We set up a booth with some Peace Corps flyers and posters and waited for interested persons to stop by. Honestly the rain scared people away. Not a big crowd. I ended up leaving to shop for Christmas presents. Got mom and sis’ gifts in the mail! Be watching out for them. Sis, yours is in the mail to your new address. At 1:00 PM I went to the dentist and got my bottom retainer re-glued. It definitely only took 5 minutes. More shopping, more work in the Peace Corps Office, then off to Catherine’s house for a potluck. Man, Peace Corps is a job of extremes. After dinner we all played a game of Pictionary on paper. The game involved ten of us. We each had ten pieces of paper. The first paper we wrote a saying, word, or phrase then passed the stack to the person to our left. That person would read the phrase, put it at the back of the stack and draw it. He would pass the drawing to the next person where they would write what they see and the next person draws what the person before them wrote. So, at the end of the 10 person circle the original writer could look through his stack and see where the story ended. Many were hilarious. Let me give you an example:
I wrote: Drinking water from a root
Next Person drew: A person with a tree and a cup of water
Next person wrote: Plant a garden and watch it grow
Next person drew: A person with scary eyes next to a square of squiggly lines
Next person wrote: Alien with crazy cat eyes
Next person drew: A square headed cat/person with a hat/spaceship next to them
Next person wrote: Spongebob Squarepants eats a cat.
Next person drew: Spongebob Squarepants and a cat with an arrow pointing into Spongebob’s mouth
Next person wrote: The cate attacks Spongebob Squarepants
Next person drew: Spongebob Squarepants with a cat reaching out with claws.
Must say, they got pretty silly, and we were really trying to follow the picture or saying. The next game was name three famous people, describe them, then describe them in two words, then act that person out. Three different rounds with two teams. Good games, good times!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
LOOOONNNNGGGG Day. Woke up at 5:20 AM to be ready by 6:00 AM. I head to the boat captains house and he was headed out to pick up coconuts from the nearby settlement. I ended up hanging out with the captains’ 26 year old wife waiting on him to come back. She is amazing! Another one of my best friends in the village! She has three adorable kids and a great husband. Cute, cute family. So he comes back about an hour later. I headed to the front of the village to hop on the boat following two small boys carrying a dozen coconuts each. I climb over all of the coconuts and sit at the bow of the boat. We head off for town. Low and behold we only get to the first settlement before we have to stop. Wow. We end up drifting through a river among mangroves. It was beautiful. My new destination on my bilibili at high tide. I can’t wait to take some good pictures!
The mangrove forest.
So two hours later we arrive at our boat docking village and I am forced again to climb over about 100 dozen coconuts to reach the beach.
All of the coconuts I had to climb over.
Next, wait for a carrier. I end up smooshing my body into the hole of a tire and riding 30 minutes with the wind blowing in my hair. Upon arrival I only had time to get on the internet for half an hour. I waited on mom, no show. I waited on Kate, no show. I waited on Teresa, no show. So, got nothing accomplished. The kindergarten teacher had asked me to go with her to a kindy luncheon and gift exchange. I was told to meet at 10:00 AM at the market. I get there dressed and on time and she is wondering around the market not dressed or ready to go. Typical Fijian time - I just get so frustrated with me being on time somewhere and then I find out we aren’t using a watch, just learning patience with every passing minute. I wait until after 11:15 before we catch a carrier to the village. We are greeted warmly, I am given the most important seat in the house, as well as I drink grog first. It is hard to decide if Fijians are doing this out of respect or more so to showcase you like a circus animal. I try and take it as a compliment either way. Other volunteers don’t always take a liking to the attention.
The party was supposed to end at 1:00. I had to catch the only bus after noon from town at 2:30. The party wasn’t over when I hopped on a bus at 1:45 back to town. The teachers drank some grog, had a meeting, exchanged gifts, then ate a feast. I escaped the feast. Lol. Oh Fijian food. So after I was safe on the express bus I was able to relax and read a little “The Sex Lives of Cannibals”. I got in Suva, dropped my stuff off at the hotel and went straight to my favorite restaurant for a hamburger. I walk in and hear my name. There are several volunteers just starting to eat! So I joined them. We decided to go see 2012 after dinner. Oh my goodness, one of the only times I have felt like I was in America in Fiji. The theatre was so much like theatres in America, although, theatres in Fiji offer cappuchino ice cream with the hard chocolate crust like Dairy Queen! So cool. The movie, not so cool. An Armageddon look alike. After the movie I headed home and went straight to bed.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Going to town tomorrow! I have been craving ice cream for days! I am also going to Suva this weekend. I was flossing earlier this morning and somehow I flossed my bottom retainer off a tooth. So, apparently Peace Corps wants me to get it fixed in Suva. I was planning on going down this weekend anyways for work leave. I have to meet up with IHRDP, Manjesh, and Sateesh. Lots of research on Virgin Coconut Oil. We are currently looking into a market in New Zealand as well as possibly markets in Fiji, although, to promise a certain amount of product, we must have the machines to reduce the labor and time. I am planning on touring a virgin coconut oil factory in Nausori and possibly a government housing based VCO company. We will see… Friday and Saturday are also International Volunteer Days. Friday is a parade/walk through Suva City plus booths and entertainment. Saturday is trash pick-up and mangrove planting. Not sure yet if I will be able to help out on Saturday, but I will be in the walk and sitting at the booth. Yay! Go volunteers!
