Random Stories

Man, we are really bad about posting. I'm in the Peace Corps Office right now so I guess I can make this a long post. A few funny things have happened this past month. None of them really have anything to do with each other, hence the title "Random Stories".

1) Vinaka Dadakulaci

So I finally went fishing at our new village. I went out all night with two other guys: Gavota and Jeremia. We motored just a couple of kilometers or so offshore, into Viti Levu bay, and dropped anchor. The last time I had been night fishing we had gone out much farther offshore. We started off fishing for salala or striped mackrel, a fairly common fish that isn't worth very much in the market but makes good bait. Once we had a few of these guys we baited the bigger hooks and waited for the big guys to bite. While I was still struggling to set my hook on time and getting my bait stolen constantly, Gavota had hauled in two massive Walu or spanish mackrel. These are some of the most sought after fish in Fiji. They have lots of meat and taste great. He had to bear hug one of them to prevent it from flopping around the boat and biting us, and jammed a knife into its brain. By about 10pm that night I had caught a good number of salala, saqa (trevally), silasila (barracuda), and qitawa (cresent banded grunter). At this point I would have been happy to head back to shore, shower off and get a good night's sleep. This is, of course, not how things are done in Fiji. Night fishing means all night. We didn't return to shore until about 7am the next day. By about 2am I was really struggling to stay awake. As my bait fell to the water I would start to doze off, only to be awakened by a fish tugging at my line. The burst of adrenelin caused by having a fish on my line would wake me up and I would pull it into the boat and repeat the process. After a while I started to realize how truly disgusting fishing can be. When you see pictures of guys on boats holding massive fish it certainly looks appealing. But the one thing you miss out on with the pictures is the smell. Fishing boats reek. By this time of night the boat was drenched in fish blood. Luckily it was a cool night otherwise the stench would have been horrendous. Towards 3 or 4am the fishing started to slow. At this time we noticed a black banded sea snake swimming towards the boat. These snakes are one of the few things Fijians do not eat. In fact, they respect them and have all sorts of superstitions about them. " Oh this is a good sign." said Jeremia "Seeing a dadakulaci like this means we'll catch lots of fish." From that point on, both Gavota and Jeremia were offering prayers to the snake to deliver us lots of fish. Sure enough, we started catching some saqa. With each fish caught, Jeremia would proclaim, " Vinaka, Dadakulaci! Vinaka na ika!" (Thank you black banded sea snake! Thank you for the fish!) Eventually the catch slowed again, but Jeremia still persisted in pleading with the snake to send us more fish: " Kerekere, Dadakulaci. Dua na Walu!" At some point Gavota let out a righteous fart to which Jeremia responded " Vinaka Dadakulaci! Vinaka na cagi!" (Thank you black banded sea snake! Thank you for the wind!)
Fijians love inside jokes, so every time Jeremia sees me he shouts, " Hey, bula Dadakulaci!" It never gets old.

2) Goosebumps

Leslie and I are doing some work with a nearby primary school. The school has a library which is in total disarray, so we volunteer once a week to help organize it. We are trying to create a system so that kids can actually check out books and take them home. I was at the school one particular wednesday, with a couple of Fijian kids helping me organize books. One of the kids, a boy also named Choney (my yaca), was alphabetizing books and came up to me with a look of terror in his eyes. He showed me the inside cover of a Goosebumps book. Inside was a warning that said "Warning: Do not under any circumstances read this book from front to back. Doing so will produce extreme terror..." or something like that. This warning, of course, is a joke merely meant to entice kids to read the entire book by giving them the idea that they are doing something dangerous or illicit. To Fijian kids, who have the utmost respect for authority, the warning label is truly terrifying. I explained the joke to the kid, but he still seemed eager to get the cursed book out of his hands as soon as possible.

