A Day in the Life of Chandani......

In no particular order:

wake up and sweep the house.... pick a papaya....

......watering some plants.....make some papaya salad (My ABSOLUTE FAVORITE) .......at the office with roshni.......maybe wash my clothes (maybe)..... I'm on the bus ALLLLL the time! gosh...i have a 1 1/2 hr commute to work 3 days a week.

Christmas Tree....oh Christmas Tree....

These are the Christmas Trees here!! (because the bloom only during Christmas). They're actually really pretty and the pic below is of mom and I wil the Christmas Tree flowers in our hair! (I actually hadn't seen them on my island and so I thought they were rare only to Vanua Levu. So mom and I for sure took pics with them. But to my surprise when I returned back to my house I realizedI had one just right outside!...woops)

Ok so I just wanted to wish everyone a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Hope everyone is enjoying the cold (or trying to?) :0)
love and miss you all!

I'm super pumped though my TWO OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE COMING ON THE 28TH!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We'll stay at my hosue for a day or two and the head to Caqali (a small island 'resort', if you could even call it that) and meeting up with the other volunteers for New Years! Apparently it's some of the best snorkeling in Fiji! We shall see! whoooop!

Ending Chapter to Mom coming to Fiji!

Matt, Kelly, Mom and I on Taveuni at the most AWESOME resort! Actually, This was our Thanksgiving night!

This was the sunset from Nakia resort. YES I FINALLY got to enjoy the fruits of where I'm at...

And NO I do not live ANYWHERE near here. I am 100% jealous of the volunteers who are though. Bahhhhh I still can't believe I went there! This was the beach from Coconut Grove

Scariest Bus ride e.v.e.r. It might not look that scary but when the guy is flying up and down mountainous lands with muddy dirt roads and no railing...you'd pee yourself too.

From there we traveled up to the top of the island and stayed at a quaint place called coconut grove that was really pretty and had awesome AMERICAN food. Then we traveled down to the eastern side of the island towards Lavena Point. We stayed at a small lodge that a village runs and also where another volunteer works. After a 2 hour scary dirt road bus ride, we headed straight out to snorkeling at the Waitabu Marine Park. Which was also really cool! And actually here, I felt like we saw MUCH bigger fish and more varieties of them than when we went diving. The visibility must have been about 100-140ft aka straight to the bottom. We saw some 4 foot grouper, 3 foot all different colored giant clams, 2 ft pumphead fish, and many more. The coral is still my favorite though, But my favorite part about this snorkel was when our very muscly and 50% toothless fijian guide was pointing what fish were what. As I swam past a school of about 150 long, silver fish 'on the defense'..I suddenly wanted to pee myself with fear. Thinking to myself...this is eerie the way these fish are staring at me and following my every move, and also how I'd never seen a barracuda but knew they were long and silver. I took off at warp speed to our guide who was a ways away. After I described how the fish looked, i asked him what kind of fish it was...and of course he replies 'oh yes, just a school of barracuda.' Perfect. What do we do next? Swim past them again. (And actually as it turns out they weren't barracuda...but I swear they were creepy and scary and probably dangerous).

After a night there we headed back to Nadi. Our plane was a few hours delayed but we luckily enough had time to get back to Nadi, shower, do a little souvenir shopping, and head to Hard ROck Cafe FIji. Hell yes to nachos with SOUR CREAM, and CHIPs and a FRESH Cobb salad. Sadly though I'm pretty sure that's where mom and I both drank Iced Tea (which was made with tap water) and yesterday proceeded to feel the effects of it. You can't have it all.

It was a really fun and much needed trip though. One of my favorite parts was showing my mom the things I could cook now (really good french toast and fruit crepes!, papaya salad- my specialty). SO whenever I come back in May, let me know if you want to have an Indian Night and I'll cook for you!

OK, I'll end this bad boy. Love you guys, Happy Belated Thanksgiving and Happy Early Christmas. Man I wish I were there for the holiday season, especially seeing as it's fixing to get balls hot here and my water shuts off at night, coolio. haha I love the pc. actually, I'm excited to experience this season, helps me put things into perspective. :0)

OK, LOVE YOU GUYS!

Death by Giant Green Eel anyone?

Check.

Mom and I pre-dive and waiting for the boat to come!

Geared up and ready to go!

