It's been a crazy stressful week. We had our research project proposals and lit reviews due on Friday so most of our time was spent studying. I decided I wanted to do something more adventurous outside the city on Saturday.
I talked about plans with my friend Austin, and we came up with the idea of ziplining. There was a place that did it about half an hour outside of Suva. No one else from our group felt up to it. We went to the bus station and asked about transportation to the village it was near. It turned out that the bus we needed was right next to the stand, about to leave, and only cost 1.30FJD. That was the first part of our day that went right.
We took a pleasant half hour bus ride to the area and followed directions towards the mountains. We found the zipline crew and they eagerly welcomed us. There were 4 Fijian guys who taught us the safety rules and then took us out on the course. There were 8 lines and 10 platforms in the jungle. It felt so amazing to be soaring through the treetops. The views were amazing. We passed over rivers and valleys and would land on hanging platforms in the treetops. Once we finished, the guides said that since it went by so quickly, they would take us again. That was the second awesome thing that happened.
We went around the course a second time. The guides got great photos and videos. When we finished, we asked them how much we owed them. They cut the price from the website in half. That was the third cool thing that happened.
We headed back to the main road. We only had to wait for ten minutes when a minibus picked us up and took us back to Suva for 2FJD. Then, on my bus ride back to Cunningham, my neighborhood, a nice Indo-Fijian man sitting next to me gave me a delicious mandarin from his grocery sack.
I came home and hung out with my siblings and cousins. We watched a movie. I took care of my kittens and read a good historical fiction novel about Fiji that was loaned to me. Anisa, our family friend, who does a lot of cooking for me and helps me with Fijian alot knocked on my door. She presented me with a handicraft she had carved herself. It was a model of a cannibal fork with designs carved on it. It was so nice of her to make that for me. I really feel like I'm starting to bond with my family.
It was a perfect Saturday in Fiji. One of the few days I've had here where everything went my way.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Update from Suva City
Not too much has happened since we got back from our big excursion. The political situation is still sketch, but not dangerous, at least not for me. I'm trying to view this as a valuable life experience. Not too many kids my age in America can say they've lived under a 3rd world military dictatorship. Reading censored newspapers and driving through police checkpoints are becoming part of my daily routine.
I'm sort of in academic hell right now. We have three or four big projects due over the next two weeks as well as preparation for our big month long research projects at the end. I've finally got my topic lined out. I'm going to research the historical archaeological remains of World War II on Viti Levu. I had a meeting with the main historical archaeologist at the Fiji Museum, and he agreed to help me out. I have a lot of background in the area and am pretty excited to get to work. The guy even said he would take me to some of the sites and let me poke around, which would be awesome. The types of stuff I'll be looking at include defensive installations, tunnel systems, and hospital buildings. It should be pretty sweet.
In other news, my host family has family in town from New Zealand, so I'm not the only westernized newbie in the house anymore. There are three kids in the family. It's pretty cool to not be the focus of attention anymore. It's easier for me to just do my own thing.
My kittens are getting bigger and bolder everyday. They can now climb up my pants leg into my lap. They're also super playful. They're a good distraction from stuff when I get stressed out.
I'm sort of in academic hell right now. We have three or four big projects due over the next two weeks as well as preparation for our big month long research projects at the end. I've finally got my topic lined out. I'm going to research the historical archaeological remains of World War II on Viti Levu. I had a meeting with the main historical archaeologist at the Fiji Museum, and he agreed to help me out. I have a lot of background in the area and am pretty excited to get to work. The guy even said he would take me to some of the sites and let me poke around, which would be awesome. The types of stuff I'll be looking at include defensive installations, tunnel systems, and hospital buildings. It should be pretty sweet.
In other news, my host family has family in town from New Zealand, so I'm not the only westernized newbie in the house anymore. There are three kids in the family. It's pretty cool to not be the focus of attention anymore. It's easier for me to just do my own thing.
My kittens are getting bigger and bolder everyday. They can now climb up my pants leg into my lap. They're also super playful. They're a good distraction from stuff when I get stressed out.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Family Fun and Government Issues
It's been a pretty relaxing Easter weekend. My two brothers who go away to school came home for the Easter holiday, which has been really fun. Danny is 19 and hilarious. He's always joking around and teasing people. Bill is 21 and really chill. Today I went to a forest reserve outside of Suva with all my siblings and four of my American friends. It was a really good time. We hiked around, had a picnic, and went swimming in waterfall collecting pools. There was a rope swing over one, which was sweet. My ear is finally completely healed, so I was able to enjoy myself without stressing about it.
