Today is World Teacher’s Day. Nobody is afraid of a celebration
around here so of course a festivity was called to order in
acknowledgement of this fine day. The crowd was light as only the
teachers, their immediate family and a few others attended. Instead
of at the traditional gathering spot for feasts, the falekaupule, this
celebration was instead held along the beach. As we approached we saw
several torches lit and mats laid out on the sand. It was a very
welcoming venue especially with the nice ocean breeze cooling things
off from yet another hot and dry day. The teachers had made a lovo
and prepared a bountiful feast. After the prayer from the pastor we
all dug in to great smoked dalo, dalo leaves, fish, and several other
tasty dishes. The children played games in the background as we
listened to amplified music pound our eardrums.

Master Leone, one of the teachers we’ve befriended and a very well
spoken Fijian, likes to MC events in style. Style meaning very loud
music and a lively
microphone. Although the area was quite small and only a handful of
people were in attendance, he still felt the need to break out the
amps, mic, speaker stands, and woofers.

After the feasting he announced it was game time. The games consisted
of fishing for prizes from a large bucket using a wooden stick with a
line and hook and throwing ping pong balls against a wooden sign post
with four small holes carved from its face.

The fishing game made me somewhat apprehensive as some of the ‘fish’,
which where mainly snack chips wrapped in newspaper, wouldn’t freely
relieve themselves from the bucket and thus caused tension on the
homemade fishing rig. This in turn sent the unsuccessful barbed metal
hook flying through the air dangerously close to the huddle of
children gathered around the bucket. With safety and security always
at the forefront of my mind I advised Kelly we had better increase our
zone of protection and mosey away from the projectile fish hook.
Thankfully all the prized where retrieved without incident and we were
able to move on to the next exciting event.

The purpose of the ping pong throwing game was to toss the pong
through one of the four holes on the board. The only problem was the
holes were almost the same size as the pong balls. The other problem
was it was so dark it was hard to tell an air ball from a bulls-eye.
Regardless, much enthusiasm erupted from the children as they
purchased chances to toss the ball through the tiny holes. Each toss
was worth 5 cents and the four holes were marked 50 cents, one dollar,
two dollars, and three dollars. I did think it curious that each hole
was basically the same size. The tossing began and lasted for a good
thirty minutes. I was bored after the first throw and had no idea how
such a simple and amazingly difficult game was keeping these kids
attention for so long. If such a game where attempted in the states
the kids would immediately begin lobbying for bigger holes, a
backstop, or cheaper throw rates.

After the kids had their go the adults were allowed in the fun. Of
course Kelly and I had to go first. We each unsuccessfully tossed our
allotment and then made way for the others. Samalu and the pastor
each had a zinger with the rest only connecting with the hard wood.
The good food and novelty of the experience made for an enjoyable
evening. We thanked the hosts and made our way home under an
unbelievably bright explosion of stars in the clear night sky.

We are under attack. Well, not really, but it is fun to think so. We
just finished a two-day conference with the villagers and five Fijian
Governmental ministries. This experience, in addition to sitting
cross-legged on a concrete floor for two days, has decreased blood
flow to my appendages, and possibly brain, causing unnecessary
reactions to seemingly normal events. I have also been reading a lot
of Michener novels lately and sometimes find myself imagining I’m a
lone settler defending a prized port on a the frontier of some new
territory in a tiny wood shack.

Well, back to the attack. It all started when my afternoon siesta was
rudely interrupted by a clanking chain sound that resembled that of a
large vessel anchoring in the calm bay. Alerted, I scurried to the
garrison, my rear window, and peered through the safety and security
2” square hurricane mesh out across the calm waters and immediately
spotted the hostile craft. It was a two-mast yacht waiving the colors
of a most formidable foe, the French.

Immediately I knew the fate of this peaceful land was at a crossroads
in history. We could send a flotilla delegation of warriors to
cautiously investigate the reason of their portage or commence a
bombardment of mature coconut and raw dalo. I knew the latter
decision would inflect heavy casualties and may cause a spontaneous
feasting to occur among the villagers, but thus decided the fate of
the island was too important to risk on peaceful negotiations.

The pre-battle air was heavy with anxiety, and 120% humidity, and
delayed my recollection of reinforcements scheduled to arrive later in
the evening. Thankfully this realization came before the dalo mortars
where launched and I halted the invasion. The tourist vessel, the Tui
Tai, was scheduled to arrive at 7pm and was a formidable sea going
clipper battle ship known to spare no victims in its legendary South
Pacific sea battles against the Suliven Ferry.

I instructed the islanders to man their coconut cannons and await my
orders to fire once our reinforcements had arrived. Later that
evening the scheduled arrival of the allied ship was delayed due to
its crew taking a snorkeling excursion off the South coast of the
island. I knew this was probably in preparation for a subterranean
attach on the French ship so counted the delay as good fortune.

Alas, the mighty ship sailed into the bay prepared to engage the enemy
with full vigor. Upon its arrival in firing range of the enemy ship I
ordered the troops to commence the bombardment. However, to my
surprise all the firing posts where unmanned. Uncertain as to the
cause of this unfortunate development I frantically searched the
island. To my surprise I found the villagers in the community hall
performing a fatele, traditional dance, and selling the ruthless
invaders handicrafts.

