Without Sunlight, there is no Moonlight This last blog goes out to Roshni, someone who I believe I was sent here to meet, work with, and share so much with. Without her, God only knows where or what I'd be doing. It's so crazy, her name means 'Sunlight' in Hindi and my just so happens to mean 'Moonlight'. Roshni and Chandani. The day I realized this I was on the verge of tears; I just realized how much she means to me, how her ability to give is an unyielding force much like the sun, and how I don't think I would have been successful in my community here without her. It was truly meant to be. It's amazing, and it's Chisu (Jesus). As much as I'm SO ready to be HOME, everytime I think of leaving her, I blubber like a baby. However, is someone were to ask my what I'm most proud of or my greatest accomplishment, this would be my answer: Among all the other things I've shared with Roshni about computers and working as a businesswoman, I feel privileged that I had the opportunity to be able to teach her her worth as a woman and as a hard worker. Above all things, I believe this to matter most...and it's definitely taken two years for her and myself to come to this realization. I look at her and see how she's now able to stand up for herself and is such a bright, professional, and caring businesswoman. And I love her.

My last breast cancer workshop and first HIV/AIDS one as well!

Lately it's been SUPER BUSY with closing up things in the office, continuing to do breast cancer workshops (still so fun!), introducing new HIV/AIDS workshops into my community, and then also visiting in the evenings and weekends! As much as I've been stressed out I've still enjoyed it (although shout-out to my friends and family who I've called whilst mid-breakdown, it's helped more than you know). These last few weeks have been really great because I feel like I've actually seen and heard ways that my presence has actually changed the office for the better. Listening in on conversations where men are talking about the importance of women and have realized just how hard they work, especially here. I truly feel like I was constantly challenging my organization to better themselves...and turns out, I did! I'm not trying to toot my own horn, believe you me, I just feel better about leaving Roshni here in a more positive working environment.

I donated these flowers to the office, that way when I come back they'll all be abloom!

Now I march on to eat my last few meals of curry (last night I had some of THE best fish curry I think I've ever had) and tonight will be my last grog sitting at my host family's house. I'm pumped!

Once again, thank you to all my friends and family who have supported me the past two years, it's really meant a lot to me. I hope I've kept you slightly entertained while reading this ridiculous blog and that I'll get to see you upon returning home! Fijian grog, Indian snacks, and maybe even some Fijian Bounty Rum will be at the house on Sunday the 26th for lunch!

My Bhabi cleaning some mussels for curry!

Cheers,

Vinaka Vaka Levu (Thank you very much in Fijian),

Bahut DHaanywaad (Thank you very much in Hindi)

and MOCE (see you later in Fijian)!

...that I'm sure you're all just DYING to hear about. ;0)

Lessons Learned:

-People who have less give more

-Kindness knows no culture

-How wasteful Americans can be

-I like to cook and I'm pretty good at it

-I like to cook even more with groups

-Everything tastes better when you share

-I get comfortable with people much faster than they get comfortable with me

-I process things differently than other people

-I second guess myself far too much

-the grass is always greener in the other village: as much as I enjoy visiting my friend's villages (and wish that I were in one), I've realized that every site has it's pro's and con's and that I should be content in the community I'm in...because it's a wonderful one.

My host mom sewing on her Singer peddle sewing machine!

Things I thought were extinct:

-Peddle sewing machines

-plowing via cattle

Things that frustrate me:

When ask q's this or that? answer is always Yes.

Will appreciate in America:

--CUSTOMER SERVICE: whilst having breakfast in my favorite town, savusavu, I spent approximately 2 1/2 hours walking back and forth through town searching for some panackes. Apparently when a sign says 'Open 8am' it really means 10am. Once I finally found a place that had some normal pancakes (aka not deep friend half uncooked dough) I received them alongside some vegemite syrup and had to ask for plain syrup about 4 times. And who doesn't love lukewarm coffee? oh wait, no one does.

--The Little things: Having your feet clean (not sandy) having air conditioning on vacation

--Just feeling clean and staying that way: My House is an Easy Bake Oven...no really (temperature-wise, color-wise, and 'cool-as' wise) Thus I will HIGHLY appreciate Air Conditioning! This past year at the heat of summer I recall myself taking 7 showers a day and just wasting away in my 'full body sweats'.

-I think because of the heat, however; you do learn to enjoy the art of doing nothing. I remember many times of just laying on my host families floor staring at my hands and the ceiling, talking about nothing, and drinking lots of grog.

-Amazing friends and family of course

Things I've Struggled With Lately....

>Despite the job as a capacity builder, how do you politely tell a grown adult that they should be washing their hands after the use the restroom? I don't want to seem like that 'pompous American' who thinks they're better...and i dont want to hurt their feelings

>IN the same sense, it's hard to tell women that they need to go specifically to a gynecologist for a check up once a year when it's obvious they have no money to do so. hurts a little bit....

Feel accomplished when:

wear out clothing,

take clothes off line

new things that have seen molding:

cooking apron

spicket from my wine box

nose pads on my glasses

spices...SO annoying!

Story time:

once upon a time, when I visited my friend Sally in her village...they said 'Yandra Bhaini' to me! so Yandra in Fijian means good morning but Bhaini is Hindi for Sister. This seems random but I remember feeling so appreciative at that moment. Why? Because her village friends recognized that I wasn't working with Fijians but with Indian people, and they made a point to represent that in the language they spoke. I just felt so grateful because I know many people don't think that anything with Indo-Fijians isn't the 'Real Fiji'. I get frustrated at this because not only is it a bit racist but it also disregards all that Indo-Fijians have brought to the country of Fiji...which is a LOT.

Awesome food days- where I found myself giggling to myself like a 12 year old school girl:

-Egg plant parmesan (when I discovered...hey I can cook)

-omelette with Dill

-PB & fluff sandwich

-Taco salad

-sushi on my b-day (mostly bc of the real cream cheese)

-Eggplant curry at office

-When I discovered Beets! > Borscht & Beet salad & sandwiches

-cobbler with Kara

-coconut chutney at Christmas

-beignets

Mystery Taki Song **Taki means Chug in Fijian**

It's time for the Mystery Taki

Who gonna get the Mystery Taki

Time for the Mystery Taki

Who's it gonna be!?

It's ME!

Just had a super awesome weekend:

After our training (because new volunteers are HERE- ahh! and I'm helping train them on a bit of the Indian stuff here and then how to deal with Saftey & Security issues). For the first time in my life I feel like I've BEEN somewhere for 2 years...I don't have any of the typical feelings of 'oh time went by so fast' or 'where has the time gone'. I'm not saying ti's a bad feeling...it's actually quite nice to just just nod my head and say 'YES, I DID that. And it was good.'

After that a small group of us headed to an 'eco lodge' here on Viti Levu that was of course run by the local village. (sidenote: I'm realizing that people back home think we go to resort's all the time or feel like we 'hit the jackpot'. But I would just like to say although the places we go to are naturally beautiful [which we DO appreciate]..we're still not in paradise. The local 'lodge's' are rustic to say the least and often times we still feel like we're in the village/settlement. As Americans we have all these expectations of what a resort/vacation should be like and 95% of the time those expectations are unmet. For example: having your feet be dirty/sandy the entire time you're on vaca, being hot/sticky the entire time because of lack of air conditioning, our reservations/rooming situations never being what we asked for/planned on, and having a margarita or a Corona in your hand is just not existent. And I don't want to complain by any means, I just want to give people an understanding. EVERYWHERE in the world has positives and negatives to where you live.)

SO ANYWAYS- back to the good stuff: we had a SUPER fun weekend played volleyball, played on the black sand beaches (cool side fact: white sandy beaches come from parrot-fish eating the coral and then small sand particles come out of their booties. However, black sandy beaches means that there is a river/water source that flows from inland (near volcanic rock) and flows down to the beach. The black sand is much more fine because the particles break off in smaller pieces when the river carries it- COOL), had good food (fresh curried prawns, lovo, and coconut mussels- these things are HEAVENLY), and then went on this Dolphin Watch + Snorkel excursion the last day! AWESOME!

Saw around 100 spinner dolphins...they come in to a bit shallower waters, near large mass of crescent moon shaped coral and then head out to feed at night. They broke up into smaller 'clique's' and would swim in unison..so neat to watch. And some of them would do tricks up for us, jumping in and our of the water spinning forward and laterally! Then we went to a different area to snorkel in more shallow waters (i mean...we still couldn't see the bottom) but the coral WAS GIANT and the species were so diverse. Just really neat. I didn't see anything new really but we did see a small nudibranch black with lime green design) and some really beautiful and bright colored small fish (orange, magenta's rich purple's).

ON the way home we managed to find transport in a minivan that came by mistake..so we got it for WAY cheap. We were jammin' out to Fijian Christian music- really beautiful...like you guys have no idea. It was a very surreal moment...looking out the window, reflecting on the past two years. After that we came home and I somehow churned out a full load of laundry (by hand as always), a banana cake AND a cobbler. took me 2.5 seconds to fall straight asleep. Thank you Jesus for a wonderful weekend!

for the entire month? YES.

a low point of my service....Close Of Service (COS) Conference @ the Pearl!So this past Saturday afternoon I found myself just lying in sports and underwear doing nothing but sweating, I decided it was better to sweat with my local friends as opposed to sweating by myself. I went over to my neighbors house to deliver some Fiji famous peanut brittle that my Uncle Ray sent me! 5 hours later of sitting around, learning swear words in Hindi, and goofy Indian dancing we had a pretty fun time! During this time my friends and I were talking about where I've been for the past month....and this friends is what happened:

APRIL

week 1: mid week, on my way into work, feelin' good and lookin' good, I slip and fall uneventfully in some murky water on the sidewalk. I fracture my right pinky toe and am forced on crutches. This was definitely a low point in my service, mostly because I was having yet another security issue with some half crazy half drunk fijian dude who was harassing me a bit and trying to follow me.

week 2: still on crutches, had some nice raspberries forming underneath my arms.

week3: stayed at my house for just one night then had to head straight to our COS (Close Of Service) Conference which was at a nicer hotel that DID have awesome food. It was kind of a whirlwind of emotions because I kind of just wanted to be home and rest, and I wasn't mentally ready for the Pearl and to be around my whole group. But it turned out to be pretty great and we had a good time in the AIR CONDITIONING! weeeee! but it was a bit of a bummer when I'd go to eat because my stomach bacteria I have was acting up and I couldn't eat as much as I wanted to....maybe that was actually a good thing. ;0)

week 4: went straight from my conference back to my Organization's Annual Convention that happens every year over Easter (over the Public Holiday of course...I was a bit bummed because all my friends were hanging out BUT it turned out it was great I was there). At our table this year I did face painting for the kids for any kind of donation and it was a big hit! At one point I had like 25 kids around me (a bit stressful) and I made enough to buy some plants for the office that I've been wanting to plant here. :0) And to end my week I headed out to the YASAWAS with my friends, Kara and Jewels! The Yasawas are the 'tourist islands' that truly are BEAUTIFUL with some of the bluest water I have ever seen. Hands down. Fiji's treasure trove for sure. As amazing as it was (also with AWESOME food) :0) I wound up getting the flu AGAIN with shivers and the sweats. At my lowest point I had signed up for a massage and I could actually feel that getting the blood flowing in my body, felt MUCH better after that. Kara also wound up getting a bit sick too....she actually fainted during breakfast and we had to carry her to our bure. a bunch of sickies! but luckily we both felt better and were still able to enjoy the amazing island we were on!

NO this is not a swimming pool- OCEAN baby!Jewels and I on the beach!

Harry Potter anyone!? YES!

On the last morning Kara and I went snorkeling in their AMAZING coral reef and saw a bunch of new fish we'd never seen:

-school of squid! they're AWESOME looking and change colors when you get close

-rare rockmover wrasse: they're tiny, Kara spotted it and kind of float like they're a piece of seaweed

-saw my first boxfish: black with orange spots

-counted 10 giant clams

-stingrays

-2 ft long cornetfish

- really interesting trumpet and filefishies as well!

We were out there giggling like little school girls!So that was my April, hope you guys enjoyed it! :0)

-get knocked in the shin by a lady holding a frozen chicken while walking through town.

-be able to eat rice and curry with my HANDS and thus be able to hold up my hand to show that I've eaten (stained yellow from the turmeric powder)

-make peace with [count it]: cockroaches, lizards, spiders, ants, and flies.

-find myself laughing now when a super smelly person sits next to me on the bus

-have a multitude of illnesses: especially having stomach issues and not be anywhere near an accessible toilet (despite being in a city)

-enjoy cooking- makes me appreciate the wonderful selection of cheeses and cooking items in America.

-(On the flip side) be able to go out to my backyard and pick as many fresh and organic eggplants, long beans, papaya's, bananas, pumpkins, spinach, bok choy, dalo leaves, bele leaves, cilantro, mint and lemons as I want to!

-ride in the backseat while the driver was drinking beers with a friend and NOT being able to do anything about it...just because I was a woman.

