Pictures

Well here y'all go! Pictures... I tried what I could with what little time I had last night to get pictures onto my flash drive and on here. I'll try to do some more soon.erosion. we lost almost 2.5 meters in the storm.
waiting to dress the groom

kids at school
half of these kids will be in my kindergarten class
Workshop about the erosion problem, before this last storm.
The completed bread oven.
Celebration of the completion of the bread oven.
Having some fun while building the bread oven. We had to redo the shelves.
Drinking grog.
The much anticipated posting of pictures is here! Above is the pool where we go swimming. It's pretty clean (all things considered) and cold and there are great rocks to lay out and suntan on. The kids jump off the rocks and trees. There are some small waterfalls up here, too. Very pretty, very relaxing.
This is from the first wedding I went to before Christmas. Yup, it's turtles.
Me and the Chief, who's also the chief of the tikina (what would be similar to a county).
I love this little girl! This was at a birthday party I attended for a 5 year old and 1 year old. They have relatives in the US who sent a ton of birthday party things- goodie bags, plastic cups/plates, balloons, banners, hats, horns... it was like walking into America.
My "namesake" (her name's Alisi too; we call each other "yaca" because we have the same name) sitting on her mother's lap. Her mom is the preacher's wife, and I call the preacher "Tamaku" meaning "Father." They're eating the candy canes from Aunty Lani.
I think this picture speaks volumes... I love this kid. He has some learning disabilities and doesn't quite realize what's going on around him. He's holding a pig's tongue.
We're scraping coconuts to make coconut oil, which Fijians use like we use lotion. We scrapped a hundred coconuts!
My Christmas tree! These kids helped me decorate it. It's a mangrove.
A view looking towards the mountains from the Chiefly burial site in themiddle of the village. It's pretty high up...
...but this is the other side, facing the ocean. My house is below the big tree right in the middle of the picture.
A big 'ol bowl full of dalo at last weekend's wedding.
The wedding gifts from aforementioned wedding. The wedding outfits are in the middle. People bring blankets, pillows, mosquito nets, and the woven mats as gifts, then it's all laid out like this. What's shown is what is left after giving some to the preacher man and the bride's family.
And here's the groom, on the right. He's actually dressed in the traditional Tongan wedding dress. The different colored 'masi' cloth on his arms represent that he is part of the Chiefly family and that his wife (the opposite color) is also from a Chiefly family. His best man is to the left, wearing the Fijian outfit.
Me.
Our lovo ni madrai! The bread oven. Our first bake will be this Monday. We're having a tea party. I get to bring my kindergarten class. Yes, folks, I am the new kindergarten teacher! But we can't call it kidi (kindi) because we're not registered... yet. The women in the village wouldn't let the former teacher teach because she just had a baby and that means she has to sit inside all day with a 2-month old watching it sleep. We've had issues over who's going to teach the kids.

The Hero award goes to... Kate! Thank you, thank you, thank for the 5 (FIVE!)! CDs!!!! And Katy, for the book! Thanks, ladies.

All's well in the village... we had a funeral this week, a wedding last weekend. I have to ask people not to send me things; I'd rather you wait because I'm going to kerekere (a Fijian system of borrowing or asking for something to be done. you're not supposed to refuse when someone kerekere's you) some money soon. We need to build a school for the kindi class and we're going to need some $$$. Peace Corps has a way of donating to causes; more info to come.