Guest Posting from Mom

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

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

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

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

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

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Did someone ask for a blog post?

The newest edition to the animal entourage next door.

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

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

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

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

I seem to be getting progressively worse at this blogging thing. In other news – my family was here! My mom, stepdad (Dennis), brothers (Douglas and Kevin), and Emma (a beloved girlfriend of Douglas) have come and gone to Viti (Fiji). I hope they had a great time because certainly did! Highlights from the visit:

1) My first hug from Brother Doug and then of course all subsequent hugs.

2) Not all trips run flawlessly, but even a bag left behind at the airport 2.5 hours away filled with goodies does not taint the whole trip. But it still would have rather been avoided.

3) The pool really was dirty.

4) Kevin isn’t technically emo, apparently.

5) Dennis is surprisingly good at driving on the other side of the road, even with a side seat driver.

6) Mom has trouble adjusting to Fiji time.

7) Sweet and sour prawns from Raj’s Wine and Dine come with extra prawn eggs, still in shell. Emma is not a fan.

8) Douglas doesn’t need to live in Fiji to learn how to open a coconut with a machete.

9) Lots of good food including at least 3, maybe more, fish burgers with crispy fries.

10) A giant bed, warm showers, refrigerator access, swimming pools, and a toaster are all nice things to have.

11) Kevin attracts Fijian voodoo in the form of a broken laptop.

12) No one can handle the bugs.

13) The frogs are apparently more scary and entertaining than I’ve given them credit for over the past year.

14) The views really are beautiful and it’s good to be reminded of it every once in a while.

15) There is apparently some show called Jersey Shore (or something like that) that I am really missing out on.

16) Mom’s admittance that it is hot here and the food is definitely subpar.

17) The village visit mom and Dennis had was one of my favorite parts – I’m glad I got to show them my humble abode! I think mom quite enjoyed her cold shower and Dennis the spicy chili peppers at dinner.

18) Apparently now when my hair is curly I look like Douglas and when it’s straighter I look more like some new famous kid named Justin Beiber.

All in all, it was a wonderful visit and I am really glad that everyone took the time to come and see me. I really hope they enjoyed their trip, and I was able to be a decent hostess.

Meanwhile, back at the mansion … Before leaving for Rakiraki for my family visit, I was in the village getting some things accomplished!! Kind of. The kids were all on term break which meant they were in my house many many hours of the day. They played many games of go-fish and UNO. They also colored marine biology coloring pages (Thank You NOAA) and baked a lot. We also watched the show “Glee” on my computer, which I used as a sounding board to talk about sex – for the record a very uncomfortable thing for me to do with a group of 10-15 year old religious Methodists! One of them even asked about wet dreams. Yep, wet dreams. Think to yourself about explaining THAT to a group of foreign youngsters.

On the marine biology front, we built 3 fish houses!! YES! Finally, what I went to Sean’s village to learn back in NOVEMBER has finally paid off. I had to buy the bag of cement myself and figured that the time off from school would be the perfect moment to make them. We decorated them with shells and I am quite proud of the 3 kids that put them together. Perhaps they deserve a shout-out that they will never see: Paulu, Marika, and Bui – NICE WORK! Fun quiz: 2 of those names belong to girls and 1 to a boy – see if you can guess which is which. I have a 50kg bag of cement that is ¾ full still so I hope to make many more fish houses in the future.

The world map is not complete – but the drawing of it on the wall is! I know, this project is all about the kids –but I drew the map on the wall myself and am quite proud, so props to me. The grid method was a bit difficult and I wanted the map to be usable when completed, so I worked on that myself while doing lessons on different things with the kids. I’ll start those again next week with Israel – couscous, latkes, and a short Hebrew lesson will round out the hour nicely I think.

As far as what I have to look forward to in the future: a possible work exchange in my village with Kelly on money management, all volunteer conference, mid-service training, a work exchange on Vanua Levu in Scott’s village to talk about coral reefs, and a visit from Dad, Natalie, and brother Charlie!