Lately I've been finding myself on an emotional roller coaster though: going from really loving this place and trying to soak it up...but then Fiji happens. Aka I go from SUPER enjoying the dusty yet beautiful walk home, loving hanging out with my community here (sharing stuff and eating, of course) but then back to being ready to go when I wake up in the morning and want to go for a run....only to find my brand new running shoes GONE. Fiji just happens. But it's still good. you just find yourself laughing when stuff goes wrong. :0)

Sights of Fiji:-Indian kids playing with kites

-Fijian children pounding grog

-goats attached to random street poles

-wild mange dogs

-Wheel barrow boys- running inches next to bus, truly enjoying themselves and also trying to grab the first customers (who sell the dalo) who get off the bus



Sounds of Fiji:-wild dog fights

-crying babies

-pounding of grog

-Indo-Fijians singing their religious songs

-Church on Sundays...most beautiful of all

-cat calls: shoe repair/shoe shine boys- 'hello baby', 'very nice beautiful', 'I love you'....really? Because I'm pretty sure I don't know you!

-The kissy noise aka how you get someone's attention



Smells of Fiji:

-fresh bread

-rank body odor

-coconut oil

-bug spray

-mouse pooh

-Indian curries -delicious

-However, people with bad curry breath - disgusting

I do enjoy this place....

Christmas at my house! surprisingly rockin'! So we had a pretty rocky end to the year in the office as there was loads to do in the accounts area, unfortunately something I can't help with. We had just started selling our 2011 Calendars and a lot of branches still owed us money, which is to be assumed. But someone apparently came down hard on our boss and told him that if there's any money missing then the project is seen as a failure which he'll get blamed for. So in turn, he came down hard on us. And I don't know if you've ever worked for a 'screamer' before ladies and gents...but it is SO NOT pleasant. It was definitely enough to ruin my Christmas spirit. I also kind of had a big blunder due to some damn Christmas Cards. Our President came in on that Tuesday (like 3 days before Christmas) and says he's got about 200 cards he wanted mailed out that day (let's not forget Indo-fijians will work you to the ground). Roshni and I had discussed in the past that we should do the whole Mail Merge thing on Microsoft Word to print the addresses on the envelopes as it'll save time. Well that took like 2 hours longer than expected due to some software difference on our computers and mostly because of some printer problems. Gooooodnnessss if that day wasn't filled with a bunch of bickering. Yes we were pressed for time (but it's only a Christmas card, eh?) and then my boss tries to blame the problem on Roshni when clearly there's no one to blame (actually it was the printer's fault) and having to deal with him. ugh. So that very much set the tone for the week- not pleasant. Plus there was no Christmas Party and only one person said Merry Christmas to me. I'm pretty sure I had Elvis Presley's 'Blue Christmas' playing the entire week.

BUT to get this party train rollin, I actually had a nice time by myself this Christmas. Mom, Meghan, and Kyle sent me some AMAZING packages that arrived JUST IN TIME for Christmas! It was glorious. You can see I played try-on with a lot of my stuff in my Picasa web albums. My host family's son and his family happened to be visiting from Canada as well so I hung out with them too. Except Christmas morning I pretty much just wanted to be alone with my trinkets and coffee. it was nice. Plus there was fruitcake falling from the heavens- YES people really DO eat it here.

It was a Pick Your Own type of deal- heck YES to free, pineapples!Then my pals: Sean, Jewels, and Kara came and we were off to TAVEUNI! It's so gorgoeus there, you can't beat their sunsets. We stayed at this rustic place that turned out to be perfect for us as it was a Pick Your Own fruits and veggies: GIANT pineapples, passionfruits, papaya (which we later made papay curry with), plantain, bele (a leafy vegetable). Out first dinner there was homemade Spinach and Cheese ravioli (good gosh it was heaven) at a local resort. It was funny though, we had brought some tomatoes with us to cook with and since the island was on shortage it was a BYO tomatoes.

Diving on Somosomo Strait

The next day we went diving on the Somosomo strait with the Nakia resort- they're so great! I'm still amazed at the coral here- so many magenta's and bright pink corals. Saw some pretty good sized trigger-fish, rare clown fish (Nemo!) in a rare anemone, few white tip sharks, sea worms, and a sweet-lips (my favorite). After that we headed to Lavena Lodge, the eastern side of the island where we stayed in a lodge that has been the project of previous volunteers (Gloria we miss you!). It's very picturesque there and is known for it's Coastal Walk where you walk along the coast and hike up to some waterfalls- I felt so Anaconda like swimming up the stream to the waterfalls. I can't tell you how AMAZING it feels to be swimming into a waterfall- it's pushing you back but you keep trying to swim up it, and the water is so cold! MAN it's such a rush. Thursday morning after yet another bathroom episode( I think the water on Taveuni just doesn't like me), I somehow had the strength to go with my pals to the Bouma Heritage Park. There we hiked to another 3 waterfalls, on the last of which was around 75ft tall- and you bet your bottom dollar we jumped off it! A bit scary but it was SO fun!

just beautiful- lavena coastal walk

From there we took off to a small island called Qamea (pronounced Gomea), one of the closest islands to the International Date Line- aka Experiencing the first seconds of 2011, YES PLEASE! We stayed at this eco resort where despite being the first ones to call and book and ALSO making double sure that we'd have a bed- turns out they pitched a circus tent for us and put some mattresses in the sand. I woke up with way too much sand in my bed the next morning. And Circus performance anyone? IT hAPPENED> check the 2 videos at the end of the New Years 2011 album in Picasa. Here's the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/courtneygoodson/ChristmasAndNewYears2011

The Circus TentAfter that we spent most of our time snorkeling, drinking wine around the shockingly well made bonfire, and laying out on the beach- it was so nice. I've missed being able to wear my jorts (jean shorts). The bio-luminescence was also SUPER amazing of course as it was such a remote island. I even put one on my fingernail and it stayed glowing! Gosh I love the earth.

The Besties!

As much fun as we had on island it was still time to head back- Peace Corps style of course. This meant after a quick fiber boat ride (in our life jackets) hopping into the back of a carrier and being COVERED in dust and dirt. Hells to the yeah. (but I mean like no really I had to take a sink shower once we got to the ferry). Thank gosh for protex soap! The four of us split the cost for a cabin on the ferry (initially worth it) and it was great until it came time to sleep and our room (I imagine being 2 cm's away from the engines) heated up to like 95 degrees. And if you didn't know, the bed bugs become EXTREMELY active at this temperature. Trust me. Anyone game for a midnight shower? yes please.

Lavena Coastal Walk- Star Wars anyone?...this one's for my bro!

All in all it was a super fun trip and definitely was great to de-stress and be on a BEACH!

So I had a cultural misunderstanding this past weekend....I was at my host-bro's(he's more like an uncle) house because there was a party for his sons 21st birthday. My host bro invited me to come swimming with everyone, which of course 'everyone' was only the men because the women are always so shy. But they know that I'm not shy to swim and so it's always been fine that I play in the pool with them. That night though, all the men had been drinking a bit as it was a party, but no one was hammered so I figured it would be ok. My host bro was fully dressed too...so when I went to the pool all the men were at one side...some of them were in their underwear (but that's just how some of the ppl swim here). I went ahead and got in; however, the whole time I felt awkward. So I stayed on the side that was farthest from the men and closest to the house but there were still a bunch of people around. So my host sister called me out of the water and when I got out my host mom called me naughty for swimming with the boys, and slapped me on the shoulder. I wanted to cry. I showered and then went to bed. I felt super embarrassed too. It was really frustrating and its times like that when I get really frustrated that I can't read the situation fully. Ultimately, I knew I shouldn't have gotten in the water, but at the time I just wasn't sure and just kind of went with it. That's how I get by here: by just adapting and 'going with it'. But I don't think I could explain that here. Anyways, I was able to explain myself the next day and it was ok. Plus there was tons of leftover birthday cake so it was all good and I still enjoyed visiting with all the women regardless!

One fine morning while at the office, a man comes by to drop off the 2011 phone books. I died of laughter/embarrassment when I found a little something at the top of column 2 on pg.122 from that phone book. Take a peek my friends.

Random success in the office: A while back I had heard of National Toothbrushing Day that was being supported by the Ministry of Health. I got a hold of the forms and faxed them, along with a letter explaining what it was, to all the schools that were affiliated with my organisation. I never heard anything back from it and assumed that nothing had come of it. A few months later we received the yearbook from one of our schools...in the events section, I saw this and practically jumped for joy!

Breast Cancer Workshops!Go Boobies!

I don't think I've had a more successful yet LONGER two weeks in Fiji. After a quick weekend visit with two great gals (where although it was pouring the whole time, we still enjoyed eating sweet treats and coffee with homemade, 14 year aged Kahlua...thank you Audrey's Sweets), I headed to the village for a week visiting other vol's- I got a chance to help our Sally with her 2 workout sessions a day with the Fijian women, and also with her literacy testing program. (which when you tally up the number of hours worked it really doesn't add up to much...but man just EXISTING takes time. gotta wash your clothes, hang em, cook food- we had some awesome papaya curry, deliciouso pesto pasta, etc.)

Sally and her exercise classes with her villageMaking bookmarks for her literacy program After that I began my week of Hindi-ness where each day I stayed in a different location and did breast cancer workshops with each womens group in that area. Although I informed my contacts over a month ago that I would be coming on these dates, things couldn't have been more on Fiji time! It worked out though (just like it always does) and I had at least 12 women at every workshop. They went SO WELL though; Indian women are suppose to be/act more shy by nature and so it was great to show them that these things are natural and need to be talked about. I cracked a few jokes to get things feeling easy, and made them practice rubbing their books just for fun..which is always hilarious.

Teaching the women about exercisingSo I ended up having this RANDOM, last minute excercise classes with the women. It took a lot of encouraging to get them to do it, but all of a sudden (totally fiji time) it happened and the women were ready. I started with some basic steps, which turned into them just bouncing around...which hey, they're moving so I'll take it. At first I thought the ladies would never do this again but then felt super accomplished when one lady, who didn't really get into it until the end, said 'After diwali, we are so doing this every week!' I felt like screaming 'YESS!' ....mission accomplished....capacity built (a peace corps term)...done and done.

Teaching about how to open an email account and also about websites!

And although Hindi food is delicious, it got pretty difficult talking in Hindi 24/7 for a week straight. plus there's the extra factor of being a single, american female...it gets exhausting when women repetitively try to get me to marry their sons. These people are relentless. And at first I would get angry bc in america we dont care about color of a persons skin...we're interested on whats inside. So it's not only a giant insult that they want me to marry their sons based on my looks, but also the fact that I don't even know/or like their sons. But then you realize marriages are different here, love is seen as something that comes over time, and is shown in how hard you work for you family. so you can't judge it I guess...but it still really annoyes me when ppl say they want to marry me so they can go to america. But then you feel kinda bad bc some of them are really poor and just want to escape their lives....I get that. I feel fortunate to come from awesome fam and friends and to have been raised having so many amenities. These ppl dont have a lot.

Loved this lady.....she was making Goorama aka sweet mango chutney

From the night I was Chief Guest...sitting with My 'Grog Uncle'

Next day though I was OVER visiting with ppl/was exhausted because didn't good sleep past 2 nights, but I think God was teaching me a lesson in patience when I went to a lady's house and was visiting some more (really annoyed in the beginning) but our conversation ended so amazingly. We just started talking about God, and how it doesn't really matter what the name of your god is: Phaguan, Jesus, Raam, etc but as long as you just believe. Because all the holy books pretty much say the same thing: be good people, give to one another. I even got a little teary-eyed when I realized it was a Sunday and how I haven't been to church in so long and just felt like this was even better than being in a sermon. so thanks Chisu. It was nice to have someone to have that kind of conversation with, I really liked that lady. They were poor as can be (in a sense they don't make a lot of money...but then again you if you're a farmer you don't really need much money), cook with firewood, and yet she still sent me away with 3 tubs of food.

whilst making papaya curry: don't cut chilies and then put your contacts in. Lesson Learned

With Moss in her village near the sea...on our way to Church. Random: While on the northern island, we had a party that combined one girl's birthday, one girl's going away, and also halloweenie. I was a bula cleopatra but it SUPER didn't work out to what I thought it'd be. But still..it was a TON of fun. however, it got a little crazy when we started playing flip cup. scratch that...the craziness started whenever all chugged beers to see who would win the last three pieces of AMERICAN chocolate cake (like the BOXED Duncan Hines kind and the TUB of icing...that stuff is gold). I've never chugged faster in my entire life...and I totally won that cake.

Anyways....had a blast. hope you guys enjoy and weren't too bored! :0)

So I know I don't usually post things about what I'm actually doing here all that often, so this is dedicated to my family back home who say that I 'vacation way too much' ;0)

What I've been working on lately has been: the Sanatan Scrapbook, photo shown to the left, where we put all of our newspaper clippings, invitations, etc; Compost bin- still a work in progress, suppose to be painting it this week...but knowing Fiji, it'll be another week or two; Our Diwali Edition Newsletter, Diwali is their really big celebration: 'Festival of Lights' and similar to our Christmas; Facebook profile and group page for my organization in an effort to reach out to youth; Maintaining our website using googlesites... These are some of my main projects I've been working on among many other small, 'day-to-day' ones.

