allo?

If I'm gonna spend that much time writing, i need to know people are reading - please comment! or send me an email, that works too.

so I'm in Fiji at an internet cafe in the city of Suva - the country's only real city to speak of, I hear. The family we're staying with is wonderful. There are Nalini and Chris, their two daughters Sanjula and Lily, and their 15-year-old neice Ashmita. Also there are Theresa and Paulina and one other girl whose name I have not yet caught. Everyone is warm and friendly and certainly talkative. Last night Ashmita, Nabia, and I made dinner because Nalini was tired and we made some fried rice with cabbage and carrots and eggplant and a cucumber-tomato-lemon salad. The lemons here are green and taste more like a lemon-lime hybrid. In any case, it came out pretty well. I was impressed. But I have to say I think our lunch was slightly more interesting.

Context: We spent the morning wandering around Suva (or what we found out later was Southern Suva - we never made it in to towntown). On the way to the big market, we saw a sight for a handicraft market and went over just to browse around. Asking questions and really listening to the answers is tiring though, and we spent a good couple of hours going from stall to stall learning about the masks and neck twisting knives and cannibal forks from back in the day, as well as the lele drum which looks like a little boat and the kava bowls that are still used today (the big ones, not the little ones for tourists) and the tapa cloth that is made from the bark of a certain tree, soaked for days and days and then pounded and painted with the black burnt leaves of a different tall beach tree and the reddish roots of that same tree. We spoke to the woman about tapa for a long time. Her name is Litia and after we told her we were going to the market and thinking about the island of Taveuni, she offered to take us around in the afternoon - show us where the boat offices were and what veggies were which in the market. She was very very sweet and after we finished our rounds at the stalls and took a slight breather because our heads were pounding from too much information, we did go back and meet her. We tried to work the boat thing out, but the times were a no go so we went to lunch. She wanted us to try real Fijian food.

She took us to a hole-in-the-wall place with no sign that i could see. It seemed more like a tiny cafeteria. The only people in there were native Fijian - no Indo-Fijians. She ordered and we were soon brought three dishes apiece. One bowl of salty fish broth, one of coconut milk and scallions, and one plate piled high with a HUGE piece of fish (not fileted, just chopped in one big hunk, spine, skin and all - a filet on the top and one on the bottom), cassava, and a green leafy vegetable. She showed us how to peel (with our hands) the fish off the bone and dip it, along with everything else, into the coconut milk. You let it soak there for a minute before eating it. Delicious. The fish was boiled, not fried, and very very fresh. It's a local fish, so i can't tell you what kind it was. Nabia's was a different flavor, but also very good. We ate and ate and chatted with Litia and her tiny frightened granddaughter who was also with us, and I soon felt I could eat no more. I had only eaten the top half of the fish though. Litia told me that drinking some of the fish soup would help me feel hungry again, but I was full even after I sipped it. I didn't want want to insult her though, and it certainly was delicious, so I did manage to eat quite a bit more.

So that was lunch. then we went in a taxi to pick up her other granddaughter (Tali) from school, then finally made it to the market, which was indoors and huge. Piles of all kinds of vegetables - including big taro roots and the leaves also, tomatoes, carrots, etc...

Eventually we parted ways with Litia, agreeing to come back the next day. We went and printed out the photos we had taken so that we could present her with them the next day - she didn't let us buy lunch or the taxi rides so we hadn't reciprocated her kindness yet. This morning we did go and drop off the little collage we made for her. We took patterns from the tapas we bought from here and cut them out of construction paper along with the pictures of her and us. It was fun to do an art project. And to give it to her. Mom - we gave her our address, so be on the lookout for possible letters from Fiji.

We're spending one more day in Suva (staying at the Servas house again - they're so welcoming, I could stay forever), and then tomorrow afternoon heading to the rainforesty island of Taveuni. I am excited and slightly nervous. We will have to cover our shoulders and wear skirts, and probably also be presenting some chiefs with some kava roots. I'm sure you'll hear all about it.

OK. I expect to see some comments, people, please. It's the only way I know you're out there these days.

Much love,
Amy

Fijian language primer:
Bula = Hello/Welcome
Vinaka (veenaka) = Thank You
Vinaka Vakalevu = Thank you very much
Mothah (long o)= Goodbye
Maleka = Tastes good
Tilo = Excuse me

That's all for now.
Vinaka!