Final fun facts for the road:

1) Giant clam shells can be used for many things: pooper scooper, decoration, soap dish, milk bowl for animals.

2) When trying to describe a man in the village to me, a cab driver proceeds to tell me he is black and that he plays rugby. Thanks – very helpful. I know EXACTLY who you mean.

3) Simba gets jealous of little kittens that are around the house.

4) I found a tiny puppy that wandered out of the bush. She is covered in fleas and ticks so I keep her outside, but I think I’m getting bitten nonetheless. But she is adorable and I named her Lily. Or shmookipoopsikins. I can’t decide. But I don’t want a dog here, so that’s a bit of a pickle. Mmmmm pickles.

5) It is HARD to find activities to entertain kids with all day every day for a week. I have more respect for camps.

6) I’ve thrown away several pairs of undies this week thanks to a new shipment from the family.

7) I bought a guitar and hope to be able to play at least 1 song by the time I leave. The guitar is red and sassy.

8) Canned asparagus in brine is very very gross. Its mush and unpleasant. Never buy it – don’t say you weren’t warned.

9) Top 5 things I want to eat when I get home: sushi, bagel with lox/cream cheese/red onion, roasted asparagus, strawberries, cheese enchilada meal with rice and refried beans.

10) The new group of volunteers has officially arrived in country. Welcome to the 35 FRE8’s who are just settling into their training villages. One of you will be just down the road from me. I’m sorry I’m not cooler.

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

Sushi we made for Courtney's birthday ...

The marshmallow peep taste test ...

Hey everyone - so it has been a veeeery long time since I posted and I am sorry. I have no excuse except that I am incredibly lazy and turning in a Fijian - I sleep and eat all the time and do little else. I'm trying to reverse the process but it is difficult. I am going to do my "sectionals" blog in which I categorize what I am blabbing on about so that you may be picky in what you read. Since all of you loyal readers love me so I expect you to be reading everything anyway.
Weather: It is HOT here ... seriously hot. Like, you can salt your margarita glass with my FACE hot. Then you can give me that margarita. There was a cyclone as I am sure most people know. It did manage to sideswipe Ovalau with basically no damage here. However, just last week there was very heavy rains causing a bridge to collapse!!! This is the bridge closest to my village that separated me from town. I had to wade through the tidal creek in the dark upon returning from a very long day of travel - this is one of my "so I really am in the Peace Corps" kind of moments. If the tidal creek had been filled with poop - then I would have known I was in the Peace Corps with my eyes closed.
Smells: Yes, I have a section on smells. Why do you ask? Because there is a very horrible vile smell coming from the southwestern corner of my house that I cannot find the source of!! I have shined my flashlight in cracks and crevices, lifted my mats off the floor, smelled myself ... nothing. It smells like really bad cat breath ... so I smelled my cat's breath and nope - actually not too bad. So the mystery remains. Also, and let me point out that I am not the only one who feels this way, I feel like I can never smell good here. I know I am not the source of the rotting smell, BUT I still feel like no matter how many showers I take - I cant smell good for very long!! I think it is that my clothes will never really be clean here no matter what I do - so there is a persistant hippie/Fijian smell about me. I plan on an intense body scrub when I return to the USofA.
World Map: I have started a project with one of the schools in Levuka and it is called the World Map Mural Project. I am working with class 7 (12 years old) on painting a mural in their library. Before starting I quizzed them on their geography knowledge and found that most of them could no find Fiji on a map. While I was not thrilled at this knowledge, I was happy to know that the project was a good choice. Currently the ocean is painted and the white boarder. Now we are working on the grid and transferring the map onto the wall - this is tideous but makes me feel like I am accomplishing something. Yay!
Marshmallow Peep Taste Test: Just because the picture is here, I thought I'd include the story - despite it's humiliation on my part. Those of you who think that pink Peeps taste bad raise your hands! Well, I agree - they taste pink. My associates Kelly and Melisha disagreed with me so we fashioned up a peep taste test in which I was blindfolded and then fed peices of peep of the pink and yellow variety. I tasted both colors and FAILED MISERABLY at distinguishing pink from yellow. End of story - never bring it up again.
S'mores: Jason wonderfully sent some s'mores ingredients that I received in the mail last week. I made s'mores with the kids (videos later - having trouble loading videos lately) and the LOVED them so thank you very very much Jason. It cracks me up how much these kids love s'mores. Any visitor who comes should bring the stuff and we can make them together - its totally cute.
Easter Vacay: I just returned from a vacation with several other Peace Corps volunteers to the "friendly north" in Fiji. I traveled via ferry to Vanua Levu to do some diving on the famous Rainbow Reef - the dives were beautiful and the company divine. It was the Passover holiday so I ate a lot of peanuts, potatoes, and dried fruits - yay Moses. After our stay on Vanua Levu we transferred (in our Peace Corps issued PFDs) to the small and beautiful island of Kioa. Our gracious hosts took us around the island and canoeing on a pau-pau. The only downside of both parts of the trip were the heinous jelly fish that attacked us when we tried to snorkel!! This is not a normal part of Fijian marine life that I have seen - perhaps a result of Cyclone Thomas. We all sustained many-a-painful sting. Let it be know that NO ONE peed on anyone else although it was certainly suggested. After Kioa, Sean and I went to another village on Vanua Levu to visit another set of friendly PCVs and enjoyed good food and company and learned how to play cribbage! I must get a cribbage board ... and a written set of rules because I will NEVER remember how to score that game. I finally arrived back on Ovalau 8 days later to an out bridge (see section on Weather). It should be known that my travel home started at noon on Wednesday and ended at 8pm on Thursday. To a house with no electricity. I know I know - most PCVs dont have power, BUT I am spoiled and used to 24hour electricity so I am not equipped to deal with a loss of power!!