Laminating Machine Story

So we found this old, small laminating machine when

we shifted to our new office. Roshni was too scared to use it so I said

we'd bust it out and have a go at it, especially since we were in

desperate need of one to make our membership certificates (and were worried because we knew there was no money for one). Turns out

it's embarrassingly easy to laminate things. After our first laminated membership certificate came out...Roshni and I seriously did a happy dance in the office...it's the little things.

Random but goodie. This one I came across on my visit to Sigatoka town....

What the Typical Caesar Salad in Fiji consists of:

a salad mixed with an Italian + Mayonnaise dressing (barf), boiled chicken, and topped with a fried egg. wtf.

And the following are just typical realizations from life in Fiji. :0) Despite everything, I really do love this place.

You know you've been in Fiji too long when:

-As you go to use the restroom, you go to pull your shorts up (instead of down) seeing as you wear skirts that often.

-You have conversations with yourself in the mirror, especially in a British accent (shoutout to my besties). 100% pathetic.

-you don't get shocked when you see piles of ants carrying away your toenail clippings to feast on later. That happened. [As a side note I think I really just have an ant problem...In fact, the other day I killed a giant spider and thought I'd keep it to send home to my little bro in an envelope. Next morning I woke up, and thought 'hey, where'd that dead spider go...I could have sworn I put it right here last night.' I then looked around for it on the floor thinking I had knocked it off the table or something. Nope. It was being carried away by a bunch of ravenous ants.]

Tuli/Jewels showing them how it's done!kids enjoying the s'moresHomemade Pumpkin Ravioli, super proud of my guns!

Dancing to Footloose at Levuka's finest (only) Bar

Is this real? At the Bishop's Temple where the first Bishop is buried

After a 6 hour trip to get to Jewels island, Ovalaou, we started off the night right with Pizza and Fiji Bitter at the one (and only) club in Levuka town (the oldest town and previous capitol of Fiji). We definitely got the party started early (which I've noticed it's something that Volunteers just do- it's a mix btw having lost ALL shame and also going to bed early out of boredom/no sunlight). We managed to dance to footloose TWICE and didn't mind that we were the only ones on the dance floor (and also barefoot at that). After getting to Jewels village (super late...like 10pm) we still did our savusavu (customary when you enter a village as a visitor, you present them with the local grog as a gift for having you, some words are said, then you all partake in a few bowls of grog around the grog bowl). And despite being so tired and somehow slightly buzzed, we both still pounded about -6 bowls of grog, which I SERIOUSLY enjoyed. I forgot how much I really enjoy Fijian villages and their tight sense of communtiy, and Tuli's (Jewels') vil was easy going and light hearted....which makes for all the better grog drinking. :0)

Jewels and I slept HARD that night as we had both beer and Grog in the same night, but still woke up early the next morning to some chocolate chip pancakes and AMAZING snorkeling RIGHT OFF THE COAST aka her BACKYARD. I see how she's practically living my dream (small hut, right off the shore, small village, random island, minimal electricity). *sigh* but then it's times like these where I have to tell myself 'hey, everywhere you go has its pros and cons'. And it really is true, and ultimately I know I'm meant to be where I am. And maybe it's good that I'm not there so when I visit other villages I can really appreciate it. SO, after yummy pancakes, great snorkeling (lots of soft coral, clown fish, swordfish, possible barracuda [at which point we turned around], etc) we just relaxed and made some deliciouso vegetarian sushi. Naptime was THE best as you could hear waves crashing against the shore and the coconut trees rustling in the wind...yes, paradise in a sense that it's beautiful. However not so much when you don't have that cabana boy to bring you your beer ;0)

So the next day was filled with LOTS of cooking, which we really enjoyed! It's been on Tuli and I's list to make homemade bagels in her makeshift oven when I came. And by gosh, we succeeded. We made perfect little bagel babies that we were so proud of. And later on that day we somehow churned out some french apple cake AND pumpkin ravioli. (see pictures above..I must admit, all that clothes washing has thoroughly paid off). It's times like these where you realize how much processed food Americans eat and how much more fun it is to try and make it yourself!

Later on that evening we made a campfire and made s'mores with a lot of the village kids. It was so funny to see how EXCITED they would get to make their own. Super cute. My favorite was Julie's friend, Laviti, who was a teenager from her vil that not only shared our American style enthusiasm for s'mores but also had on a shirt that said 'Less is S'more'. 100% Baller. And another little thing that gave me a chuckle was how the locals pronounced it...more of a sAh-more. cute.

And as a 'Goodbye Chandani! We'll miss you!' gift, what else could Ovalaou offer but over 113 mosquito and bed bug bites? Priceless. Turns out the sponge we borrowed from the neighbors for me to sleep on was infested with some extra critters who like to cuddle. And I also have a new found respect for Tuli as I realized how rough the trip is back to the capital is for her. You have to wake up at 3am, be out by the road by 3:30am (in hopes the carrier doesn't come too early, which has happened in the past) and wait until your ride comes by at 4:30am-ish and takes you into town. Then the bus leaves at 5am which you stay on for an hour. Then the bus drives onto a ferry- which you can get up and walk around on but it's still only 6am and you're not really in the mood. After an hour on the ferry then it's back on the bus for another 1 1/2 hrs into town. Therefore a salute is in order to my good friend. :0) But it was worth it though because I had a really great time visiting Tuli's Village!

Can't really see them, but the bed bug bites are THERE

so a long time ago I threw out the idea that we should have a weekly team meeting to go over our projects, updates, etc. aka how it is in America. It happened about once in the beginning after the idea was thrown out, but then kind of fizzled. However, we just started it back up again as my co-worker mentioned he wanted to make this a very professional office. I was thrilled and thought it was a great idea...every Wednesday at 3pm. We had our first one this week, and although it started out great (and finished well I would say)...somewhere in the middle I got called racist by a different co-worker. In his defense I think he mistakenly interpreted me saying 'don't insult my intelligence' for 'I'm more intelligent than you'...so who knows. Luckily I controlled myself and followed up how it's common for teams to have problems but that it's important to handle them in a professional, constructive, and polite manner. However I did get back at him just a little when I turned to him and said 'For ex, calling me racist was out of line.' I don't want to get into the details as it's not important, but basically it got pulled out as one of those 'I've got nothing else so this is a last resort' kind of line. anyways, still felt it was a successful meeting as it opened the door for the team to meet once a week to talk and get these problems out! I know this isn't the happiest of blogs but I just want to be real about stuff! Oh and to end on a good note- went to a dance show for elementary school kids and I will say that I had a great time as Fiji NEVER lets me down on providing bumpin' songs...plus sneaking some grog in added to the fun!

me and my pillsWell everyone, this definitely isn't my proudest moment. I was really hoping that I would be able to say I went a full two years without getting one; sadly, Fiji has gotten the best of me. Late Friday night, my armpit started feeling a little funny and just a bit sore. Thought it would go away, but when I arose the next morning panic shot through my body. 'Sweet Jisu (Jesus)! It can't be...it just can't be! I swear I have good hygiene and shower multiple times a day, I just don't understand, how did this happen to me?But wait, I did shave my underarms yesterday morning..could it have? No..but then how?'. That's right people, just half a day after shaving my underarms in the morning, a boil the size of a marble had formed in my armpit. They're very common here and almost impossible to avoid. I personally think it has a lot to do with cold showers, but you'll hear all kinds of reasons. Tell you what though, I was at the Peace Corps Medical Office so fast like a hook worm on your toe. awesome.

This photo is of my healing dog bite. It wasn't bad at all and it only bled a few drops. My host brother's dog bit me (in it's defense it only wanted to play. Animals are treated horribly here and are not looked upon as pets. In my effort to show them that dogs could be nice and playful, their biggest dog got the best of me. I felt bad because he only wanted to play more and only bit me when I walked away). Anyway, for some reason when you get bites or cuts here....your skin kind of goes brown and then after a few weeks goes back to normal, not sure why.

Thought I'd post this to show my finger fungus (that I first noticed I had on the plane over to America for my sister's wedding). I'm pretty sure I got it while planting seeds in my garden..but it's almost back to normal now. The nail grew off and it's almost fully back to a normal length. I think it would have been healed much sooner had I actually stuck with taking the pills to get rid of finger fungi. However, seeing as they're hard on your liver, I opted not to as I drink too much grog in the evenings. It's Fiji. :0)

Other than my ailments, I had a really good time in Sigatoka (quaint town on the coral coast) visiting other volunteers in the area and also selling our Sanatan paraphernalia at our soccer tournament. This photo is from an old bridge along the Sigatoka river that was halfway destroyed because of a flood/cyclone a few years ago. Sean lives in a village just off the coast where he's done a lot with marine center at a neighboring resort. I'm totally jealous but every site has it's positives and negatives....but still I'm jealous. :0) We made some super tasty bruschetta and homemade muesli which I WILL be making again. Super fun trip and super glad I went!

Sean in his village!sitting on the old Sigatoka Bridge At our table selling Sanatan Logo stuff!

My 'Uncle' Cleaning some Sambutu Fish!Then I had a go...So I went to the neighbors house last Sunday because they said they wanted to learn how to make American cinnamon apple oatmeal! When they eat something with oats, they add plenty milk and they call the stuff porridge. Plus it's super sweet. So I told them I would come over one morning and show them how to make my kind of oatmeal, withOUT milk (they were slightly astonished). Turns out they didn't like it all that much (of course) because it wasn't super sweet and it had something healthy in it. But my 'Uncle' (they don't call ppl by names here) there said that he had specially brought some Sambutu fish fresh for the market just for me. At first, not going to lie, I was a little annoyed b/c I had plans to just RELAX and not be around Hindu ppl as it can get quite exhausting. But then I said if he showed me how to clean the fish and make the fish curry, I'd come back for lunch. So we picked up the fish scraper and went at it! I was actually laughing the whole time as fish scales were flying everywhere, one actually got stuck to my forehead. They too were laughing just as much as me as they'd never seen a white girl scrape a fish.;I SUPER enjoyed it. :0) Then my 'Auntie' showed me how to make some pretty delicious fish curry with coconut milk (a version I'd never had before). And It totally makes me laugh b/c from the photo below, it reminds me of something you'd see only in movies, like Indian Jones for example when they're eating the eyeballs and monkey brains. I felt totally cool sucking out the juices from the fish head when we were eating, but then reality struck whenever I ate a fish bone. woops. Regardless, it was worth it and tasted freaking amazing....despite it's harsh appearance. :0)

Don't judge it by its looks....trust me.

Tips for taking cold showers:1. Just commit: You stink, you smell, and you know you need to shower- so don't delay it. Once you've turned on the water and it's going full force, immediately go in. The longer you wait, the more you'll want to cry.2. Sometimes when it's super cold, a Happy Dance is required. Force a smile on your face, start dancing, and I promise you'll start laughing at the fact the water is so cold (or at the fact you're dancing in the shower). Never mind if that laughing might lead to crying/yells of pain. 3. Get these parts of your body wet first as they're the worst: your hair, your back, and in some cases, the hair on your back. 4.Whilst shampooing & conditioning, leave at least 3/4 of your body in the water. It'll make it easier to rinse your head if most of your body is still under the shower head. 5. Move fast.6. Be efficient. The better your scrub, the longer you can put off another shower. 7. Don't waste your time shaving. Your leg hairs will re-grow instantly when you go to rinse them. Trust me.

Just a few questions I thought I'd throw out there:-How do roaches crawl into my fridge to die?-Why are there roaches in my tubs of dry pasta noodles? -How are there weavel-like slash scorpion-ish bugs in my buckets of: rice, chickpeas, and lentils?

These photos were taken at the Akhand Ramayaan (Continuous Praising/Singing) that went on for 2 nights and 3 days!

My main project that I've been working on lately were these Sanatan Logo Pens. They're shown in the photo on the left. I know you can't really see them closely but they look super good. All the profits go to Sanatan, which once we've sold all 2000, should give us around 2000$ profit. It's not much but it's something, and it's a start. At the Ramyaaan we sold around 160 pens. Roshni and I had a fun (yet exhausting time) selling the pens. I know back home, when I'd reach a point of exhaustion, I become delirious and will start saying and doing random/ridiculous things. In the wee hours of the night, that definitely started and Roshni and I couldn't control ourselves, and being in a different culture of course was just an added bonus point of hilariousness. :0)

Something else I'm SUPER excited about...is moving into our new office! We're packing this week and we're set to move on Monday. This means we'll finally have an office that's set up for a professional atmosphere. I know that seems silly, but I feel like it's really going to change things in a good way. PLUS there I'll be able to make a compost pit so we can start recycling and composting. 100% pumped.

