Good morning or yandra sia! In town early today – came on the 7 am boat to do some computer work, then J and the kiddos are meeting me later this morning to head to Chuck’s farm – he and his family have invited us to come stay the next two days for a visit and to celebrate his daughter Tia’s birthday. Really looking forward to this chance to get to know Chuck and his family better, explore inland a bit more, and check out his sustainable farm.
Realized a few errors/omissions in my typing frenzy last week for the blog – I said the island made bio-diesel – ha/ha! Not true – we use the pig manure to make bio-gas. It’s Chuck’s baby, as well as the bee hives. The bee hives have not been successful – they vacate the hive within days of placing it – we need advice from the beekeepers out there. Ideas on why this is happening?
Happy belated birthday to Rachael, and happy birthday next week to Jamie! Hope your days are filled with laughs, hugs and joy. Love you!
Sorry - no new photos uploaded this week. It takes hours and hours - hoping to have some extra time in town on Wednesday before we catch the boat home to upload some.
It was a great week. Here’s a bit of my journal writings from the week…
Monday, July 20, 2009
Today is our ½ way mark – been here 5 weeks, and 5 more to go. It has gone so quickly…
Trip into town today – computer catch up time, some shopping. Got to chat quite a while with my dear friend Blythe on Facebook – so grateful for that. Bought some eye ointment for Jone’s eye – he has an infection that looks terrible. Hope it works. Treated myself to a Blitz bar – heaven on a stick. Toffee ice creams nestled in a crunchy chocolate shell – aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Three new arrivals today – one is an American woman, so that makes 2 other Americans besides ourselves on the island – the most since we’ve arrived! Let the language dueling begin! It is an ongoing joke on the island between the Americans and the English – they say they created the language, but we say we perfected it. To be honest though, I actually prefer the way they speak it! I love to watch the newcomers faces on the boat ride to the island – love to watch the amazement and emotion that comes across their faces as they take in the scenery and the reality of their adventure.
Back on the island, the children greeted me at the shore as though I had been gone for a month, full of stories of the day’s excitement. They retrieved the billibilli (bamboo fishing raft) that had washed up down the beach a few days earlier. J pulled the bilibili while the kiddos wrote atop. They saw a shark and a jellyfish on their journey. The bilibili is in good shape, and Lucas is bursting to show it to Pupu so they can make it as good as new. Ollie’s big news was that Jimmy and Mark made him a fishing/butterfly net from some sticks and an old mosquito net. J finished drying the wash, brought it in, and put it away. Yippee! He also walked some other people through caring for the pigs, so he can take a break from that job for a while.
Shortly after returned, Chevonne and I grabbed some water, put on our trainers, and set out on a hike. I offered to take her around the 4 Peaks since she will leave before there is another guided hike. I love this hike and could do it everyday, which everyone else thinks is just crazy. You work up a great sweat and use every muscle in your body to scale the rocky terrain and scramble over rocks, but the breeze at the top of each peak is soooo worth it. The day before, Jenny and Lisa watched the kiddos for a bit so J and I could hike and chat alone, and it was amazing. Great fun hiking with Chevonne – we had some wonderful conversation. I love so much the mature and insightful perspectives of the young people who come through the island.
Had to run the last bit back through the mangroves cuz the sun was setting. J and Lucas had already left on the fishing trip when we got back, but Bethie did a good job of looking after Ollie until I got back. After dinner, it was on with the sulu and and then onto the grog mat, where Ollie curled up on my lap and fell asleep. Drank a few bilos but then felt queasy, as usual. Grog makes my dinner want to come back – ick. J and L returned from fishing, but caught nothing.
Left the grog mat around 10 (a VERY late night for us!) and then settled into to sleep, lulled by the beautiful music and voices of Jone, Oriah, and Antonio.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Cooolllld morning – J and the kids are behind me actually building a fire! Cooler air blew in on a storm yesterday – after a stretch of windless, humid days, I welcome the feisty wind! The Fijians hate it – all bundled up in their jackets, hats, scarves – to them it is freezing. Last night was the most lovely night since we arrived - J and I snuggled up in long pants and long sleeve shirts, socks, and blankets and lay stargazing, listening to the wind in the coconut leaves and the sound of the coconuts falling to the ground, thump, thump, thump! The sky was black and clear and the stars were twinkling by the millions. We pointed out the constellations we knew and made up others. The Fijian sky has inspired me to learn more about astronomy – the beauty and the mystery of the night sky is just overwhelming to me. As the night wore on, we ended up singing our hearts out to any and every song that we could think of that we both knew the words to – completely off-key, I’m sure! I slept so well – love when breeze blows through the bure – it was nice to need the warmth of a blanket and another body rather than sweat the whole night through.
Some very good friends left this morning – it is so sad to form friendships and attachments to wonderful people as they pass through and then have to see them leaving, knowing that most you will never see again, although email and Facebook does take the sting out of that a bit. A few others left as week, so it was a big Isa Lei (the ceremony and song with which we send people on their way).
The funky tides are back – really, really low and high tides. The Fijians say it happens with the new moon, once a month. Ollie and I ventured to the far end of the island during low tide to explore tide pools yesterday. It was AMAZING! Ollie had it exactly right when he said it was just like looking in aquariums. Bright, colorful, graceful fish, eels, stingrays, and crabs. We tried our best to catch some fish with his new makeshift net, but succeeded in only catching a few. They dart away so quickly to their coral hideaways!