3) A Ghost Story

An old man died in our village last week. We had the funeral on Saturday. On Monday Leslie and I were trying to sleep but the freaking dogs would not shut up. They were howling away like crazy that night. The best thing anyone could do for Fiji is to exterminate all the dogs. They are a horrible nuisance. Any visitor to Fiji who stays in a village or settlement will not get a minute's sleep because of these repulsive creatures. So anyway, I couldn't sleep so I grabbed my machete and headed outside to chase them away. I wasn't really planning on killing them, I just wanted to throw my machete at them. That scares them more than throwing rocks. Since it was the middle of the night I didn't feel any need to put on pants. I managed to scare away a few of them, running around in my underwear, throwing my machete at them. I noticed a few flashlights moving around. Some other people were also chasing away the dogs. When they approached me I recognized them as some of the village youth. They asked me what I was doing. I said I was trying to scare away the dogs because they were making so much noise. Marika, one of the guys whispered to me, " The dogs are barking so much because of the death last week." I remembered then that Fijians have all sorts of superstitions about ghosts and figured out that the villagers were probably attributing the dog's behavior to the presence of ghosts. " Have you been to the burial site?" he asked me. " Yeah, I was there during the funeral." " The youth are standing watch there right now." he said, " Come, we go now." Really, I thought, do we really have to go right now? Can't I put on some pants first? Something about his tone told me it would be best not to argue and to just go with him. When we got to the burial site I saw virtually every male youth from the village solemly sitting next to the grave, with a bonfire going. There was a bowl of kava on the mat beside them but nobody was drinking it. When they saw me several of them stood up and folded their arms. I glanced down at myself. There I was in my boxers with a machete in my hands. I felt ridiculous. Marika explained that I was out that night because I was trying to scare the dogs away. The guys seemed satisfied with this explanation and sat back down. On the way back Marika explained to me that when a person in a village dies the young men of that village will keep watch over the grave for five nights to make sure that no evil spirits steal the person's soul. Marika's concern, evidently, was that the ghosts would either harm me or that I would be mistaken for a ghost- running around in my underpants waving a machete around. As I went back into our house where Leslie was sleeping Marika told me, " If the dogs bark again, don't leave your house. Wait until tomorrow morning when they are sleeping and then kill them."

Leslie's Parents

Leslie's parents recently came to Fiji for a two week vacation. They spent most of their time here at Volivoli Beach Resort, with a short, 4-day trip to Taveuni. It rained non-stop in Taveuni, but it was cool to see Niko, a volunteer working in an undisclosed location on the island. We really enjoyed having them here, as it gave us an escuse to spend practically every day at the beach. Leslie's dad did a couple of dives. Unfortunately he didn't see any sharks. Interestingly enough, while he was diving, I was snorkeling above him and I saw a shark! I guess they'll have to come back to Fiji now.
Not a whole lot else has been going on lately. Our work in the village has been blocked by the 1 week (3 weeks Fiji time) Methodist extravaganza going on in our village. Now that eternal salvation has been secured for every man, woman and child in the village I am hoping that we can focus a bit on more earthly matters, like sending kids to school, properly disposing of rubbish, making money etc.
I am really looking forward to seeing the new group of volunteers that will be coming in on Thursday. My request to help with training has sadly been rejected by the powers that be in Suva. It is really strange to think that my group of volunteers are now the "experienced" ones. Ha! We still don't really have this whole thing figured out. I feel I should warn any single males in the incoming Fre 7 group that the girls in my group have been scouring the internet looking for pictures of them and licking their chops lustfully. You see, my group has a high girl to guy ratio, and after a year in the bush you can imagine how desperate they can get for some fresh meat.

(Once again, this post reflects the opinions only of John Leonard and or Leslie Currie and not the U.S. government)

Work and Play

I recently returned from a week-long trip to Suva for a Financial Literacy Training of Trainers. I was able to bring a counterpart from my village. Milika has come with me to other Peace Corps workshops but I think this by far was her favorite. Peace Corps staff and volunteer facilitators did a great job organizing and presenting the material. We practiced listing income and expenses and then moved onto setting savings goals by using a "savings calculator". After the test-run we counseled real clients from a local women's group. Thanks to the workshop Milika and I feel confident that we can help couples in our village set budgets and savings plans. We are currently working with the Chief to schedule workshops for the village.

Last week was a slow but loud week in the village due to a huge Methodist conference that was taking place. Amps were out and the talatalas were passionate. We did not get anything done .....we also got little sleep. To get away from the noise we went for a dive on Saturday morning. This was by far the best dive we have been on. We went out to the Vatu i' Ra passage. We saw six sharks and the most beautiful soft coral ever. It was wonderful! That evening we stayed with Tara and enjoyed the company of other Peace Corps volunteers.

My parents arrived on Monday, May 4th at 5 a.m. Updates on their visit coming soon.

Nananu again

Some of you may be aware that there is a bit of a political situation here in Fiji right now. I probably shouldn't say exactly what the situation is- you can read all about it online- but I just wanted to let everyone know we are fine. Everything is normal in the village and we don't feel threatened in any way.

Leslie and I celebrated Easter weekend with a trip outside our village to Nananu i Ra island, our favorite nearby getaway. This is probably the third time we've been to the island. I guess we should start trying to see some other places, but it's just such a fun and laid-back place that we keep coming back.

About 13 of us met on the island, bringing all our own food and, of course, beer. Everything on the island is expensive so bringing your own is a good idea if you're on a Peace Corps budget. We went out snorkeling and fishing with our good friends John and Judy the first day there. That night we had a good time, eating Tara's and Sylvia's excellent cooking and my excellent home brew. It's called "Dr. Choney's Elixer of Love". I'm working on patenting the recipe.

