Short entry......

Let's see I am in the internet cafe right now with Americans! it's amazing. SO this past Sunday I saw the movie Tropical Thunder with Kendall which was a little slice of America right there. On Monday and Tuesday I weaved mats in the community hall all day. Which really impressed my Fijians friends. They think that I am so smart the only thing I did was watch them do it and I just did what they did. I like it i could do that forever if I didn't have to sit there in a skirt. I was going to put up pictures of me this time but I had to go to another internet cafe because my normal cafe was under construction. Wednesday the Peace Corps made there first site visit. It went pretty well I don't really have any complaints things are going well. I have lots of work to do and i seem lately not to be motivated until I get to a beach so I think this weekend will really be needed. I can't wait. My friends Dave and Kendall might be moving around though after their site visit so that should be interesting I am happy for them cause maybe they will be happier I hope. I really don't have much else to talk about cause I was going to use this time for uploading pictures but that once again isn't going to happen. Sorry. I will try this weekend while i am in bliss at the beach. I like to call it my beachin' weekend! (you like the one kelsey)

Another soccer weekend!

I had a soccer tournament in Nadi this weekend. We won our first game 3-1 and lost the second game 0-1. Some of the usual girls could not show for this tournament so we had some new girls and so I got to play my usual position as right fullback and it feels so good. I felt so much better back there and I don't have to do as much running in the hot sun. Their idea of a flat back four is very interesting for me but I think in time it will turn into a true flat back I hope cause i will go crazy in the back if it doesn't change. I am excited because I get to go to the movie theater today and watch a movie quite the concept for me. I am very excited! What else I was going to put those pictures up but this internet cafe is a bit expensive and the program I use on this computer in is Japanese characters which makes things a bit hard guessing what to click hoping I don't lose my pictures. I have some of the soccer girls but I couldn't get anyone to take a picture of me playing cause i am afraid of leaving my camera with someone. This coming up weekend I am going to the Coral Coast to the beach with some peace corps friends I am very pumped about. two full days at a beach and not being bothered or harassed sounds good to me. Then the following weekend I have another soccer tournament in Ba then the following weekend I am in-service training at a resort in Nadi which will be nice to see all my friends from the other islands. So the next couple of weeks will be full of excitement. Sophia is doing well and growing up to be quite the quality dog. She is getting out of her puppy ways and that makes me sad I want her to stay a little dog but her fur is growing back and she is starting to look like a real dog. I really don't have much more to say I pretty much got everything up on Friday that I wanted to say. I should be able to update again at the end of the week and get the beach pictures up after that.

The 2 musketeers!!!!

So lately, I have been having a lot of fun in my village. People are starting to warm up to me know. Cause they don't see me as much as a outsider that I am living the same way as they are and they realize that now. So, last week I bought some grog in town and Kelera and I decided we were going to drink all Saturday night but we didn't want anyone in the village to know because they would come over and drink it all. So we secretly had a grog session and this is so much more funnier cause it came out of kelera mouth than mine but she stood up and called us the two musketeers drinking grog. I was dying laughing. It was probably the funniest thing I had heard in a long time. We went swimming in the river and went swinging on the rope and kept yelling the 2 musketeers at it again. We were talking about her daughter that is with here Aunt in Nadi and why she isn't living there with Kelera. I don't want to air out here dirty laundry but basically Kelera's husband left her 3 or 4 years ago for her little brother's wife. So kelera divorced him and now she has a 13 year old son named Ben (he looks like he is 17 though) and a little 4 year girl. I have not met the little girl yet but I saw a picture of her and she is darling. I want to meet her and I want her to come back to live with her really mommy. but it is a bit confusing and hard for our American minds to wrap around. But anyways we were talking about that stuff and I was trying to understand what happened and all that drama. So I asked kelera if she had a picture of her ex-husband with her cause I wanted to see what this asshole looks like. And calmly she said yeah I would show you a picture of him but I threw it in the fire today and burned it. I was like damn okay! She looked at me and I looked at her and we both just started laughing and laughing. I told here I would have done the same thing. Her and I think a like most of the time. It cracks me up she has that woman's dominating thing that I love and keeps me going. She has that attitude that she doesn't need a man in her life. She is just fine by herself and I admire that for her.