I went to Pentecostal church with my family on Easter Sunday. It was intense and focused on donating money to the church. I really disagree with a lot of aspects of the organization. I've also been watching movies and playing with the kittens. We named them Black and Gold, after Wooster/MU colors. They fit in my cargo pants pocket.
The government situation has been crazy these past few days. The court of appeals ruled that the regime in charge, a military dictatorship under Frank Bainimarama, had illegally seized power, which it had during the 2006 coup. The President, who happens to be the oldest president in the world (he's in his late 80's) was charged with the task of picking a new prime minister and other government officials. The President also repealed the entire constitution. Everyone was so excited about the possibility of a new government sans corruption. The next day, the President announced that he had chosen the new government, and it was Bainimarama's regime. Now the regime has legitimate power (in that is wasn't taken in a coup), and no constitution limiting its capabilities. It has already begun heavily sensoring the news media. The people here were devastated. My grandmother was so upset. It was really disheartening to see. As much as I've grown to love this country, its hard to get over the complete lack of civil rights and freedom of speech. It's growing harder to overlook that I'm living in a 3rd world military dictatorship.
I went to Pentecostal church with my family on Easter Sunday. It was intense and focused on donating money to the church. I really disagree with a lot of aspects of the organization. I've also been watching movies and playing with the kittens. We named them Black and Gold, after Wooster/MU colors. They fit in my cargo pants pocket.
The government situation has been crazy these past few days. The court of appeals ruled that the regime in charge, a military dictatorship under Frank Bainimarama, had illegally seized power, which it had during the 2006 coup. The President, who happens to be the oldest president in the world (he's in his late 80's) was charged with the task of picking a new prime minister and other government officials. The President also repealed the entire constitution. Everyone was so excited about the possibility of a new government sans corruption. The next day, the President announced that he had chosen the new government, and it was Bainimarama's regime. Now the regime has legitimate power (in that is wasn't taken in a coup), and no constitution limiting its capabilities. It has already begun heavily sensoring the news media. The people here were devastated. My grandmother was so upset. It was really disheartening to see. As much as I've grown to love this country, its hard to get over the complete lack of civil rights and freedom of speech. It's growing harder to overlook that I'm living in a 3rd world military dictatorship.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Savusavu and Taveuni
I'm finally back in Suva. The rest of the excursion was fun. I was sick most of the time in Savusavu as I said earlier, but I still had a little time to explore. Savusavu is a very westernized city. It has lots of American property owners and its known for yachting. It had some pretty sweet restaurants and it was a cool place.
From Savusavu, we headed to the island of Taveuni. Taveuni is known as the garden island. We were staying at a campground on the beach. Taveuni was probably the most beautiful place I've been in my entire life. We did some pretty sweet activities. We went snorkeling at a marine reserve, which was amazing. We also did a coastal hike and visited some waterfalls. One of the waterfalls doubled as a natural waterslide, which was really fun. It shot you out over the pool and then when you hit, the full force of two waterfalls shook you up underwater like a washing machine. It was really exhilerating. I also got to visit the international dateline, which runs across the island. I took some pretty funny time travel pictures which I'll try and post soon.
Right now I'm home in Suva. It's been nice to relax and be home. My host family also got two brand new kittens, which has been really fun. I've been playing with them alot. I've got a ton of assignments in the coming weeks, which I'm not excited about. Other then that life is going well.
From Savusavu, we headed to the island of Taveuni. Taveuni is known as the garden island. We were staying at a campground on the beach. Taveuni was probably the most beautiful place I've been in my entire life. We did some pretty sweet activities. We went snorkeling at a marine reserve, which was amazing. We also did a coastal hike and visited some waterfalls. One of the waterfalls doubled as a natural waterslide, which was really fun. It shot you out over the pool and then when you hit, the full force of two waterfalls shook you up underwater like a washing machine. It was really exhilerating. I also got to visit the international dateline, which runs across the island. I took some pretty funny time travel pictures which I'll try and post soon.
