, the shock of my first cold shower in 3 weeks brought me back to the village lifestyle. Since then, I have been having meetings with the leaders of the community to get ready to start this project. But as always, its more play than work and I was able to go out fishing and test out my new water proof camera. So I’ll leave you with a selection of photos and I’ll be back soon with more Fiji adventures to report on.

It has been a long time since I've posted anything...sorry for that. My excuse is that I had a visitor and then a trip to the US for my sister's graduation. Besides sharing new ways to sleep on an airplane (this does not mean more comfortable) I don't have much to say. Just that I will write once I have a fun story to tell.

Funny thing today: I saw a young Fijian boy wearing a "Vote for Pedro" T-shirt at the bus stop. It made me laugh. :)

I just got back from visiting another volunteer’s site on Druadrua Island. (If you want to see this island just watch “Survivor: Fiji” since this is where it was filmed…and they say it’s a deserted island!) The purpose of the visit was to see the composting toilets being built, but we got in some quality ocean time as well. I did some of the best snorkeling ever right off the island and when the cold currents forced me out of the water, I showered in a waterfall and then warmed up in the sun sitting on a white sandy beach contemplating life while sipping on a coconut. It was exactly what I thought I would be doing as a volunteer in Fiji. Well, it has only happened once so far, but it was well worth the wait. The highlight of the trip was by far catching an octopus. We went out with a spear looking for octopus, not really expecting to find any since they are kings of disguise. I ended up spotting three, only because I wasn’t really looking, and after watching a Fijian lady spear and pull one out of a rock we decided to try it ourselves. Well, we were by far less graceful in the attack. I think the doomed octopus lost one or two legs thinking it could hide away in the rock. What the poor thing didn’t know was that two white girls were determined to show off to the villagers. I don’t know how long it took us, but by the time we got the half-dead octopus, sans ¼ of it’s appendages, out of the rock we had our fair share of battle wounds. In the courageous struggle (two humans against one rather small octopus) we got pretty cut up on the coral. It was all worth it when we dined on fresh “calamari” for dinner. Almost as good as catching the octopus was the return to my own village. Rather than stay in town an extra night and hang out with other volunteers, I opted to go back home and see my family. There’s nothing quite like a return to the village after some time away. I don’t want to be too mushy, but seeing the kids and my family/friends makes me happy and I can tell that they are happy to see me. Good news! Our proposal through the United Nations Development Program got approved! This is a yearlong project titled “Towards and Environmentally Sustainable Community” and it will include several projects. I will be in charge of the composting toilets, waste separation piggery and grey water wetlands. I am lucky to be involved in such a significant project. As for the footpath project, we need about $3,000 more dollars before we start. If you are interested in donating please contact me for information. Any contribution would be very much appreciated.

Rain has marked the end of the school break and the beginning of Term 2. Thus, I have regressed back into my house and therefore have time to update my loyal blog readers. Speaking of, is there anyone out there?

As I mentioned before, our Earth Day Celebration was a hit. It made the past 9 months of relative inactivity worthwhile…the whole event was on time (what? No “Fiji time”?) and about 85% of the village came out to participate. I believe it was so successful because the youth group in the village really took the idea and made it their own. We broke up the group into three teams and each team was responsible for presenting a topic to the village on the big day. We had presentations on composting, coral reef ecosystems and mangroves and the youth were able to field questions from the audience. It was clear that everyone learned something about the environment and how to protect it. After the presentations we had a meke competition. A meke is a traditional dance, so we essentially had a dance off…Fijian style. As if that weren’t enough, the kids and youth and even some older ladies went out to the village green to play games for the rest of the day. After 5 hours of playing a game called pani, where we throw tennis balls at rusty cans and then at each other, I still don’t get the rules. Everyone truly had a good time and the village wants to make Earth Day a yearly event. Even the old grumps who sat around the kava bowl all day complimented me, although I feel like this was a truly community event…I just got the ball rolling.

The second week of the school holiday I had two other volunteers come up to put on an HIV/AIDS workshop. After putting on a similar workshop on Mali Island, we talked to Korotubu’s youth group about STIs and safe sex. The PC office was worried about three kaivulagi (white people) coming into a village to talk about taboo topics, but I think it went really well. The youth weren’t bashful and asked honest questions. I really believe this is because I have formed a relationship with them and they trust me. Anyway, my job for both workshops was to translate what I could into our dialect of Fijian. It was nice traveling to a new island and meeting new people, but I what I think was my first experience with an intestinal parasite made me miserable for the whole week.

