Have we really only been here for two weeks? It already feels like forever!

Sunday, July 5, 2009

So we’ve been here 2 full weeks now and I am beginning to relax and get out of my head a bit. Seems since we’ve been here I’ve been really enjoying myself, but being so much out of my element has made my mind go on overtime, whether it be figuring out the best way to do something unfamiliar (like doing our laundry in the sea, and getting it dry before one of the day’s inevitable showers comes along), organizing and reorganizing our new home so the things we need often can be accessed easily, or just simply thinking through the day’s activities.  It wasn’t until yesterday that I really realized how hard it’s been for me to let go and give in to relaxing moments.  I’ve been reflecting on that quite a bit this week – the contrast of life here and how relaxation/downtime is just integrated into the day versus back home where relaxation seems to come (at least for me) with a hefty guilty price tag.   I want to move past being a “human doing” and become a “human being” – and for me that requires that I get out of my head and into my heart.   Only then do I really feel fulfilled with whatever I’m doing, whether it’s work or play.  And it’s amazing how when I’m living from my heart how the line between work and play becomes blurred and the two integrate together.  Why is it as adults we take life so seriously?  I realize that I have so much to learn from how children move through their day, ever present in whatever moment they are in, seldom thinking or worrying about what needs done or what they could have/should have done better.   They never miss an opportunity to laugh or play, to sing or dance.   I am happiest when I live this way – how bout you?

 Life here has a wonderful rhythm that is comforting and secure, yet there are new things happening and new people to meet nearly every day.  On Monday, Wednesday, and Saturdays, we bid farewell to any members whose stay with us has come to an end, and welcome any new members who are arriving.  We’ve met some amazing and fascinating people from all over, although right now there are quite a few folks here from England.    It’s been so much fun learning each other’s variety of English – so many things that we say they find hilarious and vice versa!  Torch = flashlight, shattered = exhausted, jelly = Jello.  They though it was so strange that we were offering our children peanut butter and Jello sandwiches!  We joke that when we come home we will be speaking a strange combination of American/British English sprinkled with Fijian. 

The kids are doing great – the homesickness is becoming less and less as the days go by and they become more involved with the project.    Everyone here is ecstatic to have a family on the island – they go long periods of time without children on the island and everyone is loving having them around.  The kids’ enthusiasm and playfulness is contagious, which makes for lots of fun throughout the day.  Jim, the project manager, is a big kid at heart and the kids have loads of fun with him.  He made them a scavenger hunt this week to properly initiate them into his Hammock Society – a society dedicated to hosing down anyone seen running or exercising on the beach with water guns or water balloons.  Their motto is “Chill out, don’t work out”.   He has really taken Lucas under his wing – involving him in projects (and practical jokes!), swimming, chatting, and playing Nintendo DS – the kids were just thrilled to meet a grown up who owned his very own DS.  It elevated him to a whole new level of coolness that Jimmy and I can never hope of attaining.  It is hilarious to me to see Jim, Lucas, and Bethie with their video games, matching each other around the campfire, under the palm trees, on a remote Fijian island!   For Ollie, it is like he has been here his entire life – it is inspiring how easily he has adjusted.   The Fijians adore him – he roams freely between the villages, hanging out with everyone, helping whoever needs help.  He takes his work very seriously – he loves to feel useful.  The girls in the kitchen spoil him, and his friend Mana was here all week and the two were inseparable.   They spend a lot of time playing in the sea together – you can hear their laughter through the entire village.  He plays so hard during the day that he falls asleep most nights before we can get him to bed – just curls up on one of us and crashes.

We spent our time this week doing some of the usual – the trip into town, Tuesday was sevusevu day when Tui Mali comes to the island, lots of grog sessions, lots of Meke practice, lots of music and singing, games, snorkeling, hiking, lots of laundry, and general work around the village, like taking care of the pigs, cleaning up after meals, village clean up, etc.  More roofs were torn off and re-roofed, so there was more coconut weaving done.  Jimmy, along with a fella named Tim from England, built some nice shelves for the Ecotricity Hut.   Lucas, Pupu, and I made a trophy out of driftwood and a coconut shell to present to Amy for completing the Iron Maiden Challenge.   As I write this, she just completed the challenge (had to do it a few days late, due to the weather) and smashed the record previously set by a man – 2 hours, 10 minutes!  That is absolutely amazing.    