......because at least I know I'm free...(plus we have way better food) :0)

So I ended up going to Raki Raki, the northern part of the main island, to spend a night in 2 of the other volunteers' villages. It was great, I had a lot of fun hanging out with the other vol's. One couple, Chris and Nan, have this awesome traditional Fijian home- aka the roof and walls are made of layers of leaves, grass, and weaving of leaves. They also are near to a cool river which, had I lived there, is definitely floatable w/ an inner tube. (mehhhh the Guadalupe). On Sunday morning we were scheduled for a dive, BUT seeing as the appointments are scheduled by Fijian hands, they of course lost our reservation and so we were unable to go. So that morning started off a little crumby as we woke up super early (actually in all fairness the roosters woke me up at 4am...not the alarm) to get to the dive shop only to find out we're not going. From there we headed to a retired PCV's, John and Judy, house, where we were having our 4th of July party at. Their place was super nice- WITH a pool! We took a small boat that John had made out that morning to a deserted island. It was BEAUTIFUL, very picturesque. We napped on the beach for a bit, then Lydia and I headed out for some snorkeling. At first, it was a pretty good snorkel, pretty stuff but nothing out of the ordinary....THEN. I hear Lydia scream through her snorkel- 'Look it's an OCTOPUS!' They're unbelievably rare here because they not only can change skin color, but also change skin texture! It was SOOO COOL. We're talking Captain Jack Sparrow cool. Lydia and I (of course) picked up a stick and were gently poking it, trying to get it to come out of it's home. It was a purple, orange, and white-ish octopus (really pretty actually) and when I stuck the stick in, it grabbed on pretty hard with it's suckers! So as we're poking it....I start thinking, and the following is my random/ridiculous thought process:

'I wonder if I stuck my hand in there, will it sucker itself to me? Could I be able to pull it out? Would it ink me? I hope it does actually, then I could say I've been inked on. This thing is easily the size of my head....I wonder, if I were able to get it out and put it on my head, would it cover my whole head. Then I could be like Captain Barbosa.' Yes. I thought about all of that.

Anyways, so that super made my morning. It's legs were easily the size of my ankle and I won't forget how it shot out a 'poop string'. That's right. At first I thought it was ink, but it didn't form a cloud. It shot out what looked like a few strands of brown string about 2 feet up into the water. Then a small parrot fish came up and started eating it....so that happened. And for the rest of the day, if you had to go #2, you had to say you had to go make a poop string. :0) I love PCV's.

This is a photo that I found that is pretty close to the coloring of the octopus that we came across. Except the one we saw had a 'face' that was a dark plum with a baggy-head thing that was spotted with purple, orange, and pink. oh and the photo at the top is of Lydia and myself pointing to the area where we saw the octopus!

And for the rest of the afternoon we had REAL burgers, (although I had a Mexican veggie burger), grilled chicken- which was super yummy, POTATO SALAD, baked beans, RANCH DIP AND CHIPS, ICED TEA, and for dessert...sweet Chisu (Jesus) there was cake and ice cream, cheesecake, pecan pie, and rice krispie treats. I love america. After we chowed down, we just hung out, played some jams, shot some Fireworks!!! Which honestly, when I say fireworks in Fiji...picture the cheapest firework you can find in America...and that would be the equivalent of what are our 'best' fireworks. :0) Regardless a few of us vol's had a roman candle fight which MADE my day. Seriously, I love them.

That title seems to be a common thought amongst volunteers. At first, when someone asks you, what you've done/what you're currently working on...it's hard to come up with something to say as the things we've done/doing seem so basic. But then once you brainstorm and put the things you've done into words- it actually sounds super badass. For example: just doing little things like creating a sign with official office hours, making sure people talk in a polite manner, making sure people make their own tea and do their own dishes, etc. seems so small-scale it's not even funny. But then you put it into professional terms and voila!: Establishing professional work environment in which employees are treated fairly and equally respected. woohoo! I feel so helpful. ;0)

Anyways, we just had our annual mid-service training with all of the volunteers. It was super fun to be in a nice hotel and eat DELICIOUS food, AND hang out with old and new volunteers. At this conference they also had an annual Peace Corps Run where I ran my first 10k!! I actually did really well, I forgot to time myself exactly but I think I did it in about 48 minutes. And I didn't even train- whoop!

Monday was a SUPER fun night, it started out at our Manager's house, where she made us some AWESOME mexican food for dinner and then baked banana chocolate boats w/brownies aka best day of my life. The new volunteers found out what site they'll be at so that was super fun too. then of course we all went out dancing. Melissa and I discovered the coolness of 'seat dancing' it's so much less pressure than actually dancing. When you're standing, you have to worry about your whole body looking cool while dancing. Whereas, if you're dancing from you chair, it's only your shoulders. And it doesn't take much to look super cool. haha I know that's random and lame. whatev. The night couldn't have ended more badass aka went for a swim WITH my clothes on (which was great b/c they smelt of smoke and would have had to wash them anyway).

There were plenty of funny moments from this conference but some are definitely worth mentioning:

Upon talking about the challenges of capacity building with locals, this was said by Brain:

'So I get it: capacity building is the only way this project can work.

And I also get it: There's no way it's going to happen.....But, I'm doing it.'

It might not make sense, but it really shows how a lot of volunteers feel whilst working on projects in Fiji. :0)

Another funny is how Labasa (the largest city on the northern island) claims that it's 'Now Crime Free'. good gosh. that's what great about living in a developing country...you can make any claim and people just might believe you. awesome.

ok, this one got kind of long. sorry about that. I like to write this stuff as I'm not keeping a diary, I like blogging better. :0) It's just too ridiculous not to share with everyone.

This one is a post from 2 weeks ago that I accidentally forgot to publish. oh well- here it is!

TONS of Indian fried treats: 400 calories7 cups of tea with full cream milk: 500 caloriesCatching up with my old host village where everyone feels like family: PRICELESS

I know I put this on my facebook status, but I had to blog it too so that I remember how I felt this past weekend. It was super fun to catch up with everyone AND my old Hindi Master Mahend jii came too, so it really felt like home. :0) I also did a training with the new village that is hosting the new group of vol's that just came. It was SO fun! They were SO happy to have me- I almost felt bad, I think my Hindi Master like super talked me up. It was funny, they of course fed me way too much and sent me away with jewelry. the usual. :0) But that night I had THE FUNNEST time, sitting around drinking grog with some of the local PC staff, my hindi teacher, and some other locals from the settlement.

That Sunday I also got a chance to go an annual Firewalking Pooja that's done within the South Indian custom. It was super cool, these men and women fast all day, do very long cleansing programs, walk about 2 miles barefoot from the sea to the temple, and then have to walk over piping hot coals 3 times each. Crazy.

What would that entail???

scrubbing off mold from dressers, towels, shoes and bathing suitssweeping/wiping cockroach poo from......everywherede-bugging my entire house, not excluding inside my dresser drawers and drawer itself As for work, I've been busy. Seeing as my religious organisation is NOT a business, and that it's in desperate need of an income, I've been brainstorming some ideas to get some cash flow. Therefore, at this year's annual Sanatan soccer convention my goal is to have sanatan logo pens, sanatan logo silicone yellow bracelets, and also mini-sanatan flags. And actually I just announced it to my org and they are super excited about it- woohoo! So that should keep me occupied for the moment as I have no idea where to import these things from.

Also something random I thought I'd mention as I hope it will give you a chuckle: the ability of most Indo-Fijian women to narrate everything they're doing as they're doing it. It's like they're constantly talking 'gang-plan' and after a while (like 5 min) it gets OLD. I have to talk myself out of going crazy sometimes, but then I realize that I think it might be stemmed from the fact that most Info-Fijian women have 1. not been able to attend school and 2. have not taken a prominent position in the workforce. (They're mostly in non-decision making roles) Therefore what else would they have to talk about besides their daily domestic events? Then again, I feel like men do it to sometimes, they say those things that are just assumed in a conversation. ANd then once they've agreed on everything, then they say it again just to re-iterate. Plus I think the culture just requires that you talk a lot. AND talk in a high-pitched/border-line yelling tone. So that's fun! ;0) It makes me laugh.

I'm pretty sure most of you know I had a WONDERFUL time back home; it was definitely needed! I finally got back to my house just last night. The new PC volunteers arrive today actually, and I signed up to help train them on all things Hindu. So this past Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I've been at a TOT (TOT= Training of Trainers) workshop at the PC office. At first I was annoyed I was nervous since I wasn't going to have time to drop my stuff off at my house then come back into Suva, but by the time I arrive in Suva on Sunday, I was quite happy I was getting to stay at the Cap Hotel for those few days- just to sorry of 'detox' from America and ease myself back into the Fijian way slowly. :0) Although, I will say the first meal I had there (well, minus the cream bun I had for breakfast which I had very much missed) was a PB & Marshmallow creme puff sandwich aka all things American. :0) I spoke with some of the older vol's about by not-so-much-excited-about-retuning attitude and they said they ALL felt that way. They said it takes about a week and then you feel like you HAVE been rejuvenated. Plus I spoke with another vol and she said that if she went home at this point she definitely wouldn't come back; so I HAD to give myself a pat on the back. :0) I'm excited to meet the new volunteers though, I think their excitement will be refreshing! AND Best news of all, I came back to the office today (where I met my goodhi aka Roshni, the reason I come to this crazy office) and she told me that since I've been away, the office has been pleasant to work in...which I know that sounds silly, but that's something I've been working on since day one. It's hard being a woman in a developing country and as a worker, they often get used and abused (not physically of course). And over time, I've been trying to get people to make little changes so that the office is not only a good one to work in but also efficient. So that made my day today! I always worry about Roshni and what will happen after I leave and how she'll be treated, but it meant so much to me that things were ok. whew! Overall, it's good to be back though! It's back to picking fresh veggies and fruits from the backyard and cleaning mold off my things. I DO love this place! :0)

Here's a list of the following things that have started molding at my place:

suitcasesPASSPORTcooking chopsticks (yes, I use them...I make tempura sometimes)my roti rollershoesdresserssmall handbagalmost all of my hand towelsbathing suitleather journalPILLS(actually that's incorrect, but they have succumbed to the moisture)

What.the.hell.

Don't get me wrong, I love Fiji; but there's just things that set you back sometimes...like mold for example.

no for reals, I WANT TO! I just CAN NOT wait to come home. It seriously occupies my thoughts about 40% of my day...it's just so hard not to think about. Recently I feel like I stay up late most nights because I really am just TOO EXCITED to sleep.

Anyways, the convention this past weekend was actually a giant fart and a half, and that's me being eloquent. I can't go into details because you never know who's reading, but really...we worked so damn hard picking up from other people's slack...and died of sweat doing it. Not to mention the cultural struggles I went through, from being American (and therefore having a different work ethic) and also from being a woman. cool.

But still it was good, and it was good to meet a lot of the memebrs and show support. AND now we OFFICIALLY HAVE A WEBSITE...with it's domain name being as follows:

www.sanatandharm-fiji.com

hells to the yeah. My next projects before I go for vacay include: updating the new Hindi language traninig manual for the new volunteers (I can't believe the next round of vol's will be here after a month!), putting on a business workshop with some women who want to start local businesses, and helping show a friend how to create a website for his own volunteer organization.

Not to mention I have plenty of people/host fam's to visit before I go. I feel like a giant chunk of my life here includes being one giant social butterfly. Most days I'm cool with it, it's the other days when I realize I've gained 5 pounds from all the hindi food that I hate it. Plus...sometimes, my Hindi just doesn't function.

anywho. I need a break...that's where I'm at w/ Fiji and all it's Fiji-ness. :0)

with a giant sigh of relief, I present to everyoneSanata Dharm's Official website:

https://sites.google.com/site/sanatandharmfiji/home

(keep in mind I haven't bought a doman name and still need to clean it up more, add more info and such) But I'm just so relieved it's finished in time for our Annual Convention that is this weekend (BOO for the fact that it's over Easter holiday though and all the other volunteers are going to the outer islands for their vacay...whatever. I'm over it though, because I get to COME HOME in 2 3 weeks and so maybe it's for the better that this Convention is keeping me busy until then)

Anyways, so we'll be havign our Convention all weekend long on the western side of the island...aka sweat will be pouring from every pore in my body. can't wait. (please tell me you sense my sarcasm.) but after that's done then I'll be doing a business workshop which I am actually REALLY excited about...there are a few women who do sewing, cooking, etc and want to start small businesses frmo their homes. So I'm going to help them and I am really excited about that fo sho. :0)

ok, that's all for today...just a good day at the office!

+ =

HOORAYYYYY FIJI!

Just 2 more things to add to the list of reasons why I love Fiji!

And that centipede may not look as 'life-size' as he really was...honestly. He was actually hanging daintily on the towel I wipe my face with. That was a nice surprise when I went to dry my face off, grabbed the towel, and a poisonous insect the size of my face flies off. Yes, he was that big. And with giant tarantula stingers at the end of his butt that I'm quite positive were meant for my eyes. regardless, I killed him and it felt good.

So 2 weekends ago I got to celebrate yet another Hindu Holiday called Holi (prophet Mohammed's B-day). It was super cool! I went back to my host village for the weekend where it was fun to celebrate with all my home peeps. So basically, what happens is all the boys go around from house to house playing the drunks and singing. At each house they're give a treat to eat (of course) and they continue like this all throughout the settlement. At each house they throw powder and colored water on each other which is AWESOME and like paintball except without the guns. I had a lot of fun playing with my host fam...eventually it turned into playing in the muddy water/throwing mud at each other, which we all know- I super love. BUT because someone mixed the powder so strong and also because I'm the only blond-headed person they know....the end of the day came to a close with this:coolio.