Since school is in session again I will start going back to the primary school to paint the world map…after the rain stops that is. Other than that I am just waiting for my footpath proposal to go through. Everything is moving right along…albeit according to Fiji time…and all is good. Well, except for the fact that my best friend in the village just left to live with her boyfriend. That was a bummer…and she isn’t allowed to come back to the village until his family makes an offering to her family. Oh, how different things are here! Right when I start to feel like I fit in there is always something to remind me I don’t really know what’s going on!

Learning about coral reef ecosystems.Earth day fun!

Hello! My Earth Day Celebration was yesterday and it went amazingly. I need more time to process all the great things that went on but as soon as I do I will write a post that will hopefully show why this was such a great day. Last weekend I went with some girls from Korotubu to Kia island. The school was having a bazaar and I hadn't been to the island I sometimes stare at from my coastline, so I jumped on the opportunity (or the boat rather) to go. It was absolutley beautiful. The island is what you picture when you think of Fiji, the "real" Fiji since there were only very traditional villages and no resorts. The trip made me realize how good of friends I am making in the village, although one of the girls is getting married next week and will be leaving. (I am really bummed about that because she was the closest friend I had in the village.) So I will leave you with some pictures to enjoy...

Filipe, a hula dancing expert (he performed for us at Earth Day), playing on the beach.

I was very entertained watching the women play volleyball in full length traditional dresses.

Emi, Filipe and I on a short morning walk up the beach.

The group from my village on Ligau beach. Here we are with Vanua Levu (the island I live on) in the background.

A cow was killed this week for a funeral. As I watched it get carried piece-by-piece to be hung, I was expecting to renounce my omnivore ways and vow to never eat meat again. But, as they were sharpening the cane knives to cut up pieces to more manageable sizes, I really just wanted to eat a hamburger.

On a lighter note, here is a picture of a lovely orchid….

There, now that that brief story is over, I am writing to ask who, if any of you, are able and willing to make a donation to Korotubu’s footpath project. I am applying for funding through the Peace Corps Partnership where people from the US (or anywhere for that matter) can donate money to specific volunteer projects throughout the world. This can come in any amount, and I usually despise asking for money, but this really is for a good cause and I will personally ensure that your money is used to make people’s lives here a bit easier during the wet and muddy months of the year. If you are interested, I can add your name to the contact list and you will be contacted with the specifics of the project and information on how to donate. Please, let me know if I can include you on my list of donors. If you are unsure of the credibility of this project, I will let you know when my project is posted on the Peace Corps website for review and your further consideration. You can donate directly through that if you so choose. This is an opportunity for you or a group you’re involved with to start a relationship with a rural village in the Pacific and truly make a difference in people’s lives. Vinaka vakalevu. Thank you very much.

So I was pleasantly surprised the other day when I came back to the village after a long weekend away and found out that the youth had planned a meeting to talk about the program for our Earth Day celebration. It made me proud. They have really taken the idea and made it into their own, which is the best way to do it. We are even going to make T-shirts. I'm anxiously awaiting the big day, I hope it is a success.

Another big thing while I was away was that the girls who usually come to my house in the mornings to do yoga asked the village headman if we could move to the community hall so more people could attend. I was scared to do this myself because it is so taboo and the girls would *gasp* have to wear shorts inside the village. But I was surprised to hear that even the old men who cluck their tongues in disapproval when females wear pants to town approved, two even want to try it out. So although I am edging towards the risque side (having a dance competition for Earth Day and asking girls to wear shorts to yoga), I feel like I am really a part of the community and am therefore able to make these requests. I might go too far with the sexual education workshop I am planning with another PCV in May, but I will do my best to not step on the elders' toes too much.

So it looks like I will be kept busy through June and this means I will finally have something to put on my trimester report. Don't worry all you US taxpayers, I am finally using your money to do some good. I will also have my first visitor then! Very exciting, it will finally give me an excuse to travel around and see some sights.

Here is my host father on a fishing trip. Kia island is in the background. I'll be going there next week for a school bazaar.

