Fiji Fashion Week

You may be asking yourself....I wonder what Greta did Wednesday night.  

Well the answer is that she MC'd a Fashion Show in Labasa of course!

I heard about this fashion show on Tuesday & said I would go. Wednesday I was at home relaxing before going to the show & I heard my neighbor coughing. I asked her if she was sick, she said yes, so i told her I would represent for the both of us at the fashion show.  She then proceeded to tell me that she was supposed to be the MC for the fashion show but was feeling really sick & could hardly talk. So, like the good neighbor I am, I offered to step in for her.  She took me up on the offer & I did my best at pronouncing names and describing outfits.  There were lots of people there & it was a fun time.

My friends told me the best part was when I tried to pronounce a name & messed it up then said "Sorry I can't pronounce these names, I'm white."

(And Yes, there are a handful of transvestites/drag queens here who were the models)

g

Street run-ins

I ran into a man today who I met the first week of living here- he was amazed that I knew some Hindi. I think he is a grog middle-man who works in the market. He is a small man, probably comes up to my shoulders, he has long hair he pulls in a pony & very dark skin.  He also has some facial abnormalities, my guess is from birth, but cognitively he seems alright.  I have seen him every once-in-a-while around town, he usually tells me to come home (aka- come over for dinner sometime) - I am always polite but I never agree.

So today I was walking down this road on my way back from lunch

When this interaction happened-
Man: Oh hello how are you doing
Me: I'm fine how are you?
Man: Good, how are you?
Me: Good
Man: Where are you staying? You staying here?
Me: Yes, I stay near Delai
Enter a second little man - a very cheeky old man who draws in his eyebrows, colors his hair, wears gold chains and has asked me to marry him several times
Man 2: Hello there
Me: Hello
Man 1: You staying with your husband or alone?
Me: Oh no, no husband, I stay alone
(Man 2 is probably saying something but I can't have two conversations at once)
Man 1: Oh, you don't have a husband
Me: Nope no husband
Man 1: You looking for husband in Fiji?
(Man 2 Still talking, no clue what he's saying)
Me: No, not looking for a husband in Fiji
Man 1: Ok bye
Then he trotted off
Total time of interaction - less than 2 minutes.

Kind gestures

The people in the friendly north just love doing things for me - and most times I appreciate it too. Like how my neighbor's friend drove me in his big truck to get the gas for my stove refilled & hooked it up for me so that I don't blow myself up or when people in the street offer to carry my grocery bags for me.

Yesterday I was stopped in the street by a man that I've been stopped by a few times before. I don't know his name, he said his daughter or niece goes to my school but I cannot confirm or deny this. So yesterday, in the street, he told me he wanted to make me some fried rice - so I said OK, because people like to do nice things for me.

Well today, he comes by my office with the fried rice that he made. It was Lamb fried rice - I guess I forgot to mention that I am a vegetarian. And it wasn't a gift, it was $5- about $2 more than I would ever spend on fried rice. Wa wa waaaa

Another, meat eating, PCV tried it & said it tasted like it smelled - not delicious.

Now I'm going to try to politely tell him that I didn't eat his food because I don't eat land animals.  Hopefully it won't get lost in translation & he won't show up with any surprise fried rice dishes for me.

g

Blog Slacker

Ok, my New Year resolution is to be better about updating my blog, but I’ve already let a month go by without updating, so we will see how well this goes.

A quick re-cap since my last post (August 2010):

I have been very busy working and playing in Fiji-

We had a few Peace Corps trainings, one where I learned what to do if there is an emergency.  My house has been designated as a consolidation point if there are any cyclones or political uprisings. This makes me feel safe because I know my house will (or at least should) be safe from the storms. It also makes me nervous that I won’t have enough food to last through a disaster, so I have been collecting bottles and bottles of water over the past few months – also lots of peanut butter and canned goods because I don’t want to eat canned tuna that the PC has provided us with, yuck. Before this training I went to a beautiful little island with some PCVs.

                      

                                                                                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                      

Another training was our Early Service Training, I don’t remember much of that, I know I got sick with a cold the second week, so it was pretty terrible for me.  We did do a stigma and discrimination training with the nursing school in the capital that was really fun. Unfortunately I had no voice, so I just stood there and looked pretty.

