some reflections

I'm a certified open water diver!!! Whoo hoo! So exciting! Getting scuba certified is something I never, ever in my wildest dreams imagined doing. But I did it! Even when I was a little seasick and nauseaus and dizzy, I still did it. And it was incredible. Swimming in the ocean amid corals and fishes of all shapes, sizes and colors, seeing sting rays and sharks up close, and being that far below water is so cool and so beautiful. I hope I use this skill a lot (even though it is an expensive hobby), especially because my time is so short here in Fiji and money limited. But who knows? If not, I'll be certified forever and I'll always be able to tell the story of getting scuba certified. It's scary, that's for sure. And my ears hurt. And now I have an ear infection! But, it was totally worth it.

That's about the only cool thing that's happened in a while. On the work end, we finally got the fish pond dug- yay!!! It only took a year! I'll be curious to see what happened while I was away on some much needed leave time. And, the women got their co-op store back! That's been exciting, and a battle. It hasn't been easy but for the most part, people are really excited and happy about it. It's great training and working with the women. They just have to keep it up! They'll show those stodgy old men that women aren't lazy, they are smart and just as educated, and they do have business sense! The goal of the store is to earn money for more store improvements and to put towards a kitchen/bakery for the community hall.

Whew! While I felt like this wasn't enough, like I haven't been doing enough in the village, I learned that this is quite a lot. I suppose it is. We do a lot of other, smaller things that I think are just as valid and mean a lot, too. Does this mean Peace Corps should continue work in my village? That will be decided soon, but I can't say for sure. It's tricky- do you want the village to rely on outside organizations like PC or be independent after having two PCVs in the village?

I also realized so much else about my site. 1. I love Vanua Levu. It's so beautiful up here!!! Everything is so lush (outside of the Labasa side) and green and healthy. There is a diversity of plants. The ocean provides an astounding view as you're driving. It's so wonderful up here, compared to northern Viti Levu (sorry!). 2. The life is better, in my opinion, also. It's so laid back and people are so helpful and fun and work hard. And very self-sufficient. My village is so lucky to be so educated and motivated. At times it seems like they're not, but compared to other villages... we're pretty awesome. 3. As a PCV, you get out of this experience what you put in. i feel like that's a lame statement, but I think it's very true. If you spend a lot of time in your house by yourself, or in town with other PCVs, that's the experience you'll have. Sure, you'll take away big issues and changes and attitude adjustments, but you're not in America and you can't pretend that you are or live like you are. I'm excited to go home, but I do so with a very heavy heart. I really love my village and the people in it. We have had some hard times, but we've had a lot of good. I've had my share of tears and troubles and heartaches but that happens anywhere you are. I love that I spend so much time outside of my house. Sometimes I'm so busy I haven't touched a book all week. And while it might not look like a lot of tangible 'work' has been accomplished, my garden, my yaqona plantation, fishing, cooking, gathering food, drinking grog, singing with the choir, going to church, helping prepare for big gatherings, going to other villages, and being a part of the community has left me little time to sit around wishing I was someplace else. This only lasts for so long. After this, I'll have to go back to America with a job that probably won't pay me much. I'll be so dependent on money and I wont' have the luxury of 'kere kere'ing from my neighbors, or going over to someone's house in the middle of the day and sitting around talking, or learning from the people around me like I have here. I've been forced out of my comfort zone and maybe I have just spoken into an empty hole a lot of the time but I know that some people have heard me. I will have left something behind, tangibly, emotionally, environmentally, mentally. It goes both ways.

Lecture over.
taylar, out.

morgan's visit

Anyone else want to come visit me? Great times are bound to be had! Morgan is about to leave, and I thought I'd share a little bit of our time together. The plan was to be in the village Tuesday through Monday, then head to town Monday and go to Taveuni Tuesday-Friday, then she would leave Saturday. However, as happens in Fiji, the plan changed as we were in the place to buy tickets for the ferry on Tuesday and they say, "There's no ferry this week." Excuse me? You didn't say this when I just talked to you two days ago! There wasn't another ferry that would get us there in the time we had left, so we turned around and headed back to the village. So Morgan got to experience almost two weeks in a rural Fijian village, a life very different from the one to which she is accustomed.

Tuesday she got welcomed with a traditional grog drinking circle and met all my family and tried the dalo leaves, which she loved. Wednesday and Thursday we attended two weddings in other villages which were long, hot days full of eating, grog, and dancing. Lots of dancing. Late nights and wild parties were had. Thursday we rested and Friday I guess we did, too, with grog in the evenings. Morgan brought Uno and that was our entertainment every night in the shed. Saturday we wanted to go out in the boat on the water, but while waiting for the boat we ended up in the river. A bunch of the boys wanted to show Morgan the traditional Fijian way of cooking, called the 'lovo.' This is an oven made of heated stones and then covered. That morning, I had gotten up and after making breakfast for all of us (Morgan, my brothers, the uncle that eats with us, and a few other visitors), I set out to pick the dalo leaves. I come back hot, sweaty, dirty and find Morgan, Tui, Nemani, and Kanu playing cards in my house! The Little Red Hen, was I. We ended up cooking dalo and palusami, which is dalo leaves with coconut cream and then we cooked them in coconut shells (no tin foil). We also killed a chicken and threw that on. While waiting, we ended up in the river. Normally, I stay as far away from this water as I possibly can but I wanted to bring Morgan a 'bilibili,' which is a bamboo raft so I went to where the kids were playing and begged them to come down to our end of the river. To do that, I had to get in all the way. We swam, I was pulled on the raft, paddled our way down and pretty much everyone ended up in the water until church started and we got called out. Then we waited for the lovo to be done and when it was, it was delicious! This was an extremely fun day and very memorable. Makes me realize how much I love the kids and how great my brothers are.

Sunday we went to church in the morning, had a big lunch, and then went swimming at a natural pool nearby. Again, the kids were great hosts and we had a lot of fun swimming around. The weather has been hot, hot, hot. Then we went to church again (i went to church again, where I nodded off so much I had to leave) and after that had a big tea, then drank grog and started the first of Morgan's many farewell parties. I have to leave the adventure off here, because she wants to get going. More to come...

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.