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

Trainings vs Tsunamis

So, it’s March already!! Who knew? I’ll try to do a quick recap of this month’s events before doing a special report on Tsunamis – not the delicious sushi restaurant in Charleston. After getting so much love and worry after the recent warnings from the earthquake in Chile, I thought I would just make a special mention of them here.

1^st – trainings. February was home to 2 different trainings I attended. The first was a coral identification training which was really informative and pretty cool. There were 2 top notch coral identification specialists on hand to help us learn how to distinguish different coral genera. AND we got a cool underwater coral ID book to use … free! Peace Corps is like college – we get REALLY excited about free food and free stuff. Actually, I wonder if that ever stops being exciting. The second training was run by Peace Corps on Alternative Livelihoods – basically, small business training. Twelve volunteers brought their counterparts to learn about business and financial planning. I hope my counterpart learned a lot and is ready to whip our small bakery into a viable village business. I enjoyed the time with fellow PCVs at both of these trainings and, as always happens when spending time in Suva, I ate way too much food and spent way too much money. What can you do?

2^nd – Jason’s visit. As many of you may know, one of my bestest of best friends came to visit me this past month as well – we had an excellent time, but I will write no details as we should be expecting a guest blog post from him about his trip in the near future. Pictures and videos have been posted on facebook – will try to put a few on here later.

