Fiji's Top 10s: Akua Drives on the Left in Fiji

So I traveled around for 3 months in New Zealand and refused to drive on the opposite side of the road...and I was even offered a free car to drive! Why? One may ask, well because I was terrified of taking a swerve onto the right, and forgetting that I was in one of those places where it is an extreme health hazard to drive on the right....basically I thought I would injure (or even worse) myself or others...so I have refused adamantly for this entire time....UNTILL, I rented a car with another couchsurfer that could barely walk across the road without getting sideswiped by a minivan.....that is when I said "gimme the keys" So I was a left side driver for 2 fun filled days. Yes I drove slow, and yes, Diane's husband complained about it (He should get a license, insurance and a car if he doesn't like my driving:)but No i felt no pressure to drive any faster nor pressure to bypass cars on blind turns (very popular thing to do here). I maintained my cool and only had one moment of roadrage....(a minivan cut me off so they received a litany of curse words)which shocked the gas station attendants of the Mobil I was pulling into, and numerous people at the nearby fruit stall. My apologies :)So Fiji is a whole new world with a car; I had a glimpse of this before when I traveled with the bunch from France and Oz. But something is a bit different when one actually gets behind the wheel, so thank you Fiji for being the place where I drove on the left:)(So the photos of are the places we went, Natadola Beach where Diane's hubby works they are in the photo on the beach, and we went to the mud pools which was very relaxing. On the way there was this man plowing the fields with oxen... are those oxen?, and other men cutting sugar cane)

Fiji's Top 10 list: Treasure House Orphanage!!!

I heard about the place while on the island of Naviti. Another traveler, a woman Lisa from Canada mentioned that she had been volunteering at a orphanage nearby the town I was staying in. Knowing that i had been a teacher she mentioned that there was a little 10 yr old girl there that specifically really needed help reading and that that could interest me. I agreed and when I returned from the islands Diane and I went to the orphanage and hung out with the staff and the 13 kids (17 now as I write this) . I LOVE Treasure House. It is a warm pleasant little house with little rooms full of children's beds, the walls are bright colors and stuffed animals and other toys line the shelves on the walls. The children smile so often they light up the rooms and the babies amazingly enough rarely cry and if they do, picking them up for a cuddle is the cure. From what I have seen, the staff is full of warm cuddly women with a nice dose of firmness and sweetness, the are all called Mother. The staff is about 8 to 12 people that rotate day and night shifts. They usually have a baby on their laps. There is also a cook that makes all their meals. Treasure House is the main reason why it is getting so hard for me to get on a plane out of Fiji. The kids happily shout my name when I walk up the driveway. Some poke their little chubby hands through the openings in the fence so they can link their fingers with mine. As I get in the gate, little 3 year olds rush up and put their arms up to be held. I hold various kids and play with others for about 20 minutes then I make my way to Ana's room. she smiles her big beautiful smile and takes out her school books. For the next hour or two we go over her homework and then do reading and writing. During that time her three other roomates enter, there are 2 16 year olds, so smart and thoughtful. Great, considerate, personable girls with gentle smiles and big sister sweetness. then the final roomatwe or house sister is another 10 year old, a funny girl that opens up a book of French words that is not part of her school work actually she found the book, she speaks topics she seems to grab from the air. I have grown to love these children, I wait in anticipation of wild difficult moments with them but after weeks and hours with them, those moments just do not come. Treasure House is a lovely little spot that is doing something so right, when I reflect upon my time working with foster youth in Seattle; not once do I recall walking into a foster home or children's home that even came close to the warmth and hominess of Treasure House ....I arrived there in awe and expecting the awe to end but after volunteering there for about one month I have a strong feeling that I will be leaving there in awe....the staff, the children, the happy little house with a trampoline in the spacious front yard. the little living room with fluffy couches where three year olds like to climb, the cribs with smiling peaceful babies looking up at me with big brown eyes...the bath tub full of kids, oh I could go on and on