So my good friend, Shalyn, came and of course we had some adventures!

Pics from Left to Right: Shay and me and the beachouse hotel, Shay cooking some bad-a muesli pancakes in Steve's 'kitchen'-that's the village style, the 80 ft waterfall we climbed and jumped from!, Last 2: as volunteers/visitors experience the beautiful parts of Fiji...it's usually accompanied with the not so beautiful. That first one is a local cure, chew on some mango leaves, for when you have tummy issues aka sick nasty. And the 2nd pic is Shay showing off her tokens of remembrance from Fiji- aka some cuts that got infected but were showing improvement when she left.

So my good friend Shalyn came to visit me recently, and of course, we had an adventure! I met her at a small Beachouse on the Coral Coast when she first got there, and what did we do on that first day? Flirted with the locals and got them to let us borrow some free snorkel equipment of course! and for 5 american dollars they took us our to a cool spot to snorkel the next day....but on the way we managed to find ourselves in a school of DOLPHINS! it was awesome....they were jumping in and out of the water, one did like 5 spins in the air, and were swimming only 10 feet from the boat. This is random, but I've personally always felt that dolphins are god's 'right-hand-man' creatures. I mean, they're super cool, kill sharks, and save humans. So it was kind of awesome having them all around. So we went for a good snorkel, saw lots of sea cucumbers, a GIANT Lion fish, and plenty of coral. visibility wasn't that great, but when the sun came out it was great. We had met up with some other PC volunteers, 2 of which went surfing while we were snorkeling. Steve (one of the vol's and also who's village we stayed at) said there was a giant 6 foot bull shark below him while he was surfing. At first I thought,'oh man, that would have sucked for you if you got bit...good thing I wasn't over there'...but then I realized...I wasn't too far from him at all. So thank you sweet Chisu (Jesus) that it didn't head our way.

So after we headed back to Steve's village where I pounded out some tortillas/roti and we made some AMAZING bean and cheese burritos. They were so good, I think I'm going to make them all this week.

Next day: this was the hike from hell but it was worth it. Actually, the hike up to the first waterfall was really nice. Steve's pal from the vil, Saka, was our tour guide and was showing us all kinds of things you can use off the land, my 2 fav things included:

-There was a leafy plant you could use that if you crushed it up and rubbed it in your hands with water, it would produce a bubbly soapy substance that you could use to bathe yourself! (I love planet earth)

-Second, if you realized someone was lost in the woods and needed find them, there was a tree that you could pound with a rock and it makes such a loud noise you could hear it from miles around. I just LOVE Fiji.

So once we reached the first waterfall....ugghhh AMAZINNNNNNNNNNNG! I had never been to waterfall before, and the water felt soooooooo refreshing. We climbed about 15 feet up it and jumped off. I'm pretty sure I minorly voilated by Saka who had to grab my booty to keep me from falling. oh well, I'm alive.

After playing under that waterfall, Steve talked us into trekking up to the 2nd waterfall (without shoes)near his village. 'It's just a 30-40 min trek to it...no biggy, and you probably don't want your shoes...' WRONG. About an hour and a half later, after climbing up the first waterfall/some mega bush hiking and some steep rocky/river climbing, and as my feet were sore from knife walking, we made it to that damn 2nd waterfall. At many points during that climb I found myself thinking, thank gosh that this is my friend with me that's as ballsy as I am as opposed to my mother, who would have immediately ordered me to 'Get the Hell down from there'. (Sorry mom, but it's true) :0)

So lesson for the day is that paradise isn't easy...unless you wear shoes. :0) jk. But we really did have an awesome time, after the hike Saka made some Roro from some coconut milk and ferns we found out in the bush. It was phenomenal and I was glad Shay was getting to do and try so many Fijian things!

After that, I sadly had to go back to work on that Monday while Shay stayed in Steve's village and got dive certified. Later that week she got a taste of the Hindi flavor where she graciously and happily went with me to do errands, PC office, went to the market (bought some pumpkin), visited my host fam, came to work with me, and even helped me hang my laundry. And we proved to be some pretty good cooks using my make-shift 'oven' (if you'd even call it that) when we made some caramelized onion and pumpkin pizza, and some pretty tasty home-made cinnamon rolls! I seriously had SOOO much fun hanging out with Shay, it was really good to have a friend from home visit!

Ok, sorry if this was super long! I just had such a cool adventure!

So I feel like sometimes I complain a lot sometimes or don't recognize how many wonderful things there are here. So cheers to Fiji! These are a few of my favorite things....

I'm sure you all know by now that the FRUITS are my fav:Passionfruit, mango, papaya.....

Wild Cilantro grows like crazy here...(I am so amazed at the earth and how it provides things...it gets me thinking about what we take for granted)

How you can use shells for awesome soap dishes, jewelry holders, etc!...(Personal goal-I'm never buying another soap dish again)...

The Fijian Rugs are hilarious and awesome...

Compost Toilets(they're actually not common here, but a few vol's have tried to start them and succeeded)...

***And my favorite- which I can't put a picture with, but it's sense of community here and how utterly giving people are. It's a trait that's so strong in both the Fijian and Indo-fijian cultures. (which is shocking because their cultures can often times be worlds apart....but still so similiar in many ways. I'm still amazed at how they co-exist). ***

Recently I have been utterly SHOWERED with packages...seriously, it's been amazing! I now have TONS of junk food/choco and so many things from my Christmas wish list were given to me, which I am SO thankful for. Shout-out to: Meghan: your package I received in the midst of all the security issues I had at my house and therefore I was living out of a backpack for a week. Thank goodness your package came when I needed some clean t-shirts and pj's the most! Mom: you know your package was good. It pretty much had everything I wanted. Somebody knows her daughter...and it's you. :0) Carol: your package's always have the best shirts (which I wear ALL of time...no seriously...I'm wearing the grey one with peace hearts right now). Reid: I just ate the pizza cracker sticks- I'm still savoring that one last pop-tart. Your pic is by my bedside AND in my living room. Mrs. Cher: who DEFINITELy showered me with packages of all things glorious and girly. Tonight I'm planning a mani/pedi party with myself= reading good magazines, scrubbing my feet extremely hard, and I just might paint my nails. ;0) THANK YOU TO EVERYONE, it's really very thoughtful of everyone to send me these things. When I say that everything is getting used from the packages...I mean it; everything down to the ribbons (one is in my hair), containers/baggies (highly valued here), etc.

thanks again to everyone who has written an email to sending a package to even keeping up with my blog. It means a lot to me! :0) but things are great here (besides the heat), my house is good, my new host fam is good, and i feel so much better about work now!

So I promise this one WON't be about that. :0)

This one's about my new house and new host-fam!

ok so my house is SET now and totally awesome. Again, it's all I need- one bedroom, one long kitchen/sitting room. And surprisingly there was room in there for a table, COUCH (I'm so luxurious), and a bookshelf that my host fam let me borrow! I'm in the process up hanging up all my deco's to make it look more home-y. I relaly enjoy living with a hindi family again; I mean, it can get a little annoying seeing as they can hear everything that I do/they always want me to come and visit their visitors (which they have TONS of since my host dad is a priest), and I usually just want to do myown thing in the evenings. BUT I knew there would eb some cultural adjustments and it's totally worth my safety for them to be so close-by. plus I get free hindi food, (I had to mention it) and the lady has gotten much better about letting me prepare my own food. But I just wanted to thank everyone for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers, I definitely got a lot of support from all my friends and family!

Ok so just recently I took a trip for work to the 2nd biggest island, Vanua Levu. I flew in to Labasa, the 'Friendly North', as they say...hot as balls, however, VERY beautiful and everyone there really is VERY nice. I met with a different womens group each time I was there. First day it went pretty well, they want me to help them start a bee keeping project. So I've got plenty of work to do in terms fo finding them funding to do so. The second day went ok, BUT the location of the meeting was AWESOME. It's the one shown above where were out in the middle of nowhere with all these little groups of houses tucked away in the hills. At the pooja they had there for me..I had one of these, 'What am I doing? Is this my life right now? This is crazy! WHere am I? This is awesome, my life is randomly cool at the moment!' moment. haha But then I proceeded to eat some Mango CHutney, which I hadn't had before, and all I can say is sweet Cheesu (Sweet Jesus) I.love.mango.season. And I was SO THANKFUL they still had it on Vanua. On our island, Viti Levu, mango season was ruined from the last hurricane. BUT you bet your bottom dollar I left with 10 pounds of mango's. And actually in that pic above we were picking mango's/more like catching mango's. Although later in the week after I was high on mango's and realized I desparetly needed more, I did scale a very risky tree to get me a bundle of those sweet, glorious babies.

So my trips were great during the daytime in Labasa BUT at nighttime, it was EVEN MORE FUN! I really got a chance to meet all of the volunteers who came the year before, who I really didnt know all that well. Honestly, hanging out with them totally made my week! There's not too much to do in Labasa but we did nothing short of rolling into the local club called Bounty, named after the extremely strong liqour, Bounty Rum, they have here...aka hangover central. I could only handle that one night, but other nights we just hung out: I learned how to cook Tempura, , we went to dine at the nicest place in town- the Oriental where we taki'd some beers (aka took small shots of them, a volunteer's mom sent her this gingerbreadman cookie making kit so we all super enjoyed some fun cookies from home. ALl in all I super enjoyed hanging out with the fun people in Labasa Town. My favorite part was how when I spoke in Hindi at the market, they immediately responded in Hindi. This usually isn't the case when I'm in Suva/Nausori.

So my next city that I bounced to on that island was Savusavu, known as a touristy town, but it wasn't too touristy at all. Actually it's my FAV so far. It's the perfect combination of beautiful (since it's right on a bay) and local-ish feeling, and you can get a fair amount of things in town. And since I arrive just in time for the weekend....the weekend was mine! There I stayed at 2 volunteers' houses and had even more of a blast. We went snorkeling by the Jack Cousteau (sp?) resort- saw some AMAZING colored giant clams (the bright blue was my fav). And after talking with the locals who ran the diveshop at the resort...we got them down to an awesomeprice to go diving. Hells to the Yeah. So we went for a 2 tank dive in the Savusavu bay. First dive we were at about 100 ft...only because Hanna and I kept seeing more cool things and went further and further...next thing you know we'd been at 100 ft for quite some time...woops! BUT on that dive we saw a juvenila SEA TURTLE (they're really rare and endangered) and some pretty big fish. But on the 2nd dive, we went to an area called Alice in Wonderland because of all the mushroom coral. And yes, I did feel like Alice just a little bit when I'd stick my head under that coral hoping to find something amazing. Which we did! Actually on that dive we saw around 5 white tip/black tip sharks! Most were about 3 feet but one, Monte had seen the tail under some giant mushroom coral, so of course we all had to check it out. The tail itself was about 3 feet and while Monte, a totally han-on kinda guy, stuck his hand out to grab it...the only thing going through my mind was 'Move away courtney...this thing is going to turn around, bite his hand, then I'll be next to the blood, then I'll die too!'...but of course I stayed since I realized if that were really going to happen, I'd want to see it. :0) so anyways, turns out the shark just pulle dup under the giant coral more and didnt come out to say hello.

On that dive though I also found a giant conch shell with (sadly) an animal inside. I was really hoping it would be empty as I could blow it, Lord of the Flies style from here on out. But I was a good volunteer and threw it back. That dive was totally my fav for sure though, that afternoon we came back and had...guess: MANGO, banana, pineapple, and passionfruit smoothies. done and done. OK and my last paragraph about thsi awesome trip was how one morning we went to the 'Hot Springs' in savusavu aka more like small spots with boiling water spewing out of random spots in the ground. They weren't anything much to see, but being cool volunteers that we are, we decided to come have a picnic breakfast one morning. We brought fresh bread and jam, a pot of water, and some eggs to make breakfast with. We got the idea when we saw how local women would boil their root crops on the springs. So we put the pot on the boiling water to get warm for coffee and tea, and then wrapped the eggs in my t-shirt and also laid them on the springs. It honestly wasn't anything much and sounds way cooler in words....but hoenstly, I had a super fun time having a picnic breakfast with Mother nature. :0)

..ok so this one is pretty important. I didn't really want to write about this but I felt like I should as things have been crazy in my life and are fixing to change. I also wanted to wait to write about it until things got better...and now they are, yay!

Ok so, Pretty much in the past 2 months I've had some major security issues at my house. Basically I had multiple break-in's to my house. All were during the night and when I was away. They took some things but never left any signs of showing that a thief had been in my house. I also didn't suspect anything when I'd wake up in the morning/when I'd return home as the person was able to lock the door behind them. One night, however, a Fijian man did come after me while I was asleep. He only minorly assaulted me aka just left a bruise on my arm from when he grabbed me hard on the shoulders to scare me/wake me. That night I learned I have lungs of steel I guess you could say as I was able to scream at octaves I never thought I'd reach. Luckily, that scared him and he ran away, which I can only thank god for. Someone was definitely looking out for me that night.

