Thursday, October 30, 2008

From Nadi to Suva

Last week was a week of traveling for me. On Wednesday afternoon I traveled to Nadi with six Fijian ladies, in the bed of a truck, sitting on ibes (hand-woven mats). We were making our way to Rural Women's Day in Viti Levu's most tourist laden city. I attended as a representative for two Indo-Fijian communities. I brought with me tamarind chutney to sell for the Indian ladies in the clubs. Unlike Fijian women, Indian women find it difficult to leave their homes for more than a day. As John and I have explained before, Indo-Fijians live in settlements (neighborhoods where they own their own compound) while Fijians live in villages where almost everything in shared. This village lifestyle lends itself more to a sense of security. The Fijian ladies I traveled with were from three different villages in the Ra Province and were going to sell ibes, baskets, brooms, fans, and honey.

In Nadi there were women from all over Fiji selling their handicrafts and treats. It was very interesting to see the different styles of mats and fans that were sold. Every Fijian woman knows how to make the two items but the style in which they are weaved and the materials they use depend on the area of Fiji they are from. Rural Women's Day not just a fun place to buy handicrafts, it was also a good opportunity for the visiting women to get ideas from each other. For example, there was one group of women from Vanua Levu selling coconut oil.....not an unusual product but the way it was packaged was very different. The women used recycled Bounty Rum (yucky rum!) bottles for their oil (also not unusual) but instead of leaving the label on the bottles like most other women do, they took them off, polished up the bottles, and covered the lids with nice pieces of bula material and bows. Now, I really don't have any use for coconut oil but I was tempted to buy a bottle just because it looked pretty and professional :) I took a picture of the bottle to show the women back in Rakiraki.

After Rural Women's Day ended I made my way to Suva to meet John and Natalie. A large group of volunteers met in Suva to say goodbye to every one's favorite FRE-6er - Heath! Unfortunately Heath was Medically Separated from Peace Corps Fiji after having to be sent to Australia for surgery. He did not want to leave but did not have a choice. He plans to contest the separation upon his arrival back to the States. We are rooting for him!

I like to think that we sent Heath off in style. We hit up karaoke and did a lot dancing at Traps! We even made time for a hiking and swimming day at Colo i' Suva park.


As a side note: it is HOT AS BALLS in Fiji right now! To fight the heat John and I finally found a fridge (the most wonderful invention in the history of everything!). We have been putting our clean underwear in the freezer which offers a nice, cold, tingle when we put them on in the morning. We also freeze bottles of water and stick them down our shirt, pants, skirts (as a reminder John wears skirts too). The ice thaws on our skin and then we drink the cold water. God bless the fridge. AMEN!

I will post pictures from Nadi and Suva as soon as possible (if you're lucky, I might even post a picture of our fridge).

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Trips and Training

Looking at Nananu i' Ra from the highest point on the ridge trail. It was a windy, cloudy day but the view was awesome!

This is an eel swallowing a crab whole along a rocky part of beach in Nananu i' Ra. As John and I walked along the coast line the crabs would jump off the side of the rocks into the ocean to "save themselves" from us. This poor guy would have been much safer on the rock :(


Aw, precious family time! Ma and Pa Smurf and little Nuper pose before the Rubics Cube game during All-Volunteer Training in Nadi. Special.

I know that Peter and John will not be happy when they see this picture posted but I could not resist. The Rubics Cube game went a bit off course.

Us on the white-sand beach of Leleuvia.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Early Service Training

Hey everyone. Sorry for not posting in such a long time. Leslie and I have had a busy couple of weeks. Last week all Peace Corps volunteers in Fiji met in Nadi for "All-Vol" day. The Fre 6s (my group) came a few days before the All-Vol day to do some training, and the Fre 5s (group that has been here one year) stayed after All Vol day for their training. The sessions were actually a major improvement over Pre service training. They emphasized practical skills we need to do our jobs rather than abstract concepts like "integration". We spent a lot of time learning about how to get funding, which is something that is on all of our minds. We stayed in the very nice Tokatoka hotel, near the Nadi airport. The hotel had a fantastic pool and the rooms were air conditioned. It was quite a shock.
On the night of All-Vol day the Fre 5s and the Fre 6s had a party and played a game called "Rubric's Cube". The idea of this game is you come to the party wearing clothes of 6 different colors (I forget the colors but they are supposed to be the six colors of the rubrics cube). You then swap clothing with people until all your clothes are of a single color. Nobody got too crazy with it, but we do have some very funny pictures. I will have to post these next time.
After All-Vol day the environmental volunteers, plus a few others, headed south to the Shangri-La Resort to learn about coral farming. We were taught by an energetic 60-something marine biologist named Austin. Coral farming is pretty straightforward. Basically you snip little pieces off live coral, and let them grow on a steel grate. The growing colonies can then be used to repopulate bleached or otherwise damaged areas. Of course, if the corals in an area are damaged because of water pollution, as is the case in my village, you need to deal with this first before you plant corals.
We got to do some snorkeling around the resort. Shangri-La has a Marine Protected Area, so we saw quite a few large fish.
After this, Leslie and I headed first to Suva and then to Leleuvia. Leleuvia is a tiny island near Ovalau with white sand beaches and abundant corals. It is what comes to mind when people think "Fiji". We spent two nights here in a simple thatched bure, snorkeling at least 5 hours each day.
We are now back at site and are eager to actually get some projects going now. Leslie is working on grant applications for some borehole projects that will deliver water to some settlements in very dry areas. I am still pushing the marine conservation and piggery waste thing. Progress is very slow here. We will do our best to let everyone know what is happening.