Back to Basics

I'm pretty sure most of you know I had a WONDERFUL time back home; it was definitely needed!

I finally got back to my house just last night. The new PC volunteers arrive today actually, and I signed up to help train them on all things Hindu. So this past Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I've been at a TOT (TOT= Training of Trainers) workshop at the PC office. At first I was annoyed I was nervous since I wasn't going to have time to drop my stuff off at my house then come back into Suva, but by the time I arrive in Suva on Sunday, I was quite happy I was getting to stay at the Cap Hotel for those few days- just to sorry of 'detox' from America and ease myself back into the Fijian way slowly. :0) Although, I will say the first meal I had there (well, minus the cream bun I had for breakfast which I had very much missed) was a PB & Marshmallow creme puff sandwich aka all things American. :0)

I spoke with some of the older vol's about by not-so-much-excited-about-retuning attitude and they said they ALL felt that way. They said it takes about a week and then you feel like you HAVE been rejuvenated. Plus I spoke with another vol and she said that if she went home at this point she definitely wouldn't come back; so I HAD to give myself a pat on the back. :0) I'm excited to meet the new volunteers though, I think their excitement will be refreshing!

AND Best news of all, I came back to the office today (where I met my goodhi aka Roshni, the reason I come to this crazy office) and she told me that since I've been away, the office has been pleasant to work in...which I know that sounds silly, but that's something I've been working on since day one. It's hard being a woman in a developing country and as a worker, they often get used and abused (not physically of course). And over time, I've been trying to get people to make little changes so that the office is not only a good one to work in but also efficient. So that made my day today! I always worry about Roshni and what will happen after I leave and how she'll be treated, but it meant so much to me that things were ok. whew!

Overall, it's good to be back though! It's back to picking fresh veggies and fruits from the backyard and cleaning mold off my things. I DO love this place! :0)

Why is EVERYTHING molding!?!?!?

Here's a list of the following things that have started molding at my place:

• suitcases
• PASSPORT
• cooking chopsticks (yes, I use them...I make tempura sometimes)
• my roti roller
• shoes
• dressers
• small handbag
• almost all of my hand towels
• bathing suit
• leather journal
• PILLS(actually that's incorrect, but they have succumbed to the moisture)
  

What.the.hell.
Don't get me wrong, I love Fiji; but there's just things that set you back sometimes...like mold for example.

Doesn't this kid scare ya' just a bit?

He sure shocked the hell outta me when I turned to see him. No really, I jumped back a bit...I kind of felt bad. At many of the South Indians' functions, it's their custom to dress up their kids like this.


Anyways, the convention this past weekend was actually a giant fart and a half, and that's me being eloquent. I can't go into details because you never know who's reading, but really...we worked so damn hard picking up from other people's slack...and died of sweat doing it. Not to mention the cultural struggles I went through, from being American (and therefore having a different work ethic) and also from being a woman. cool.

But still it was good, and it was good to meet a lot of the memebrs and show support. AND now we OFFICIALLY HAVE A WEBSITE...with it's domain name being as follows:

www.sanatandharm-fiji.com

hells to the yeah. My next projects before I go for vacay include: updating the new Hindi language traninig manual for the new volunteers (I can't believe the next round of vol's will be here after a month!), putting on a business workshop with some women who want to start local businesses, and helping show a friend how to create a website for his own volunteer organization.
Not to mention I have plenty of people/host fam's to visit before I go. I feel like a giant chunk of my life here includes being one giant social butterfly. Most days I'm cool with it, it's the other days when I realize I've gained 5 pounds from all the hindi food that I hate it. Plus...sometimes, my Hindi just doesn't function.

anywho. I need a break...that's where I'm at w/ Fiji and all it's Fiji-ness. :0)

I'm so Excited!!!

with a giant sigh of relief, I present to everyoneSanata Dharm's Official website:
https://sites.google.com/site/sanatandharmfiji/home

(keep in mind I haven't bought a doman name and still need to clean it up more, add more info and such) But I'm just so relieved it's finished in time for our Annual Convention which is this weekend (BOO for the fact that it's over Easter holiday though and all the other volunteers are going to the outer islands for their vaca...whatever. I'm over it though, because I get to COME HOME in 2-3 weeks and so maybe it's for the better that this Convention is keeping me busy until then).

Anyways, so we'll be having our Convention all weekend long on the western side of the island...aka sweat will be pouring from every pore in my body. can't wait. (please tell me you sense my sarcasm.) but after that's done then I'll be doing a business workshop which I am actually REALLY excited about...there are a few women who do sewing, cooking, etc and want to start small businesses from their homes. So I'm going to help them and I am really excited about that fo sho. :0)

ok, that's all for today...just a good day at the office!

Moldy shoes and giant killer centipedes...

+ =

HOORAYYYYY FIJI!

Just 2 more things to add to the list of reasons why I love Fiji!

And that centipede may not look as 'life-size' as he really was...honestly. He was actually hanging daintily on the towel I wipe my face with. That was a nice surprise when I went to dry my face off, grabbed the towel, and a poisonous insect the size of my face flies off. Yes, he was that big. And with giant tarantula stingers at the end of his butt that I'm quite positive were meant for my eyes. regardless, I killed him and it felt good.

So 2 weekends ago I got to celebrate yet another Hindu Holiday called Holi (prophet Mohammed's B-day). It was super cool! I went back to my host village for the weekend where it was fun to celebrate with all my home peeps. So basically, what happens is all the boys go around from house to house playing the drums and singing. At each house they're given a treat to eat (of course) and they continue like this all throughout the settlement. At each house they throw powder and colored water on each other which is AWESOME and like paintball except without the guns.