Chuck is here, so Jimmy is deep into projects with him. Ollie and Mana are up to whatever they do all day – running between the villages. Lucas is consumed with a new book, and Bethie is helping Jenny, Lisa, and Clinton with cleaning and organizing the Chief’s bure. I think I am going to spend the day working on my water conservation information board I am making, sit in on the language class after morning tea, then help lead a beach clean up this afternoon in the mangroves.
The war between us and the rats continue – J had to take up floorboards today to remove one that had eaten our lovely poison treats. Although we keep NO food in our bure, these rats come at night and terrorize our bure – they’ve eaten some of the beads off of J’s prayer beads, the top of my hat, the tabua (whales tooth) carved for Ollie’s birthday by Jone. Each day, the list grows longer – it is ON!
Beach clean up went well – because of poor systems for rubbish disposal/removal, so much of it ends up in the sea and then washes up in the mangroves. Need to go back several more times before the job is done. Lucas and Ollie came along and helped, providing us constant entertainment. When we were done, we brought the rubbish back, where it was weighed and logged, then sorted through into landfill, recycling, and re-usables. We are currently collecting plastic bottles to replace a pontoon that died a while back – we use the plastic bottles to float a wooden frame dock that will be anchored offshore for fishing, sunbathing, etc. The data collected is used to help educate and inform, especially in Labasa, where most of the trash comes from. During the clean up, Ollie surprised us all by showing us all a hidden cave where their were baby birds in nests attached to the ceiling – evidently he had been there before with one of the Fijians. Lucas also found a gorgeous sea lobster, dead. He brought back the carcass and Jone helped him take it apart and clean it – they are going to varnish it and wire it back together. The colors and markings of this thing is amazing – nothing like anything I’ve ever seen before.
Back to the village for tea – warm, honey glazed donuts. Pure sin – I tried to resist, but failed. Afterwards a few of us gathered with Jone to practice some Fijians songs, worked on perfecting the Isa Lei and started learning the ever popular and fun Goat Song, a grog mat favorite. Bethie joined in the singing for a bit, then headed of to snorkel with Jenny and some others. Then it was a sustainability meeting in the Hammocks with Chuck to discuss the water desalination device. I chose to stay behind and continue a conversation with Jone – so much for us to learn through each other about our cultures. We chatted about his birth, pros and cons of life in the US, about Fijian family life, and life in general. I will miss Jone and his laugh, mischieviousness, and persectives. He plans to visit us in the US – I hope he does.
Aside from the beach clean-up, I hardly saw the boys or J all day. Everyone was busy with their own projects. J had to move a bookshelf to get to the rat, so while he had it out he put a back on it, then spent the rest of the day working on the biogas project and making new recycling bins with Chuck. Because there are no power tools, building projects take much longer!
The day is at it’s end – as I write I can hear the heartbeat of Vorovoro – the boys are pounding more grog. It’s Oriah’s last night on the island before he returns to his chiefly duties in Ligu Levu tomorrow. I will miss his singing on the grog mat. Ollie is sleeping beside me and J and the kiddos are watching “Monsters vs. Aliens” on the laptop – one of the $3 movies from the many pirated DVD shops in Labasa – the only way to get movies here. It cracks me up because when you pop the movie in, the name and phone number of the movie pirate scrolls across the screen as an advertisement!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Kini, the kitchen chef, taught Ollie how to hold one of the huge, hairy spiders today. He carried it around and let it crawl all over him. He claimed it as a pet and named it Bill. That kid is fearless!
This morning, Lucas is hiking the 4 Peaks with some others, Ollie is off somewhere with Mana, and Bethie is helping Jenny move into her new living quarters – now that she took a staff position she gets to move out of the dormitory vale into her own private house. Today is her first official day as Wavu. Jenny (we are known as Jenny squared when we are together) has become such a special friend to our family – we were thrilled when she decided to apply for the Wavu position, which meant extending her stay until the end of our stay. There was no doubt she would get the position – her outgoing, buoyant personality is a perfect fit for the job, as well as her enduring passion and enthusiasm for the project.
Hoping for a bit of rain today, enough to get the waterfall flowing. Really need to shower today, and would love a waterfall shower.
Written later in the day…
Lucas’ maiden voyage of the bilibili was a success! He and Chez took it out fishing and actually caught a small fish that they used for bait to hook a larger one that broke their line. He and Jimmy took it out again later but caught nothing – beginning to think that Jimmy is bad fishing luck!
Worked more on my info board – it’s all sketched out and ready for paint tomorrow. Also outlined the text for another info board.
B and I hiked to the end of the island to explore tide pools, because it is the time of the month when the tide goes waaaaay out. Didn’t see anything as cool as when Ollie and I went the other day, but enjoyed our girl time, just the two of us.
As I am writing this, we just got an emergency call from Chuck. As he was boating home over rough seas, his motor hit something and bounced off and sank to the bottom of the sea. Jone is heading to fetch him and his boat. Glad for him he had a phone, and it had charge! Looks like he is spending another night on Vorovoro with us!
Got my beads out today, and it attracted the Fjians like bees to honey, drawn to all the pretty shapes and colors they had not seen before. We all beaded together for a couple hours – now everyone has a new piece of jewelry. I love seeing my beads around their necks and on their ears – their gratitude and enthusiasm is truly heart warming.
Waiting, waiting, waiting now for dinner – we’ve been invited down to the Fijian village for dinner, but because it IS Fiji, time is just an abstract concept, despite rumbling tummies. But like always, I know dinner will prove itself well worth the wait!
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