My opportunity for glory faded quicker than the setting South Pacific
sun as I meandered my way back to my humble shack in defeat.

We just arrived back home from
our week of training.  I have to say it
is good to be back on island time.  The
big city is just a little too hectic, and expensive, for my taste. 

Training was very productive and
we made some good contacts and picked up a ton of information to help us with
future projects.  It was also good
learning about other volunteer’s projects. 
This is perhaps the best way to learn because you can avoid all the
pitfalls through the lessons learned. 
Possibly the one I’m most excited about is the ‘turbo oven’ that Joe
showed everybody.  It is an ingeniously
simple design.

The design creates a vacuum of
air that increases the fire’s heat, reduces smoke, and conserves fuel.  I love simple and effective designs and this
one is amazing.  For his model all that
is needed is a sheet of plywood, mesh reinforcing, concrete, and sand.  It is about an F$70 investment, which is
cheaper than a gas stove and about the same as a kerosene stove.

I hope to revise his prototype a
bit using CMU blocks, sand, and bamboo. 
If it works it won’t be as portable but hopefully easier to build.  No formwork, plywood, or carpenter would be
required.  This would be a cheap way to
help the villagers save wood and decrease the amount of smoke the women
inhale.  For that matter the amount of
smoke the village inhales.  On still
days, it looks like a scene from Beirut
around here.

We also picked up a ton of
resources from SOPAC, an NGO working in the South Pacific, CBS Electric, a
private firm that installs alternative energy equipment such as solar, hydro,
and wind, and the Ministry of Libraries. 
I think we’ve got enough to keep us busy for several years and now the
challenge will be narrowing it down to what we can start and complete in
two.  It’s a good problem to have as some
volunteers are struggling with the stifling politics that often shut down
development in Fijian villages. 
Thankfully we haven’t encountered these yet, but who knows. 

I was hesitant to post the
following passage about our frustrating trip through the confusing world of
Fiji Telecom as it seemed more of a whining session and only mildly
entertaining.  However, after stumbling
across the handbook, “A Few Minor Adjustments”, looking for a quote for a
cartoon I was working on, I realized it was a productive lesson for me, and
possibly for others.

The following episode was a
textbook case of ‘culture shock’ and I failed to realize it as it
occurred.  My values and assumptions
towards how customer service should work are vastly different than the values
and assumptions of most Fijian employees. 
This is especially true in the service industry.  The behavior displayed among the several
employees we came in contact with was ‘logical’ to them and completely
normal.  For us it was completely bizarre
and did not sync with our expectations. 
From now on we’ll definitely be more alert to these norms and behaviors
and ready to confront them in a positive way, but in no way will we feel
obliged to like them or embrace them as our own.  The ultimate lesson learned from this
experience was that being culturally sensitive does not mean the same as being
culturally converted.

While in Suva we tried once again to find a way to get
an internet connection in our village. 
The council has one, but it doesn’t work with our Macs and their
computer will only work on generator power. 
Yes, there are some things a Mac can’t do!!!  I had tried calling to get more information
but often this results in a phone hot potato game amongst the several
technicians and an empty promise to call back as soon as they find someone who
knows what they’re doing.

So we hopped a cab to the Connect
store, Fiji’s
main high-speed internet provider, to get the latest information on what would
work.  We arrived and were told there
were no solutions for Macs.  We didn’t
get a warm fuzzy that this information was correct or the attendant had any
clue what a Mac was or for that matter what day it was.  She kept looking at me as if I had a
tarantula on my forehead. 

So we went next door to the TFL
store, Fiji’s
main telecom provider and part of the same company as Connect, to see if there
where any options with their dial up service. 
They made a few calls and said there were but we would have to travel
back to downtown to the main TFL store to get the right phone. 

We caught a cab, made it back to
downtown, and asked for the specialist who’s name had been given to us at the
prior store.  We found her and stated
what we were after.  She mumbled a few
words that resembled a yes, and said we needed to go sit in the waiting
area.  We waited a bit until her
assistant came over and asked us to sit at a desk.  She then asked what we needed.  We repeated the request and she walked
off.  After that a male employee came
over and told us to move to the next desk. 
So we moved over to another representative.  She then asked what we needed and we repeated
what we needed for the third time.  At
this point Kelly was about to go into orbit and I was just numbed into a
bizzarro world trying to enjoy this alternate universe before reality came
back.  About the only consistent
experience during shuffle between employees was the wide-eyed tarantula look
cast in our direction every time we asked a question.    

Finally she brought out the phone
and told us in order to activate internet we would have to go to the Connect
store, where we had just come from. 
Kelly was boiling at this point and although I was appreciative of the
sign I was still in a parallel universe, I was more concerned about getting
back to the store before five o’clock closing time.  We realized it was now or never as a trip
back to civilization would probably not occur until next year.

So we hurried to a cab, caught
one as we walked out the door, and sped our way back to Connect.  I think the cabby sensed our urgency and
decided he would embrace the gas pedal and cast away any and all inhibitions
towards defensive driving.  At one point
I think we were three wide with a taxi and dump truck speeding down a two-lane
road around a blind curve while praying the late 90’s sedan would not rattle
off its last lugnut.