Things are happening here in Korotubu and it has to do with the weather. The end of the cyclone season is in sight and while busses are still getting stuck on the road, there’s a certain air of indifference among those digging tires out of the mud because each day the sun shines, life gets a bit easier. This goes for me too. They should have warned us about the rainy season, or maybe I just took it worse than some because I am and always will be a desert rat. After relative inactivity for four months, the brush cutters and cane knives have been taken out to clean up the village and groups are getting together to talk about projects for this year. The major development since my last entry is a grant from UNDP Global Environment Fund. I am trying not to get too excited, not until I see the final approval, but it looks more than promising. This will give the women’s group (Soqosoqo ni Marama) about $24,000 to carry out a yearlong project called “Towards an Environmentally Sustainable Community”. If the title didn’t tip you off, this is what I’m all about. With the money we will do several awareness workshops on watershed and waste management, reforestation, and livelihood security. We will build a nursery so the hills behind the village can be reforested, a composting piggery for income generation, three composting toilets, wetlands to filter wash water from each house in the village, and revival of traditional handicrafts to be sold in the markets. This is an amazing opportunity for me because not all PCVs get an opportunity to participate in such a wide range of projects. The project will make my time in Fiji more than worthwhile, the sort of validation I was searching for during those long rainy days of inactivity. The Earth Day celebration (Veivakamarautaki ni Earth Day) planning is going better than expected. The village youth group has taken my ideas for the day and expanded it. They have broken up themselves into three groups and will have a poster drawing competition as well as a meke (traditional dance, grass skirts and everything) and drama competition. The times we meet to plan the celebration end up being mini environment lessons, I tell them about coral polyps and they tell me about traditional environmental concepts. I am also planning on an HIV/AIDS and sexual health workshop in May. I’m inviting two other PCVs with a health background to take over this one. Teenage pregnancy is a big problem, but the news that one of my good (17-year-old) friends is four months pregnant woke me up and prompted me to do something. I hope this is taken well by the village elders and we are allowed to speak freely at the workshop. Good news! My garden (teitei lailai) has sprouted! I’ve never had a successful garden, but over the weekend my okra plants sprouted and today the tomato, lettuce and carrot plants joined the party. I am really excited to have fresh veggies in 90-120 days. So all is well, I feel more a part of my community than ever. I am able to joke around Kaiviti style and express my emotions better in Fijian, which makes me a happier person. I also feel like people are getting to know the real me better. I used to be the quiet white girl in the corner, but now I am Menani: the one who doesn’t eat fish (among other identifying traits, that being the primary).

Here is a picture of me and some fellow PCVs with Commodore Bainimarama. He's the guy who staged the military coup in January of last year and is now the interim Prime Minister. We stalked him in Savusavu last weekend to get a picture with the man himself...not sure if this is totally PC with the Peace Corps...