On the top 10 list: FOOD

Food glorious FOOD...so I am loving the food in Fiji, it can be a mix of Indian and Fijian, so finding veggie dishes for a veggie...(but I do eat fish) like me has been easy especially on the islands. Funny when I arrived to Fiji a young woman from Denmark warned me that the food was not really good on the outer islands...then Diane put it all in perspective by telling me..."she wanted pizza and hamburgers but you like all the healthy stuff so you will be fine" and YES Diane was right...shoot I even lost a bit of weight every time I left the mainland. Also there is nothing better than for me to be forced to only eat 3 meals a day...that does wonders for me especially when the meals are a mix of veggies and various fish...YUMMY!!! and when I have a beach I can jump onto after each meal....Oh I feel so healthy!!! ...oh how I will miss my roti and veggie curries that I get twice a week at a place called Chicken Bite....strange but true...it is on a dusty crowded strip in a nearby town called Namaka, a mix of people hustle by the colorful cake display in the big glass window. I will miss you Chicken Bite....they also serve pizza, Chinese food, burgers...and have lovely desserts, (maybe the girl from Denmark should have eaten there, she could have had anything)About twice a week after volunteering, I take the loud bus into the bus stop across the road, I dash past the cars that drive way too fast, I walk into the door and smile saying "Hello" to a range of Fijian faces; I wash my hands at the convenient sink provided in the main room then I sit down and watch a Indian soap opera playing on a TV above while gazing fondly at a silver platter of various small silver bowls containing delectable curries, dhal, veggies...oh yummy. As I write this my roomies (Jimmy and Aggie)are making dhal right now while Diane's dogs are doing the nasty outside...she is also a dog breeder. She breeds dobermans and she has two females...a male was just dropped off and well...it is like a soap opera because he has impregnated both the females...and they are mother and daughter...can we say scandal!!! anyway the food is amazing and what is even more amazing at this moment is that at Diane's there is no stove just a one little burner camping type of thing...in which Jimmy and Aggie will make a feast. I am a bit useless when it come to a one burner. 20 minutes later: :)Just ate the feast and it was better than at Chicken Bite!!!! Go Aggie, WOW!!! that dinner was amazing!She is gifted with a one burner!

Bula once again

Yes I am still here in Fiji. I recently returned from Mana Island. I stayed in a village that also had a backpackers hostel located between the church and the school. The staff was the most diverse that I have seen, Indian Fijians, mostly Melanesian Fijians, some Rotumans (island off of Fiji, but more Polynesian rather than Melanesian) a couple Aussies and Kiwis, a Canadian, a Brit ...it was a really mellow place where everyone seemed to work well together...this is the first island where I have seen such a mix of people. Most islands I have been to are strickly Melanesian villages.On Mana, the Aussies ran the Dive shop and the lead diver was married to a woman from the village and had a baby. That is the first I have seen of a non Fijian married and living in a village on a island with a family. I stayed an extra day beacause really the reef here was the best I have seen and I did not feel like walking on pavement anytime soon. But I will leave Fiji in about 10 days or so and likely head to Malayasia after a very brief stopover in Australia.
So Fiji while it can frustrate me Fiji also warms my soul. Sometimes when I think that I can live here, it rains and the power goes out and I see a bug the size of my face and I slip in a pothole bigger than a car while getting attacked by mosquitos...and someone says yes but means no, and someone says no but means yes...and well that is when I say...ummmm nope I guess I couldn't live here; at least not for long.... But I LOVE it here, I reflect on the times when the sun fades over the green lush hills and the sky is the shade of peaches, I think about Diane's Irish accent sprinkled with Fijian slang and smile, I think of the little sweet round faces of the children I have come to know and love at the orphanage nearby ( I tutor a girl there in reading while holding various babies...)I think of the Yasawa Islands and swimming in fish filled aqua waters, I think of the women that smile at me with afros held high. Yes it is hard to leave Fiji but it is almost time to move on....so in the next coming blogs I will feature my favorite things about Fiji ...and keep in mind the order I list them in does not hold any significance.