Thankfully we made it safely to
our destination, and as we walked into the Connect store at 4:50 pm we spotted
the same attendant who was still casting forelorn glances at my cranium.  I checked my head for critters and sat down
to explain the latest developments.  She
then proceeded to give us the same canned response we had heard before.  When we advised her that the same company she
worked for advised us there was a solution, she called for reinforcements.  A well-spoken gentleman from the technical
department came out and told us the same news, no solution for Mac.  He explained there was a solution a few
months ago but they stopped selling the modem for Macs.  He then proceeded to tell us that the TFL
store sold us the wrong phone and the Huawei phone was the correct one to
use.  I asked him the model and it was
the same as what the island office uses. 
I had already exhausted that option as learned from the Huawei technical
website that the phone was not compatible with Macs.  Not wanting to pursue the endless journey
into the black whole of customer service in Fiji we decided to pull the ripcord
and return to reality.

We left $14 in the whole for cab
fees, a $29 phone that doesn’t work with a Mac, and a little wiser to the
shenanigans of the Fijian telecom business. 
I know in the end it doesn’t really amount to anything important, as we
can still be effective at our jobs without internet.  We also learned how much we take for granted
customer service back home.  Even at
marginal companies in the states I could usually get someone to respond with a
reasonable answer, except of course ATT and Sprint.

So the lesson learned is if you
want internet in Fiji,
don’t bring a Mac.  Instead, bring a PC
and watch it die a slow death from the epidemic of computer viruses here.  And perhaps the best solution is a Big Chief
tablet and crayons because these work no matter what world you’re in!

After much anticipation and requests from family members we
are finally ready to unveil our humble abode.  We would have had them much sooner but Kelly HAD to get
matching curtains for the door-table and kitchen sink.  I’ll admit it does look much better.

This is our bedroom / kitchen / dining room / classroom /
guest quarters / study / entertainment room / workout area / and wasp
slaughtering grounds.  I like to
refer to it as our multi-function room. 
I removed the door to the wash area and converted it to a work
surface.  The sink is also a custom
install. 

The eve is open at the top of the walls and the windows have
security mesh.  The mesh does well
at keeping the pesky birds out but they have discovered the gap at the top of
the wall and sneak in during naps. 
I baited a mousetrap with peanut butter and placed it on top of the wall
at their point of entry.  The
clever devils picked the peanut butter clean without activating the industrial
strength mouse assassinator.  This
mousetrap is perhaps the most well built piece of merchandise I have purchased
in Fiji, other than my cane knife. 
It has jagged teeth carved into the business end of the thick metal
frame and an adjustable trigger mechanism.  This feature came in handy as I re-armed my trap.  This time I wedged a breakfast cracker
piece into the bait area and set the trigger on ultra sensitive. 

We went to the office and then Samalu invited me for the
closing ceremonies for the men’s labor force group’s work on the sea wall at
the west end of the village.  They
have been working for two days on extending the sea wall to prevent
erosion.  The material was donated
by a non-profit 7^th day Adventist group from America.  The labor force needs about F$3,000
more to finish up the wall to the far end of the village.  Here is a view of the work crew.  The pastor, in red, is obviously the
most enthusiastic!  He is also a
very good dancer.

When the labor force starts a project every male from 18 to
50 must work or they risk being ridiculed in the next monthly community meeting
at the Falekapule.  Work is more of
a festivity, as are most things on this island, and the men sing songs and laugh
while working very hard.  The women
make them colorful flower garlands for their heads and prepare teas, lunches,
and dinners for them.  With today’s
lunch being the final meal and marking the completion of the project the ladies
pulled out all the stops.  They
performed a full fatele with five songs and four dancers.  Between songs the women would speak and
some would suddenly jump up screaming while running in an irregular patter
towards the group of men holding a large plate of food wrapped in banana
leaves.  A male from the group
would respond with equal shrieks of joy and catch the women where she would
relinquish her grub.  This occurred
three or four times.

After the dancing and speeches each group of 3-4 men got a
bundle of food and tea.  We all ate
and then several gave speeches at the end of the feast.  I spoke on how I was honored to witness
the teamwork and congenial sprit of unity they displayed with the laborious
project.  I also commented on how
rare their strong communal bonds are and they should treasure it as a precious
and rare gift.

We wrapped up the festivities and everyone departed to their
fale’s.  On the way back my
neighbor, Filo, asked if I had set a trap for a bird.  At first I was puzzled and then remembered the snare set earlier.  She apparently heard the trap go off
and the commotion caused by the winged trespasser outside our fale.  She investigated and was able to
release the bird from the snare and it flew off.  Both encouraged that the bait was successful and discouraged
that the result wasn’t terminal I headed back to survey the damage.  Sure enough the trap had sprung and was
on the ground.  I think the
experience scared the two-legged vagrants because they haven’t been back this
afternoon.

O.k. enough with my pest control rant, here is the rest of
our palace.

This is our washroom / clothes drying area / shower /
restroom / and closet.  Pink
wouldn’t have been my first color but Kelly has made the best of it with the
yellow curtains.  I think pink must
be the cheapest paint available. 
This addition was added on right before our arrival to comply with the
Peace Corps safety and security standards.  I installed the washbasin, closet, and security mesh. 