Now – TSUNAMIS. Most of you know that tsunamis are the result of earthquakes displacing a large body of water and creating a wave. These waves can travel as fast as 500 mph and are not technically tidal waves as everyone calls them. You could be on a boat in deep water at sea and one would travel right underneath you without you even registering it. Once the wave starts to hit shallow water, the trough of the wave hits the ground and that is when it gets super-sized. In terms of ME and tsunamis – as soon as Peace Corps receives warning about a possible threat, they call all volunteers in the countries at risk. I received a phone call at 130am on the day of the Chilean earthquake. I was told to evacuate to high ground starting at 8am the following morning as the tsunami was predicted to hit Fiji at 930-10am. That is big buffer. Oh – and I have to stay at high ground until noon just to be safe. When I woke up the morning of the supposed tsunami arrival, I packed everything in the house that was important to me – all the snacks and goodies Jason brought. Just kidding. I brought my hard drives, journals, laptop, and passports/cash. And a couple changes of underwear just in case. And of course a book, because come on – 4 hours!!! I did have a beautiful view from my high ground location – the top of a nearby hill where many others congregated as well. Everyone was fine and the tsunami never showed its scary face. No harm done! Of course that doesn’t mean I don’t love when people worry and fret over me, so the next warning all are still welcome to write notes and call to check in on me – makes me feel loved. I was most worried that if a tsunami did hit that Simba would get hurt. I have no cage for him to bring him to high ground and if I tried to carry him and hold him, he would squirm and run off, getting lost in the bush and potentially eaten by wild pigs or hit by a car on the nearby road. So I had to leave him behind and trust that his animal instincts would take him to high ground should a tsunami come our way.

That’s all for now on the Fiji front. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, when we hear from Jason!

List Part 3 and Spearing Videos

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


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

Also, I think it’s about time for another list, don’t you?

134. I’ve decided one of the hardest things ever is to try to hang a fitted sheet on a line to dry.

135. Even though I KNOW a raising of the eyebrows indicates a yes to most Fijians, I still need to hear them say “Yes.”

136. When spear fishing for the first time, I got tunnel vision for the fish I wanted to catch. I forgot to see what was around me. I made sure to remember the next time.

137. A conversation you must hear (names have been changed to protect the innocent):
K: Tuli, when I sat down just now do I look fat?
Me: Of course not! (and this is true, she is a healthy person)
K: Oh. But I want to be fat.
Me: OH! I meant to say that you DID look fat! VERY VERY FAT.
K: Stop bluffing!
Me: Ok, you’re not fat – but you can have mine if you want.
K: Yeah, we should trade.

138. Cats look funny when they lick themselves.

139. Sweating in your sleep is one of the most unpleasant feelings ever. Don’t believe me? Try it.

140. We are never getting those giant clams I was promised in September.

141. I love snacks.

142. I miss sushi.

143. Sa rauta mada is fast becoming one of my most used Fijian phrases – it means “That’s enough” (as in,” I’ve-had-enough-of-your-smart-mouth-stop-talking”)

144. There are 2 conversations I’m tired of having: a) The “You must marry one Fijian boy – Why won’t you marry one Fijian boy” conversation, and b) The Oiko sa levulevu (“You are fat”) conversation, which is less of a conversation and more of a “They-say-this-while-I-smile-and-nod-but-cry-on-the-inside” one way conversation.

145. I run on the beach for 20 minutes in the mornings (around 7am) when the tide is low. I will get back and literally drip sweat everywhere. I’m not usually a sweater and that really wasn’t a very long run, I mean who am I kidding (especially since 20 minutes is really 17 minutes, but I round up).

146. We got the giant clams I was promised!! They are currently 20ft below sea level and hopefully happy. It was an adventure getting them down there, but I would do it again every day.

147. I don’t remember where I got most of the scratches I seem to find on myself.

148. I’m in love with bu (young coconut). I used to really not like it but I find nothing tastes better after snorkeling. If only I could climb that stupid tree myself.

149. I miss my brothers.

150. I taught a few 20-something year old Fijian guys how to play UNO; and to make it more interesting, they decided to loser had to drink a full glass of water. Oh the torture – I do that on my own regularly. I still didn’t want to lose. Neither did they – so they cheated.

151. I just watched “Julie and Julia” and loved it – I may take cooking classes when I get home.

152. I’ve started wearing my hair in a scarf like a babushka because it keeps the hair off my neck. It’s either that or buzz cut. Opinions?

