7/3/2011
Friday we couldn’t do our gardening at the schools because it was too Instead, I helped a few other volunteers prep for a carnival that GOLD Foundation is putting on next week. GOLD wants us to have a informational booth for HELP International, provide entertainment for a few of the nights, and have a banner in the parade.
Yesterday all HELP volunteers but two spent the day at the Sigatoka Sand Dunes playing on the beach and in the water, racing up and jumping down the dunes, and building a sweet sand village on the beach. We even got some fish to ear oranges out of our fingers. The beach there was beautiful. It is one of the few places in Fiji where the waves break on the shore instead of out on the reef.
I just today got a new record for amount of people in a carrier. Carriers are usually small little two-door, two-seater Toyota pickups that have a canopy-like thing over the bed of the pickup. Today on the walk to church it started down pouring and so we all huddled under a bus stand waiting to see if the rain would let up or not. It wasn’t slowing down so we waved down a carrier and fit 14 people in the bed of that little Toyota pickup. People were sitting on laps, sitting on the bench, squatting in the center, doing whatever we could to cram in and we did it.
7/4/2011
Happy Independence Day! We are having our 4th of July celebration tonight at the house by cooking spaghetti (not exactly American), have garlic bread, ice-cream, and no-bake cookies! We were gonna have a bbq but hamburgers and hotdogs are hard to come by here.
Because today is a day of celebration in America I will list some things that aren’t readily available or available at all here in Fiji. Foods I am missing are red meat (very expensive here, especially beef because there are a lot of Hindus here and beef is sacred to them), sandwich meat (I am living off peanut butter and jelly because lunch meat is very expensive), cheese (expensive and the little I have tried isn’t very good), milk (it is either powdered or off the shelf), cereal, and meat again. Other things I miss a little are warm showers, fridges (we have a tiny one but with 18 people you don’t get a very big space), clean, free public restrooms (usually the ones here have no toilet paper or it cost $0.20), dependable clean water, not having to rely on public transportation, smooth roads (there are too many potholes here to count), fast and reliable internet that doesn’t cost a fortune, country music, a variety of music in general, and most of all my family. I love my friends here but miss my family. I sometimes miss how Americans treat time. Fiji time is very different than anything I have experienced even Mormon time. Time is definitely not as important here in Fiji which can be excruciatingly painful and frustrating for the most part and sometimes can be nice and relaxing. It is hard to have a productive day and schedule more than one appointment because you don’t know if it will start on time or an hour late. Shopping is an interesting experience here. Anytime you go into a clothing store the employees are very forceful in trying to get you to buy something. It gets pretty annoying sometimes. I like to shop and then go ask for help if I need it. Here they give you help you don’t really need at all.
There are definitely things I appreciate here in Fiji that aren’t a part of the American culture or way of life. One is the market. A majority of the fresh fruit and vegetables here are in a large market area where you barter with the locals to get the best price. You can get a pineapple for a dollar, a heap of eleven oranges or a dollar, three cucumbers for a dollar, a huge bundle of bananas for two dollars and many other great deals. Unfortunately tomatoes are pretty expensive here but it is awesome having cheap fruit that is expensive in America. Fijians are the nicest people I have met. They are so friendly and willing to help. If you get to know them they tell you when locals are trying to rip you off or are giving you a good deal. I have never been truly cold here just a little chilly once or twice and I love it. I will take heat over cold any day.
Of all the sunsets I have seen my top ten have probably been in Fiji. They are absolutely amazing here especially when you get to see the sun disappear into the ocean. The colors are just radiant and beautiful.
7/11/2011
I went with a few volunteers to Nailaga village today to clear some land for farm use. The youth there (young adults 18-20 yrs old) have 40 acres of land they can use to farm and run as a business. It was hard work and I think we cleared one, maybe two acres. We used machetes to chop down tall wheat grass type plants. There were small trees we also had to chop down. After we machete the stuff down to about knee height they will spray it and kill it. Then, all the big rocks and trees have to be cleared out. I don’t know how far along this project will be before we leave but it has the potential to be a great sustainable project.
7/17/2011
This week went by way to fast. Koroipita is going great. During the last computer class I helped one lady set up a budget on excel. I am excited that they are excited to put their knowledge to use. Business classes continue to go well. We only have two lessons left sadly. After that I don’t know what I will do besides the computer classes. I want to continue to go to Koroipita because the people are awesome.
One day after a business lesson, we were waiting for the bus to come and the ladies told us a few myths or legends about some of the different islands. For example, on one island there is a certain fish that you eat by picking the flesh off the bones and then if you set the skeleton of the fish back into the water it will swim off and grow flesh again. On another island there is a cave that will detect if female is pregnant if that person has been trying to keep the pregnancy a secret. When a person who is hiding their pregnancy tries to enter the cave they will not be able to but everyone else can. On another island ladies have to go fishing naked or they won’t catch any fish. They are interesting myths that they have.
We planted another garden at a primary school just outside of Ba called Ratu Rusiate. Each school we go to is so much fun. I was walking to the kids in form 1 and 2 (kindergarten and first grade aged) about what they like to learn in school and one of them mentioned singing and dancing. I asked them to sing a song for me and after that they sang at least 15 songs. They sang a few in Fijian, a few nursery rhymes like Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill, Hickory Dickory Dock; some Justin Bieber songs; and some others songs I had not heard. They were amazing, their voices were so sweet, and they were not shy at all about singing.
Frisbee is a big hit with the kids. I take it with my everywhere I go and it is so fun to play with the kids. At Ratu Rusiate we had a keep away game going where I along with two volunteers were against all the kids. The kids had a blast and once they really figured out what was going on they would grab our hands and arms to slow us down making it impossible to outrun them to the Frisbee.
A few evenings every week I go to the church and play soccer or Frisbee with other volunteers and a few of the local members. Jolie is (Cho-el-ee) is a sixteen-year-old member who is very good at soccer. He got an offer to play soccer on I think the 17 and under team to represent Fiji. He would get paid for every game he played. The games would be on Sunday. He decided that even though the pay would be really great especially for his age that he would pass on the opportunity because the games are on Sunday. What a great kid.
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