Nariyal ke samja.....aka our coconut afternoon

So we planned with our AWESOME language instructor Mahend (seriously, he's a totally funny and cooky guy who was always down for a laugh and loves people) to have this 'Nariyal ke Samja' aka coconut afternoon where we learned what all we could do with coconut trees. For one, you can make jharuu's (brooms) but taking off the leaves and picking out the hard part/stem of the leaf (the part that's in the middle). Then you shave around it with a knife to get the leaf bits off. Then you combine them all together, tie them off and taa-daa you;ve got a broom. And that's actually what the brooms are made out of here.

Second, we took a coconut, cracked it, scraped out the inside with a coconut shaver. Then we learned how you can make coconutmilk from the shavings and also how you can make coconut oil (that goes into many lotions) from the milk you make. And to top off our afternoon of course we had to learn how to make the famous Indian coconut sweets aka barfi. (the name is weird but it tastes delicious...it won't make you barf).

Now because Fijian people can use every part of the coconut tree for something, they are kind of seen as sacred trees. TO preface this, a random cultural belief is that there are ghosts in some trees. For example, your whole life has been written out by Paguan. If you end your life before it was written to end (you commit suicide) then you will remain as a ghost who either haunts your old house or lives in the trees. You live in the trees until your life was written to end by Paguan akaif you were suppose to die at 60, you kill yourself at 50, you live as a ghost for 10 years. However, because coconut trees are sacred, they are safe.

They also believe that eclipse's are bad. At first I wondered why but then realized because it covers/shadows the moon. And as we all know the moon (Chand....make name being Chandni = moonlight) is extremely important in their culture. So on the day of the eclipse you really shouldn't go outside too much. Andduring the main hours the eclipse is going on you are suppose to stay inside, close the doors, close the curtains, and you can't make or eat any food. You also can't look directly at the eclipse. If you do you might get sick, and if a pregnant lady does this then her baby might come out handicapped. BUT if you do choose to eat or cook during the eclipse you CAN spread cow patties (let's remember that cows are sacred) all around your house and then you also have to put a little on the bottom/underneath the pan you're cooking with. That's right. (Not IN the pan but on the bottom).

ALso something I wanted to add to my random thoughts list is how the music here in Fiji is awesome. I can't tell you how much they love Akon and Chris Brown. But they also have very randonm songs- like Dolly Parton. SPecial shoutout to my homegirl Abbey who is a giant Dolly fan. GOtta love 9-5. As I sat on the bus on the way ot Nausori all I think of is how none of these people know who Dolly is, how giant her boobs are, and how when I was a little girl I used to squat down, tuck my knees into my 80's style giant t-shirt, and bounce around like I was Dolly Parton. No, I was definitely not the only girl who did this.