The West and the Coral Coast

I made it back from my travels which were part research and part vacation. Austin, Melissa, and I caught the bus to Nadi on Wednesday afternoon. In Nadi, we stayed with a Pentecostal pastor and his family. It was the house where my host brother Bill stays during his pilot training. It was nice to be able to hang out with him. It was a trip to be back in Nadi. It was the city where we first arrived and spent our orientation. It was crazy to see how badly they take advantage of uninformed tourists in the city. You really had to keep your gaurd up and be nasty to certain cab drivers.

On Thursday, I ventured into Nadi town, where I met up with my host great uncle. He drove me out to Momi, which was the location of the best preserved WWII battery in Fiji. It's a project of the Fijian National Trust. We got to the battery only to find the gates locked. I started to panic, because seeing this battery was a big part of my project. My host uncle told me not to worry. He took me to the village where the park rangers work and got the keys from one of their wives. Apparently the rangers were away for training. We headed back to the gun battery site, where my host uncle unlocked the gates and the tiny museum for me. The museum had some historical photos and info that really helped me with my project. The battery itself was amazing. It had been completely preserved. The actual guns were really impressive, and the view from the top of the battery was breathtaking. It was also awesome that I had the entire place to myself for three hours. After that, I had lunch with my host uncle and his family and then he drove me back to Nadi where I spent the afternoon with Austin and Melissa.

On Friday, we caught a bus to a beach resort where our friend Dana was staying with her American parents. We all went together to the Sigatoka Sand dunes, which was also maintained by the national trust. We hiked a trail around the dunes for a couple hours. The dunes were incredibly impressive. The views were amazing. Dana and I had a race to the top of one of them. I won the race because of a frisbee layout dive at the end. It was really fun and a little bit ridiculous. We spent the afternoon in Sigatoka and then caught a bus to a backpackers resort at Mango Bay.

Mango Bay was a pretty nice place to spend the evening. We walked on the beach, swam in the pool that had a swim up bar, and took advantage of their happy hour.

The next worning we caught a mini bus to Taunovo Bay, a super fancy five star resort. We got to spend a day there, because Austin's host sister was getting married, and his family had managed to secure local rates. We met up with some more of the students there. We spent the morning helping get everything ready for the wedding. The actual ceremony was beautiful. It was by a pool near the beach. Everything was spoken in Fijian, but it was still nice. We spent the afternoon and evening enjoying the supernice facilities. I ended up getting really sick in night. I think I had a stomach bug of some sort, but it was a pretty nice place to recover. The biggest downside to getting sick, was that I couldn't go diving in the morning like I had planned. My health keeps getting in the way of that happening. I think I'll still have a couple more chances though.

The next morning I walked on the beach and layed by the pool. We caught a van home about midday and I spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with my host family. It was a crazy busy few days and now I'm in the middle of my research project. I'm trying to get it done as quickly as possible so that I can travel some more before I leave in three weeks.

Fieldwork fun

Sorry for the late update. I've been really busy planning travel and working on my independent study project. My main contact for the project is Elia, a really nice guy who works at the Fiji Museum. He's been guiding me around alot of the World War II remains near Suva. So far we've been in three sets of tunnels, to three defensive batteries, a radar station, and to the army camp in an unsuccesful attempt to gain access to their archives. Trekking to the remains has been really fun. I wear a headlamp and protective face mask in the tunnels. We found some 1940's coke bottles in one. The trip to the army camp was pretty hilarious. I was a bit nervous because its "the" army camp, that's headquarters to the interim regime, aka, the belly of the beast. We essentially just kept getting passed off to different people until we were finally told we'd have to wait to hear from their superiors, which I'm still doing. I doubt I'll hear from them. They're kind of busy at the moment. Elia has been amazingly helpful throughout the whole process. I'm so grateful he's around and willing to help a lowly undergrad.

This past weekend was really fun. I've been hanging out with my family alot. I played touch rugby in the rain with my host brothers. It was a blast. We were diving in puddles and sliding all over the field. Last night I saw Star Trek with Brian and Austin. It was really good and I highly recommend it. Seeing movies here is really cheap. It's five FJD for a ticket, which is a little over 2 American. There are also tons of dvds for sale around the city for 2FJD. Movie watching is a big part of the city culture.

One part of the weekend that sucked was my brother Danny getting really sick. His intestine ruptured because of a weak muscle and he had to go the hospital for emergency surgery. It was really frightening. I spent a lot of yesterday visiting with him at the hospital. He's doing better now and getting discharged today, which is a relief. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

I'm traveling this week on a mega roadtrip around the main island of Viti Levu. I'm planning on going to Nadi to see a gun battery, Sigatoka to visit some awesome sand dunes, and to Pacific Harbor for a Fijian wedding and some diving. I'll keep you posted.

The Coke Games and a Busy Weekend

This past week was our last week of official classes. I had my Fijian language final exam as well as a couple projects to present. It feels really nice to be done. Now we just have five weeks left. 4 of those are dedicated to ISP, our month long research project. I've been working on mine pretty consistently. I'm hoping to finish early so I can have time to travel. I'm going to start my fieldwork tomorrow by exploring some World War II tunnels attached to the Fiji Museum. It should be a good time.

My home-stay house has been crazy lately. The New Zealand family left for home, which was sad. I really liked a couple of the kids. My two brothers, Dan and Bill, are both back for the week. I love having them home because I have people to laugh and hang out with.

There's also 4 pastors from the Pentecostal Church staying at our house for a huge conference. A few of them are pretty nice, but there is one guy who drives me crazy. He told me the Lutheran Church was falling apart and that Martin Luther's life meant nothing now. He also preached about the evils of Harry Potter. I've decided to just not have anything to do with the conference. One of my friends here is living with an Anglican priest and his family so I've started attending their church. It's a beautiful building and a nice community.

The biggest homestay news is that I have a dad now. He came back from his UN mission in Georgia for this conference. He is super Pentecostal. I haven't connected with him very well yet. I think it bothers him that I don't want anything to do with his religion. He's a pretty nice guy though.

This past weekend I went with my brother Danny to the Coke Games, which is the highschool track and field championships for all of Fiji. It's a huge deal. Everyone wears their school colors and has special cheers. It was definitely the most exciting track meet I had ever been too. Whenever a race was remotely close, everyone would stand up and start screaming at the top of their lungs for their racer. It was intense.

This weekend was also my friend Lindsay's 21st birthday, so we all went out to celebrate. It was really fun. We had a nice spagetti dinner at her house last night. Her dad is a famous Fijian politician who vocally opposes the government and loves to party. It was cool to meet him. He's one of the few Fijians I've met who actively speaks out against what's happening to his country. Overall it was a hectic fun weekend.

Al's Perfect Day

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.

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.

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.

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.