After this island we crossed the somosomo strait and headed to Taveuni. Which is known for being a really beautiful with awesome diving!!! which it was! I went out on my first 2-tank dive here! The first place we went was Rainbow's end where my first dive was 62 ft for 51 min. On that dive we saw lots of cool fish..some shown in the pics below. My favorite/most nervous moment was when we saw a giant green eel. AT first, when I saw it's head, maybe the size of small pie, I thought, 'that's not that big.' But as i kept staring, and watched it move around beneath the coral. I saw what gives it the name 'giant' in which I caught a glimpse of it's midsection (which is about the size of santa claus' thigh) where my immediate thought was, 'ANACONDA!!!!!'

Napoleon Wrasse

Oriental Sweetlip (my 2nd fav)!



Fire Coral!

On the next dive in an area called Fish Factory, we got to see lots of pretty fish and more soft coral. My favorite coral is the soft, pink coral, and Fire Coral is super cool! We also had two rare sightings of a Blue Ribbon Eel..and a not so common occurrence here...a white tip shark! That was a little nerve racking but as I clung to my dive instructor's side..all was gravy. AND one of our other dive instructor's took out his air regulator and put his mouth really close to the cleaner fish! ANd they seriously came up and started cleaning his teeth! it was awesome.

On the boat again....(sung to the tune of 'On the road again')

The next day, mom and I ventured out to Kioa, the only island of Fiji that is from Polynesian descent and also where 2 volunteers FROM TEXAS are serving. :0) After the fiber boat ride over (yes..I DID bide my Peace corps rules and wore my ridiculous life vest while every fijian was laughing). But check out Mom and Matt (an awesome fellow Aggie!) and our cool Kioan boat driver in the back.

The view from their house...yeah. And I swear it sparkled even more in the sunlight

Matt and Kelly Roy living on Kioa island!

After I saw where the other vol's were living i was instantly 100% jealous as I realized this couple was living my dream. They're living in a tiny village tucked away on a random island (with a beautiful beachfront property). I know everyone thinks I'm just a few minutes away from the beach somewhere but thats so NOT TRUE. I'm hours away from a pretty beach. but anyways, I was still happy to be visiting and it was neat to see some of the Kioan traditions. Instead of the meke (Fiji's national island dance) these people play a riser, i guess you could say. about 8 men sit around a foot tall wood riser and beat it like a drum. But each man is playing a different beat. Super cool. For these celebrations the 12 elder men sit against wood poles in the community hall while the families sit close behind. After a few speeches and masu (prayer) everyone eats! After this celebration mom, matt, rachel and I all went snorkeling off this island. It was pretty good snorkeling with like 30 ft visibility. And lots of sea cucumbers! Later that night Fancy Nancy got the full peace corps experience as we battled 2 persistent mice. (it just happens people)

The Ride to Savusavu: aka THE SCARIEST PLANE RIDE of MY LIFE!

So the small 20 seater planes definitely aren't known for providing the smoothest ride of your life, and this plan ride confirmed what I had heard. Taking off was smooth and the ride over wasn't that bad either...it was just the landing that made me wish I was wearing a diaper. As the wind was whipping up back and forth to the left and right...the only thought that was going through my head was of course, 'why are we landing? why are we landing? WHY ARE WE LANDING!?' Sweet Jisu. As we landed I looked back and saw everyone glue to the back of their seats. And as we all celebrated that we still alive you could hear the pilots laughing (I assume at the fact that we SHOULDN'T have landed in those conditions...but its whatev). No worries. That happened. It will more than likely happen again. ***oh and this is a cool fact, we found out that the kind of plane that runs from Nausori and Savusavu (can't remember the name...something Otter) is THE oldest one running in the world. Maybe that's why inside the plane it looked like lawn chairs bolted to the plane floor.



The 2nd week we went to Savusavu, Vanua Levu (a city on the 2nd biggest island) that was right on the bay. The view was amazing and honestly, the people were so nice.


