Merry Christmas! Christmas Eve, my favorite day of the year. It's bloody hot. I'm en route to church, which I'm spending with the Catholics in town. Our choir has been practicing for a few months now.
Apparently the Prime Minister said that starting in January, all girls either in town or the village, have to wear long skirts, down to their ankles. No pants/shorts at all, no tank tops at all (in the village these things are taboo anyway, but allowable in town).
My Fijian parents have gone to Suva for the holidays leaving this other gentleman that eats with us, me, and my brother alone. They asked another grandma/grandpa to stay with us but really she and i are doing all the cooking. It's such a big job. I've known how much work the women do, but it wasn't until it was my responsibility that I realized just how much work the women do. I mean, they are busy busy all the time. Cooking, eating, cleaning, cooking, eating, cleaning and in between they make mats and wash all teh clothes and go fishing and take care of the kids and do everything else. Cooking with the fire is time consuming, as is preparing all the food (everything's fresh). Then preparing to eat and cleaning up after eating are big jobs, too. It's exhausting and I don't even do that much- most of the preparing/cleaning.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Dec 4
Long time, no post. Let's see... while I've been really busy, it's really just village life occupying my time. Unfortunately, my camera is still kaput so I have no pictures to show, which is really unfortunate because last Friday the kindergarten class had their 'graduation' and concert. It was adorable! The kids did a bunch of 'meke' (songs and dance, where they wear skirts and bracelets made of leaves and flowers with flower necklaces) and sang songs. Then they wore these robes and hats to receive certificates for completion. Very cute. And we had a huge, wonderful tea afterwards (multiple kinds of 'pie' and scones and breads and cassava sweets, roti parcels and sandwiches and cake. it was a feast!).
We had a lot of grog for awhile so my gang and I switched to new entertainment at night: watching movies. My brother stays in this empty house in a nice decent size room. We hook up my laptop, shut all the curtains, and watch movies for hours. Some sprawl on the bed, the rest on the floor. We pull in another mattress and cuddle up. It's great.
14 December
As I'm writing this, a tropical cyclone has decided to grace us with his presence. His name is Nick, andhe's somewhere east of Nadi, south of Labasa. I actually don't knowwhere he is at the minute, havingchanged course of direction over night. All I know is I have plywood coveringmy window and it has been raining allridiculous like for the past few days. Sometimes it will let up for a fewminutes or an hour or two, but mostly it's non-stop. Last night was super heavy winds. If it comes, it'll be a Category 1 storm, says the radio. And thank heavens for Fijian radio, with hourly (and more, if needed) reports about the situation.
Something came up at lunch today, which I have to address. I tried to promise myselfnotto be too political, given that I actually have readers (a big old 'Welcome!' to my 7th and 8th grade pen pals!) and I should control myself. That said, I do have to address something. I think sometimes we in the U.S. forget that we do not, in fact, live in a bubble and that things that are said, even small blips or soundbytes from newspapers and TV, can indeed have a big impact, maybe for the wrong reasons, on very easily influenced media markets. I'm speaking specifically about comments made from extreme right wingers and the overtly, zealously religious (or both- conservative religious folks) made traveling from one country to the next, to un-democratic developing countries with similar characteristics (conservative, religious). Case in point: I have heard multiple times that Hurricane Katrina was a result of states legalizing/ recognizing same-sex marriage. Apparently, severe tropical storms that kill thousands and render thousands more homeless, particularly affecting poor, black families is God's revenge on equality. This assuming that there is not only (a) god but one that feels it necessary to kill his (her?) followers as punishment for enacting his (her?) “Good Work.”
To clarify, what is said perhaps facetiously, perhaps seriously, from TV pundits or evangelists or just plain old bullies, has been construed as something much more serious in a place like Fiji, a country where A) Freedom of the Press is not a constitutional right protected by government but seriously censored and monitored; and B) the media is uncompetitive and fledgling with limited means and resources; and C) mostly influenced by Australian/ Aussie companies, well... statements like “Katrina happened because of gay people” do make it over here. And statements like that are taken seriously. Here, there is no separation of church and state.