Happy New Year!

First, forgive me for not having updated in a while. I swear it’s not that I’m too busy, I’m simply lazy and it’s hot so I don’t want to do anything except lay on my back in the middle of the floor where the cross-breeze between my two doors goes through the house.

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year’s holiday. I rang in the New Year on a small island south of Ovalau called Caqalai (pronounced, Thangaleye - just to make things interesting) with 15 or so other Americans (mostly Peace Corps Volunteers with a few visitors thrown in to spice things up). The island was 40-45 min away from Levuka (my closest town) on a small fiberglass boat. We spent 3-4 days snorkeling on some of the most beautiful reef I have ever seen and sitting around bonfires every night. Totally granola. I made sure to not shave my armpits just so I’d feel even more like a true Peace Corps Volunteer. A few of us even swam 45 min out to a sandbar that looked much closer than it actually was. Don’t worry, a PFD was brought along for safety. All in all, I’d have to say it was a pretty darn cool way to welcome 2010 - before all of you guys did.

So far, January has been more interesting than I would have though. I had a friend come back with me from Caqalai and we spent a few days “baking”, snorkeling, walking around, and watching Ugly Betty and Glee on my laptop. I collected some more crown of thorns starfish from the reef as well as lots of scrap fabric that was smothering some poor, defenseless coral. Saving the world, one coral head at a time. Our community hall project hit an unfortunate snag when my counterpart for that project’s brother-in-law passed away; he also happened to be our carpenter. So we are still sitting on the budget for a while because I feel guilty trying to push the project forward at this time. The vasua (giant clams) that were supposed to arrive in November, then Dec 23^rd, then Dec 24^th, and never came are now supposed to arrive this week. Maybe if everyone who reads this crosses their fingers it will actually happen.

In other news, I was invited to go spear fishing. I have logged a total of 4 hours with a spear (two 2hr stints) and have caught nothing. I have one very important rule – I don’t shoot the pretty and colorful fish. Not for any health reasons, simply because it would be too sad. Any of you who have seen Finding Nemo should understand. Not that it matters – I could aim that spear at a blue whale and I’d miss because I’m about as good at spearfishing as men are at getting pregnant. Not counting that woman that became a man, kept her uterus, and then got pregnant. I also made a coconut tree climbing attempt. Another masterful Fijian fail. I have decided that, in summary, though I may be living like and with Fijians, I am still a total Jewish Princess. How did that happen?

And finally – the weather. It is so hot here. I mean, REDICULOUSLY HOT. In response to all those, “it may be hot but I’d rather be there than in whatever cold weather anomaly I am experiencing right now in DC/Charleston/Raleigh/NYC/Jackson Hole/Blounts Creek/Tarboro/Phili/Chicago/etc” – please, hear me out. Imagine Charleston in July/August time – those who have never lived there or visited, think hot and humid. Next, multiply that times 10. Add to that no air conditioning or fridge in which to keep refreshing chilly beverages and ice cream treats of all shapes and sizes. I take a cold water shower, dry off, and am dripping copious amounts of sweat within minutes. It is deeeeesgusting. After I leave Fiji, I’m moving to Iceland. I want to live on a block of ice when my services here are no longer required.

February is going to be a busy month and I have a lot to look forward to. I have a coral identification training through Fiji Locally Managed Marine Areas that I am going to attend early in the month. Then mid-Feb I am going to an Alternative Livelihoods training run by the Peace Corps to teach me and one village counterpart that I am bringing about small businesses. Immediately after that Jason is arriving for 10 days!!! Unfortunately there will be no room in his suitcases for any of you because they will be filled with American treats for me: candy (I mean, err, healthy snacks), batteries, sheets, cds, and sushi (not really, but I can dream).

I wanted to upload many videos and things, but the computer I am using today BITES. I’m going to Suva in a couple weeks, so maybe I can do so big image/video uploads then. I successfully got one up.

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