We were just interrupted by the boat captain’s son who
brought us a huge package from Bob complete with coffee, fly swatters, garlic
press, head phones, cookies!, vegetable peeler, recipes, calculator, artwork
from Jackson, hiking pants, pens, pictures, sewing kit, oven mitt, and did I say
coffee!!??  We just ran out of
coffee this morning.  Thanks Bob,
great timing!  You are #1.  Getting packages is like Christmas.

Outside is the most valuable water catchment tank.

The water is very tasty and it especially comes in handy
during water rationing.  Even the
kids love it!

Here is our humble garden.

And our even more humble nursery.  This seems to be the easiest stage.  After graduation to the big garden,
though, things tend to go down hill. 
We are trying to grow papaya and orange trees in the containers.  The only problem is we have no idea
what these trees look like when sprouting and can’t tell if we are nourishing
young saplings or weeds.  I’ve
asked a few passers by if they no what the heck is sprouting in our used oil
bottles and it is a mystery to them as well.

The garden has progressed in phases.  Phase one is on the far side and phase
two is starting to blossom.  Here
is a picture of phase one about two months ago.

About the only thing I’ve had success with so far is
cucumber and Chinese lettuce. 
Nothing has been harvested as of yet.  The wood crossing the top is to support the coconut palms
that shade the vegetation during the intense sunny days.  Currently I’m using them to kill the
weeds on the rest of the compound so it will be easier to cultivate in the
future.

The area next to the red bucket is my compost bin.  I use the bucket, which was repurposed
after a bottom blow out three seconds into carrying its first load, as my
vegetation storage bin.  We knew
absolutely nothing about composting prior to coming to Fiji and after talking with
several much wiser volunteers and reading a book on it we found out it is
actually pretty simple.  All you
have to do is layer food and vegetation and let it sit.  It is best to have full air circulation
on all sides but in Fiji you make do with what you have.  This box is a combination of tree
branches and odd shaped scrapes of wood from below our house.  The only thing holding it together is
chicken wire and tie wire. 

After several iterations I finally found a palm
configuration that repelled the many dog assaults on the tasty contents.  Even with chicken wire, three palms,
and several pieces of hardwood, they still chew on the wire at night trying to
get in.  If I had it to do over
again I wouldn’t put it so close to the garden.  But I was running out of material and had to use it as a
fourth wall to the garden.

The fire pit is where I burn weeds, paper, and
cardboard.  There are a few
pineapple plants and pumpkin vines growing closer to the footpath not shown in
this picture.

Phase three will probably involve planting some root crops
such as dalo and cassava but I haven’t mustered up the energy to clear any more
brush.  It looks pretty easy but
when all you have is a cane knife it takes a bit.  Of course the easiest method is burning but this will
involve half of the community as everyone comes and watches a bush burning and
I’m not sure if I’m ready for that kind of pressure.

Just in case you’re wondering, this is how a real village
garden looks…

This is my fancy fire pit.  I may attempt to cook bread on it soon.  That should make for a good story! 

Here is the local store where we buy most of our staples
such as oil, flour, sugar, eggs, milk, and onions.

Here is a typical gathering of the useless mutts that roam
the island pooping in our lawn and brawling at all hours of the night.  I’ve heard they can hunt pigs but they
seem too scrawny to me to hunt anything other than they’re own tail.  As you can see, I’m not a fan.

Every afternoon the youth of the village engage in an
intense game of volleyball. 
They’re very good and could probably give most high school teams a run
for their money.

On the way back from the school one day I caught some boys
making a game of jumping off the bridge. 
Who needs a Wii when you have a bridge and sand?

Here is the community library project in progress.  There are approximately 1400 books that
we are sorting and arranging to make a library in the council’s conference room
(refer to earlier blog for the details). 
We hope to get approval for shelving during next week’s council meeting.

Some of the books had severe water damage or we had 10
copies of it so we placed them on the council’s porch for villagers to
take.  So far we’ve had a good
response and most of the books are gone.

And here is Kelly’s pet project, working in the kindi.  I tried one day but it is a little too
intense for my taste.  They all
attack me and hang from appendages for 30 minutes transferring germs, snot, and
slobber to my body. 

As you can see they are all very interested in world
peace.  One of my secondary
projects will be training them how to give the Aggie thumbs up gig ‘em sign for
a little variety as hand gestures are a must during photo poses.

After much anticipation and requests from family members we
are finally ready to unveil our humble abode.  We would have had them much sooner but Kelly HAD to get
matching curtains for the door-table and kitchen sink.  I’ll admit it does look much better.

This is our bedroom / kitchen / dining room / classroom /
guest quarters / study / entertainment room / workout area / and wasp
slaughtering grounds.  I like to
refer to it as our multi-function room. 
I removed the door to the wash area and converted it to a work
surface.  The sink is also a custom
install. 

The eve is open at the top of the walls and the windows have
security mesh.  The mesh does well
at keeping the pesky birds out but they have discovered the gap at the top of
the wall and sneak in during naps. 
I baited a mousetrap with peanut butter and placed it on top of the wall
at their point of entry.  The
clever devils picked the peanut butter clean without activating the industrial
strength mouse assassinator.  This
mousetrap is perhaps the most well built piece of merchandise I have purchased
in Fiji, other than my cane knife. 
It has jagged teeth carved into the business end of the thick metal
frame and an adjustable trigger mechanism.  This feature came in handy as I re-armed my trap.  This time I wedged a breakfast cracker
piece into the bait area and set the trigger on ultra sensitive. 