Fiji's top 10 list: Rugby

Rugby Players, yep they are plentiful around these parts and yes I did meet up again with the two that I had run into before. The names are Graham and Natani and they were really sweet guys that I ended up seeing again while meeting a friend at a bar. The whole Fijian rugby team was there, yep all those broad shoulders around one bar, kinda cramped but who am I to complain :) And no they were not allowed to drink in preparation for their game vs Japan. So many muscled hands clutched cups of coffee or virgin pina colada looking things. But they were really nice and chatted me up….I never predicted that I would be a rugby fan….who knew......but then again being that the ONE channel plays Rugby all night most nights and/or weekends can drive me a touch crazy so who knows how long I will remain the big fan that i have become (yes I will always be a fan to some degree). And YES I know I should have taken a picture with the Rugby players ...(and the New Caledonia Soccar team that I ran into at the airport)...but well, believe it or not, sometimes I can be a bit shy :)

Fiji finding me

Wow it has been a while...internet in many locations is on Fiji time...which is laid back, I have not blogged in a bit. So where to begin. First, I almost missed my flight to Fiji and bonded with a dude that was running with me to the plane...turns out he is a Fiji rugby player...I figured this out a couple days ago while watching a game on TV. He was really nice and as he was running through the airport, I noticed he had thighs like hamhocks :)I must say that I like watching rugby, it moves so quickly...much faster than American football...then at a party I met another rugby player from Fiji but playing in England, I wish I could remember their names...but seriously bumping into rugby players here is an activity I could get used to :)But I digress, sad to say but my first interaction in Fiji was a bit annoying, I was to couchsurf with a family that lives about 3 minutes from the airport...the taxi driver at the airport was a fool and insisted on driving me all over Nadi (and yes he knew where the house was he was just an ass) because he thought that he could get more loot out of me...he used up crazy amounts of gas...and didn't know that I don't play that sh@*. Thanks for the free tour foolio :) I jumped out of his cab and paid 3 bucks to get to their house...the new cab driver offered to take me to dinner with his family, I declined, sorry Prakesh but I don't play that Sh@* either :)...but then I made it to my host's house and stayed for 4 nights, Diane is an Irish woman married to a Fijian man and has lived in Fiji for 6 years. They live in a purple house with 3 other members and friends of his family. Hanging with them was great. And Diane is such fun. We went to town, to a big rugby party...that had the military as security...we went to the beach, to hear music, and we chatted a bunch, got a foot rub, ate great Indian food, good times!. Living in Nadi must be a trip for her because while most people thought I was local; everyone thinks she is a tourist even though she has been here for 6 years. What a trip...but then again, many groups of folks have to go through that in various places....I am reminded of going to an LA mall with my friend Sunghi and a sales person assuming she did not speak English and speaking extra loud to her...like that helps anyway...crazy, Anyway, Diane hooked me up with a tour specialist of sorts...and he planned my island trip to the Yasawas...which was at first not what i was into; I was trying to find families to stay with on the islands but that was difficult, and really in the end I am glad i did what I did; because I met so many great people and staying on many of the islands is very much like staying with family (except for the minor detail of payment:)...in some cases when I would show up to the little island resort, the people there assumed that I was family of a staff member...which was fine with me...actually I preferred it like that. There were only a few of us that I saw who were not White or European tourists and that was really interesting. I did feel that I had more access which is a nice change from my usual travel experiences to places where I am seen as an obvious tourist. So because I feel that Fiji has more in store for me, I missed my flight out of Fiji and plan to stay here a few more weeks. I just toured around Suva with other travelers from France and Australia for a couple days...and I spent a night in an actual hotel...bug free, which was nice I didn't need my earplugs to block the sounds of buzzing insects and curious rodents:) We had a great time and I already miss them even though they just left today. So I am about to head back to Diane's for a few nights then I have arranged some homestays with women that I have met on the islands. Should be interesting. Anyway Fiji has a pretty interesting history, it is Melanesian with a large Indian population that was brought here about 200 years ago while Fiji was a British colony. From what I experienced, the cultures are very different, but have also had influences over each other too, especially in terms of food....I love the food here, there is not a problem finding veggie dishes :) I have also met many Fijians that speak Hindi. When I was roaming around Suva, I was just in awe of the various cultures that in the USA, I rarely see mixed together, Indian, Fijian and Chinese. And I love seeing all the proud AFROS, standing tall... afros abound. I hear that most resorts only will hire women with an afro. And with the humidity, my fro was feeling free too. It is hard to explain but it is just such a nice feeling to see all the natural hair dos. Anyway I am really enjoying my experiences here and will blog more later.