<- Mom getting some photos of the view from the hotel wearing her fancy new Indian get-up that my host family was adamant about buying for her. hilarious? YES. Anyways, Even though we encountered a serious case of bed bugs from the hotel we stayed at, we still went out snorkeling in three areas around the bay. The water was really clear, a little chilly, but it was fun to see really cool and pretty fish! My favorite was when we went to a small area called split rock and as soon as I got into the water a bunch of baby black and white butterfly fish (aka Gil from finding Nemo) swam up all around me. There were tons! but despite my efforts to touch one, and to make myself as seaweed-like as possible, they would always swim away just as i thought i was about to touch one. That day was a really sunny day, and it was neat to see how the sunlight shines through the water and makes the coral glisten almost. ANd seriously, it looked just like Finding Nemo in which it was like right after the coral stops, you see nothing but sea. It was amazing! And I don't think I'll ever forget the vision of my mother climbing into the boat. priceless. I think my favorite though was how on the first snorkel, the Fijian boat guy said he couldn't anchor as the coral was too shallow. He said he'd be 'around' and told us not to go too far. The water was pretty choppy, but I still took off in sheer excitement. Fancy Nancy was a little nervous, and after spending all but 2 seconds in the water, she clings to the side of the moving fiber boat and (of all things) shouts, 'When are we going to see the fish!??' Good thing the snorkel in my mouth masked my laughing, as the obvious answer to this question would be,' When you put your head in the water.' but I can't blame her though, anyone would be nervous in choppy, deep water and a not-stagnant boat.

These were some of my favorite fish from the snorkel in Savusavu!

Fancy Nancy came to Fiji!!! (part 1)

Fancy Nancy stepping off the plane with style:

Mom and I at the airport!!!!! Man that was a good day! If you look you'll see I'm wearing my Bula Best for the Best lady in the world.

We started off the first week meeting all my host family.,..which was good but probably TOO MUCH visiting. My aunts, host brother and family, host sister, and of course main host dad's house as well as neighbors and friends in the area. Lots of Curry's, some of Nancy's best including: chicken curry, coconut chutney, tamarind chutney, pumpkin, egglpant, and lamb curry with puri which won the award for, and I quote,'This is teh best meal I've ever had in my life.' -Nancy Goodson. :0) However, with so much visiting visiting visiting... It starts to wear on you, anbd plus being force fed a bunch of indian food 24/7 gets old after about 5 minutes!

- My two mom's!!!!!

Then we went around visitng my local friends at the gas station, bread shop, and vegetable farm. Handing out some treats and lolly's to all! The picture below shows my extended host cousins and uncle at the local gas station enjoying some of Uncle Ray's AWESOME peanut brittle. Special thanks to my best friend for making about 10 pounds of it! If you want to win Hindi people over, make them peanut brittle. :0)

Next day we took teh bus to Nausori town and introduced mom to all my shopowner and market vendor friends.

- This is the dude I guy apples from.

Trick or Treat? TREAT= BIOLUMINESCENCE!!!

OK so I know this is a month late BUT I still wanted to let ppl know what I did for halloween. I mean, Idid try to explain the concept of halloween to fijians but I'm pretty sure the conversation ended with: 'But you don't eat the pumpkins?' -fijian ppl. And honestly, I have not a clue why we dont eat more of them. There's all kinds of delicious foods you can eat and yet all we do is carve them.
BUT for haloween a bunch of volunteers got together and headed to the northern part of the main island to a beautiful aread called Raki-Raki. We stayed in a dorm at a hotel called VOli-Voli. It was relaxing to get away and feel like an american. we went snorkeling and swimming and of course dressed up in our best 'Sexy Bula/fijian wear' that we could find. My outfit consisted of a tank top and sulu wrapped just above my knees- scandalous in fijian villages, trust me.

This is the beach at the VoliVoli Resort we went to for Halloweenie. NO this is not anywhere near my house.....what is it with people thinking I'm Just around the corner from a beach.

THIS was one of my favorite parts of the night. Not only is this is a common dinner for a volunteer but this also shows just how a volunteer opens a can of tuna.

My sexy bula for the evening. Aka homemade coconut bra (that didn't make it after the first round of drinks...thanks Peace Corps Medical Tape)

Some of my favorite costumes of the evening. Lydia won the costume contest- dressed up as a sexy Ratu (chief)...look closely at the chest hair.


the evening consisted of some very exciting events: fire jumping. (aka you play the game of who can run and jump over the fire and who cant? Thank you Sweet Jisu to those who tried to fire jump also made. I felt proud to be part of the Fire Jumping club) and also BIOLUMINESCENCE!!! It REALLY exists! (You the part in the movie The BEach, with Leo Decaprio, and him and his french lady are making out in the ocean and all those plankton things are lighting up from the movement? well that's bioluminescence!) At about 1am, when the tide was insanely low, we went out and stomped around in the shallow water to find a bunch of bioluminescent friends. :0) That was awesome.