After that though, Peace Corps was great. A lot of changes were made to my house and it was actually quite the fortress. However, even after all new locks/bars and such, the person still made attempts to get in. So my peace corps directors and I decided it wasn't safe for me to be there!

So...I feel like my life was kind of in shambles up until this past wee. Just with the hassle of trying to figure out where I was going to live and things like that. BUT we found a place pretty quickly and I'll be pretty much living with a host family again (which at first I was like, oh gosh) BUT I think it's going to be great as I'll still have privacy and will be able to cook my own food. (not allowed to give more details via blog) AND (I know this is kind of ridiculous) I was so sad to leave my papaya trees...BUT then when we saw the house I'll be living at..they totally have 2 papaya trees, 2 banana trees, and ALL kinds of vegetables! whoop! jackpot.

So, actually, I think this will be a good move....PLUS I'm MUCH closer to work..like it cuts my bus time in half! yippee! I was still kind of sad though because I really enjoyed the community I was in, visiting and cooking with the neighbors. But I think this will be good. My Hindi will only get better. :0)

Ok, love you guys! And thanks for all the wonderful Christmas presents from my friends and family! like really, I feel so cool by how many packages Ive gotten! (which is never the case for me) haha

In no particular order:

wake up and sweep the house.... pick a papaya....

......watering some plants.....make some papaya salad (My ABSOLUTE FAVORITE) .......at the office with roshni.......maybe wash my clothes (maybe)..... I'm on the bus ALLLLL the time! gosh...i have a 1 1/2 hr commute to work 3 days a week.

OK so I feel super awkward doing this BUT I've had a lot of people asking me what I needed and I'd definitely rather get things I need rather than things I might not use/not be able to use. :0) SO here it is.

a few blank CD's (they're expensive here) Cookbook: How to cook healthy Indian Food (I saw a cookbooklike this in half price books and could definitely use this for health sessions) graham crackers- you can't get them here waterproof disposable camera1 wash cloth size paktowel (REI) -one I can carry around with me in my purse1 longer short sleeved rash guard- small/medium. (I think they might be on sale in america since it's wintertime...BUT if anyone has one I can borrow or something that would be doubly awesome!)a stain remover for curry...good god when you spill that stuff on your clothes there's NO chance it's coming out 1 packet of clothing dye- plum small travel 2009-2010 planner (one that has space for each day where I can write in it what is due on that day aka ones that have like Mon-Tues-Wed on the left page and Thurs-Sun on eth right.) And if it has a place in either of the covers for a small pocket that's nice too...chck target, wal-mart, or barnes and Nobles solo cups (great for our american get togethers...maybe if someone has a christmas party with them, you could put them in the washer and then send them to me) YES, you CAN put them in the washer. Reuse and Reduce baby. Yogurt covered pretzels Archer Farms Trail Mix single serving packets anything Dark Choco for sure.. Revlon brand- Ped egg refill thingies (if you don't know...no worries)HEB Chocolate granola cream of tartar (so i can make my host family playdough) blow up globe...definitely going to use this (one we could toss around...the size of a basketball) (anyone have one of these on hand?)I'm making handkerchiefs as christmas presents for my host-fam and friends here (they ALL use them here...its amazing). My mom brought the handkerchiefs but I was hoping for some stritching string and needles to stitch around the endges. also the small circle thing that holds the fabric taut woud be nice. (If anyone has this stuff in an old craft bin I would be more than happy just to borrow! seriously)Travel size (like 5 of each): mascara's, contact solution, shampoo and conditioners, toothbrush, toothpaste, facewash- I'm always on the go and am staying at my host families houses (it's hard without a car here). And I feel these are things you guys might just already have i your house: ladies, the mascara- like the small ones you get from the freebie bags you get at makeup counters when you buy make-up!any kind of candy/snack is always fun!MY (2nd) BIGGEST WISH OF ALL IS THAT ALL OF THESE THINGS DON'T GET PURCHASED....more like if you've got it sitting around in a drawer somewhere and can pay for postage...I would love it. SERIOUSLY. ACTUALLY my FIRST BIGGEST WISH is that I want all of you to know hot much i love and miss you guys. When my mom came to visit it really made me think how fortunate I am that I have so many awesome friends and family back home that really care about me. So thank you guys for being wonderful friends. Ok, so there it is. and PLEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASE don't feel like you HAVE to send a package. because you dont. Just email me updates about your life or just write me a long letter. It IS fun getting mail. I feel like an American when I get it. I was thinking, as to not get duplicates of things...you guys could write a comment on this post what you would be sending. Then other people could see and I promise not to look at the comments! AND I'll be updating my blog this week (promise) on Halloween (SORRY it's a month late), Thanksgiving and when my mom came! ok, over and out. xoxocourt

...More like one big fat one that WAS inhabiting the space underneath my fridge and eating my better biscuits.

Proof?Apparently mice also enjoy hand soap as a fine delicacy.

Act 1: Scene 1Courtney Vs. Mouse

-Courtney wakes in the middle of the night to something scurrying along her bedframe climbing her nightstand/modified desk.

-Courtney is pissed. AND tired.

-Courtney puts in hear earplugs and chooses not to hear the mouse eating everything in sight.

Scene 2:

-Courtney arises in the morning to find all her biscuits gnawed at (btw cookies are known as biscuits here...damn that British colonization)

-She searches for any potential rat holes, finds where she thinks they came from and plugs them up.

Scene 3: It's Go-Time

-On the morning Courtney was planning on buying some rat poison (after arising yet again to more biscuits broken into), she is suddenly distracted. By what you ask? by the rumbling that's going on beneath her fridge.

-'Ha HAH' She thinks, and actually says outloud 'It's Go-Time Mouse!'

-Knowing that the mouse will more than likely NOT run out the wide open back door but will probably want to run into her room, she blocks off the hallway with boxes and wood.

-She very quickly removes everything off the floor that would make a new home for this parasite and grabs the broom.

-With a few quick swishes underneath the fridge, a giant mouse scurries out from underneath, and (as predicted) makes a getaway to her room. He's suddenly smashes into the excellently crafted wall and heads back towards the fridge. Courtney dashes in it's way to block it and makes 3 quick swipes with the broom (screaming the whole time of course). On the 3rd flick the mouse is flung out the door, leaving Courtney's house in peace (and with a half gnawed soap bar).

End Scene.

And something I just noticed that gave me quite a giggle is how the brooms here look like Harry Potter broomstick's! woohoo! Actually the one in the pic below is a newer and not so beaten up one.

I can't tell you how SERIOUSLY effective these brooms are. It's crazy. They're made out of coconut leaves. The Fijian people are amazing at using the resources they have at hand. For example every part of the coconut tree is used for something: coconuts- obviously for eating, the coconut shells- used for drinking grog, leaves- brooms and also for things with underground fire cooking aka lovo's, the husks- used in wetland areas to soak up liquids.

Question: A necessity for Fiji Living.

Answer: What is a GIANT cane knife?

That is correct.

So I finally realized you can't exist without one of these. And YES it will be coming back with me to the states as a prized possession. Turns out you can't do a lot of things without them, those things including: cracking coconuts, cutting giant weed-trees, killing people, etc.

It's come to the point where 'yard work' has taken on a whole new level. No wonder the boys here are so jacked. I hope to register in the National Arm Wrestling Tournament 2011 when I return.

My house is coming along a lot better though...I've painted my walls with fun designs, put up pictures, and hanging deco's to make my house feel more home-y. It's taking a whole but it's getting there (also being the status of my spice collection- DG feels me on this)

In the meantime I've been compiling a few lists of ridiculous things I've heard/and now say ONLY because I am a. in Fiji and/or b. A volunteer...so please enjoy the following:

Things you would only hear a Volunteer say:

-What else do you do with your time? Existing takes time. -Sally

-What else do you keep in your shells? -Asked to Goldman

-Would you like some of my resources? -Christian

-Bugs are just apart of my life right now. -Goldman

-A kid took a dump on my front porch today. -Jewels

-I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts. -Me. (and I actually do!) -I couldn't exist without eggplants. All vol's-Also, you know you're a volunteer when you sleep with a can of bug spray beneath your sheets...like I do. :0)

Things you would only hear in Fiji:

-Oooh she/he's very smart with that. (they say this instead of 'you're good at something')

-Rubbish instead of Trash

-Torch instead of Flashlight (really, am I really holding a damn torch?) -the pounding of the grog/yangona they drink there. It's a root plant they pound into powder, then mix with water, then drink. It looks and tastes like mud. quite the Fijian delicacy. -the kissy noises Fijians are EXCELLENT at making. They do this to get someone's attention for anything. And somehow they can make it so loud you could hear them accross a busy road. I've been practicing but am not that good...I think it's because they all have giant lips here.

Also, something I feel like everyone might get a good laugh out of is the theme ideas for some paraphernalia the pcv's have decided to make:

T-SHirt ideas include:

Dalo Happens (google what Dalo is....not too tasty)

Dalo Happens, and so do parasites.

Worms happen.

(Is anyone seeing a trend? I feel like the real shirt idea should be:

'[Insert any disgusting skin disease here] Happens.')

We also want to make a bracelet that says 'WWSD' = What Would Sat Do?

Sat being our safety and security officer who WILL come a runnin' if need be. :0)

I thought you guys would enjoy those...it's little things like this that give you a better idea of life in Fiji.

My Pride and Joy:

Here's my little guy. He so made the best curry (mainly because he was the first pumpkin I was able to pick from my patch and not because I'm a good cook.) Here are some pics of my house below and I'll post the rest on my photos on the webpage.

To the right: This is the outside view of my Pepto Bismal House

This is the chalkboard wall I painted in my kitchen...totally cool.

This is my kitchen..Notice the concrete floorsand the broken panelabove the window(That DOES happento be literally hangingon by a thread)

This is my backyard where I dry my clothes(sorry about the unmentionables) :0)

So the situation with work at the moment is as follows:

The main guy who practically ran the office decided he needed a month off. I understand that, they over worked him and paid him to little, and he's really cool. But his situation called for an immdeiate vacation and so he left the very next day. Since no one else can run the office like he can, we had to cancel the Diwali Festival Event we were planning which cancelled my plans for the cooking competition. Thats Fijitime for ya. But honestly, it wa probably for the best, right now is a really busy time for the women and I wasn't getting much of a response from them at the moment. So now atthe moment I'm just helping to return emails that come to teh sanatan email. coolio. What am I doing here? I have not a clue. but I like it. I mean, there are 3 parts to my job as a PC volunteer: 1. Share information and skills with people who want to help themselves 2. Learn and experience another culture 3. Share your own culture. At the moment. I think I've maxed out on 2 and I think am doing good on 3. Don't ask me about #1. :0)

...takin' one down just to turn it around.

So, I definitely had a pretty rough day on Thursday...not so much that I was stressed out or anything, just the fact I was sick ALL day long. Here's how the story goes. At the moment I'm really not eating a whole lot of meat. For one, it's expensive, and two, it involves some kind of plucking/peeling/shaving/de-boning. so no thanks. I mean, it's not bad, because it's all fresh, but it just involves work. Anyways, the point is I don't eat a lot of meat unless someone cooks it for me...and in that case, I make it a personal goal to get a meat high. So the other night I went to a co-workers going away party and surprise surprise there was like 4 different kinds of meat. Did I eat them all? Yes. Did I eat too much of every kind? Yes.

Did I get sick later that night and all the next day? YES.

I actually think it wa a combination of the fact I rarely eat meat AND the fact that I think some of it was bad. All I can say is that I had an episode. I REFUSE to go into details about the next day. so use your imagination (I recommend not though). All I can say is THANK YOU SWEET JESUS, JISU, and BHAGUAN that the toilet in my workplace was working (for once) that day. Afterwards I went by the peace corps office to get meds and check mail. And my day really took a turn upward from there!(ish) I checked my mail to find a lovely package from my awesome gal, Lorraine, alias LoCo. I didn't want to open it in the office and decided to save it for later. As I was walking down this giant, steep hill that the peace corps office is on...I kept thinking to myself 'Courtney, you're probably going to slip down this business (yes it HAD been raining all week) so you should slow down'....did I slow down? No. Did I take a giant tumble and cut my hand in 2 places? Yes. After a long ride from Suva to Nausori with a wet butt, things did start turning up. I opened my package from Lorraie to find it filled with all things Peruvian, which was super awesome and really made my day! Then I met my friend Krissy, whose hindi name is sosheila so we call her sushi for short, who gave me a dark chocolate candy bar. Thank you sweet Jisu.

Moral of the story- I think the big guy upstairs IS looking out for me. :0) And shoutout to lorraine for the awesome package!

OK, now I'll post another blog about the crazyness of my job.