If that is part of the way to “Win Souls to Jesus at Any Cost” (a sign I pass by a church on my way into town), no thank you. What kind of god would allows thousands of innocent people to have their homes and lives ruined, families torn apart, all their earthly possessions swept away as part of a lesson, or again, as a revenge for providing access to civil rights for all human beings? I don't understand it, and I can't- again- subscribe to that line of reasoning. Religion shouldn't be a war, or a battle, and it shouldn't be the lame excuse for the kind of damage caused by global warming, bureaucratic fuck-ups, racism, classism, and a really shitty act of a pissed off nature that, four years later, still hasn't received nearly enough attention as it should have.
The fact that people here, in Fiji, laugh about that kind of behavior on behalf of their God (both times I have heard this people have been from different religions, mind you), while their own compatriots are suffering the same weather patterns, to a lesser degree, is troubling. Knowing that Fijian press will print what influential, or loud-mouthed, people print/say in America, as probably happens all over the world in developing countries, do we not have some sort of responsibility, obligation, to think before we go off on behalf of “God”? I think for me, this also is stemming from having read a lot of (American) articles about the American press lately. I mean, if Newsweek and Time can be critical of their peers (as maybe is their responsibility being capitalists before being journalists), can't the American public be critical, or a little more discerning? Ultimately, it is us/you all, who dictate who is able to be heard. (I.e.: don't like what Limbaugh or O'Reilly or the rest have to say? TURN THEM OFF!) We do, despite what they will have you believe, have the power.
Lecture done. Wait, one more thing- what in the world has Time done to their format??? It's awful.
16 December
Ah, Christmastime... see the decorated houses with their hurricane proofing materials, feel the nice hot sun beating down on you on the busy streets unsealed, wonder at the multitude of mysterious bites- mosquito? Flea? Spider? Bedbug? Other random creature?,
Wouldn't you know it, sun is shining and hot and humid and barely a cloud in the sky. Been this way since Tuesday.
Our mangroves are hanginginthere, despite the near-hurricane and the poor timing for planting (while we planted them about five or so weeks ago, this is still really bad timing for planting mangroves along floodplains). These mangroves are being planted in thenext village up from me, where they have embraced natural flood prevention measures, as opposed to cutting down mangroves or expensive, environmentally destruction measures (as is happening in my village).
Long time, no post. Let's see... while I've been really busy, it's really just village life occupying my time. Unfortunately, my camera is still kaput so I have no pictures to show, which is really unfortunate because last Friday the kindergarten class had their 'graduation' and concert. It was adorable! The kids did a bunch of 'meke' (songs and dance, where they wear skirts and bracelets made of leaves and flowers with flower necklaces) and sang songs. Then they wore these robes and hats to receive certificates for completion. Very cute. And we had a huge, wonderful tea afterwards (multiple kinds of 'pie' and scones and breads and cassava sweets, roti parcels and sandwiches and cake. it was a feast!).
We had a lot of grog for awhile so my gang and I switched to new entertainment at night: watching movies. My brother stays in this empty house in a nice decent size room. We hook up my laptop, shut all the curtains, and watch movies for hours. Some sprawl on the bed, the rest on the floor. We pull in another mattress and cuddle up. It's great.
14 December
As I'm writing this, a tropical cyclone has decided to grace us with his presence. His name is Nick, andhe's somewhere east of Nadi, south of Labasa. I actually don't knowwhere he is at the minute, havingchanged course of direction over night. All I know is I have plywood coveringmy window and it has been raining allridiculous like for the past few days. Sometimes it will let up for a fewminutes or an hour or two, but mostly it's non-stop. Last night was super heavy winds. If it comes, it'll be a Category 1 storm, says the radio. And thank heavens for Fijian radio, with hourly (and more, if needed) reports about the situation.