We went to the office and then Samalu invited me for the
closing ceremonies for the men’s labor force group’s work on the sea wall at
the west end of the village.  They
have been working for two days on extending the sea wall to prevent
erosion.  The material was donated
by a non-profit 7^th day Adventist group from America.  The labor force needs about F$3,000
more to finish up the wall to the far end of the village.  Here is a view of the work crew.  The pastor, in red, is obviously the
most enthusiastic!  He is also a
very good dancer.

When the labor force starts a project every male from 18 to
50 must work or they risk being ridiculed in the next monthly community meeting
at the Falekapule.  Work is more of
a festivity, as are most things on this island, and the men sing songs and laugh
while working very hard.  The women
make them colorful flower garlands for their heads and prepare teas, lunches,
and dinners for them.  With today’s
lunch being the final meal and marking the completion of the project the ladies
pulled out all the stops.  They
performed a full fatele with five songs and four dancers.  Between songs the women would speak and
some would suddenly jump up screaming while running in an irregular patter
towards the group of men holding a large plate of food wrapped in banana
leaves.  A male from the group
would respond with equal shrieks of joy and catch the women where she would
relinquish her grub.  This occurred
three or four times.

After the dancing and speeches each group of 3-4 men got a
bundle of food and tea.  We all ate
and then several gave speeches at the end of the feast.  I spoke on how I was honored to witness
the teamwork and congenial sprit of unity they displayed with the laborious
project.  I also commented on how
rare their strong communal bonds are and they should treasure it as a precious
and rare gift.

We wrapped up the festivities and everyone departed to their
fale’s.  On the way back my
neighbor, Filo, asked if I had set a trap for a bird.  At first I was puzzled and then remembered the snare set earlier.  She apparently heard the trap go off
and the commotion caused by the winged trespasser outside our fale.  She investigated and was able to
release the bird from the snare and it flew off.  Both encouraged that the bait was successful and discouraged
that the result wasn’t terminal I headed back to survey the damage.  Sure enough the trap had sprung and was
on the ground.  I think the
experience scared the two-legged vagrants because they haven’t been back this
afternoon.

O.k. enough with my pest control rant, here is the rest of
our palace.

This is our washroom / clothes drying area / shower /
restroom / and closet.  Pink
wouldn’t have been my first color but Kelly has made the best of it with the
yellow curtains.  I think pink must
be the cheapest paint available. 
This addition was added on right before our arrival to comply with the
Peace Corps safety and security standards.  I installed the washbasin, closet, and security mesh. 

We were just interrupted by the boat captain’s son who
brought us a huge package from Bob complete with coffee, fly swatters, garlic
press, head phones, cookies!, vegetable peeler, recipes, calculator, artwork
from Jackson, hiking pants, pens, pictures, sewing kit, oven mitt, and did I say
coffee!!??  We just ran out of
coffee this morning.  Thanks Bob,
great timing!  You are #1.  Getting packages is like Christmas.

Outside is the most valuable water catchment tank.

The water is very tasty and it especially comes in handy
during water rationing.  Even the
kids love it!

Here is our humble garden.

And our even more humble nursery.  This seems to be the easiest stage.  After graduation to the big garden,
though, things tend to go down hill. 
We are trying to grow papaya and orange trees in the containers.  The only problem is we have no idea
what these trees look like when sprouting and can’t tell if we are nourishing
young saplings or weeds.  I’ve
asked a few passers by if they no what the heck is sprouting in our used oil
bottles and it is a mystery to them as well.

The garden has progressed in phases.  Phase one is on the far side and phase
two is starting to blossom.  Here
is a picture of phase one about two months ago.

About the only thing I’ve had success with so far is
cucumber and Chinese lettuce. 
Nothing has been harvested as of yet.  The wood crossing the top is to support the coconut palms
that shade the vegetation during the intense sunny days.  Currently I’m using them to kill the
weeds on the rest of the compound so it will be easier to cultivate in the
future.

The area next to the red bucket is my compost bin.  I use the bucket, which was repurposed
after a bottom blow out three seconds into carrying its first load, as my
vegetation storage bin.  We knew
absolutely nothing about composting prior to coming to Fiji and after talking with
several much wiser volunteers and reading a book on it we found out it is
actually pretty simple.  All you
have to do is layer food and vegetation and let it sit.  It is best to have full air circulation
on all sides but in Fiji you make do with what you have.  This box is a combination of tree
branches and odd shaped scrapes of wood from below our house.  The only thing holding it together is
chicken wire and tie wire. 

After several iterations I finally found a palm
configuration that repelled the many dog assaults on the tasty contents.  Even with chicken wire, three palms,
and several pieces of hardwood, they still chew on the wire at night trying to
get in.  If I had it to do over
again I wouldn’t put it so close to the garden.  But I was running out of material and had to use it as a
fourth wall to the garden.

The fire pit is where I burn weeds, paper, and
cardboard.  There are a few
pineapple plants and pumpkin vines growing closer to the footpath not shown in
this picture.