Anyways, that night I was invited FINALLY to someone's house for dinner and guess what they had to eat? CHICKEN FEET!!! sick. I was like thank you but no thank you. I could not even pretend to try that. I like to think I am open minded to a lot of stuff but I just couldn't do it. I could see the nails of the chicken man. THE NAILS! though I appreciated them inviting me over I ate dalo and tomatos which is fine with me. Then after dinner Andi braided my hair and they were talking to me how it is taboo to take a shower at night like I did right before I came over for dinner. But one i smelled and two it really wasn't dark just yet and I just bring a flashlight and hang it on a nail and that's fine it seriously takes me like 1 minute to shower. not a big deal but I kept asking why it is taboo and they could never answer me but i thought that was so funny. kendall and I was talking the other day about this shower thing and when they shower. They always ask me in the middle of the day after lunch if I have showered yet and for one why you asking me if I have showered none of your business but that's what they do to make conversation. so I don't take offense to that that's just me being the American that i am. Anyways kendall and I were saying that we don't like to shower in the middle of the day like that because we are not done sweating okay. it's like 95 degrees here sometimes in the middle of the day and yeah it feels good to take a shower when it's hot but like I said i am surley not done sweating so I might as well sweat it all up and not waste another pair of clothes that I have to wash myself in the river and wait to the end of the day and shower. That is what makes sense to me.

So for the last week I have attended 3 funerals. the one i talked about last blog entry and then one man died in a village near ours and a woman died that was related to our village. So we just stopped by the one near ours and presented mats and fabrics for the family and so on but didn't actual stay or the funeral. but the other one we had to spend the night and stay for the funeral cause the woman was the villages headman's older sister.So the village got transport and I was really prepared this time unlike my trip to Nadala to the rugby match. I brought a blanket, pillow, 3 bottles of boiled and filtered water and toilet paper. So i was ready to go. this village was right passed the Fiji water plant which was cool to see. It looked like for a second like a plant from America. But it was a hour and half ride on the back of truck and it was very uncomfortable considering almost the whole village was trying to fit in the same truck so people were sitting on top of other people it was crazy but i survived. Then when we got there we waited and waited and waited and i kept falling asleep and then finally we went and presented our mats and fabrics (sevusevu) again for this funeral and village. then we drank grog! the 2 musketeers stayed up til 2 in the morning. it was fun! We had dinner and everyone was so surprised that I ate so much and by the way I was starting to gain weight now. Because i little known fact that didn't come in the water filter directions that I have to boil my water and then run it thru the water filter. Didn't know that one cause my water filter didn't come with freakin directions so that is why I was so sick for weeks and couldn't hold down anything, but i am good now! So i was so tired at 2 in the morning I slept on the floor in some old woman's house with the same clothes on cause I didn't want to change in front of people like everyone else was doing so I was like heck I am sleeping in these clothes. I woke up in the morning with a group of fijians staring at me and then kelera came and got me to take our shower in the river of course. So I grabbed my bar of soup and a towel and head my way to the river and jumped in with all my clothes. I felt so crappy i felt like a truck ran over me. then I changed behind a curtain I made and brushed my teeth outside with my bottled water and went on our way to breakfast and morning tea and once again they were so happy with the amount of food that I am been eating. They call me Kaiviti now which means Fijian. that I am no longer kaivalagi (European) that I have crossed over. Which makes me feel good and accepted finally. though I still feel like I have a way to go for some people to accept and trust me. But i can see a change and it feels good. Then after the funeral which is quite different. the woman do this wailing and weeping thing that is hard for me to handle cause I they like scream and yell crying and it's hard to watch. Especially when it's a girl my age whom her mother just died and she is just crying her heart out right in front of you. I don't know what to do in those situations. But I offered her my bottle of boiled and filtered water and she drank it so i thought that was a good start. I was sitting my the chief's wife who was also wailing and weeping and of course I didn't now that lady so I am just sitting there with my head done cause I don't have any tears and I just kept feeling bad for the woman's daughter. So that lasts for about 20 mins of awkwardness and the weirdest thing is that they love taking pictures of the died body. I can't get over that one and I hide my camera so no one will use it for that. So after the burial and lunch more drinking grog. So i hung out with some people from my village and they were filling me in with all the drama that went down the night before with the guys in my village and the girls from the village that we were in. I swear sometimes I feel like I am in a jerry springer show. So then we left and came back and the whole village went to bed at like 9 cause everyone was so tired of drinking grog and so on.

