The next day we left really early for Mango Bay which is about a two hour bus ride up the coast towards Nadi. This place was amazing. We got to the beach at around 1030 and all passed out face down in the sand. We spent the whole weekend sun bathing, snorkeling and eating. Talk about hard work. The sleeping arrangements were a little interesting. We had rented a back packers dorm, so it was 30 fjd a night (15 us). We stayed in a large bure with 8 or 9 bunk beds and mosquito nets. Our dorm was supposed to only be us, but instead there was a British girl who would run in and out of the room without saying hello. Sunday morning we had the great fortune of waking to her naked changing out in the open. The dorms didn’t have any locks on them, so anyone could just wander on through. This wasn’t an issue until we woke up to an Australian man running through our bure pants less, and bending over looking for his swim shorts that his friend had thrown in to our room. It was a very interesting thing to open our eyes to. The next thing we new it a random girl rolled off the top bunk of one of the girl’s beds, and she was naked as well. She had come in very drunk to our bure, gotten naked and fell asleep on the top bunk. Talk about awkward. Her real bure where the rest of her friends were sleeping was one dorm over from us. Very interesting. We also had never been around that many white people in all of Fiji, which made us feel very uncomfortable for some reason. It was also the first time in Fiji that we all felt very judged. Kinda weird? The bus that we took to get back to Suva was packed full as always, no air circulation and had a thrasher video playing for the full two hours. I couldn’t see the movie but from the sound effects that were playing over the loud speakers were extremely gory and sounded like there were people getting viciously murdered.



On Friday we went to a couple different NGO’s, WWF (wild life crisis organization ) and Peace Keeping in Fiji. Those were really cool and interesting. The peace keeping in Fiji organization included music therapy to different groups of people recovering from violence or anything else. After they treated us to lunch that was amazing. When that was done a couple of us went over to my friend Katie’s house. She lives with her grandmother, mom, two homeless ladies, five cousins and her aunt. They have five new puppies that are adorable and just add to the craziness of their house. We wound up not playing with the puppies as much and instead hung out with all the little kids instead. For about two hours we played soccer, danced around, gave them piggy backs and let them just climb all over us. It was so much fun and tiring at the same time.

When we got back to suva the next day it rained for four days straight. It did not help our positive attitudes that 5 of us were sick for that whole week. I guess the food in Silana really did a number on all of us. I think it as the rich lolo (coconut cream) that everything is cooked in. Whatever it was I still cant think of the word seafood without gagging. On Wednesday instead of having Fijian class we went as a a class to see a Bollywood movie called Dil Bole Haddipa! It was really good and as soon as it comes out on DVD I’m buying and bringing it back for everyone to see. It was about an Indian girl whose dream was to play cricket for her country but since she is a girl she was never allowed to be on the team. So she dressed up as a boy and wound up playing on the team and being the star. The music, clothes and dancing were amazing throughout the movie. I think I have found my new favorite types of movies. It was interesting that the movie definitely promoted women’s rights which is not really a concept in the Indian community. That Friday we did another field trip to an Indo-Fijian house and learned to cook Indian food. We split the group into two and each group went to a house. Our house was with an Indian women and her mother. We made a variety of things including, roti, chicken curry, eggplant curry, these fried balls of beans and vegetables (my favorite), and a good pasta desert dish. The meal was amazing and I am looking forward to using my new cooking skills when I get home. Later that day we went back to USP for “open day” which is where the campus is open to everyone and all of the schools come to walk around and get a glimpse of all the different activities and clubs that are offered at USP. Then there is a dance production done by all the international students. Every group of people performs a traditional dance from their homeland. It was too crowded to even get into the theater to see it but from what I saw of the costumes, im sure the production was really cool. The weather really cleared up and started to be sunny and hot and has continued to be that way all weekend and this week. Its been nice to have sun every day instead of the occasional sun and constant rain.
Last weekend was a lot of fun. We all hung out in Suva and sat outside most of the day, bought a ukulele which I am determined to be good at by the time I get home. Saturday night my friend Megan and I went over to her boyfriend, Alex’s house. We hung out with his family which was very entertaining. His house consists of his mother, 4 brothers and their wives, a couple cousins, a 1 year old and his grandmother who is crazy and can’t walk. His mom is a baker so after dinner we enjoyed an amazing cake that she had made. Later that night we met up with the rest of the group and did some karaoke and danced the night away. There is a big Fa’afafine population in fiji and they just so happen to be all of our director’s best friends. So when we go out we wind up all dancing together and it is definitely a seen. Fa’afafine is the word for Samoan men who dress up as women. In Samoa, this practice is very popular and very accepted. It is not considered a homosexual act. If a Fa’afafine and man have a relationship it is considered heterosexual. A lot of these Fa’afafine come to Fiji, where there is also a large population of them, although it is not as accepted in Fiji. Anyway these are not like the normal cross dressers of America, these men really do look like women and they are not creepy at all. Part of the description of the Fa’afafine is that they are caregivers, nurturers and belong to a tight sisterhood. So when we are out in the clubs with Mrs. Quillio’s crew we all definitely feel safe and have a blast with them. They are usually the life of the party at most of the bars. It’s very entertaining