Something came up at lunch today, which I have to address. I tried to promise myselfnotto be too political, given that I actually have readers (a big old 'Welcome!' to my 7th and 8th grade pen pals!) and I should control myself. That said, I do have to address something. I think sometimes we in the U.S. forget that we do not, in fact, live in a bubble and that things that are said, even small blips or soundbytes from newspapers and TV, can indeed have a big impact, maybe for the wrong reasons, on very easily influenced media markets. I'm speaking specifically about comments made from extreme right wingers and the overtly, zealously religious (or both- conservative religious folks) made traveling from one country to the next, to un-democratic developing countries with similar characteristics (conservative, religious). Case in point: I have heard multiple times that Hurricane Katrina was a result of states legalizing/ recognizing same-sex marriage. Apparently, severe tropical storms that kill thousands and render thousands more homeless, particularly affecting poor, black families is God's revenge on equality. This assuming that there is not only (a) god but one that feels it necessary to kill his (her?) followers as punishment for enacting his (her?) “Good Work.”
To clarify, what is said perhaps facetiously, perhaps seriously, from TV pundits or evangelists or just plain old bullies, has been construed as something much more serious in a place like Fiji, a country where A) Freedom of the Press is not a constitutional right protected by government but seriously censored and monitored; and B) the media is uncompetitive and fledgling with limited means and resources; and C) mostly influenced by Australian/ Aussie companies, well... statements like “Katrina happened because of gay people” do make it over here. And statements like that are taken seriously. Here, there is no separation of church and state.
If that is part of the way to “Win Souls to Jesus at Any Cost” (a sign I pass by a church on my way into town), no thank you. What kind of god would allows thousands of innocent people to have their homes and lives ruined, families torn apart, all their earthly possessions swept away as part of a lesson, or again, as a revenge for providing access to civil rights for all human beings? I don't understand it, and I can't- again- subscribe to that line of reasoning. Religion shouldn't be a war, or a battle, and it shouldn't be the lame excuse for the kind of damage caused by global warming, bureaucratic fuck-ups, racism, classism, and a really shitty act of a pissed off nature that, four years later, still hasn't received nearly enough attention as it should have.
The fact that people here, in Fiji, laugh about that kind of behavior on behalf of their God (both times I have heard this people have been from different religions, mind you), while their own compatriots are suffering the same weather patterns, to a lesser degree, is troubling. Knowing that Fijian press will print what influential, or loud-mouthed, people print/say in America, as probably happens all over the world in developing countries, do we not have some sort of responsibility, obligation, to think before we go off on behalf of “God”? I think for me, this also is stemming from having read a lot of (American) articles about the American press lately. I mean, if Newsweek and Time can be critical of their peers (as maybe is their responsibility being capitalists before being journalists), can't the American public be critical, or a little more discerning? Ultimately, it is us/you all, who dictate who is able to be heard. (I.e.: don't like what Limbaugh or O'Reilly or the rest have to say? TURN THEM OFF!) We do, despite what they will have you believe, have the power.
Lecture done. Wait, one more thing- what in the world has Time done to their format??? It's awful.
16 December
Ah, Christmastime... see the decorated houses with their hurricane proofing materials, feel the nice hot sun beating down on you on the busy streets unsealed, wonder at the multitude of mysterious bites- mosquito? Flea? Spider? Bedbug? Other random creature?,
Wouldn't you know it, sun is shining and hot and humid and barely a cloud in the sky. Been this way since Tuesday.
Our mangroves are hanginginthere, despite the near-hurricane and the poor timing for planting (while we planted them about five or so weeks ago, this is still really bad timing for planting mangroves along floodplains). These mangroves are being planted in thenext village up from me, where they have embraced natural flood prevention measures, as opposed to cutting down mangroves or expensive, environmentally destruction measures (as is happening in my village).
Friday, October 23, 2009
Extreme Stationary
Well, I'm back and... I'm sick again! Yay! This time it's really bad. I have a head cold again and I've been coughing so much I lost my voice. That, in addition to the fact that the school bazaar just ended. It started Wednesday and my last day was yesterday, but I think some people are still going. Different villages sent up a stall and sell food and other stuff. Each stall/ mataqali (different families) raise money for the school. There is also a really big 7's rugby tournament. Our team, Pusi loa (black cats, but yes, pusi is the same as pussy), was boys from three different villages nearby and they had two teams. They made it to the semi-finals but lost. Unfortunately, it's been really busy in the village and having a wedding Wednesday didn't help anything. (weddings mean busy-ness and lots o' grog drinking)
Ah, the wedding. This was my brother's wedding, which was supposed to be on Tuesday. Then it changed the day before. Why, you ask. Well, I don't really know. But guess who was the bridesmaid/maid of honor?!? Yup, me. I had about 20 minutes notice. Really all it meant was that I wore the masi cloth, had sandalwood in my hair, stood next to the bride, and had to shake a bajillion hands. And gets lots of kisses. Oh, and I got the best part of the fish at lunch.