-booyah...

p.s. As for me and my pumpkin Theif...he got to me again. Running tally:

Tom Foolery- 5

Chandni- 2 (I made pumpkin curyr which was pretty good! but my roti sucks though)

OK so, here in Fiji- Boys play Rugby and girls play Netball. Netball is a combination of basketball and ultimate frisbee. It's pretty much more like ultimate frisbee but you throw a basketball and also the goal that you shoot the basketball into doesn't have a backboard. After coming back form a pooja mid-day and after meeting with the principal on official business, I marched right outside (wearing my fancy Indian clothes...the long shirt with baggy pants) and joined the PE girls. I'm pretty sure they were all laughing at me because not only do I look ridiculous when I run (I'm bowl-legged and stick my butt out when I run...not by choice) and also happened to be wearing hilarious bright yellow indian clothes, so I don't blame them. I think my favorite part of this game was how no one was wearing shoes! I'm pretty sure the only game people wear shoes with is soccer because you have to kick the ball. My feet are definitely a lot rougher now since I've been here but I was shocked at how I didn't notice I wasn't wearing shoes while playing. Totally reminded me of my 'off shoes' day(s) back in college with all my best friends- special shoutout to all my afc-ers. Yes, I DID walk into restrooms (in the USA..NOT in Fiji) wearing no shoes. I'm going to see that as God's way of getting me ready for Fiji. haha But all in all it was a fun game and I am planning on playing with them again for sure. And another special shoutout to someone who would personally enjoy the fact they have something similar to ultimate frisbee here in Fiji. Kudos to the guy with the alias 'Jazz Hands', someone whom I think would definitely rock netball. haha

Ok, miss you guys! :0)

Ok so I know a lot of people have been asking what exactly it is that I've been doing so here is the response:

There happen to be 2 answers to this question-

1. I think I've been to a million pooja's (which of course take the whole evening) and therefore have to stay where I'm at. Oooh the joys of not having a car. :0) And I've also been invited to about half of the Hindustani population's houses for dinner here in Nausori...so thats cool. On one side it's great to visit with people, they're always very excited to have me over and to talk with me in Hindi. Yet on the other side I feel like I am never at home sometimes! I feel like I'm always carrying my overnight bag with me. Days will go by and I'll realie I havent seen my neighbors in quite some time. I'm thinking it's just for now...just because I'm new and everyone wants to be entertained by this white girl speaking terrible Hindi.

2. I honestly don't have a clue as to what I've been doing. I know I've been commuting, so thats on thing during the day....like seriously, it sucks that my house is so far away from my job...it's about a 1hr and 15 min door-to-door commute. I get on bus to go to Nausori town, then I catch anotherbus/minivan to Nabua town, then I walk up a hill and sit with the lady who runs a snacks stand right outside the school that my office is in. We shoot the bull for about 15 minutes, she sometimes gives me treats, and then I hop into work. SO total it's about a 3 hour time period taken out of my day. This is where books come in handy. But my initial job description said I would only be in Nabua for 2 days a week but now it's looking like it's going to be more like 3-5.

Here's the low down- initially my organization said they would soon be building a vocational school (a school for drop-out-ish type kids who learn hands on things they might need for the real world, like agriculture, sewing, etc.) out here on the compound of this school that I'm living at. And I'm suppose to help with managing that vocational school- and thats why they put me all teh way out here in Wainibokasi. BUT BUT BUT seeing as everything is on Fiji time and this is a religious organzation with only retired teachers as workers (aka they're not very motivated) I honestly don't see this school getting built until the day I leave. Sooooo thats cool I guess. And my job has all of these GIANT goals that I wouldn't be able to finish in 10 years...That's one thing about Hindi people, they are very driven (which is great), but I feel like the people at my work are wanting to move their organization from a small religious one (it's about the equivalent to working at as a church volunteer in theUS of A's. But keep in mind they have no resources and no manpower) to a giant American sized, well oiled machine, type of organization.

So some things that I'm working on at the moment: 1. My org is putting on this Diwali Festival, The Festival of Lights aka similiar to our Christmas, on October 10th. Their goal is to spread awareness of Diwali (even though many ppl know about it and already celebrate it...Fijians and Indo-Fijians) and of course..to celebrate it with food! SO in light of that I'm starting a (hopefully, soon to be annual if it goes well) cooking competition for the ladies to help raise some money! I think it's going ot be good, it's just goingto be an Indian Sweets contest with 3 categories: Barfi, Gulab Jamun, and Govinda. I'm actually really excited about this and am excited ot go around to the different womens groups and announce it to them. 2. My org always puts out a Diwali 'Magazine' to sell at this event (they're more like programs...but they kind of stink aka a bunch of members just buy half pages and write speeches in them. That being the kind of stuff that NO ONE READS. we all know it's true.) But this year I'm helping them improve it by making it more useful to people with recipes, coloring pages for kids, funny pages, helpful household tips, and NO personal messages. So hopefully that will work out. 3. I may start doing yoga classes and healthy eating sessions out of my house. I feel like there is an interest for it and I'm pretty sure these women have never heard of a calorie. They also just might have a heart attack if they knew how bad tons of fried foods are for you. (And just to defend Indian food....it's really not bad in moderation, I definitely eat all kinds of vegetables and such. It's just more foods are cooked in oil than not. And when I say fried I mean either battered and deep fried or just cooked in oil). 4. I actually spoke with the principal yesterday about teaching a class once a week about how to run your own business out of your home! I'm excited abotu that because that sounds right up my alley! AND just after meeting with the principal I marched right outside to play netball with the PE girls.

So that may sound like a lot but a lot of these things actually developed within the last week. So I feel a little less lost with my life. PLUS I got a pumpkin from my backyard:

Pumpkin Thief- 4

Chandani -1 (and climbing...I SO have another two and I'm hiding them again)

That's right...I've got one.

Damnit.

I can't tell you guys how I was initially SO excited when I arrived at my empty house to find that there is a blossoming pumpkin plant spreading through my backyard. (like in my mind it made up for the fact my house had no chairs or shelves). This hardworking plant of mine has produced 6 PUMPKINS since I have moved in. And would you like to know how many I've actually gotten to eat? ZERO.

Seriously, every day I go out to check on my little pumpkin babies and get to excited to see them grow (knowing that one day I will so enjoy making pumpkin curry), waiting patiently day by day (by day by day) so that they'll get just the right size to pick and then -count it- the past 4 TIMES that I've gone out on the MORNING OF to pick them.....I come to find a little empty space in the grass where my lovely pumpkin was nestled a mere 10 hours before. Are Paguan.

Please Mr. Pimpkin Man, you can have my pumpkins...but I just want one, man!

In honor of my favorite girlies, I have 4 words for him: 'Get Lost Tom Foolery!'

As for the light at the end of the tunnel there just so happens to be 2 more pumpkins growing. And by george I've done my best to hide them in the vines. We shall see who wins this next round Sir Tricks-A-Lot, for it shall be I, the Maiden of the Pumpkin-Patch-Protectors.

ahaha and fyi I just read what I wrote just now and realized that maybe just maybe the lonliness of being a peace corps volunteer may or may not be playing tricks on my mind. Or maybe it's the rooster that crows every morning at 4:30 am.

Pray for my Pumpkins Please.

xoxo-Court

So my friend Julie is working at the Kidney Foundation and asked for some help with her float. Being the helpful volunteer that I am (slash secretly wanting to fulfill my personal mission to someway be in the parade) of course I said yes. So what did helping the Kidney Foundation mean? Dressing up as a Kidney Bean of course! so...that also happened. My friend Sean posted some pics up on facebook of this wonderful day, so check those out if you want! The float was totally rockin' our pageant girl should have won for sure. Next year I'm making it a personal goal to be a judge of this pageant...and I think I'm on my way. Mom, I know you always said I should be a judge when I grow up but you never said what kind.

Well almost. I don't think I ever wrote about that time when myself and a fellow ghori (white girl) danced (shook our thangs beyonce style) 5 FEET in front of the PRIME MINISTER BAINIMARAMA.....yes, that happened. This all came about because of the PEACE CORPS actually. After we performed our dance at the family appreciation day, our was chosen to be performed at the Ambassadors house for swearing-in. From there, thanks to Fiji TV 1, our dance was shown on TV (which I'm SO GETTING A COPY OF...it will be on my profile soon, hopefully- Fijitime). Form there one of my bosses who was giving me money to buy a fridge 'asked'/told me he wanted me to perform an item. Cool. So Krissy and I sat up on stage next to my Pitajii, who cracks me up, for the Girmit Festival. Actually this festival is only for Indo-Fijians. The term Girmit comes from the word 'Agreement' which was from the Hindu indentured servants that were brought over from India. This festival honors those ancestors. And I personally can't think of a better way to shake it like a salt shaker for Mr. Bainimarama himself. coolio.

Special shoutout to anyone and everyone who has heard of these badboys: Mamalo fo sho, DaniG, Sara, and fellow study abroad gals. I can't tell you how ECSTATIC I was when I saw these heavenliest of all heavens ice cream bars here in FIJI....which is crazy. Are Bhaguan. I actually haven't had one yet because they happen to be like $6.50 which is super expensive. So I'm waiting for that special, perfect sunshiney day when I'm in Nausori town and want nothing more than this delectable treat. I just thought I'd share my excitement about these treats, because they SO deserve the kudos. :0) haha

I know I do. SO a few more random stories/thoughts from my crazy mind are fixing to be shared. So in the words of Samuel L. Jackson, quoted from Jurassic Park (with a cigarette in hand), 'hold onto yo butts.'

So I definitely have some photos of this up on my profile, but let me tell you about the time I woke up to an early morning bareback horseride. One normal/very pretty morning I was getting ready to go into Nausori for centerday. As I come out of the restroom to wash my hands, teeth, and face I suddenly hear my Bhabi shout something at me in Hindi. Of course I don't understand- it's 6:30am and my brain doesn't start functioning until at least 7. After I wash my face I look up out the window that's right in front of the sink. What do I see? Sosheila/Krissy going on a morning stroll on one very skinny bareback horse amongst a giant field of eggplants. cool. I dig Fiji. So of course I had to run out there myself and go for a ride down the ol' dirt road. coolio.

Some more random thoughts, a forgive me for this, but I'd like to take a second and describe in detail how hot the boys are here. Like seriously, the Fijians AND info-fijians. INdo-fijians, to me, are usually better looking in the face and fijians just have solid, rock hard bods. Like it's crazy! I don't know what they put in the milk here (oh wait I do know, straight up butter) but these boys are just mad ripped. It's kind of sad though, despite all the proposals I get....I just don't they could handle an american girl. WOmens roles here are very different (in the info fijian and fijian cultures) from american ones. In the words of Beyonce, they're not ready for this jelly. I think the fact that I really don't know how to cook ASTOUNDS them. I mean, I do know how to cook (american food), but since a lot of things aren't available here how they are in america I find myself sputtering about the kitchen. It's funny how all these women have recipes for EVERY kind of curry imprinted into their minds. I haven't seen any one of them bust out a recipe book.

As for my job- I'm working with Sanatan Dharm. It's a very large and ambitious hindustani organization in Fiji, the largest I think. BUT sadly it's extremely low on resources and man power. SO that's what I'm here to help with. I'm also going to be helping at the Shreedhar Maharaj College (secondary school/highschool) where I'll be doing environment and health workshops and hopefully getting More hindi classes for free. I'm a little confused with my life right now....because I think maybe my org thought I was going to be some awesome expert that could help them solve some mega problems (which ughh.......I'm sorry, what?) BUT that's actually to be expected in a sense that there are ALWAYS a lot of wrong assumptions made about the peace corps. A lot of people still don't get it and a lot of people still are asking you 'So, what is the peace corps?' on the day you leave from your service. So it's assumed that you have to do a lot of explaining. Anyways, I'm also hoping to help connect all the resources that Sanatan has and get their infrastructure settled. It sounds like a lot, and it WILL be...but for now I don't even know where to begin. I'm still learning what's going on, learning the hierchal system they have here (which is of course male dominated), and learning when and where I am allowed to do things. So for right now.....I'm lost. cool. That (as I've heard many times before) is the life of a volunteer.

As a volunteer, the first three months you actually don't have to do anything but socialize if you don't want to. Your job is to network, share cultures, get to know your village/settlement, potential 'co-workers', etc. This care free lifestyle definitely suits a village. However, because I am in a Hindi settlement, things are different. Hindi people in general are more about working. SO I feel like people are expecting all of these things from me (and expecting them quickly kind of) and then also misinterpreting what I'm here for (for ex. the school that I live at, a lot of them think I'll be teaching). SO thats cool. Really the Hindi world is VERY different from the Fijian. After a long day of rolling puri and being shouted at in Hindi, it's nice to relax and shoot some bowls of grog.