Right now I'm home in Suva. It's been nice to relax and be home. My host family also got two brand new kittens, which has been really fun. I've been playing with them alot. I've got a ton of assignments in the coming weeks, which I'm not excited about. Other then that life is going well.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Lambasa Homestay
I'm still in Savusavu right now. Our departure for Taveuni was delayed a day because of high winds and threat of a tropical cyclone. I'm actually pretty grateful for the extra day of rest. I got really sick yesterday. I've had a sore throat and fever for the last couple of days and yesterday at breakfast I fainted. I don't really remember what happened, but apparently I fell out of my chair and hit my head. My friend Ariel tried to catch me but I slipped through her hands. When I woke up I had no idea where I was. It was pretty traumatizing. I went to the doctor who told me I had a viral infection and gave me some antibiotics. I don't think he knew specifically what was wrong, but the meds seem to be helping.
The Lambasa Homestay
Lambasa is a mainly Indo-Fijian region with lots of sugar cane growing. My homestay in Lambasa was with an Indo-Fijian family. I had a mom, a dad, a sister and two brothers, who were all in their twenties. This homestay was a little tougher. There was rarely running water, which meant bucket showers. Our homestay mom was also super hovery and intense. She would follow us around the house and stood by the table when we were eating just watching us. Our sister was pretty chill. She took us to a really cool suspension bridge. I of course reenacted the bridge scene from Temple of Doom, because I'm a huge dork.
We went to a pearl farm on one of the days in Lambasa. It was pretty much a little dock in the middle of the ocean. It was run by two Fijian women from a village. It was cool to see women producing an income for their families in a pretty patriarchical society. The actual science of pearl farming was pretty complex. Watching them implant the seed pearl was like surgery.
Another day we went to a sugar cane farm and spent some time with the farmers. Indo-Fijians were originally brought to Fiji in order to farm sugar cane as indentured labor. Their descendants still work the land today. The sugar cane growing process was incredibly labor intensive. We got to try some of the raw cane stalks, which were really sweet. I had to chew it but be careful not to swallow any because it would tear up your insides. Talking with the farmers was pretty depressing. The price of sugar keeps dropping and the government which is connected to the Fiji Sugar Corporation keeps paying them less and less for their product. At the same time, their ethnic Fijian landowners keep raising the price of their land rent. The majority of land in Fiji is controlled by ethnic Fijians, and Indo-Fijians are often left at the mercy of their land owners. There's been a big probelm lately of ethnic Fijians not renewing land leases for Indo-Fijians because of a ridiculous racist extremist fear that their country will be overrun with other races and they won't be in control. Despite all their hardship though, the cane farmers were really neat guys.
We accompanied our host family to puja prayers for the festival of Rama's birthday. I couldn't really see what was going on or understand what was being said so it was hard for me to get a lot out of it. One neat part of the experience was getting dressed up. Our host sister lent Malorie, Melissa and I traditional clothes and jewelry for the event. (Don't worry, there are pictures) It was kind of fun to try something completely new.
Lambasa was a pretty cool place. I'm glad I got to experience lfie there for a few days.
The Lambasa Homestay
Lambasa is a mainly Indo-Fijian region with lots of sugar cane growing. My homestay in Lambasa was with an Indo-Fijian family. I had a mom, a dad, a sister and two brothers, who were all in their twenties. This homestay was a little tougher. There was rarely running water, which meant bucket showers. Our homestay mom was also super hovery and intense. She would follow us around the house and stood by the table when we were eating just watching us. Our sister was pretty chill. She took us to a really cool suspension bridge. I of course reenacted the bridge scene from Temple of Doom, because I'm a huge dork.
We went to a pearl farm on one of the days in Lambasa. It was pretty much a little dock in the middle of the ocean. It was run by two Fijian women from a village. It was cool to see women producing an income for their families in a pretty patriarchical society. The actual science of pearl farming was pretty complex. Watching them implant the seed pearl was like surgery.
