mind's eye images of fiji

back here in the internet cafe with a few minutes to spare before we go catch our 4 1/2 hour bus back to nadi so we can sleep at a hostel to take our plane tomorrow morning at 8:45 to go to auckland. on to the next country, i guess. i feel like we didn't see or do very much here. we put down roots at the cheatham's and then at susie's in taveuni. once we arrived, we just kind of stayed. it's nice because you really meet and develop relationships with the people, but you don't necessarily get out much that way. in any case, i have 3 images of fiji. i share them with you now:

1) the interior of the cheatham's house. lili, sanjay, and ashmita are laying around watching tv or we're all (including paulini, nalini and chris) gathering around the table in the living room to watch the emperor's new groove, heaping okra, mango and pumpkin onto our plates to eat with the roti we just helped to make, as we did last night. It was a wonderful warm home away from home.

2) looking out over the water through the postcard-perfect palm tree from the woven fijian mat at susie's. There is Trex with his guitar and elvis-style deep voice, Archie with his funny giggle and flirtatious grin, Wesley with his friendly manner, the rest of the men also harmonizing effortlessly on Fijian songs as well as old favorites like "Country Roads" and "Hotel California." We've got Britta (the German) in her yellow sarong-as-dress. We've got Rupert and then Dave, both British divers. Nabia is a couple seats away from me on a cushion with her feet off to the side, as women are supposed to do in the kava circle, her black sarong tied as a dress as well, a purple orchid over her left ear (left means single, right means married). The almost full moon makes the night not quite dark, so the silhouettes of the shore and the palm trees are really clear. You can hear the sound of the ocean against the rocky shore behind the clink of the half coconut shells pouring the kava back and forth and the claps of people receiving it. Aaah.

3) out the window of a bus. the system here is quite impressive once you get to know it. there are bus stations in each town where they just line up all over the place, and if you don't know where you're going it's quite overwhelming. the one in suva is right next to the market, where you can buy lovo (baked in an underground oven) bilo (coconut milk and sugar dessert wrapped in a taro leaf), veggies, or kava root on the entire second floor. There are many people around and don't forget they walk on the other side of the sidewalk here, so stay to your left. People are friendly and helpful if you ask them where to find the bus you're looking for, but make sure you wear your sunglasses so you don't accidentally smile and make eye contact with someone who might misinterpret your manners. I've seen the stunning coastline through the windows of a bus - the waves breaking hundreds of feet off the shore, with the stunning aqua color coming right up to the rocks next to the road. The hills everywhere, road winding around and over them, bus just barely making it up. Schoolchildren on Taveuni waving excitedly to us as we drove down to susie's (ok, that one was out a taxi window). Women in saris, men in sulus (skirts).

So those are my 3 pictures of fiji. i want to be more detailed about my time here, but we've got to go catch our bus. i don't know if i'll get back to this, so please feel free to write if you have any questions about fiji or what happened here or what i wrote. i'll be happy to write back and answer.

for now, some more fijian:
io (eeyo) = yes
senga = no
senga na lenga = no problem
uro = sexy (called at us from a moving car)
a pronounced as ah
e pronounced as long a
i pronounced as long e
o pronounced as long o
u pronounced as oo
b pronounced as mb
d pronounced as nd
g pronounced as ng
q pronounced as ngg

mothe for now.

happy belated thanksgiving to you all.