The next day the ministry of health came to our village to do a workshop to show us how to make soap. It was kind of cool. I think they can make that into a money generating project. I am will be working with some women's forum in town to make that happen. but that was sept. 11th of course and i wore all black in remembrance of those who died that day. Everyone at first was making fun of me because I was wearing all black until I explained why. I like to think I was fulfilling my 3rd goal as a Peace Corps volunteer which is expose Fijians to American culture. So now more of them understand what happened 7 years ago on that day that any American will never forget. I know I won't. I think more of them respect the fact that I did wear black all day and that it was important to me to do that. I have gotten mixed reactions to what happened Sept. 11th in Fiji. I am not sure what they stance is with most people but I could tell in my village they understood that it was horrible and that it meant something to me.

so one night Kelera brought over this game kind of like a small scale pool. Where you slide this disk to hit other disks in to for corners where there are holes. So all the guys came over to play and they were so loud. And being loud in the village at night is also taboo and a big no-no. So kelera was trying to tell them to shut up but it wasn't working. I went to bed early cause I was so tired cause I washed clothes all day in the sun so I was drained. But the village committee informed me that I have to apologize again. So i had to go to my neighbor joanna (whom i love and adore but doesn't speak a lick of English ) and explain to her how sorry I am about the other night all in Fijian. very interesting. I don't understand what they expect for me to do to tell these people to leave and get out of my house when people are jut now starting to come over and talk and accept me. I don't understand the big deal but I do understand that they have to be quiet because they were really loud and i feel bad for joanna that's for sure i think I might make her some no-bake cookies and give to her tonight.

By the way people are loving the no-bake cookies. people are asking for them and the recipe. i never thought that I would be popular anywhere for my cooking skills especially no-bake cookies. Holla!

I also would like to point out the diversity in Fiji on the long road to my village from town that takes about 2 hours to get to my village. there is a Hindu cemetery and a Muslim cemetery all beside a Fijian village. that cracks me up every time I pass it to go to town.
I was going to put up some more pictures of my village and the people in it but the computer is very slow today and I think I might be here all day if I try that. But I should be able to next Sunday cause I will be in a bigger town to do that cause we on Viti Levu (the main island) are getting together for a beach weekend at a hostel on the Coral Coast and it's going to be a blast so on my way back I will have to stay the night somewhere cause I can't get to my village on Sunday because there is no transport to I will have time in a bigger city to upload some pictures and plus some pictures from that weekend on the beach. Well, I am about to get some lunch in town and relax before I start my weekly shopping for food and then catch the bus to my village. Kelera is in Suva right now for a YWCA board meeting so i have been lonely without her being around but she will be back tomorrow.

i think that is all I have to say for this adventurous week stay tuned for next weeks update. And keep checking the blog for more pictures there are some really funny ones of us swinging on the rope into the river and the kids. And afterwards getting yelled at by the qase ( the old men of the village) for playing on Sunday (Sigatabu, which is sabbath no playing or working on Sunday) which sucks cause that makes Sundays a very boring and hard days for us Peace Corps volunteers. every Sunday sucks for me so I hope that this one coming up is better. they are better when i am not in the village cause I can do whatever I want and not have to follow the rules. Ya know! But anyways I hope you are still enjoying this blog and hope to hear from people soon!