But back to the bazaar. Our stall sold different styles of fish (curried, fried parcels, with lolo), turtle, sausage stew, pie, tuna sandwiches (bread with tuna and butter and grated carrot and tomatoes and more butter), and tea. I had to help collect the money, which made for really long, tiring days. At night, there's grog drinking and dancing. It was fun, but would have been more fun had I been healthy. Add to the cold and late nights/early mornings (up before 5 am!!!) and grog drinking, there was a lot of cheering for the boys. It was a riot: all these big old Fijian women with their fancy sulu jaba (the dress/skirt outfit) with a purse on one arm and a big old knife in the other running out into the field screaming and cheering and hugging the ref when they scored.... and jumping up and hitting the roofing iron with your knife... and general merriment. For 15 minutes. No, really, it was a lot of fun. People come from all over for this. I've been hearing about it for almost the entire year I've been in the village. I only danced on Thursday; Friday I was just too tired. People think it's a hoot when I dance and there's nothing like dancing a hill in a space about four feet by four feet with about 100 boys and men watching you and another boy dance.
Speaking of dancing in small spaces... have I mentioned my sure-fire stress relief/ warm up for the bathroom cure? Well, it's like this: first I close my doors, then my curtains. Then I make sure I'm wearing something comfortable and I tie up my hair. Then I grab my iPod and head for my shower, a very very small space. I turn on my iPod, play my 'favorites' playlist, and crank the volume. And then I dance. And dance. I shake it like you wouldn't believe. Every kind of danc emove, I do it in the privacy of my shower. You'd be surprised what you can do in a small space. Definite dance favorites: Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show, Friends in Low Places, anything Violent Femmes, Debaser (Pixies), M.I.A., Santogold, some Wilco, some Regina Spektor, Everlong (you forget that the Foo Fighters used to know how to rock it out. I forget that sometimes I can headbang. Try it to this song!), Son of a Preacher Man, and of course, Total Eclipse of the Heart! Only thing missing: Like a Prayer. Would you believe it, I didn't put the Immaculate Collection on my iTunes!!!!! Of course, there are others (Chris Brown's Forever, anything from Kate) but those are foolproof songs to make me sweat. And it makes the freezing cold shower water bearable in the cold weather and coldness of my shower. My bathroom is the coolest place in my house- it's really dark and the cement bottom stays cool.
Yeah, it'd be even funnier if you saw it in real life. Before, I used to just stay in half of my bure. But then I got really paranoid and so I've moved into the bathroom, which does have its limitations (like almost falling when it's slippery from water). But it makes me feel rejuvenated. My favorite time is before church on Sundays. it's actually the worst time to do it but no one knows how awful I'm being by breaking the rule of not doing anything physical on a Sunday and it inevitably makes me late for church.
Oh, to explain the title of this post, "Extreme Stationary" is the name of one of the rugby teams. I don't know what it means, because that's not really anything in English, is it? They're an army group, so I think they're thinking along the lines of "stations" or maybe that they're so good they're immovable objects? Hmm...
Unfortunately, I can't post any pictures because I only have a couple from the past week. Wednesday at the wedding my camera decided to stop working. The screen is black. I took some pictures and then it went black and I can't do anything with it. It worked a couple hours later but yesterday the team wanted a picture (we've been talking aobut this picture for six months!!) and my camera didn't work. :( What to do?!? I wanted a picture of my family here, too, because we don't have one of all of us.
hopefully things will slow down in a couple weeks and I can kick these bad things out of my immune system. During Diwali I binged on sweets, then during the bazaar I didn't eat anything healthy and I'm sure that has a lot to do with it, too!
