Fiji: April 19-24

We arrived in Fiji around 8 o'clock Saturday night and met Ramsay and Jacapo at the dinky airport. We went through a joke line they call customs. I swear they would have let me bring in a rabid pit bull if I had one. Mostly we were just happy to be greeted by some more of our fellow Kiwis. Nothing is better than seeing a New Zealand friend you haven't seen in more than two days

We went to church Sunday morning (the 20th). Well, what I meant to say is that we showed up at the building and waited for three hours. No church today. (We later heard a rumor that they met up with another building but I have my speculations.) So while we waited we ate coconuts. You can easily find one in a gutter and not-so-easily open it. Fresh coconut is pretty good.

Fiji is just like I imagined it except with more litter. The road has old cars and palm trees and coconut trees overhang the edge. Everyone wears a sulu (a skirt like a lava lava) and tropical shirts. I thought only cheesy tourists in Hawaii wore those. I was wrong. They are very much worn by the local population. We stick out like soar thumbs because there's a lot of us white kids hanging out together. Locals pass by and say, "Bula! Bula!" Bula is the Fijian word for hello. That's the literal translation, anyway. What it has come to mean is, "Hi! You look like a tourist. I think I'll swindle you into buying some jewelry or a horse ride." I later learned to hate the word Bula but in the beginning I loved how friendly the people were.

And boy is it humid!

This is what our bunk room looks like. Imagine you are taking this picture and right behind you is another bunk bed and to your left is the bathroom and to your right is the door.

Remember that one time when I saved a bunch of granola bars? Well, they're all gone now. So I have to resort to buying food. Luckily things are cheap here. The exchange rate is AWESOME! But we didn't have any facilities in our backpackers hut to cook. So I ate lukewarm oats with some bananas for breakfast every day. That wasn't so tasty. Some things really should have sugar.

We ran around near our place and caught newts and frogs. I had never caught frogs before.

Monday (21st) rolled around and we spent the day at the beach: Natadola Beach, to be exact; the 7th best beach in the world!

Just for your information, in Fijian words, there is an imaginary n before a d. So words like Natadola are pronounced Natandola and the Nadi is pronounced Nandi. Got it?

(Note: I really did take this picture. It's not stolen from a calender)

Tuesday (the 22nd) was cool because we went to the only temple in Fiji. This took a 4 hour bus ride. I sat next to a man named Ratu. You'll hear more about him in a later post. (Ratu and I pictured below)

So after a 4 hour bus ride we went from Nadi to Suva. Then we took a taxi to get to the temple. We met this adorable lady outside. Her name is Sister Bale. She was quite the lady! Her smile STILL warms my soul. She was just so thrilled to "see so many young people coming to the temple." We did baptisms for the dead in the temple and go figure, most of the temple workers were senior missionaries from the States. We learned interesting facts about the Fijian temple. The land was actually owned by the Australian government and then the US government wanted the land for an embassy. Because of how long it takes the bureaucracy to get decisions made the Church was able to snatch it up. Also, the temple is so prominent that ships coming into the harbor look for the light from Moroni. I'm sure this information could be used in a lesson some time.

We went in to the temple and it was sunny. We got out and it was cloudy. By the time we got on the bus to go home it was pouring.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Breakfast: Three delicious rolls.

We met at 7:50 am at the front of the hotel and waited for the bus that would take us to South Sea. On the bus we met a guy from Michigan. He called us "Stormin' Mormons" and we shot down a lot of stereotypes and told him the truth about polygamy. *sigh* Oh how I love preaching the truth!

We got to the port, boarded a big yellow ship, and headed off to South Sea Island. The island is about the size of my home church building+parking lot. It's tiny! As we got off the boat and on the island a Fijian band greeted us with their ukuleles.

There was SO much to do on South Sea Island! We ate REAL food (not rolls or oats) I went on my first REAL scuba dive and I held a REAL starfish and touched a REAL sea cucumber. It was incredible. We dove near a sunken ship and saw Moorish idols (fish) and banner fish and I touched a soft coral. (It looked like an anemone but it wasn't'. It kind of stuck to my fingers.) I touched a giant clam and some weird jelly thing on the reef. One gigantic cod fish lurked around and I saw a sting ray and the fattest starfish I've ever seen. The colors were fantastic! Fish in every nook.

(Me, Erin, Mary, Stephanie Richards, KPax, Caity Smith, Brooke)
(Tiennus, Jo, Erin, Me, Eddie)

Thursday, April 24

Shh! It's a surprise. Today is Kirsten's birthday and she has been hanging out around the hotel because she has no money to do anything. So we are kidnapping her and paying for her ticket to join us on another day cruise.

At 7:52 we walked into her room (and by room I mean the bunk room where 6 people sleep) and we sang Happy Birthday to her. She thought we just came in to sing to her and say goodbye for the day. WRONG! We better believe we dragged her into the bus. I think she's pretty excited about it.

Next stop: Robinson Crusoe Island.

I love when they greet you in song!We went snorkeling an I had a nifty underwater camera.

(Above: Erin Below: our snorkeling guide)
Then we watched Ziggy climb up a tree and get everyone a coconut to share with a buddy

Then we ate and watched a dancing show. Here's a segment from the fire portion. Oooo!

If that doesn't make you want a Fijian man, I don't know what will.

After the show we had a bunch of activities like crab racing. I'm proud to announce that my crab was number 1. (That's right, raise the roof!) And that is why I am wearing a necklace and flower in the picture below. I won them fair and square. My favorite part of the day was the dance Ziggy taught us. I wish I could remember it because it's probably the most awkward line dance you will ever do.

When we got home we threw a party for Kirsten. Mala helped us out. Actually, Mala helps us out a lot. (Mala works at the motel. She's pretty much amazing.) Mala managed to find candles to go in the cake (which we purchased for $2 Fijian).

Side story: Last night the hotel had crab racing. Winner got a free drink. Taylor Porter in our group won but since she doesn't drink they gave her orange juice. Mala told us that all the staff was absolutely shocked that there were 12+ Americans all together, all college age, who did not drink. We gave her a Book of Mormon.

To finish off the night some of us had kava. Blech. Kava is a drink made from a mushed up root. No, it's not tea. No, it's not alcoholic. We checked before we had some. It tastes kind of chalky.