Year in Review, v. 2

2008 is almost over... in Fiji, anyway. I'm pretty amazed at how quickly this year has gone by considering I've spent over half of it here in Fiji. I've been thinking a lot about whether or not this is the new American Revolution for which many of us have been waiting. [Insert: some day i'll expound on this. Think about it, though, is all I'm saying.] We have a new president who is young, liberal, passionate, and yes, black. I've been thinking a lot about race and the conclusion I've come to, without being in the US during the whole election, is that yes, race does matter. Of course it matters. How can it not? I'm not saying I voted for Obama because he's non-white but it certainly helped. The involvement of so many disenfranchised youth and voters this year is astounding. The hope (while I'm getting sick of that word, it can't help but be used) he's brought to so many people is fantastic. The new direction of America is finally happening. I feel like people are awake, finally, now, after so many years of being in a daze, brainwashed and lied to and manipulated. The economy is in shambles. A new president. A new outlook. People seem to care again. I feel good for America. The country is on the brink of utter collapse and now it will (hopefully) evolve into something magnificent that it once stood for. Sermon ended.

What else. My part of 2008 in America feels like another world. I had the best birthday this year that I've had since I was 20. Best (and last) kickball game of my 3 year career. Best live concert to go out on a bang with- The New Pornographers. Best dance parties at the Majestic (Houses in Motion on my birthday, DJ Nick Nice). I could be found at the Orpheum during Happy Hour, Sundance, The Old Fashioned, The Paradise, The 'Bou. My favorite album of the year (out of the maybe 3 that I actually heard that came out this year)... Red Letter Year. How can Ani DiFranco consistently keep reinventing her sound and have it sound so freaking awesome? How is that possible?? My only grievance is that there are too many love songs and the production isn't up to snuff that the first two really strong tracks have... I guess when your partner is your producer and your baby's daddy, the love songs take on a different meaning. Best album I've rediscovered? Another Ani one: Revelling/Reckoning. It's so beautiful, so emotional, so political, so raw and simple. How have I overlooked that for the past 7 years?!?

BOOKS I READ IN 2008:
-The Virgin in the Garden, A.S. Byatt
-Falling Angels, Tracey Chevalier
-Population: 485, Michael Perry (note: I saw this book in the USP library in Suva! It cost something like $28!)
-The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte
-Love is a Mix Tape, Rob Sheffield
-In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan
-The Town and the City, Jack Kerouac
-A Whistling Woman, A.S. Byatt
-Tale of the City, Armistead Maupin
-Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
-Slapstick, Kurt Vonnegut
-Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson
-The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
-What is the What, Dave Eggers
-Down Under, Bill Bryson
-Grace (Eventually), Anne Lamott
-The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
-Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
-A thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini
-The Bookseller of Kabul, Asne Sierstad
-Banker to the Poor, Muhammad Yunus
-The Plot Against America, Philip Roth
-The Monkeywrench Gang, Edward Abbey
-The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell

THINGS I LEARNED IN 2008
-How to ask for help
-How to be helpless
-How to be alone
-How to husk, crack, scrape, and cook coconuts
-How to walk barefoot
-Patience
-How to eat what you absolutely don't want to eat and pretend you enjoy it (tinned fish, beef for example)
-How to hand wash my clothes
-How to cook with the fire (I can actually start it on my own now and have a really successful fire! Usually I can do it without kerosene- whoopee!)

We're almost done with our bread oven. First project: completed! Next we're on to getting septic tanks for all the houses in the village, a completed and upgraded footpath, and a market by the road while continuing to battle erosion. ***We're done with the bread oven and I wish I could get pictures up!! Next up is building a kitchen so we can start the bread making business and bring the women some dough (bad pun)!***


Christmas is over and I'm glad. Was it even Christmas? It felt like just another day. Here are some things I miss about Christmas in Wisconsin:
-Snow, and feeling cold then going inside and getting all warmed up
-Jewish coffee cake, truffles, creme de menthe squares, sugar cookies
-The smells: snow, pine, cooking
-wrapping presents
-Christmas carols- especially Amy Grant
-Christmas Eve... visiting with the Rowleys, cooking, finishing up everything, our family dinners
-All the awful symbols that make American holidays what they are: Santa, Rudolph, bells, holly, etc
-All those things we only get once a year, like the Christmas movies on TV and the books and decorations and ornaments

I decided to stay here for New Year's because there's a lot happening in the village. There's a wedding next weekend and then I'm thinking I might be do for a vacation.