It has been a while, but I will keep it as succinct as possible since I know many of you are busy and should not be reading this while at work..lol.
Since you last heard from me I have been in a magazine photo shoot--Mai Life, a locally published magazine, which is well-read and distributed around the South Pacific. I was in a contest to be "the Queen of Clubs" for Vodka Cruisers (a malted, fruity drink) but since then I have pulled out because I lean more towards feminism then towards objectifying women in heels, make-up and revealing clothes to sell alcoholic beverages. However, it was an excellent experience that I would not have gotten in the US (b/c I am not the skinny-model type). I met a lot of very nice girls and although I was uncomfortable with the pictures in the magazine at first--all of them make me look a little--how can I say--the opposite of Virgin Mary, I am now fine with them. I know that the three shots they published of me do not reflect my values, or character, or goals--but are rather good acting and a bit of wanton fun. In addition, the other girls have been done the same injustice, so at least I will always be able to say when I was 23 I was in a magazine in Fiji looking like a foxy lady. yes, I do have a few copies to bring home with me. Live and learn, right? And now I can be that much stronger and knowledgeable in my distaste for modeling and advertisers using women as objects to sell products.
Our semi-adopted, outside-feral dog, named Alice, managed to surprise us last week by quickly learning how to sit and come when called. However we got to comfortable with her and she with us, so when we came home Friday night--Alice had snuck in through the burglar bars and ate my crocs, more of the rug, a pair of my sneakers, a pair of Mike's sneakers and--this one hurts--my computer charging cord. Which, by the way, I was in the middle of typing a paper and since I could no longer turn on my computer for the weekend, today I had to email my paper to my teacher and tell her that honestly the dog ate my computer--preventing me from turning in my paper on time. How ironic! She was banished for a few days and is now back. We will always close the glass doors now and I went to the vet to look into de-worming pills, a license, shots and flea medicine. She will be a truly real dog now--no more of this kind-of dog. We owe her that, and she owes me about $500 fjd for eating all of things, but what can you do?
Mike and I finally found paradise on Vanua Levu, the other main island. It is a 24 hour return boat ride and on the way back, we were upgraded to first class, sleeping in bunks, when we woke up at 3am to the boat soaring through the sky--riding the HUGE storm we were in the middle of. Babies crying, boat creaking, items escaping their rightful places on shelves and two scared Americans. We made it safely home to Suva at 6 am, only to have the storm follow us and put a damper on retuning home to the city of barking dogs.
Savusavu was gorgeous. It was quiet, peaceful, safe and all around perfect. I was able to walk alone anywhere. We went snorkeling 'right down the road' from our accommodation aka 8 kms/ one hour walk...but once we got there, besides the thunderstorm in the middle of our snorkeling fun, it was magnificent, pristine wonderment. Even Nemo and Dori showed up to say hello. I got to meet up with Fletcher, my friend from Telluride, CO, who had been out there for a couple of months and made lots of contacts and sweet friends--in hopes that I can spend my last month in Fiji there, before I return home to the states. Mike got to sing with this band called 1-2-8 on Saturday night--this amazing harmony group made up of really talented island musicians. He met them because I happened to stand by them on the boat ride over, watching out for the full moon, islands appearing out of the musky night and happy dolphins swimming in the wake of our boat. I grabbed him and said these guys are playing guitar and singing--Mike joined in and drank Kava with them for the next 10 hours. I, being a woman, did not invite myself onto the Kava mat, but after a few hours of standing I sat down next to Mike and was invited onto the mat and drank Kava for a few hours with them, before taking a nap and arriving in Savusavu at sunrise. The moon set on the port side of the ship, stars fell from the sky, aligning on the horizon before going to bed and the sun peaked his head up over the volcanic mountains--giving us beautiful weather and a lovely Easter holiday.
Lastly, I have been corrected by the President of my Rotary Club--Barbara Malimali that there are in fact lawnmowers in Fiji--she sent me pictures to prove it. But since then, I have thanked her for the photos and said I have figured out why nobody uses them. It is because you can hire a laborer for $10fjd/day and because they can carry a weed whacker on their shoulder--they come along with their own equipment and can make money for the day, while those of us fortunate enough to have the means of hiring these laborers save money on not purchasing lawn-mowers.
And there you have it, another conclusion to my Fiji blog. It is now raining and I am off to an Art exhibition tonight. My service project at The Learning Center (TLC) a primary school here is starting and I am honored to be here in Fiji--being involved in Rotary and helping children to embrace holistic learning and promoting cultural exchange, not only for adults, but also for my young students.
More pics are coming to the photo stream, so keep your eyes peeled. The URL is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35025666@N02/
Ciao for now......