My house is great for FIji standards! It's cement with electricity and with multiple rooms. However, it's almost TOO big, seriously. FOr an American coming with a lot of stuff (of course) it would be great, but for a peace corps volunteer arriving with NO furniture into a big, lonely house that had only a table and small bed....what to do! Can I get $50 for 'Do I get any chairs?'...Answer is 'Who do you think you are?'. Coolio. But my organization actually helped me out and gave me some money to buy some furniture...because it IS impossible to function without a dresser. And because I have electricity, I definitely wanted a fridge. SO I got a small one- dorm room style and am making that work. There's no 'carpet' in the kitchen and in the bedroom but the rest of the house has tile. The MAIN thing I am SUPER PUMPED ABOUT is all the plants I have in my backyard- 3 PAPAYA trees, 3 chili plants..which I am using fyi, I'm growing mint now, some other kind of vegetable that I don't know what it is but will more than likely eat it, pumpkin!!!!!!!!, a lemon tree, and 2 other vegetable trees. WHOOP! I'm pumped! and there is a tilapia pond right by my house so I just might go fishing. :0)

I showered with frog last night. That's another thing actually, my house was so empty (oh and NO shelves btw..that was a bit ridiculous) they even took the shower head off the wall. SO it's just a tube pouring water....I choose to shower by bucket.

anywho.....thats all for now. more to come without a doubt. Again I love and miss everyone. I've definitely had my first wave of mega homesickness these past 2 weeks. It's cool though. If you're near a landline, remember I can call you for 30 minutes and it only costs 2 fijian dollars! so let me know! ok love you guys!

-Chandni chand se hoti he

sitarro se nahii

piyaar ek so hota he

hazarro se nahii

OK so what I've done now to make this easier to read is to section off what I write about. It's not really in chronologicle order but it's easier to read.

Special shoutout to my cousin Carol who I've gotten two incredible packages from! Thank you SO MUCH! It the best feeling to get mail! I feel American again when I do. :0) ALso to my Mom, Your package was SERIOUSLY awesome....just so everyone knows, American junk food IS appreciated. :0) Oh but just so you guys know- oreos are the one american food they do have here. And also any type of book would be greatly appreciated, maybe if you have an old one or something that you thought would be worth the read and is relatively light. Also, I've moved into my new house (which I'm running out of time to I'll tell more about that later) but it's extremely empty. So anything small to decorate my house with (like a picture of you) would be so cool! I'm putting my new address on facebook so if you aren't on facebook then email me for it!

ok, Im definitely out of time and I hope you enjoy the ridiculous things I wrote!

xoxo...man I really miss so many of you!! like really.

-CHandni

OK so in light of all the wonderful things our host families have done for us, Peace Corps put on a host family appreciation day with dancing, delicious foods, and awards. Every village/settlement was asked to perform an item/act of some dance. 2 were going to be chosen and then were going to be performed at the official swearing in at the ambassador's house. At the celebration our dance was a hit....of course it was extremely embarrassing because it was only Krissy and I (and all the other villages had at least 5 people) but we did a cool dance with candles and scarves. Despite the fact we both forgot half of it, it all turned out ok when a Fijian boy jumped right in the middle of our performance and started dancing with us. They do that a lot here...but I was grateful because we weren't that good. Mid dance one of the chief's of another village came up a gave us shell necklaces because apparently we were that good. (???)

Anyways, the celebration was really fun with speeches, awards, lots of food (OMG actually I don't think I've ever had anything so delicious as this crab meat with tomatoes and onion that was cooked in lolo..coconut milk, in an underground oven), and skits.

But of course naturally ours was one of the dances selected to perform at the swearing in. cool.

So, because this was a formal occasion we all dawned our best sari's and sulu chamba's and headed out at a ridiculous hour in the morning. There were lots of Fiji TV news people and reporters who were there to document the day. The Ambassador is a really great speaker and has an awesome family. SO we performed our dance in front of the few cameras (hoping we wouldn't be on TV) and then the crowd gave us a standing ovation......yeah that didn't happen. Then of course the Hindu reporters wanted to know how I knewHindu and all about the dance. My favorite part was when the reporter walked right up to me and said 'Are you from Bollywood!?' Yes, I am. Can't you tell from the not-tan color of my skin, my horrible Hindi accent, and bad dancing moves? But I did appreciate the compliment. And after all that hype was over, we all ate lots of delicious chocolate cake, chicken salad sandwiches, and this awesome artichoke dip that we had been deprived of!!!

After that we headed back to the hotel for a solid nap. That night was really fun because it was the last night before everyone left. Such a blasty. Actually, that night I had the closest thing to a hot dog I think I'm going to get in suva and some REAL potato salad!

So I remember being told that Hindi people love dances but I didn't really believe it until the day after our swearing-in- when both papers had a picture of me dancing (good god) and also when the Fiji TV 1 did a segment on the Peace COrps. They showed both of our Fijian and Hindi volunteer speakers but then also played a clip of me dancing (why only me???? there was SO another girl there!) for at least 20 seconds. cool. And of course all of Nukomoto/Nausori/Suva saw this and now I'm 'that girl'. Now all these people think I can dance or something and so just recently was asked to perform again in the Girtin Festival that's in Nausori this Saturday. My first response was 'HECK NO' but then changed my mind when the same man who asked me said he would also be providing funds to help me buy a refrigerator. Not wanting to get on his bad side, I agreed. Food is worth it. :0) and I feel like I'm that girl already so why the heck not. PLus Prime Minister Bainarama is coming so maybe I'll get to sit next to him. (or not).

So clearly my career of going to Bollywood is already in the works. cool.

So we planned with our AWESOME language instructor Mahend (seriously, he's a totally funny and cooky guy who was always down for a laugh and loves people) to have this 'Nariyal ke Samja' aka coconut afternoon where we learned what all we could do with coconut trees. For one, you can make jharuu's (brooms) but taking off the leaves and picking out the hard part/stem of the leaf (the part that's in the middle). Then you shave around it with a knife to get the leaf bits off. Then you combine them all together, tie them off and taa-daa you;ve got a broom. And that's actually what the brooms are made out of here.

Second, we took a coconut, cracked it, scraped out the inside with a coconut shaver. Then we learned how you can make coconutmilk from the shavings and also how you can make coconut oil (that goes into many lotions) from the milk you make. And to top off our afternoon of course we had to learn how to make the famous Indian coconut sweets aka barfi. (the name is weird but it tastes delicious...it won't make you barf).

Now because Fijian people can use every part of the coconut tree for something, they are kind of seen as sacred trees. TO preface this, a random cultural belief is that there are ghosts in some trees. For example, your whole life has been written out by Paguan. If you end your life before it was written to end (you commit suicide) then you will remain as a ghost who either haunts your old house or lives in the trees. You live in the trees until your life was written to end by Paguan akaif you were suppose to die at 60, you kill yourself at 50, you live as a ghost for 10 years. However, because coconut trees are sacred, they are safe.

They also believe that eclipse's are bad. At first I wondered why but then realized because it covers/shadows the moon. And as we all know the moon (Chand....make name being Chandni = moonlight) is extremely important in their culture. So on the day of the eclipse you really shouldn't go outside too much. Andduring the main hours the eclipse is going on you are suppose to stay inside, close the doors, close the curtains, and you can't make or eat any food. You also can't look directly at the eclipse. If you do you might get sick, and if a pregnant lady does this then her baby might come out handicapped. BUT if you do choose to eat or cook during the eclipse you CAN spread cow patties (let's remember that cows are sacred) all around your house and then you also have to put a little on the bottom/underneath the pan you're cooking with. That's right. (Not IN the pan but on the bottom).

ALso something I wanted to add to my random thoughts list is how the music here in Fiji is awesome. I can't tell you how much they love Akon and Chris Brown. But they also have very randonm songs- like Dolly Parton. SPecial shoutout to my homegirl Abbey who is a giant Dolly fan. GOtta love 9-5. As I sat on the bus on the way ot Nausori all I think of is how none of these people know who Dolly is, how giant her boobs are, and how when I was a little girl I used to squat down, tuck my knees into my 80's style giant t-shirt, and bounce around like I was Dolly Parton. No, I was definitely not the only girl who did this.

We got to go to Bau and visit a volunteer who is tucked away on the side of Fiji right on the coast. She is currently working on coral reef monitoring! It was so cool. We got to go out on boats and go snorkeling to see the coral! It was awesome! now I know you guys are thinking like comkpletely tropical with completely clear waters---but remember we're peace corps and we're put in areas that need help. Anyways, the water wasn't 100% visibility but was still so great to see all of the colorful fish and awesome marine life. My favorite corals were the Christmas-tree worms which are small colorful coral that when you wave your hand near them they jump back in their holes (like on The Little Mermaid....oh man I just realized something- I was so Ariel for a day, whoop!). But there were bright blue starfish and tons of soft coral. My friend Julie who has worked in Hawaii on coral reefs said that was the most soft coral she's ever seen in one area. Actually that's who is on my facebook pic with me now! Then at the end some Fijians went fishing and caught some cool fish, a stingray, and an eel. They let me hold the eel too....then they gutted it and divied up the parts. My favorite part though was when we boated out to the coral this Fijian man was laying with his head and chest on the bow of the boat and put his feet on the benches. I'll post a picture of this soon because it was ridiculously awesome.

As for a business environment day we had was when we went to some local bakeries in some tiny villages and got to see how they make things. They used to only have brick ovens but have now switched to electric.

Another business environment trip was when we got to go to a village who have built a huge Bure (the really big grass houses) and have made an area to do lots of Meke's (the local fijian dances). They are anting to make this a small tourist attraction to raise money. It's awesome though to learn about the history of Fiji- especially the savage side. For example, this giant Bure's they built were places that only a chief or a holy man could enter. There was a giant piece of this cotton paper that ran from the end of the grog bowl up to the top of the bure- and this was how they spoke to the gods. When they built these bure's human sacrifices were required. Usually there were 4 men who wrapped themselves around each pole in all four corners. They were they buried alive. People were also killed when rolling the giant poles to where they were going to build the bure's. When someone died they threw them in/on the bure and covered. how crazy is that? There are only a few of these kinds of bure's in Fiji left with actual skeletons in them. And no worries, the one this village built required no sacrifices.

OK so this blog is just my thoughts on some random things---

Ok so a short a really choppy history of Fiji is this: The Brits came in olden times, messed stuff up a little bit, brought over people from India as indentured servants (not quite as bad a slavery but you can still see a lot of the effects from it aka a lot of Hindustani people are still working in the sugar cane fields), then the queen got her face stamped on all the money, they implemented tea time- thank god- and peaced out.

And now, I am happy to say, I can go through the day without my morning and afternoon tea. Seriously. This is true for both Fijian villages and Hindustani settlements, the only difference being that the snacks and tea's vary. Regardless though, you say you want white tea or white coffee you are going to get 75% full cream milk- hands down. Oh and of course expect 15 gallons of sugar.

As for the money...seriously Queen Elizabeth? I would personally rather see an extremely muscley Rubgy player on my 1$ coins. Better yet, put a different player on each kind of coin and those things would be a round 2 version of Pogs. :0) ooohhh Pogs. And of course if you put Serevi on a 1$ coin he would be the slammer.

I also do love some of the slang that the Brits left..for example- cheeky. Man of love saying that word. It's also funny how some things don't translate, for example in the US we would say someone was 'very good at something'. Here they say someone is 'very smart in that'...it's just funny.

Something extremely random- now I don't know why this is, but my best guess is that it's because of all the nutrients in the foods here, but my nails have been growing at a super fast speed AND they are virtually indestructible. (I'll be joining the X-Men team soon btw)

SO the fact that I'm a young single girl and because I am excited to learn about the Hindi culture, has apparently compelled someone to put an ad in the Fiji yellow pages with an article that says "Young saucy minx looking to date your son." Because for some reason EVERY older hindustani woman is extremely interested in introducing me to their sons. I mean, I expected this, being a young girl in general, so I end up just laughing off their 'half-serious but serious if I was serious' proposal. But when a woman goes and calls her son to drive to where I'm at just so he can meet me is ridiculous. Are Paguan (good god).

But on a lighter note, I seriously love how all the men hold hands here. Fijian and Indo-Fijian. It's awesome. I love this culture. For example, right when we were given our site placements and were able to meet with our contact people from our sites, I caught a picture of my friend Monte holding hands with a giant Fijian man whilst waling merrily to lunch. That's it- merry, this culture is so merry.

That brings up something else- I've never been invited ot more people's houses to dinner in my entire life. If I didn't want to cook for 3 months- I'm 100% positive I could make it happen. My favorite part about it is that most of the shop keepers are Hindustani- so I really make a lot of friends and get good prices for things. But something awesome happened the other day. I told my friend I was going to Colo e Suva ( cool rainforest looking place with trails and rivers you can jump into) and she marched right out from behind the counter, grabbed my hand, and almost begged me to come to her house to dinner because it was right there. I sadly couldn't that day but will definitely go back for sure. That's how nice people are here. Now I'm sure she has a secret motive and a son who is single, but I don't care.

I was even on the bus one day and was really hungry. A fijian lady sat down next to me with a big bag of twisties (cheetos). I'm pretty positive she didn't see me eyeing them. But just as soon as she opened them she turned ot me and offered me some. And heck yes I took some. I love Fiji. Where else in the world would you get offered some chips on a bus by a total stranger. (But let's not talk about the health problems in Fiji...oh my). No worries, I'm healthy. I do have a small sinus infection right now but I've already got the meds for it and am feeling better.