Sorry for the delay in writing. I have good news though, my computer is fixed so now I can write entries at home and then take them to town to put on the internet! It is really quite remarkable, for once something worked out in my favor regarding electronics. Turns out it was my motherboard that “broke.” Usually these are so expensive to replace you might as well just get a new computer, but by chance I purchased a 3-year warranty for my computer, which expired 32 days after the fateful night my computer would no longer turn on. Also by chance there is an Apple certified technician in the capital, Suva, which would normally be a problem getting to as it is on another island, but luckily my friend was able to take it down for me the next week. It spent nearly three months in the hospital, but was remarkably fixed and ready to take home when I was in the capital for a conference. After almost three months at site with no real break, I spent the last two weeks in Suva and then on Ovalau island. The purpose of the trip was to attend a youth conference with a youth counterpart from my village. This was a 3-day affair, but a couple of long weekends joined by a few days of work in Suva added up to two weeks away from site. The conference itself was great, hopefully my youth got as much out of it as I did. The best was getting ideas for projects that won’t take major funding. This is a problem here, people have such a handout mentality that any mention of a project leads to questions of how we are going to get money (and under the current coup leadership, money is even harder to come by). e.g. I proposed to have a workshop to transfer mat weaving skills from aging women to younger girls, but was somewhat shot down because we “needed money”. I have since jumped that hurdle, as it doesn’t take any resources besides the naturally growing panadus plant and knowledge to complete this workshop. Anyway, I hope to start working more with the youth group in my village now. This will include getting other volunteers up here to do some life skills, HIV/AIDS and business trainings. I was in Suva (the “big” city) for St. Patty’s day, which was a lot of fun. A bunch of volunteers got together to go out at the local Irish pub for the celebration…where in the world is there NOT an Irish pub? I found a fantastic Krispy Kreme shirt to wear with green soccer socks at the second hand store. Another volunteer found a “Cat in the Hat” styled Heineken hat which was later sold at the bar for $100 to an enthusiastic patron which funded a round of Guinness for us all. This, coupled with my and another PCV’s victory in a hula-dancing contest (against a bunch of Polynesians which I am sure they were upset about), made out for a night to remember. While in Suva I also went for a visit with my host village family (the place I lived at when I was in training). It was brief and only two of my brothers were there, but it was still nice. I also met up with a host sister (from my family in Korotubu) who lives in the capital, so now I have met all of my host-siblings. After about a week and a half in the greater Suva area, I went to Levuka on Ovalau island which was the original capital of Fiji. Two PCVs live there so I went to go visit them and see the island over the long Easter weekend. Although I can see how it would be hard to live there as a PCV (little work and no fresh produce), Levuka is a charming town. While there I kept saying how quaint it was. There is really no other way to explain it. I had a great time hanging out with the volunteers, meeting their friends and exploring a bit of the island. Of course I got my first head cold in Fiji when I wanted to go SCUBA diving the most, but oh well. I recommend visiting Ovalau if you ever make it out to Fiji, although plan your visit with a public holiday so the tuna processing plant is closed and your trip won’t be tainted by fish smells that would drive anyone crazy. Or so I’ve heard, I was there over Easter so I was spared. Well that’s all for now. I will be starting the World Map Project next week and am still planning the Earth Day Celebration. Speaking of, go to WWF’s website to read about “Earth Hour”. It’s a worldwide event to turn off non-essential electric items for one hour and Fiji’s position on the 180-degree means we’re gonna be the first ones to participate!

Carla, Carron and me on the beach on Ovalau island on Good Friday

I've had many questions about what I actually do on a day to day basis. I can give you a general idea: (this "schedule" starts after Easter)

I wake up to the sound of roosters and school kids getting transport to school. I then enjoy a breakfast of wheat cereal (Weet Bix, from New Zealand, my favorite!) and whatever fruit is ripe. I usually have enough things to do around the house to keep me busy till lunch. Washing clothes, reading, sweeping, making project timelines, etc. After lunch I go around the village to see what everyone is doing or I walk down to my host family's house. I have tea with whoever asks me over and talk about projects or the weather. (Conversation is usually predictable...a village of 100 people doesn't come up with new gossip very often) At 5:00 a couple of girls from the village come to my house to do some yoga. (A new development. This is great since girls my age don't have much to do for themselves) I then make dinner and have homework help sessions with the school kids in the community hall. Then I can choose to join the kava circle, which I have been lately so I can watch the women weave mats in the background. These are days that I have no plans; no meeting, funeral, fishing or shopping to attend to.

Some additions:

I go to town about once a week to shop for food (imagine only being able to go shopping one day a week and if the store is out of what you want, which happens a lot, you have to wait. Its harder than it sounds.) I get updates on other PCVs comings and goings and call home. This day is a big day, helps me keep my sanity. Monday's I will be going to the local primary school, Bulavou, to start a map project with the kids. We are going to paint a world map on the wall of the library. I'm currently trying to find a Pacific-centered version to give them a better perspective. Wednesday's I will also go to the school to teach environment classes, this will be more sporadic since the teachers have their own schedule for this, I am purely supplementary. Sunday's are srtictly for church. I only go to one of the three services, then have lunch with my host family. The rest of the day is spent relaxing since the weeks are usually so taxing. Projects I'm starting!:Footpath in the village. More information later since I will be submitting a proposal to the US and YOU can help! It's turning out to be a huge project, over 4,000 feet of concrete footpaths. Composting toilets in a nearby village. Finally, all my preaching about composting toilets has paid off and I will hopefully be building at least 5 soon. I have felt something like a composting toilet missionary lately. Instead of, "Do you know Jesus Christ?" its "Do you know the benefits of composting toilets?"An Earth Day Celebration on April 26th in the village. I am working with the youth group in my village. We are going to start with a vilalge clean up followed by a "how to deal with your trash so it's good for you and the environment" talk. Then there will be activities for kids and information on local ecosystems, how Marine Protected Areas work, and biodiversity for adults. There will also be some entertainment. I believe that I will be involved in a meke (traditional dance) so I'm kinda stoked about that. :) If you have any ideas about what I should do for the kids or games for everyone then please let me know! I haven't planned much so I'm open to suggestions. So this is life for me right now. Nothing terribly exciting, but I like that things seem normal to me even though I am living in a rural fishing village in the middle of the Pacific.

