mt victoria

I know that my last blog post stated that I was going to go to the beach. Well, I didn't. Instead, I decided to climb the highest mountain in Fiji. Wow. It's such a climb! And of course there were Fijian children doing it barefoot! Seriously, these people are so strong. It's almost ridiculous.

And. I was about to get into the shower the other night and went into my room to get something for it. So, I'm in my towel and I sit down on my bedroom floor and pull my suitcase out from under the bed (yes, I live out of a suitcase.). I open the flap and see that something moves inside. I jump up and run around the house, gathering the warriors that were about to battle the mouse in my suitcase. They come together with their respective weapons of two fly swatters and a broom and are ready for war. We pull the suitcase into the middle room of the house and the girls stand behind mattress pads in doorways to keep the little bugger from escaping. The boys flip open the suitcase lid? and after some broomstick prodding, the tiny guy jumps out and starts running. I'm positive that he was aware that he was nearing the end of his life. To all mice out there: the minute you show your little furry face in my suitcase is INDEED the last day you will live.

So baby Stuart is running around the room and the men are swatting at him, missing. The girls are all screaming and barely holding up our only duty of hanging onto the mattress pads as borders. In an act of complete defense as the mouse was coming directly at him, James took a swing. and hit. The fly swatter ended the life of the mini rodent. He was smaller than the palm of my hand. That is three dead mice killed by our men. Two at James' hand.

I'm currently at Bron's house. She's pretty awesome and she has internet. It's such a weird thing for me to be sitting on a couch playing on the internet. Too bad the timing is really sucky for all Americans and no one is online. Oh, Bron is an Australian here that does some volunteer work but mostly just hangs out with us and teaches us how Australians say aluminum, advertisement and skeletal. And that they call making out pashing (I'm bringing that to America). She just asked me to mention vegemite which is some disgusting spread that is her country's pride and she made me eat it on toast. It was interesting...and not in the best of ways.

Lastly, I got a package today. It caused me to do a dance in the house. American candy, CONTACTS, a country version of People magazine. Roonie, thanks thanks thanks!

And brother said I can play with his computer while he's on his mission. Brother, thanks thanks thanks!

Fiji is good. Only a few more weeks? I better get to work :)

Two times...nasty.

The other day i was with this girl courtney (i apologize in advance because the shift button doesn't really work so nothing will be capitalized) and we were getting on the bus. we sat down and she had seated herself on the bench in front of me. i saw some green goop on her arm and asked her what it was. she freaked out when she realized that it was bird poop. nasty! so, she wiped it on the bar directly behind her. a few minutes later, there was a small fijian child talking to me. i put my hands on the bar in front of me to turn around and speak with her. the minute i put my hands on the bar, i realized that i had just placed my hand directly where courtney had wiped the bird poop. we laughed because it was disgusting and what are the chances? lots of purell and a good story to take home.

yesterday courtney and i were in lautoka and we were, for lack of better words, kinda lost. i decided that the best way to find our way back was to ask for directions. there were a few women across the street so we crossed and i began to ask them for directions. as they were answering me, i saw that courtney was acting weird. she wasn't participating in the conversation but rather, was turned away from us. how rude, right? i returned my full attention to the women that were trying to guide us home and placed my hand on a bus stop sign right near me. why did i do that? now i'm not so sure. but once again, the minute i put my hand on it, i knew something was wrong. i pulled my hand away and seeing what was on it, i quickly excused myself from the women and we began to walk away. a giant glob of snot was planted directly in my palm. someone threw down a huge lugee (sp?) on that post and the reason courtney wasnt talking to those women was because she had just gotten it on her hand and was silently freaking out. she got it off...by wiping it back onto the post. the post where i decided to grab just then.

nasty, eh?

i don't have too much exciting to say. i am going to the beach for the second time since i've been in fiji. wait, third. contrary to what it might seem, i am far from a beach. i am in a little town on the coast but not near any clean water or beaches. it's super hot and i'm excited to play in some water tomorrow.
i've decided that i'm too high maintenace for cold showers. i really thought i could do it but i can't. i've realized that i can boil two pots of water, sit on the floor of the shower and enjoy a little hot bath. worth it!

there was a spider the size of my palm in my bedroom yesterday. oh well. yes, this is me, saying that i don't mind that the spider is in my room. who have i become?! still, i hate them but i assure you, after seeing four mice in my kitchen in one day - a spider ain't much.

the people continue to be amazing and often times (sorry mom), we hitchhike instead of paying the expensive taxi fares. they're so nice and they love to drive us places just to talk to us. i saw a white baby yesterday and he had blond hair and bright blue eyes and looked at me and waved and called out "bula!". so funny.

i only have a month left and i'm already sad. don't get me wrong, i will be delighted to return to the warm water, people and the food but i will be sad to leave this place.
also, i gave my first book of mormon to a stranger the other day and it was great! cam, i'm excited for you! and i've decided that the worst thing in the world is a missed opportunity. can you think of anything worse?

all my love,

me

The prisland

Big world, small church.
There is a city called Suva on the other side of the island. It's about five hours away from my town and it's where the LDS temple is located. About a month ago, a few people from our group went to Suva for the weekend to go to the temple and to just play (there is a hike that includes a rope swing into a large body of water at the end). They attended the ward there and were invited by a nice family to have lunch with them after. They went over to this HUGE house and found that the family had lived in the States for a few years. So, every time any of our group goes to visit Suva, there is a standing invitation for us to have lunch with this family. They're great.