This week was beautiful. Its been sunny and hot for a week straight- very good news. The tsunami hit Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga. There was a warning for fiji, but nobody really thought it was a big deal nor did they pay any attention to it. Thank god it didn’t hit us. When we asked what we should do if it does hit us, our only instruction was “well, we would head for the hills”. Mrs. Quillio ( our director) is Samoan and still has a lot of family in Samoa, so the tsunami was horrible for her. Her aunt died and some of her relatives got hurt. The night of the tsunami we chose to go to Tiko’s floating restaurant. It was a really nice restaurant and I had my first steak in Fiji that was awesome. Since the restaurant was floating in the water the whole time we were eating we were also rocking a lot and it was a little disconcerting. It was the cheapest, nice meal I’ve ever had. I had a salad, calamari, 10 oz steak with vegetables and friends and a banana split all for 46 FJD ( 24 USD).

After a long week of rain in suva, we all decided it was time to hit up the beach. So we took a bus to pacific habor which is about 30 miles away. This was the closest place to suva with nice beaches and somewhere for us to stay. So we stayed at a backpackers hotel for the weekend. Ten of us stayed in one room with 5 bunk beds and then there was a huge common room with a tv air hockey table and some couches. It was really nice to get away from suva and eat what we wanted to eat. So we treated ourselves to some delicious meals and some sun bathing. The hotel had a cool bar and a huge tiki man pool. The theme of the pool area was cannibalism and had a bunch of paintings of Fijians eating white people, a giant spoon sculpture with human skulls resting in it and a giant boiling pot ( hot tub). Only in Fiji. The second day started off to be rainy so everyone wanted to leave but me and a couple other people decided to be optimistic and went swimming in the rain. We wound up staying later and it got really sunny out which was a surprise and it turned out to be a great day. As we were catching the bus back into suva it started down pouring. We got on the bus and there was only enough seats open for the 5 of us. So we made our way down the isle and squished into our seats. I was sitting with one cheek on the seat and the other basically on another mans lap. The bus was not like the others in suva with open windows and instead had horrible circulation and smelled of BO. Not the best way to travel. But we survived and made it back to suva.

The following weekend our group traveled to the village of Silana. We rode in a covered truck in the bed on wooden benches. The trip took three hours and about 2 hours of it was on roads that were under construction so needless to say, it was bumpy. We were greeted by the whole village, which consisted of 26 families. Everyone was native Fijian; some spoke English and others knew only a few phrases. We all got assigned to different families and after gathering in the community hall we went to our designated homes. My family consisted of a grandmother, grandfather and their four year old grandson Pow. My family wound up speaking as much English as I spoke Fijian so it got pretty awkward at times. The first afternoon we sat on the floor of their house drinking tea and eating pancakes in the dark, staring at each other. After I downed the natural lemon leaf tea we went back to the community hall for some guitar playing, kava drinking and feasting. The next morning we woke up, had breakfast and then went for a hike up the mountain. It took about 30 minutes and was extremely muddy. The 13 of us, our program leaders, some children and men from the village were all lead by a man chopping down a path for us using a machete. When we arrived at the waterfall we spent an hour or two jumping in and swimming around. It was the first time one of the women from the village had been there, which we all found unbelievable considering she had lived in the village all of her life. The way back down the mountain became extremely muddy and slippery especially since we were soaking wet, but that turned out not to be a problem at all. All of the men from the village would run down ahead of us and be there to help us over the streams and down the slippery parts by holding a long vine so that we had something to hold on to. Talk about great service. The rest of that day consisted of eating, lounging and learning about different gardening techniques and the crops they grew. The next day we woke up early and went out in the ocean in two power boats to the reef. There, we were able to see dolphins and go swimming in the amazing ocean. We hung out there for about 3 hours. Some of the men went spear fishing and diving and came up with some very fresh fish and giant clams.

We went to a squatter settlement and hung out, drank kava, designed and made masi ( bark cloth). The designs that cover it are made with clay paint and boiled bark ink that are patted through a stencil on top of flattened bark. Very cool. The people in this squatter settlement were from the lau island group and had sailed there on the "canoe" that is in the picture above. It is made totally out of wood and bark and they took us out on it for a joy ride. Here are some of the kids we hung out with during the day.