The final training was a Program Development and Management workshop.  I was able to take the director from the nursing school with me. This was the best training where we outlined my project – helping develop a research department for the school. This is a big task to take on, but one that I am very excited to begin.  At the end of the week it was Halloween, and you may not know this, but Fijians do not celebrate this wonderful holiday.  I met up with about 20 other volunteers at a backpacker’s resort on the coral cost – it was a lot of fun.  I dressed as a girl scout & gave out cookies (not real girl scout cookies, that would be crazy).

                                                                                                                                     

                                                                                                        

November I spent trying to finish the data collection on the health survey I’m working on.  It was a very busy month, l spent a week and a half traveling all around Viti Levu completing the survey. I had a wonderful lady helping me all the way, a nursing Sister who knows all the right people & places to go.  I was able to get most of the surveys completed and jetted off back to my island before the tropical depression grounded me for a few extra days. It was so wonderful to be able to travel around Viti Levu & meet so many kind Indo-Fijians. I think I gained a little weight on my trip because Indian women LOVE to feed you!  Since I was traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday, I missed the big feast in the north & the one in Suva, but I had a lovely dinner with another volunteer. We are both vegetarians, so neither one of us cared that there was no turkey. Oh, and I bought a washing machine somewhere around this time - best investment ever!

Thanksgiving meal - green beans, apple dumplings, pears, mac n cheese & corn

Tropical depression rain

Most of December was spent inputting the survey data. My master plan of having the 3^rd year nursing students help me with didn’t work out so well, since they were all about to graduate. It was a big task, but I was able to enter all 447 (13 page) surveys.  The nursing school graduation was really nice, I knew some of the students pretty well, but not as well as I would’ve liked.  After the ceremony, people were asking me and the other PCV to take pictures with them and their families.

The middle of December my family came to visit me – SO LUCKY! I could hardly sleep the night before 

they got in (at 5am). Two PC friends went with me to the airport to meet them & to take home a huge bag of treats they brought me.  All of the food lasted me just about a month, and a few pounds too.  We stayed a few days at the “American” resorts in Nadi – it was like heaven for me and probably very normal for my family. We ate at the hotel buffet one night & I got the biggest plate I could find & filled it a few times. 

After my sister and her boyfriend arrived, we all headed up to Taveuni for the next leg of our vacation. We took the smallest plane, but we made it ok.  Of course it was raining when we arrived, but we made the best of it.  We were the only guests at the resort for the first 3 or 4 days & it was amazing! The staff treated us like family & gave us delicious food!  

We had a beautiful beach with amazing snorkeling.  We went on a costal walk that ended at a waterfall. It was so much fun, the next time I am going to force myself to jump off the big waterfall. 

Right before the New Year, my sister, brother in law and nephew had to go back to the US, while the rest of us headed to Qemea (Ga-may-a). We stayed at a backpacker’s resort, something I don’t think my family was prepared for – it was pretty much just a tent.  BUT we were right on the beach, so it made up for it.  After being there one day, we were then met by about 30 other Peace Corps volunteers.  I was happy my family was able to meet my friends & see what PCVs do to relax.  My sister and her boyfriend left New Years day, they had a good time but I know they were ready to get back to their western ways. 

The next day mom, dad, a bunch of PCVs and I headed back to my island we took a boat-car-boat-bus trip.  It wasn’t as terrible as I had anticipated, and my parents seemed to be ok with it too.  I was ready to get home after being away. My parents got to my house & started cleaning – I thought I had a clean house, but apparently not.  We also bought some ceiling fans to cool down the oven I live in – it is the  greatest thing ever!!!  I was very very sad to say goodbye to my parents, but all of the nice Fijians gave me hugs at the airport after their flight took off.

January was spent working and partying at the new club in my town. I like to think of it as my cardio for the week when I go there and dance the night away.  I got a light-up shirt on my birthday, so that was awesome. And I have discovered my love for frying foods!  I also got new neighbors in January.  They are a wonderful young Indian couple who love to party! I got very lucky, she even made me a birthday cake. We (me and the other PCVs) hang out with them every weekend.

Ok, now that I’ve updated on the happenings over the past few months, I’m going to TRY to do my best to update regularly.

g