Another day we went to a sugar cane farm and spent some time with the farmers. Indo-Fijians were originally brought to Fiji in order to farm sugar cane as indentured labor. Their descendants still work the land today. The sugar cane growing process was incredibly labor intensive. We got to try some of the raw cane stalks, which were really sweet. I had to chew it but be careful not to swallow any because it would tear up your insides. Talking with the farmers was pretty depressing. The price of sugar keeps dropping and the government which is connected to the Fiji Sugar Corporation keeps paying them less and less for their product. At the same time, their ethnic Fijian landowners keep raising the price of their land rent. The majority of land in Fiji is controlled by ethnic Fijians, and Indo-Fijians are often left at the mercy of their land owners. There's been a big probelm lately of ethnic Fijians not renewing land leases for Indo-Fijians because of a ridiculous racist extremist fear that their country will be overrun with other races and they won't be in control. Despite all their hardship though, the cane farmers were really neat guys.
We accompanied our host family to puja prayers for the festival of Rama's birthday. I couldn't really see what was going on or understand what was being said so it was hard for me to get a lot out of it. One neat part of the experience was getting dressed up. Our host sister lent Malorie, Melissa and I traditional clothes and jewelry for the event. (Don't worry, there are pictures) It was kind of fun to try something completely new.
Lambasa was a pretty cool place. I'm glad I got to experience lfie there for a few days.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Quick Update from the Road
I'm in Savusavu right now. It's the third leg of our whirlwind journey. So far I've spent four days living with a family in a Fijian Village and three days with and Indo-Fijian family in Lambasa, on Vanua Levu, the second biggest island in Fiji. This excursion has been an emotional rollercoaster. My physical health has been wavering which makes the traveling tough. I've still had some pretty sweet times though.
I loved my host family in the village. I had a grandma, a grandpa, a mom, a dad, a teenage sister named Mary, a teenage brother named Ron, two little brothers called Sepo and Choelli, and a baby. It was a crazy big group but everyone was so welcoming and sweet. I had a blast playing with my little brothers. Sepo is adorable. I also busted out a disc in the village and taught some of the kids how to throw. It was a great time. We went to another waterfall (no jumping for me since my ear is still healing). We also took a boat ride out to a reef that the village people view as their sacred ancestral ground. They used a conch shell to summon dolphins to the boats we were in. It was one of the most amazing moments in my life. We also got to go snorkeling. I watched Ron spear fish, which was really impressive. We really learned how people live off the land and sea.
The downside of the village stay was getting sick. I had a headache for most of the time while I was there and I got really sick on Saturday. I think my body just didn't handle the food and water there very well, even though it was treated. I ended up getting violently ill sitting on the steps of a school house at a village child's birthday party. There were tons of kids around watching me and they all burst out laughing as soon as I puked. I ended up stumbling down the hill to my family's house and lying in bed with a fever. It was actually pretty traumatizing at the time just because I didn't know how sick I really was and we were hours away from medical attention. My little brother Sepo came in and held my hand, which was one of the sweetest humane gestures I've ever experienced.
I'll write about my other homestay in Lambasa later.
Peace.
I loved my host family in the village. I had a grandma, a grandpa, a mom, a dad, a teenage sister named Mary, a teenage brother named Ron, two little brothers called Sepo and Choelli, and a baby. It was a crazy big group but everyone was so welcoming and sweet. I had a blast playing with my little brothers. Sepo is adorable. I also busted out a disc in the village and taught some of the kids how to throw. It was a great time. We went to another waterfall (no jumping for me since my ear is still healing). We also took a boat ride out to a reef that the village people view as their sacred ancestral ground. They used a conch shell to summon dolphins to the boats we were in. It was one of the most amazing moments in my life. We also got to go snorkeling. I watched Ron spear fish, which was really impressive. We really learned how people live off the land and sea.
The downside of the village stay was getting sick. I had a headache for most of the time while I was there and I got really sick on Saturday. I think my body just didn't handle the food and water there very well, even though it was treated. I ended up getting violently ill sitting on the steps of a school house at a village child's birthday party. There were tons of kids around watching me and they all burst out laughing as soon as I puked. I ended up stumbling down the hill to my family's house and lying in bed with a fever. It was actually pretty traumatizing at the time just because I didn't know how sick I really was and we were hours away from medical attention. My little brother Sepo came in and held my hand, which was one of the sweetest humane gestures I've ever experienced.
I'll write about my other homestay in Lambasa later.
Peace.
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