After a long week of rain in suva, we all decided it was time to hit up the beach. So we took a bus to pacific habor which is about 30 miles away. This was the closest place to suva with nice beaches and somewhere for us to stay. So we stayed at a backpackers hotel for the weekend. Ten of us stayed in one room with 5 bunk beds and then there was a huge common room with a tv air hockey table and some couches. It was really nice to get away from suva and eat what we wanted to eat. So we treated ourselves to some delicious meals and some sun bathing. The hotel had a cool bar and a huge tiki man pool. The theme of the pool area was cannibalism and had a bunch of paintings of Fijians eating white people, a giant spoon sculpture with human skulls resting in it and a giant boiling pot ( hot tub). Only in Fiji. Every room in the hotel was a different theme and megan and alex's room was under the ocean theme. PRETTAYY COOL.

The second day started off to be rainy so everyone wanted to leave but me and a couple other people decided to be optimistic and went swimming in the rain. We wound up staying later and it got really sunny out which was a surprise and it turned out to be a great day. As we were catching the bus back into suva it started down pouring. We got on the bus and there was only enough seats open for the 5 of us. So we made our way down the isle and squished into our seats. I was sitting with one cheek on the seat and the other basically on another mans lap. The bus was not like the others in suva with open windows and instead had horrible circulation and smelled of BO. Not the best way to travel. But we survived and made it back to suva.

After a week of school we made our way to Levuka. We took a bus 2 hours to a boat, where our bus drove onto the boat. The boat ride was an hour and once we arrived at the island, we got back onto the bus drove two more bumpy hours. This used to the be capitol of Fiji and is the oldest city in Fiji. We stayed at the oldest hotel, which needless to say, was very creepy.
This trip was pretty cool. We went to the tuna factory which had about 800 employees on an island with a population of 8000. They are in partnership with Bumblebee tuna, so if you want to support Fiji’s economy, buy Bumblebee tuna. We weren’t allowed to go through the factory, but we walked enough inside of it to reek of tuna. We got to see a short movie on the process of packaging tuna, which was pretty cool. After that we went on a walking tour through the town and then took a truck to different churches. THe whole town smelled of tuna and we were happy when we could leave that. The first night we went out to a bar and wound up being 14 of the 20 people at the bar and danced the night away with a transvestite named Gina (harry) and her sister. The second night, after a packed full day of tuna, we went to bed early to get up the following morning at 415. We had 5 people to a room and we pushed all of the beds together because we were all scared. I woke up with another girl in the middle of the night to a horrible screeching noise that sounded like a window cracking and a water faucet turning on. This sounded like a women screaming. I didn't sleep at all that night because i was too horrified. The hotel is haunted and one of the girls claimed she saw a ghost while we were pulling out. I was very happy to leave there. Here are some pictures from that day .

At the end of the week we went to the Sand Dunes, which is the only National Park in Fiji. We climbed the lush sand dunes to the top, jumped down a couple and then ended up at the water. During our hike it started down pouring. Later we went to the 7th most beautiful beach in the world and hung out in the water all day. We were in Sigatoka which means always shinning. (possible thought for a new tattoo) Here are some pictures from that day.

The next day we left for Suva. After a 3 hour bus ride that was needless to say, fast and bumpy, we arrived in the rainy city. As we were entering the city we came across a Hindu festival that was just starting. After the part that we saw, they were walking down the street to do fire walking. Unfortunately we did not get to see that. Here are some pictures and videos of what we did see.

Loutoka City and Pecani Youth Group

The next day was by far the most interesting and rewarding experience. I can barely put it into words. We had the “drop off”. We were paired up randomly and given a topic that we had to discuss with random strangers and find out as much as we could about it. Then we had to find our way into Loutoka city and eat lunch and then catch the bus back to the hotel. Well Megan and I got dropped off in a low income housing project and as we walked in we had never felt more awkward in our lives. Two white girls strolling through the middle of a housing project trying to talk to people about education. Then a women invited us up into her home and told us everything we needed to know about the schooling system around Loutoka. Which seemed very similar to America’s traditional way of schooling. After the visit, megan and I wandered outside to a field where about 15 little kids came running up to us. They were a little shy at first and then after about 2 minutes they were jumping and grabbing our earings, playing with our hair, staring at us, climbing on us; just infatuated. One of the kids asked if we were white which was pretty funny. It was really cool to see how much joy they got out of the simple things, how little they knew about America, and how happy they were with their lives even though they were not very healthy and poor. Later we made our way back to Loutoka city, ate really good spicy vegetarian food and then caught a bus back to the hotel.









That night we went to a Pecani Youth group that was made up of all flamboyant gay men and drank kava all night, sang, danced, spilled kava, had fun. This is a picture of everyone dancing and below is a clip of the youth group singing. The traditional way of fijian dancing is to stand hip to hip holding the other persons back and step forward 4 steps and backward 4 steps, while shaking your hips. Then you can back away and do any sort of dancing you want that usually involves shaking your hips and arms. When a group is preforming the polite thing to do is to go up and put baby powder on their faces and heads and money in their shirts. Since these men were very flamboyant the dancing got a little out of control and one of the guys from our group got up and shook his boootayy. Their voices were amazing and unfortunately the video did not do them justice.