Here is a picture from a wedding in my village. The cloth is made from the bark of a certain tree and is called masi

A picture taken from the air on a flight from my island to the main one

The kids from the kindy put on a concert for us at the end of the school year. Here is a picture from their traditional dance called a meke Here is a picture of me and the village headman, Turaga ni Koro. I'm wearing a sulu jaba, the traditional dress for women. They aren't my favorite only because it is so hot! My host family! My mom, tinaqu, and some grandkids. A picture from our swearing in ceremony in July. These are the other volunteers from my training village and some of our host families.

So the last month and a half has been difficult. Bad weather, no work, homesickness (for the first time ever). But I am happy to report that I think this week was the turning point. No big changes in particular, I'm just settling back into the village lifestyle after the holiday break.

A quick story before I get onto the subject of this post:

The other day I was enjoying yet another "24" marathon with my host sisters during the heat of the day (which right now seems to be from 7am-4pm). We were laying idle on the ibe (woven mat) trying not to move because of the stifling heat, watching Jack Bauer successfully escape death once again. Because of the heat we didn't even expend energy to chase the chickens out of the house like we usually do. Only when one chickens' erratic attempt to sit on top of the doorway drowned out the TV did we notice the poultry takeover of the house. One of my sisters began chasing them out of the house and the one teetering on the doorway was the last to go. With much flapping of the wings and furious squawks from the distressed chicken, it jumped out of the house. As the loose feathers settled to the floor we resumed our resting positions on the floor. This didn't last long, however, because a few seconds later 3 eggs fell from the doorway in what seemed like a slow motion tragedy. I don't know why this was so funny to me but it was. I have seen many failed attempts at egg-laying, enough to make me wonder how there are chickens left in Fiji. But this instance was particularly entertaining.

Ok...now for the main event. Seniviti. (Seni=flower, Viti=Fiji)

Seniviti is a very old man that appeared in my village a few months ago. The fact that he was familiarily welcomed proved that he comes by often for visits, but he isn't a Korotubu native. He is missing one eye so he wears a pair of knock-off Oakleys around the village. You normally aren't allowed to wear anything on your head in the village, out of respect for the chief, but I think once you reach a certain age you can skip the formalities. Anyway, his sunglasses are usually so crooked you can see the empty socket anyway, but the shock of the void has worn off. I can't say one thing that makes Seniviti such an entertaining character, but I certainly enjoy his company and so does everyone else in Korotubu. People around him always seem to be laughing and enjoying themselves, although sometimes it seems like they are laughing at him rather than with him. But he doesn't seem to mind. He is usually sitting on someones porch or under a tree and greets passerbys all day long. People usually sit cross-legged on the floor in the South Pacific, and after years of sitting this way some people seem like their legs are just melting into the ground. Their legs are so flat against the floor it makes me wonder what their joints must look like in an X-ray. Seniviti is the prime example of this. The one time I saw him walking around he was carrying a bunch of coconusts attached to a stick like a Fijian Huckleberry Finn. I can't ever tell what he is saying beyond the standard greeting, but I still like sitting around while he tells stories about the "olden times". Even the "old guys" from my village look young around him and their eyes light up when he gets into one of his stories. One day when I was making my way into town, Seniviti was in the bus. We were waiting at a stop by an Indo-Fijian settlement for the bus to fill up. We were sitting (with the bus idling to my disgust) for a while, so Seniviti took it upon himself to entertain us with some Hindustani singing. I don't know if you've heard it before but its kinda a chant/wail way of singing and Seniviti has the perfect voice for it. Everyone was cracking up in the bus, even the old Indian ladies that never seem to enjoy themselves (only from what I've seen). So, although there is very little interaction between me and Seniviti, he always has a toothless grin for me and I know that the day he disappears from Korotubu back to wherever he usually stays I will miss him. But, I know that one day he will return as discreetly he did the first time I met him.