Ah, the wedding. This was my brother's wedding, which was supposed to be on Tuesday. Then it changed the day before. Why, you ask. Well, I don't really know. But guess who was the bridesmaid/maid of honor?!? Yup, me. I had about 20 minutes notice. Really all it meant was that I wore the masi cloth, had sandalwood in my hair, stood next to the bride, and had to shake a bajillion hands. And gets lots of kisses. Oh, and I got the best part of the fish at lunch.
But back to the bazaar. Our stall sold different styles of fish (curried, fried parcels, with lolo), turtle, sausage stew, pie, tuna sandwiches (bread with tuna and butter and grated carrot and tomatoes and more butter), and tea. I had to help collect the money, which made for really long, tiring days. At night, there's grog drinking and dancing. It was fun, but would have been more fun had I been healthy. Add to the cold and late nights/early mornings (up before 5 am!!!) and grog drinking, there was a lot of cheering for the boys. It was a riot: all these big old Fijian women with their fancy sulu jaba (the dress/skirt outfit) with a purse on one arm and a big old knife in the other running out into the field screaming and cheering and hugging the ref when they scored.... and jumping up and hitting the roofing iron with your knife... and general merriment. For 15 minutes. No, really, it was a lot of fun. People come from all over for this. I've been hearing about it for almost the entire year I've been in the village. I only danced on Thursday; Friday I was just too tired. People think it's a hoot when I dance and there's nothing like dancing a hill in a space about four feet by four feet with about 100 boys and men watching you and another boy dance.
Speaking of dancing in small spaces... have I mentioned my sure-fire stress relief/ warm up for the bathroom cure? Well, it's like this: first I close my doors, then my curtains. Then I make sure I'm wearing something comfortable and I tie up my hair. Then I grab my iPod and head for my shower, a very very small space. I turn on my iPod, play my 'favorites' playlist, and crank the volume. And then I dance. And dance. I shake it like you wouldn't believe. Every kind of danc emove, I do it in the privacy of my shower. You'd be surprised what you can do in a small space. Definite dance favorites: Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show, Friends in Low Places, anything Violent Femmes, Debaser (Pixies), M.I.A., Santogold, some Wilco, some Regina Spektor, Everlong (you forget that the Foo Fighters used to know how to rock it out. I forget that sometimes I can headbang. Try it to this song!), Son of a Preacher Man, and of course, Total Eclipse of the Heart! Only thing missing: Like a Prayer. Would you believe it, I didn't put the Immaculate Collection on my iTunes!!!!! Of course, there are others (Chris Brown's Forever, anything from Kate) but those are foolproof songs to make me sweat. And it makes the freezing cold shower water bearable in the cold weather and coldness of my shower. My bathroom is the coolest place in my house- it's really dark and the cement bottom stays cool.
Yeah, it'd be even funnier if you saw it in real life. Before, I used to just stay in half of my bure. But then I got really paranoid and so I've moved into the bathroom, which does have its limitations (like almost falling when it's slippery from water). But it makes me feel rejuvenated. My favorite time is before church on Sundays. it's actually the worst time to do it but no one knows how awful I'm being by breaking the rule of not doing anything physical on a Sunday and it inevitably makes me late for church.
Oh, to explain the title of this post, "Extreme Stationary" is the name of one of the rugby teams. I don't know what it means, because that's not really anything in English, is it? They're an army group, so I think they're thinking along the lines of "stations" or maybe that they're so good they're immovable objects? Hmm...
Unfortunately, I can't post any pictures because I only have a couple from the past week. Wednesday at the wedding my camera decided to stop working. The screen is black. I took some pictures and then it went black and I can't do anything with it. It worked a couple hours later but yesterday the team wanted a picture (we've been talking aobut this picture for six months!!) and my camera didn't work. :( What to do?!? I wanted a picture of my family here, too, because we don't have one of all of us.
hopefully things will slow down in a couple weeks and I can kick these bad things out of my immune system. During Diwali I binged on sweets, then during the bazaar I didn't eat anything healthy and I'm sure that has a lot to do with it, too!
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