We went last weekend and the family invited us to come hang out with them on their PRIVATE ISLAND. Um, okay. They were going because their nephew was being baptized. There were about thirty people (family and friends) on the whole island and they loved us! They called us the Americans and the kids especially loved us and they displayed that affection by throwing sand on us. Joke is on them, I am a snitch by blood and went and told their parents. They had to go to bed. We got to stay up and eat cookies and drink hot chocolate by the fire. :) Seriously, the kids loved us and they were really fun to be around when they weren't spraying white specs of sand on our heads and down our shirts.

Courtney and Caleb and myself walked around the beach on Saturday and found starfish. They are navy blue and huge! We decided to keep them. Court named hers Patrick (naturally) and I named mine Leluvia (that was the island that we were on) and we just call her Luvi. Sadly, both Patrick and Luvi smell pretty bad at this point in their lives. Also, having a pet starfish made me wonder about how these beings reproduce. I found it. And found it very interesting. Look it up if you also want to know.

The baptism was on Sunday and freakishly, there was a cyclone that day. The rain and wind was maniacal and it was hard to hear each other speak. But the baptism continued and seeing the little eight year old boy being baptized in the ocean by his father with the rain pounding on them...beautiful.

The women there loved us Americans and offered to take us shopping this weekend at the flea market and CostULess which is supposed to be similar to Costco. We are SO EXCITED! Janey and I are leaving tonight for the five hour bus ride so that I can go to the optometrist tomorrow morning. Yay for getting my eyes fixed!


We returned from Suva to Tavua and back to gardening! I have been frustrated with gardening the past week or so because I feel like people want me to just show up and do it for them. Our purpose is to help them help themselves, not to do handouts. So I have been reluctant to build gardens the past few days. That all changed yesterday when I went to my fave village of Vanuakula. These people are AMAZING. They literally do all of the work and just enjoy our company. Janey and I taught them to do a garden and helped them with two. Their village now has six and they are doing it all on their own. That's what we're striving for! I LOVE THEM! And Janey and Rachel and myself walked out of that village yesterday with handmade milk pops, bracelets, earrings and necklaces. I felt like royalty. They are so great.

About half done and yesterday I realized that I'm scared to return to America. I really am. I feel like I have a small understanding of what missionaries feel like. Small, I know.

pictures.

Almost all of these pictures have a climbing theme...

These are the handsome boys in their school uniforms. I think sulus on men are...great.

I wanted a better view?

Climbing can get you hurt.

This was taken from my front porch.

The good and the bad.

I have decided that the greatest thing about Fiji and the worst thing about Fiji is the same: the people are so happy. This is the greatest attribute of this country for obvious reasons. However, it's the worst because they are completely content with their way of life. Their children have scabies, they walk around barefoot, they often don't have clean water and the wives sit home while the men work - only during the sugarcane season. The children and adults have teeth that are literally rotting but they don't address it because they don't know, don't care, can't afford to.

This group of young, healthy, rich Americans comes to help them. We ask them what it is that they need most. What can we do to help you live a better life? And they want to just serve us cookies and juice and talk to us. Sure, build us a garden if that means you are going to come over and spend time with us. Do you like Fiji? It's hot here, eh? Want to marry a Fijian? Yes, yes and of course. But don't you want us to help you? We have money and resources and knowledge and capable, willing hands.

They are happy, they are content. I have sincerely never seen a happier people and never seen living conditions as sad as this. It's hard to help a poverty-stricken family, community, country when they don't see a need. They are grateful to be alive and to have loved ones and that's all they need.
I came here to teach them about the greatness of Western civilazation. I came here to educate them on how to better their lives. Maybe I'm the one learning the lesson. Fiji is helping me to really see and think. and sweat.

I can't remember if I have blogged about this before but I'll do it again if I have already. There really aren't any orphanages in Fiji. This is because this country is so family-oriented that if there is a child abandoned or in need, they are just taken in. Everyone belongs to someone. Not to go into a great deal of details but there is racial tension here between the Indians and the Fijians. A mixed marriage between the two races is uncommon and I've only met one family where that is the situation. Anyway, it's obvious. You are either in an Indian village or a Fijian village.

I was in a Fijian village the other day and I saw this little Indian girl running around. Ana. About ten years old, bright, smart, playful and of course, like all children in this country, beautiful. She called a very old Fijian woman her mother. Someone in our group talked to the mother and got the story. This little Ana's mom was single and very much alone and couldn't take care of her child. The older woman (Ana's adoptive mother) already had grown children but still took little Ana in. When the person in our group asked if that was hard, given the current situation between the two cultures, she responded with "I didn't see Indian or Fijian. I saw a child of God."
Beautiful.

I have been here for about a month. About seven people in our group are preparing to go home. I can't imagine going home within the next two weeks because finally, after a month, I'm really starting to feel like I belong. I am now used to the ugly stray dogs, to the damn roosters cockadoodling from 10 pm to 8 am and to the language barrier. One month down, two to go. I wish you could all see what I see. But I'll try my best to capture it through video and pictures.