I had a lot of fun playing with my host fam...eventually it turned into playing in the muddy water/throwing mud at each other, which we all know- I super love.

BUT because someone mixed the powder so strong and also because I'm the only blond-headed person they know....the end of the day came to a close with this:

coolio.

Dolphins + 80ft waterfall + Shayface = Priceless

So my good friend, Shalyn, came and of course we had some adventures!

Pics from Left to Right: Shay and I at the beachouse hotel, Shay cooking some bad-a muesli pancakes in Steve's 'kitchen'-that's the village style, the 80 ft waterfall we climbed and jumped from!, last 2: as volunteers/visitors experience the beautiful parts of Fiji...it's usually accompanied with the not so beautiful experiences as well.  That first one is a local cure, chew on some mango leaves, for when you have tummy issues aka sick nasty. And the 2nd pic is Shay showing off her tokens of remembrance from Fiji- aka some cuts that got infected but were showing improvement when she left.

So my good friend Shalyn came to visit me recently, and of course, we had an adventure!

I met her at a small Beachouse on the Coral Coast when she first got there, and what did we do on that first day? Flirted with the locals and got them to let us borrow some free snorkel equipment of course! and for 5 american dollars they took us our to a cool spot to snorkel the next day....but on the way we managed to find ourselves in a school of DOLPHINS! it was awesome....they were jumping in and out of the water, one did like 5 spins in the air, and were swimming only 10 feet from the boat. This is random, but I've personally always felt that dolphins are god's 'right-hand-man' creatures. I mean, they're super cool, kill sharks, and save humans. So it was kind of awesome having them all around.

So we went for a good snorkel, saw lots of sea cucumbers, a GIANT Lion fish, and plenty of coral. visibility wasn't that great, but when the sun came out it was great. We had met up with some other PC volunteers, 2 of which went surfing while we were snorkeling. Steve (one of the vol's and also who's village we stayed at) said there was a giant 6 foot bull shark below him while he was surfing. At first I thought,'oh man, that would have sucked for you if you got bit...good thing I wasn't over there'...but then I realized...I wasn't too far from him at all. So thank you sweet Chisu (Jesus) that it didn't head our way.

So after we headed back to Steve's village where I pounded out some tortillas/roti and we made some AMAZING bean and cheese burritos. They were so good, I think I'm going to make them all this week.

Next day: this was the hike from hell but it was worth it. Actually, the hike up to the first waterfall was really nice. Steve's pal from the vil, Saka, was our tour guide and was showing us all kinds of things you can use off the land, my 2 fav things included:

-There was a leafy plant you could use that if you crushed it up and rubbed it in your hands with water, it would produce a bubbly soapy substance that you could use to bathe yourself! (I love planet earth)

-Second, if you realized someone was lost in the woods and needed find them, there was a tree that you could pound with a rock and it makes such a loud noise you could hear it from miles around. I just LOVE Fiji.

So once we reached the first waterfall....ugghhh AMAZINNNNNNNNNNNG! I had never been to waterfall before, and the water felt soooooooo refreshing. We climbed about 15 feet up it and jumped off. I'm pretty sure I minorly voilated by Saka who had to grab my booty to keep me from falling. oh well, I'm alive.

After playing under that waterfall, Steve talked us into trekking up to the 2nd waterfall (without shoes)near his village. 'It's just a 30-40 min trek to it...no biggy, and you probably don't want your shoes...' WRONG. About an hour and a half later, after climbing up the first waterfall/some mega bush hiking and some steep rocky/river climbing, and as my feet were sore from knife walking, we made it to that damn 2nd waterfall. At many points during that climb I found myself thinking, thank gosh that this is my friend with me that's as ballsy as I am as opposed to my mother, who would have immediately ordered me to 'Get the Hell down from there'. (Sorry mom, but it's true) :0)

So lesson for the day is that paradise isn't easy...unless you wear shoes. :0) jk. But we really did have an awesome time, after the hike Saka made some Roro from some coconut milk and ferns we found out in the bush. It was phenomenal and I was glad Shay was getting to do so many Fijian things!

After that, I sadly had to go back to work on that Monday while Shay stayed in Steve's village and got dive certified. Later that week she got a taste of the Hindi flavor where she graciously and happily went with me to do errands, PC office, went to the market (bought some pumpkin), visited my host fam, came to work with me, and even helped me hang my laundry. And we proved to be some pretty good cooks using my make-shift 'oven' (if you'd even call it that) when we made some caramelized onion and pumpkin pizza, and some pretty tasty home-made cinnamon rolls! I seriously had SOOO much fun hanging out with Shay, it was really good to have a friend from home visit!

Ok, sorry if this was super long! I just had such a cool adventure!

Why I love Fiji:

So I feel like sometimes I complain a lot sometimes or don't recognize how many wonderful things there are here. So cheers to Fiji! These are a few of my favorite things....

• I'm sure you all know by now that the FRUITS are my fav:

Passionfruit, mango, papaya.....

• Wild Cilantro grows like crazy here...(I am so amazed at the earth and how it provides things...it gets me thinking about what we take for granted)

• How you can use shells for awesome soap dishes, jewelry holders, etc!...(Personal goal-I'm never buying another soap dish again)...

• The Fijian Rugs are hilarious and awesome...

• Compost Toilets(they're actually not common here, but a few vol's have tried to start them and succeeded)...

***And my favorite- which I can't put a picture with, but it's sense of community here and how utterly giving people are. It's a trait that's so strong in both the Fijian and Indo-fijian cultures. (which is shocking because their cultures can often times be worlds apart....but still so similiar in many ways. I'm still amazed at how they co-exist). ***