This weekend I visited my host sister Sereima and her husband (Semesa) and daughter (Mereadani). They live in a settlement outside of Labasa. I didn't mention it before, but Fiji has a large (40%) Indian population. Sereima lives on a sugarcane farm and Fijians and Indo-Fijians mix in a happy little community. (Some areas in Fiji have racial tensions, not so in the Friendly North) By the time I arrived on Friday afternoon, the whole community knew that I was spending the weekend there so I had several invitations to Indo-Fijian homes. The weekend was full of swimming in the river that we had to cross to get to the Indo-Fijian settlement (an adventure since it is raining a lot and the current is very fast), drinking kava and eating delicious chutney and curry. It was a strange dynamic for me. I feel at ease in Fijian homes, I know the language (enough to get by), the customs (theres several taboos) and am used to the flow of life. I don't know a word of Hindustani or any of their any customs (besides only eating with your right hand). The first night the Indo-Fijians would ask questions in Hindi to Semesa who would translate to our dialect of Fijian for me and I would reply in Bauan, the main Fijian dialect since most Indo-Fijians can understand it. Sometimes I had to resort to English because I think if I tried to explain the role of zooxanthellae in coral reef systems in Fijian, it would have been a mess. Anyway, it was strange be in such a foreign setting while in a country that has become home to me. There wasn't enough time to accept all the invitations, so I will be making another trip back to the Indo-Fijian settlement to enjoy some more curry, conversation and river games.

It is reassuring to know that I have a home outside the koro (village) to go to when things are slower than usual. And I'm beginning to make close friends with the locals, all the better to make this place feel like home.

(my camera isn't cooperating with the computer so I can't post pictures, vosoti au...sorry)

I've been at site for 6 months now and several factors have gotten me to finally gotten me to start a blog. Mainly, the gleeful excitedness that comes with being a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) after Pre-Service Training releases us out into the wild has worn off. I'm not so inclined to sit for hours around the grog bowl with the old men talking about the tides, rain, rugby, America...whatever. I've restricted myself to two nights of grog a week. This has freed up some evenings and what better to do than write some about Fiji for a captive online audience? All the better to keep my mind sharp and my English from further slipping towards Fijinglish.

Since I have missed 6 months, I'll fill you in on the basics...feel free to ask for clarifications on any entries hereafter.

I'm technically an "Environmentand Natural Resources Management" Volunteer. I can give the broad, abstract definition of this but theory is slipping further down my list of likes since, with things like this, its just big words that don't really paint a clear picture as to what I'm doing (or what I'm trying to get started). Basically, I'm going to push the idea of composting toilets so the waste water doesn't seep into the ground water, thus turning the village green into a cespool when it rains and washing out to the reef. I want to build some fish ponds to reduce dependence on the sea and after that I want to teach anyone who will listen about waste management and simple environmental concepts. All that being said nothing has happened yet...I'm on island time and we are currently in the middle of a productive cyclone season. I live in a rural village named Korotubu (literally growing village) in the Province of Macuata on the island of Vanua Levu which is called "The Friendly North" (Fiji is called Friendly Fiji, so basically we are pretty friendly here). It is the second largest island in Fiji and it is best described by a fellow PCV as the "forgotten stepsister" as far as development goes. Labasa, the town I restock in, isn't the tourist destination that comes to mind when you think of Fiji...but I mostly welcome the fact that I can always find a familiar face in town and I won't be mistaken for an Aussie or Kiwi on holiday. I have a wonderful host family. My Fijian name is Menani Now, the first topic of this blog (does this make me a blogger now? I suppose it does) is how writing this will actually count as me being a dutiful PCV. THe PC has three goals. Once again I will paraphrase:Help people in-countryBring a better understanding of Americans to countryBring experiences back to US to share with fellow Americans(If you ask some volunteers of PC Fiji, myself included, you will hear of a goal 2.5) 2.5 Peace Corps against the world in a dance competition. (This is based on the rather undisputed fact...I don't even know how it is a competition really...that when we PCVs get togetherfor a night out we bust plenty moves on the dancefloor. This either helps or hurt goal 2...the jury's still out. So, in effect, this blog is helping me to complete goal 3 and eventhough I'm cutting back on my intake of Piper methysticum (kava, grog or yaqona), I'm attending enough Methodist services and village functions to satisfy goal 2. This just leaves goal 1, but I'm learning that there's no rushing "Fiji Time" and if I've learned anything in my past travels its to go with the flow...I'll leave you with that...I have stories lined up to post so check back!