The next day we all woke up a little late and a little hung-over. It didn't take long for us to rally, and before noon the entire group of us was marching through head-level grass on a cross-island trek. Leslie and I had done a similar hike with Ahndree and Nuper during the dry season. It required quite a bit of bush wacking. This time, however, it was all bush wacking. It dumped rain on us during part of the hike, we had to all cross over a barb-wire fence, and the final hike down to the beach involved plowing through a thick tangle of trees. The real element of danger was introduced when Leslie stumbled into a wasp nest and was stung 10 times. I was stung once on the leg. We scattered into the bush when this happened and very slowly made our way around the wasp nest. We were expecting to come out at a secluded beach on the North side of the island. It turned out that in walking through the woods we had veered a little to far to the South and ended up on "mile long beach". The developed beach on the island where our hotel was located. We were literally 5 minutes from the hotel.

Pictures

Here is the inside of our house in the village. The picture was taken in the doorway. In the foreground is our living/dining room and behind the curtain is our bedroom. The floor is a layer of sand, covered by a layer of coconut branches, covered again by mats or ibes. Thanks to the Leonards for stocking our bookshelf! Thanks to the village maramas for ALL of the bula material.....it covers every bit of our walls!

This is the back of our house. John is the the garden doin some teitei. We planted tomatoes, beans, cucumber, mellon, cilantro and the basil that my parents sent.

This is a vasua or giant clam. I think they look funny.


These are Threadfin Cardinalfish.....according to Choney. I call them Precious Blue-Eyed Cutiefish! There are tons of these little guys!

John caught a Squirrelfish. It is so pretty......and delicious.....and filling! Doesn't Natalie look like a character from a Dr. Seuss book?

So much going on...

So it is official, John and I are village volunteers. We moved into a village in Ra (the name we cannot disclose to the public) on Saturday, March 14th. We live in a small tin house. It is one room with a curtain room divider that separates our "bedroom" from our "living/dinning" room. We have an outdoor area for the kitchen, toilet and shower. The water pressure is very low in our village so we take bucket showers. In order to really feel clean, I lather up the soap and let it sit for a while before I dump water on myself. It is a very different life than the one we were living in Rakiraki town. Our house is dead-center in the village and is right next to the church. Hooray, we get to hear 5 a.m. prayer every day! Our new family is really wonderful and have made us feel very welcome. The children in the village are relatively well-behaved, though exhausting. They are just so many of them! I have befriended most of the pre-teen and teenage girls and they come to the house most nights for help with homework. The packs of half-naked 4-5 year-olds are the only children that scare me.....they truly run wild and do whatever they want. As Amy (another volunteer) warned us recently, they seem to throw rocks for no apparent reason. You can just tell, as they pass by, sticky and covered in sand, that they are up to no good. The village has been wonderful at respecting our space and giving us "alone time". This is something that many of the other volunteers have struggled with. I don't know if it is because John and I are married, but our village seems to understand our need for privacy.....to some extent......there are a few exceptions.

On a different note, I am finding myself very busy with work lately. I have started teaching a business class once a week at the Penang Sangam Vocational School. I am teaching a class of 14-19 year-old Fijian and Indo-Fijian boys. I am so thankful for my experience with Young Audiences of North Texas.....thanks to the Creative Solutions program I know how to work with adolescent boys. I really enjoy teaching. I have aligned myself with the BIC (Business Incubation Center) and NECSMED (National Center for Small and Micro Enterprise Development) so that at the end of the year each of the boys will receive a recognized certificate of "Business Training Completion". This is significant because with the certificate and the business plan I will help them write, some of the boys may be eligible for a small business loan. Aside from my teaching, I am also gearing up for my water projects in Volivoli and Nanuku. They will start in April. Additionally, in June I will be teaching Financial Management skills in various villages around Ra with honey farms. This is a program that I am doing with the BIC. I have been attending technical beekeeping trainings in the villages to get to know the people. The Financial Management portion of the training will coincide with the first honey harvest of the season. The idea is to strengthen Ra beekeepers so that their honey farms can perform as successful businesses.

John is working with FLMA (Fiji Locally Managed Marie Areas) to set up a Marine Protected area around our new village. Right now the struggle has been to get everyone involved and in favor of the idea.....this is very difficult to do in Fiji! John is also working on fixing the water pressure in the village and getting ready to organize a village trash pick-up and recycling program.

That the update for now. We will post house pictures as soon as possible. We are waiting for a sunny day (it has been dumping rain lately).

Here is Taveuni....

Okay, here are our pictures from the Garden Island of Fiji. Hopefully we will have pictures from the reef monitoring workshop soon.

This is a killer reef off of the coast of Vanua Levu. I wanna get up in that!

John walking through volcanic rocks on the Costal Walk from Lavena.

Swimming to the falls outside of Lavena Village.

In the upper right-hand corner of this picture you can see me jumping off of this HUGE waterfall. It must have been at least 50 ft. high. To the left are John and Natalie.

The clouds over Viti Levu....amazing!