Long week in the village but plenty to look forward to...

First of all I would like to thank Rick Ball and gang for the greatest comment on my blog. It made me laugh so hard in the internet cafe I got plenty of looks to shut up. That was great I needed a real laugh in my life. My friend Amy and I were talking about that the other day how we really haven't had a genuwine laugh in so long. Then when you realize that you are laughing for real you kind of stop and enjoy life for once. Cause it's hard to be pulled out of your comfort zone and thrown into this life that we live now. Anyways, I have a few things to talk about this week. Not much cause I was maily really bored this week.

AS I was talking about last couple of posts there was a death in my village and I attended the funeral this past Tuesday. I have attended a funeral before in Fiji during training but it was a high cheif (also an old man), but this funeral was much different cause thee guy was in his last forties (way too young to die) and it was very unexpected. He had a wife and kids too. People were wailing, weeping, and crying. It was to much. I didn't even know the guy and I can feel the pain from the family. It was hard. I actually walked up to see they body before they buried him which they take pictures of (kind of strange) and he seemed like a very nice man. I think it was the point that I can't handle that much crying from other people. I can't stand to look at that much pain and especially knowing that people whom I love at home are hurting too from a death very close to them. It was hard to sit there at that funeral to a man I didn't even know knowing that I should be home attending a funeral for someone I loved dearly. It was hard to hold back the tears though most people thought I was crying because everyone else was crying but really i was crying cause my heart and mind was home thinking of others.I think that is the hardest thing to do is to find the balance between life here in Fiji and life back at home. Cause no one here knows how my life back at home was and I tell them but they can't understand it. I tell them that stuff happens and they listen, but for them it is the here and now. But for me that is not the case. I don't know I just felt really guilty and helpless this week being in Fiji and not home.

Though on the lighter side of things when there is a funeral in village people eat alot. Which is common in my family. When someone dies you cook and you cook for people. SO I did do a lot of cooking this weekend. I made this amazing apple turnover and fried eggs with rice and tomatos. Thought the village was slaughtering 6 cows and carrying the cow parts across my front door and everytime I almost went to my outhouse to throw up it was good. They had asked me to help cut the cow up for the funeral and I said yes reluctantly but disapperaed when the time came to start cutting. I think I could have done it but I just was in a bad place and didn't have the heart to kill this poor cow. But I did eat him that's for sure. I don't get much meat to eat so when I can get a hold of some protein man I dig in! Cause ya know it's fresh! (hehehe)

Anyways, the kids are back in School!!!!!!!!! Though I was bored I rather be bored alone than be bored with a bunch of little kids staring at my every move and laughing at me mess up at their language. Though there is this one kid that is for sure the devil's child. His name is Saki. He is awful. I have never yelled at a kid so much in my life. They thought the white person had gone crazy. First he stole my playing cards. And in the village playing cards are a big deal and can keep a person occupied for hours. So I was mad about that then five days later he comes over and i asked hime where my cards are and he had them and he lied to the other kids saying that he asked me to borrow them which was not true. So I mad him give them back and he couldn't play all do with them, but the other kids could. SO there are like 10 kids in my house playing cards and he is acting like a baby in the corner and if he hits Sophia one more time I might have to hurt him. So anyways, all the sudden him and this little girl are talking in really fast Fijian so I couldn't understand most of it (and people do that too if they don't want me to know what they are talking about they talk really fast to i can't pick up any of the words, but I will be doing that too and use slang words when Chris comes or any other volunteer so they know what it feels like dang it) then he stood up and hit the little girl so hard I though that he broke her back I could hear her little bones just snap. I flipped out! I stood up and grabbed him and yelled and pointed my finger in his face (which is very bad thing to do in the village, but it was my instinct and I wanted him to know how serious I was) and at first this was all in English and Saki understands simple English so I know he knew what I was saying to him. Then he pretended to not understand so then I yelled at him in Fijian and all the kids knew what i was saying so he had to say it. I was saying "vosa vosoti" which means say your sorry. I said like 5 times and he finally said softly "vosoti au" which means I'm sorry. He had tears in his eyes from me embrassing him in front of the other kids but I didn't care no one will hit anyone like that in my house or around me or other kids. Then right after that Kelera came back and the kids told her what happened and she yelled at him forever it was great. It think his problem was that kept associating me with the missionaries (that give out all this frees tuff to people) and he thought that he could just take anythign from me and I would forgive him because I am a missionary. But guess what kids I am not a freakin crazy missionary. I am a freakin American so deal with it. SO that pretty much set him straight.