Phase three will probably involve planting some root crops
such as dalo and cassava but I haven’t mustered up the energy to clear any more
brush.  It looks pretty easy but
when all you have is a cane knife it takes a bit.  Of course the easiest method is burning but this will
involve half of the community as everyone comes and watches a bush burning and
I’m not sure if I’m ready for that kind of pressure.

Just in case you’re wondering, this is how a real village
garden looks…

This is my fancy fire pit.  I may attempt to cook bread on it soon.  That should make for a good story! 

Here is the local store where we buy most of our staples
such as oil, flour, sugar, eggs, milk, and onions.

Here is a typical gathering of the useless mutts that roam
the island pooping in our lawn and brawling at all hours of the night.  I’ve heard they can hunt pigs but they
seem too scrawny to me to hunt anything other than they’re own tail.  As you can see, I’m not a fan.

Every afternoon the youth of the village engage in an
intense game of volleyball. 
They’re very good and could probably give most high school teams a run
for their money.

On the way back from the school one day I caught some boys
making a game of jumping off the bridge. 
Who needs a Wii when you have a bridge and sand?

Here is the community library project in progress.  There are approximately 1400 books that
we are sorting and arranging to make a library in the council’s conference room
(refer to earlier blog for the details). 
We hope to get approval for shelving during next week’s council meeting.

Some of the books had severe water damage or we had 10
copies of it so we placed them on the council’s porch for villagers to
take.  So far we’ve had a good
response and most of the books are gone.

And here is Kelly’s pet project, working in the kindi.  I tried one day but it is a little too
intense for my taste.  They all
attack me and hang from appendages for 30 minutes transferring germs, snot, and
slobber to my body. 

As you can see they are all very interested in world
peace.  One of my secondary
projects will be training them how to give the Aggie thumbs up gig ‘em sign for
a little variety as hand gestures are a must during photo poses.

Talofa!

We pray you are up to your eyeballs in blessings! We just celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary and my 31st birthday – twice – Fiji time and Texas time! Things are good here… getting hotter, getting wetter, and getting busier! We are in the middle of installing rain catchments, toilets, water reservoirs, websites, and looking at eco-tourism and bio fuel. In the down time we snorkel, hike, and feast. 

We are greatly enjoying our time and each day celebrate a micro-success on some level. The people are more and more receptive and we continue to learn more from them than vice versa! We are on our way to Suva for a week of Peace Corps training. It will be nice to hear all the stories from the other volunteers and to stock up on some Palagi food (beans, dried fruit, etc.).

I guess the lessons learned were a big hit – so here are a few twitter-worthy if twitter was possible!

1. Always wear a sports bra when riding the bus.

2. Don't let your husband play rugby in a third world country.

3. The best hair combs are made from old PVC pipe.

4. If you exercise people will call you fat. If you don't exercise then you will actually get fat and nobody will say anything at all.

5. You eat faster when you have all your teeth.

6. I'm not who I was but am yet to be who I will be.

7. There are good roots that keep you from slipping, bad roots that cause you to do some tripping, and fun roots that make for good jump roping.

8. I sometimes forget what color I am … but thankfully there is always a small child around to yell "Palagi!"

9. Copra is the same thing as coconut.

10. If you don't have teeth it doesn't matter what language you are speaking – I have no idea what you are saying.

11. It is perfectly fine to pick your nose and burp, but thankfully, farting is still totally unacceptable here!

12. Women can't wear shorts or pants, but men can walk around wearing nothing but a tiny piece of cotton.

13. There is never enough room at the table, but always enough food.

14. Every day is another episode of Lost, especially when you see the Others (which are really just Seventh Day Adventists from Canada.) 

I still can't believe we have completed our 4th month! I'm amazed at how quickly our service is going. We will be home before you know it but that doesn't help with the fact that we miss you terribly! Please keep the updates coming!! We love you!

Kelly Roy

gigglepic.com

vaportrail.typepad.com

mobile 011.679.937.5958

Talofa!

We pray you are up to your eyeballs in blessings! We just celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary and my 31st birthday – twice – Fiji time and Texas time! Things are good here… getting hotter, getting wetter, and getting busier! We are in the middle of installing rain catchments, toilets, water reservoirs, websites, and looking at eco-tourism and bio fuel. In the down time we snorkel, hike, and feast. 

We are greatly enjoying our time and each day celebrate a micro-success on some level. The people are more and more receptive and we continue to learn more from them than vice versa! We are on our way to Suva for a week of Peace Corps training. It will be nice to hear all the stories from the other volunteers and to stock up on some Palagi food (beans, dried fruit, etc.).

I guess the lessons learned were a big hit – so here are a few twitter-worthy if twitter was possible!

1. Always wear a sports bra when riding the bus.

2. Don't let your husband play rugby in a third world country.

3. The best hair combs are made from old PVC pipe.

4. If you exercise people will call you fat. If you don't exercise then you will actually get fat and nobody will say anything at all.

5. You eat faster when you have all your teeth.

6. I'm not who I was but am yet to be who I will be.

7. There are good roots that keep you from slipping, bad roots that cause you to do some tripping, and fun roots that make for good jump roping.