Jimmy and I have been getting up early and doing yoga together on the beach.  Sometimes some of the other members join us.  It is a wonderful way to start the day – watching the sun come up golden over the headland, soaking up the beauty and solitude of the beach.  I’m hoping to start running in the morning as well.   Wish me luck! (and motivation!!!!)  :o)

The highlight of the week was attending a church bazaar for a village on Mali on Friday.  We were invited to attend and perform our Meke, so there was lots of Meke practice throughout the week.  When Friday rolled around, we dressed up in our colorful Fijian best, loaded up in the boat (so many of us we had to make two trips), and headed to Mali.   None of us knew quite what to expect, but were excited to be invited for a Fijian celebration.  It turned out it was a true testament to the concept of Fiji time – we arrived promptly at 10 like we were instructed, did a brief sevusevu, which is customary anytime you come into another village, and then waited and waited and waited.  And waited.  And waited while the Fijians got ready for the bazaar.  We waited through tea time, and long after lunch time.  This was a real test for the kids, and fortunately our Fijian friends thought ahead about that and had a separate meal ready for the kids so they didn’t starve.  It was a long, hot, and humid wait.  When everything finally started, it was a lovely ceremony involving lots of prayer, singing, and grog drinking, all in Fijian of course. We got the low down from Jone, one of Fijian buddies, that the guest of honor was a man formerly from the village who now lived in the mainland, who had gifted the church with a large donation.  The most shocking part of the ceremony was when they brought out their gifts of appreciate for this man and his village, which were several lovely woven reed mats, a large amount of daro root, and a live pig tied to a stick.  The pig was distressing to the kids – they had it tied so tightly it’s feet were purple, and throughout the ceremony it kept squealing out in distress.  The Fijian people do not form attachments to animals at all – they just simply see them as food and do not treat them any differently that they would treat any other possession.  But it is a part of their culture, and the kids felt better knowing that soon the pig would be released to a new pen to be fattened up for a future celebration.   When the time for the Meke came around, we donned our banana leaf bracelets, lined up in the blazing sun, and Meke’d our hearts out.  We performed our Meke well, and received lots of laughs and applause.  The Fijians find it both humorous and respectful to see us trying our best at their dances.    When all of the ceremony was done, all that was left to do was to eat.  And what a feast they had prepared!  This was our first opportunity to attend a traditional Fijian feast.  They had a long, narrow cloth spread out on the floor that was filled with dishes of delicious and interesting looking food.   We sat on the floor on both sides of the cloth, served ourselves from the dishes, and ate with our fingers.  There were many dishes of various kinds of fish, caught by the women of the church.  There was lots of cassava, a staple of their diet and very similar to potato.  There was a paupau dish, an eggplant dish, watermelon, and lots of delicious juices.    We stuffed ourselves until we could eat no more, and then went back outside to the mat to enjoy the festive singing, while the kiddos joined all the children in playing and catching crabs.  We were meant to also go to the school that day, but the ceremony went on long past the time for the school trip, so we had to abandon that idea.  Sega na lega!   We finally headed toward the boat, hot, exhausted and full of good food.  I took some pictures that day, and can’t wait to check out how they turned out.

Last night we celebrated 4^th of July, Fiji style.  We could not find any fireworks in town, so we had to settle on the glow sticks that we brought with us from the US.  We passed out the glow sticks and played around with our glowing poi balls, and then were inspired to do some creative photography using the glow sticks and poi.   A bunch of us wrote VOROVORO and shot it with the camera at a slow shutter speed and it turned out really cool.  We did some other fun stuff too, like making Ollie into a snowman and Bethie into an angel.   As I write this, I am really hoping that I am able to upload some pictures tomorrow so I can share our creations with you!

That’s all for now.  I am dripping with sweat – it is a hot, steamy day with no breeze – much too hot to be inside snuggled up with a hot computer.   Off now to snorkel with the kiddos, and then take a refreshing bucket shower!  Much love from our family to yours!!!