there was a meeting the other night that since the kids have to walk to school everyday for 6 miles now the school is providing boarding for the next 12 weeks of school. So the kids will stay there (there is only 15 kids that are from my village that go to this school so far away)all week from Monday to Friday and come home for the weekends. But they have to go to church on the weekends so I won't see much of them at all. It was good news right after the other. First the kids go back to school and now they have to stay at the school all week. that is awesome. I loved that idea. and at the meeting I was like yeah that will be much better for the kids and in reality is is because when it rains the kids can't go to school cause the road floods and then they are always late cause it takes them so long to walk to school and they stop and play half of the way anwyays. and then when they get home they are too tired to do their homework. So this is best for everyone that's for sure.

So, Kelera and I was talking the other day about when Chris comes to visit next month! I can't wait by the way. So, we are going to fix up the house really nice and get new fabric for the couch and chairs and new mats for the floor. We are also planning to cook him a Fijian feast. I am going to buy fish in the market in town and we are goin to cook those with prawns that we are going to catch in the river and make some really good traditional Fijian dishes and I am also going to cook some of the stuff I have been cooking from the Peace Corps cookbook that is fabulous. So I hope he comes to eat cause it's going to be amazing. The rugby team is very exctied to meet him and play rugby cause they know he played football in America which is a big deal. And I am starting to collect boiled and filtered water so we can drink grog when he gets to the village which is a common and respectful thing to do when you first get to a village. SO it's going to be the whole Fijian experience. I am excited for Chris to experience this new culture and I jsut hope he doesn't get culture shock too bad for too long but he will be fine. Though it will be fun for me to watch someone else go through this other than me cause I know what it feels like and it can be sometimes fustrating but intensely excited at times.

So other than my complete boredom this week is was okay minus the funeral. Yesterday I walked arounf the village for few minutes just to see if i could find anyone to kick the soccer ball with and I couldn't find anyone. I could have swore the whole village left and moved away like it was a ghost town and no one told me. Whew I was bored. But anyways, I am starting to gain some weight back cause I realize how to clean the water properly so that 's a good thing. I can hold things in my system more then 20 seconds. So that's a plus. I hope to get some phone calls sometime this week. That would be lovely.

Also I have thought of a few more things on my wishlist....

Kool-Aid mix
ranch dressing packets (not sure if they last ourside a frig long but it is impossible to get ranch dressing here and I was thinking maybe those packets from WEndy's or McDonald's would work I don't know)
skittles or nerds would be fabulous
and finally gravy packets for mashed potatoes


Also there are some recipes I am requesting so I can try...

Mom devled eggs (sorry I don't know how to spell that word)
I know you need mustard and mayonaise which I think I can get but I need directions too
rice crisy treats
and finally mashed potatoes like Grandma used to make them
(I have heard that the Peace Corps has cut the Thanksgiving dinner this year because of a budget cut so we won't be having a thanksgiving dinner and that is not okay with me so I need to start preparing for the and get some stuff together to make it as close as I can to the real deal.

I think that is all I have I hope all is doing well and hope to hear from people soon! love you all!!!