8. I sometimes forget what color I am … but thankfully there is always a small child around to yell "Palagi!"

9. Copra is the same thing as coconut.

10. If you don't have teeth it doesn't matter what language you are speaking – I have no idea what you are saying.

11. It is perfectly fine to pick your nose and burp, but thankfully, farting is still totally unacceptable here!

12. Women can't wear shorts or pants, but men can walk around wearing nothing but a tiny piece of cotton.

13. There is never enough room at the table, but always enough food.

14. Every day is another episode of Lost, especially when you see the Others (which are really just Seventh Day Adventists from Canada.) 

I still can't believe we have completed our 4th month! I'm amazed at how quickly our service is going. We will be home before you know it but that doesn't help with the fact that we miss you terribly! Please keep the updates coming!! We love you!

Kelly Roy

gigglepic.com

vaportrail.typepad.com

mobile 011.679.937.5958

Propane is expensive and heavy.  Therefore, most of the islanders cook with
wood or kerosene.  Cooking with kerosene
indoors is kinda like leaving your car running inside a closed garage.  Also, the stove is a $60 investment along
with the fuel, which is cheaper than gas but sometimes unavailable in the local
stores.  So we have chosen the gas route.

We have already run out of gas once due to Kelly’s cooking
exploits.  She is the village baker
pumping out pies and cookies for every villager walking by!  I sometimes don’t know whom this person is
sweating over a large pot, mixing this and that, and beating flour.  I don’t complain, though, as she is very good
and it makes our neighbors happy.  We
often have children stopping by asking for cookies. 

I’ve suggested we move to wood baking as this would be the
most proper and effective integration technique, but Kelly quickly gives me the
‘go jump in the lake, or in our case ocean’ look.  I really don’t blame her after my
test-cooking day with a wood-burning stove.

It all started when our neighbor showed us how to cook fish
between two rocks.  That inspired me to
find my own twin cooking boulders, which wasn’t hard to do around our
house.  I quickly spotted two ideal
candidates, snipped some left over hurricane mesh from the windows, and formed
a rough fire pit.  An old rusty folding
chair provided a nice wind stop for the back of the pit. 

I found some dry wood, empty coconut shell, and the dried
foliage from coconut trunks.  The fire
started steady but soon petered out.  I
decided to try plan B and filled up an empty tin can with a kerosene/coconut
oil mixture.  This was awesome and
quickly turned my fire pit into an inferno of cooking bliss.  Soon my pot of kumala, sweet potatoes, was
boiling steady.  My pot had also turned
from a nice aluminum mat finish to charcoal black. 

Even though the fire pit is behind our house, it still
attracted much attention from passers by. 
The first was our neighbor’s daughter who approached gingerly not sure
what this crazy pulangi was doing crouched between two rocks stoking a pit
fire.  Once she saw the pot it was clear
I was attempting something productive and thus safe to approach.  She asked if she could use my fire to start
her own at her umu, eating hut with wood burning grille.  I kindly obliged and she showed me the best
part of the coconut tree to start fires with. 
She also suggested I put a tin roof over my fire apparatus.

The next visitor was Levi who was also very curious as to my
activities.  Once he saw my intent he
also suggested a tin roof.  I nodded
cordially and then he proceeded to ask how to fill out a visa application for
his son.  After we navigated the form a
bit and I showed him the answer to his question.

The next visitor was Tealiki, Vovo’s wife.  She lives two houses down and always has a
smile on her face.  She asked what I was
doing and I explained my attempts at creating food on an open fire.  She laughed, said I needed a tin roof, then
rambled off, and brought me some real firewood. 
This wood was a dark almond color and much superior to the wood I had
been using.  After introducing a few
pieces to my humble flames it roared to life and almost became a legitimate
village cooking fire.  She also gave me a
scrap of cardboard for fanning the flames. 
This simple device worked miracles and I felt like an idiot for not
trying it before.  The whole experience
of cooking over a simple open fire was very humbling for a palagi with two
degrees. 

After thanking her profusely for her tips she asked if I
liked breadfruit.  Only having it once
before I thought back making sure it wasn’t in the same family as eggplant, and
then remembered it wasn’t and quite tasty too! 
We proceeded to the nearest tree and picked out a ripe victim high
up.  She fetched her bamboo pole and
started poking at the fruit.  I asked if
I could give it a try and we danced around the tree poking at a softball size
fruit.  Finally, I struck pay dirt and
the little booger fell.  We gathered the
harvest and I followed her to her umu where she showed me how to slice it up
for frying.

I brought my prize home to Kelly like a boy showing his
father his first fish.  She was busy
preparing the pumpkin I had harvested for her earlier in the day.  I quickly showed her how to prepare the fruit
and headed back to check the fire. 
Thankfully it was still active and the kumala where almost done.  The fire pit is adjacent to our sewer pipe,
which makes a pretty comfy seat, although if it gets out of hand we could have
quite a mess on our hands!  As I sat on
the pooper pipe, gazing at the fire, and then across the bay at the setting
sun, I felt a deep connection with the people of the island and realized the
joy of preparing food from the earth with only natural tools (other than the
$18 pot from MH). 

Even though the fire pit was fun, I smelled like smoke for
three days and we ended up only eating two of the four kumala’s because we have
no refrigerator and day old kumala just doesn’t sound very good.  I guess if I had a family of 8 and a dalo
patch in my back yard it would make sense. 
But for quick meals, the fire isn’t easy.  Once again, my respect for the villagers
increases as my appreciation for the simple things in life, like a gas stove,
grows.