My two sisters singing a meke at the concert.
Today I left at 9:00 AM to head to the nearby district primary school for their end of the year concert. Well, the concert/entertainment did not start until 1:00 PM. Also, Lydia did not appear until after 12:30 PM. Long day! The concert went well, the kids were adorable, and the company was good.
SUVA! Yes. I slept in a little, got up, ate everyone’s yogurt , then headed to the PC Office. We all gathered in our white shirts and PC sulus. Around 9:30 AM went down to the flea market to wait on the other volunteers around Fiji to get in line and ready to walk.
The police band.
By 10:30 AM we start the walk. Much bigger event than I expected! Very successful even in the torrential downpour.
Although, after the concert the school committee did not have any respect for all of the family waiting to take their children home after school. So the children, women, friends, and family all waited until 8:00 PM for this meeting to be over. Of course the men were drinking yaqona so they did not realize the passing time. I decide to ride with someone else around 7:00 PM but find out that he has gone to another village to drop his mother off (and buy diesel). Two more hours pass. At 8:00 PM the meeting is over and Ta is ready to go home, but he did not prepare enough diesel to get us back to the village. So, we wait on the man I was going to ride with to come back. He comes back without any diesel, the store was out. I still board the boat with the other man and get home around 10:00 PM. So my 6 hour day at school turned into a 14 hour event. Exhausted. Thank goodness this weekend is a work weekend in Suva.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
The trophy with the winner!
So John got up this morning, hopped back on his kayak, and headed to Lydia’s village. A lot of the day I spent at my namesake’s house. We had a VIRGIN COCONUT OIL CONTEST! I bought a trophy piece of a man holding up a rugby ball (well, the coconut of course) and I screwed it to half of a coconut shell. See pictures below! The Turaga Ni Koro ended up winning! I told him he better display his trophy proudly. He just seemed to think the prize was silly. Oh well, I thought it was a worthy prize. The rest of the day I visited with some villagers.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Lots of laundry and dishes. Today John came to see me on his kayak. Well, honestly he was coming to check on the queen bees that he had brought a few weeks before. It turns out they had a normal success rate – about 80%. After talking for a bit about the challenges in Fiji – AKA Peace Corps – we went up to my namesake’s house. I watched their baby Ulamila while they checked the bees.
Ulamila
Then the boys drank grog while I made Zattaran’s Red Beans and Rice. Finally I offered for us to go to the big pool of water to cool off. After jumping off the cliff a few times we headed back, made dinner, and went back up where the men were drinking yaqona. Eventually I fell asleep by the grog bowl and was wakened to “Time to go to bed”. John and I headed down and passed out.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Well, Fiji’s daylight hours only range between 5:00 AM – 6:00 PM versus 6:00 AM – 7:00 PM, but for some reason they decided to respect daylight savings this year. So, the time went ahead an hour today, which is throwing me off for church. I actually moved my clock back, went to the water hole for a shower because the water wasn’t working, and I ended up swimming through church service. I get back ready to get dressed and church is ending. Oh well. Other than that, I just chit-chatted with the 18-year-old girl in the village who is 5 months pregnant and one of my best friends!
My namesake, her husband, and Ulamila.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Yesterday I was told that my blogs are written backwards and that people have to start at the bottom for it to make sense. Sorry guys, I can definitely start writing them this way if it follows a better order. I have never really thought about it. Today I woke up, caught a taxi with some friendly Fijians down the road headed to the Miss South Pacific Pageant to sell some corn, and headed to the market for last minute shopping. I picked up my new sulu jaba (the flower print shirt and skirt that is worn to any event, whether it be church, a funeral, or just everyday wear) and I absolutely love it! I paid out the butt for the material and for the seamstress, but I am proud of my new “suit” and will enjoy wearing it! I think my Yaca is going to have one made for me as well. Then I will have four! I also mailed the Chadwick’s Christmas presents and a small thank you to the First Christian Church.