Here is what we get to enjoy almost every Wednesday!

Download Fatele

Today we made another trip to Tavenui for a few groceries
and to get cash for the trip to Suva
next week.  It has rained off and on all
week and last night it got pretty rainy and windy.  Thankfully it simmered down this morning and
the seas weren’t too rough.  It was still
rough enough to get anything wet not covered.

We luckily caught the bus right as we landed and ventured
off to the MH.  I deposited our
non-burnable trash in the bin outside the store.  The islanders think we are crazy for hauling
our trash.  I’m just too lazy to build a
rubbish hole and too American to throw it into the ocean.

After shopping we caught a cab back to the landing making a
quick stop at Court’s for to buy a fourth plastic chair.  We don’t have enough chairs to entertain
pulangi style, that means not sitting cross-legged on a mat, and part of our
integration is inviting villagers over for American style dinners.  I spotted a rechargeable fan and got it as well.  The power in our village will not support
fans or irons.  The latter isn’t as
critical but the former is an essential element for survival in the upcoming
sweat baths of the months of October through March.

We made it back to the landing in record time but had to
wait a few hours for the other passengers to return as it was parent’s day at
the secondary schools.  After a nice wait
we ventured back in some of the calmest waters we’ve seen yet.  Overall it was the smoothest trip off the
island we’ve made yet. 

Yesterday was another story though.  We have been trying to see the island to get
good photos for their website for two weeks but either the sea is too rough or
the skies are too cloudy.  Finally we
just through caution to the wind and headed out hoping the skies would clear up
to compliment the calm water.

We traveled on Malaki’s boat with Paki, his wife Filo, and
the construction crew building a backpacker’s lodge on the windward side of the
island.  We boated around the west side
to make a stop at Paki’s block to harvest bamboo and fish for dinner.  Kelly and I strolled along the coral rich
beach, took a few photos, and enjoyed the overcast view of the bay.  Sun or shine Fiji is always beautiful.  Malaki then took us around to the far western
tip of the leeward side and we made a stop at Samalu’s block.  The water was crystal clean and beach
pristine.  Malaki asked if we where up
for a hike and we boastfully acknowledge we had hiked six miles the week before.  Little did we know this hike would be
different.

It started off bad pretty quick.  The first jaunt was up and down a mud soaked
hill.  The only thing Kelly dislikes more
than body hair is mud.  And there was a
lot of mud!  At one point we both looked
at each other and wondered what the H we where doing slogging up a muddy hill
in pouring rain following a guy with a fishing net and no shoes.  After crawling up and sliding down we made it
to the beach and made out way eastward. 
Malaki traversed the terrain like a Land Cruiser in Africa
while we slumbered along like a tricycle in sand.  After a short walk along the beach we reached
a large point and instead of walking around we made another dash through the
muddy bush.  This time it almost came to
blows, as Kelly was ready to turn back half way up the incline (**note from Kelly – I lost a toenail and
have photos to prove it!!**).  It
pretty much every man for himself as trying to partner your way up the hill
would only result in a slip in slide mud snowball barreling down the hill.  So we both gritted our teeth and mustered out
way to the pinnacle only to see a steeper descent.  This time Malaki tried to assist Kelly but it
only caused him to slide down the hill with Kelly close behind.  I reverted to my child hood skateboarder
instincts and did a two-legged mud slide down half the hill.  Don’t tell Kelly, but I secretly enjoyed it
while she would have rather had a root canal.

We made it back to the sand and stuck to the shoreline from
that point onward.  Malaki followed us
along for a bit to show us the way to Collin’s, Paki’s brother, construction
site and then headed back to the boat fishing with a large net along the
way.  He probably made it back in half
the time.

The walk along the shoreline wasn’t much easier as the rain
had turned the rocks slippery as ice.  We
shuffled our way here and there trying to find the path of least
resistance.  After about four hours and
four miles we lumbered across the beach to Collin’s place.  I was really impressed with the
construction.  The floors and walls where
concrete, the framing was all hardwood, and there was actually an electrical
panel with breakers!  They had weaved
coconut palms to form a seamless exterior cladding blending well with the
scenery.  There was a deck under
construction that extended along three sides of the square structure.

After the jobsite tour we settled in to read and nap along
the beach.  Collin’s neighbors brought us
scones and tea, which was a major hit. 
Our boiled eggs and biscuits we packed for lunch didn’t fend off the
hunger too long after our trek through the island backwoods. 

Malaki and the crew showed up in the boat with a load of
lumber, threw it into the ocean from the boat, and then hauled it to
shore.  The entire time they where either
splashing each other, telling jokes, or singing.  This was after a hard day of cutting bamboo
and lumber with no shoes!  I am
constantly amazed at the joy of the islanders and their constant affection for
life no matter what is happening.

They boated off for another load and soon thereafter Petueli
showed up with a load of bamboo for the walls of the bure.  The plan is to cut it in half and weave it to
the walls.  We caught a ride back to the
village with Petueli and got a nice view of the southern side of the island.

Overall it was a day I wouldn’t want to do again, but I was
glad I did it.  We learned a great deal
about the life of remote villagers, how hard it is to transport materials and
people around the island, how hard it is to hike during the rain, and how
beautiful God’s creation is in its original packaging.