I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get all of my errands done in an hour so that I could catch my bus. So, I made it with two minutes to spare. Wow, I am not sure I ever want to ride the bus on a Saturday again. Getting on in Suva was not a problem. We were full, but I thought nothing of it. We pull into Nausori and there are 30 or so people waiting to get on our bus. You wouldn’t believe it, but we smooshed every last one of those people onto our full bus. There were at least 20 people standing in the tiny aisle. I thought the bus driver was crazy. Apparently he was just trying to make money. I ended up sharing a two seater with three other people. So it was me, this 10 year old boy who ended up sleeping in my lap, a Bubu (grandmother) and her 6 year old granddaughter in the other seat. I did not feel like it was fair that I paid my way for a seat on the bus and I ended up getting ¼ of a seat. Tis is Fiji. So I, somehow, sanely made it to my boat landing and again, somehow, made it off the crowded bus with all of my junk. Then it was time to wait on the coast for about two hours until the people came from town. I was pleasantly surprised when I walked down to the beach and Asa, another volunteer from an outer island, was sitting on the sand talking to a few Fijians. He was going to visit Lydia to learn how to beekeep! Cool! So, at least for those two hours I had someone to talk to. Finally my Turaga Ni Koro shows up and we board the boat to head back to the village. Long boat ride, I am home safely, with the electricity on (but no extension cord or light bulb in my house). So, I continue to use my handy, dandy lantern. I really like the lantern better than irradescent light anyways! I’m content! I think I am going to head down to the house below where all of the men are drinking yaqona. Time to socialize a bit. Miss ya’ll terribly! Wish I could be there for Christmas!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Got up early, again, so that I could get to an internet café and talk to family! I was really hoping to talk to the Hoseys, but they were not at Teresa’s house, so I missed out. We will schedule another time. I did get to talk to my mom, sister, Aunt Lisa, and cousin, Daniel! Always exciting! They had all just finished eating and were in good spirits. I think my sister could have used another glass of wine, but other than that they are all doing well! Thank you sis for talking to me so long! It made me feel like old times. You know, those days were we could hang out all day giving advice, telling stories, and goofing off. Sorry I am not around. The rest of the day was filled with running errands, doing work at the Peace Corps office, eating some amazing fish and chips (at Hook and Chook, although Peg Leg Pete’s in Pensacola, FL beats Fiji’s). Buying Christmas presents, watching the biggest Christmas tree in Fiji be erected, and shopping for a guitar. I found one! Although, the bad news, it needs new strings, and I left it in the office thinking I could go get it the next day before I left town, but low and behold, the next day is a Saturday. Dang it… I didn’t think this one through. It’s all good though. I will get it eventually. I searched and searched until I walked into this random pawn shop in Suva, the lady handed me the guitar, and I felt like I was holding my own child. Ok, maybe not that much love, but it felt natural for real. I am excited to see my love again!
The night consisted of bar hopping, eating dinner, hanging out with a cool Australian guy, and going to bed by 11:00 PM. I am such a party pooper. Thursday, November 26, 2009 Turkey Day! Got up early, took the boat to the landing and hopped a bus to Suva. Well, I ended up getting off in Nausori to search for a guitar in the pawn shops. No luck. Although, soon after getting off in town I saw Graham, one of my closest Peace Corps friends! So, we ended up hanging out in Nausori until we got our errands done, and then we hopped on a minibus together and headed to Suva. Upon arrival we stopped in the nearest grocery store and purchased beer, wine, butter and ice cream. What else would you need in Fiji? We hired a taxi to our friends’ house were all the volunteers were meeting up for our Thanksgiving feast!
Oh my goodness, people rolled in by about 5:00 PM and we had WAY too much food. The table spread included kumala yams, mashed potatoes, mac ‘n cheese, ravioli, dips, chips, fruit salad, ambrosia salad, cranberry sauce, pizza dip, mango salsa, ferns, gravy, veggies, and what we like to call our chicken “turkey”. There are no turkeys in Fiji and so the ones that are imported are outrageously expensive, so we settled for a large chicken. I ate so much that I did not want to eat dessert. Although, the way it works in a volunteer setting with amazing food in front of them is more like a fight between a vulture and a hyena for the leftover skull of a lion. Pretty much, first come, first served, and often times, the only one served. So, I had to fill my plate with dessert (and ice cream) forcing me to start eating before my stomach was prepared. I ate waaayyyy too much. I felt like my stomach was going to expel itself. The worst part of it was we were playing a bag game where we sit a paper bad on the floor and you have to stand on one leg, bend down, and pick up the bag in your mouth. Each time the bag got shorter, a lot like the limbo. Let me tell you, it was not easy when my stomach was 5 inches bigger than normal. So, needless to say, I was unable to play past the third tear, and I needed to lie down to avoid throwing up. Yes, I ate until I was sick. So, I missed out on a lot of the fun. Oops! So, the day was eventful, good time with friends, and ended with a wonderful sleep.
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