Shows us volunteers like…

I never usually watch much TV at home, but here in Fiji, the volunteer community is right into watching TV so I conform to be cool and to have things to talk about. The following is TV that volunteers are watching right now or enjoy a lot. For those playing at home you can tick off the ones you’ve seen and give yourself a grade.

Misfits – Everyone that watches this show smashes through it so quickly. It’s just really good and funny with only 6 episodes per season. 4.5/5

The Wire – I hadn’t seen this even though it’s a bit old. Took me a little while to get into it and I didn’t love season two, but otherwise it’s an epic. 5/5

Community – The current reigning show of the week for people to watch/talk about. I started on it a few days ago, it seems pretty cool. Apparently the second season is by all accounts amazing. 4/5

30 rock – The fallback option for light comedy. 3.5/5

Breaking Bad – Not everyone loves this, but it’s getting out there. Glen is a big fan but I couldn’t really get into it. 2/5

American office/parks and recreation – peas and carrots baby, peas and carrots. The dual champs of awkward humour shows. 3.5/5

True Blood – Twilight for twenty and thirty year old people. All the trueblood fans just read that and gasped planning to respond in the comments that it’s awesome and totally nothing like twilight. Do not believe them. One episode had a bar fight, but it was a lame vampire bar fight. 1/5

Gossip Girl – ex oh ex oh! 0/5

There are a few other ones that are getting around, some indie ones that I haven’t heard of, and some old favourites like Seinfeld. This basically covers everything though, so if you have any friends that are volunteers in another country, you might need to learn some stuff from these shows or it’ll be two hours of conversation about the weather.

Fiji time is a sham.

I have recently become convinced that “Fiji time”, the tendency for time to be fluid and not strictly adhered to, was invented to play havoc with the comings and goings of my everyday life. This is a new pinnacle of egocentricity for me that I am equally excited and ashamed of. The conspiracy is a carefully constructed ruse dating back many years and carefully constructed to seem like it is a part of Fijian culture in an elaborate attempt to fool me into thinking I just have bad luck. You see, the reason I hold these seemingly outlandish views about an endearing aspect of Fijian culture, is that Fiji time never EVER works in my favour.

I’m on time for the boat! Boat is 3 hours late.

I make a booking to go fishing early in the morning when the bite is hot. Fisherman sleeps in a couple of hours, we catch nothing.

I take a bus half an hour earlier than I need to. The front wheel of the bus falls off and we arrive two hours late.

(I have to convince the wheel thing hasn’t happened to me yet, but it it not uncommon here)

Now none of this is really rare, it’s even what you would expect to happen if Fiji time really was a nice part of Fijian culture and not an invention to torment and frustrate me. I’m not culturally insensitive after all, just overly inward focused at times. The problem is that whenever running late would benefit me, everything runs like clockwork. It’s seriously like they hired a crack team of German engineers to whip them into shape and whenever I am a few minutes behind schedule.

I’m 5 minutes late for the boat! Boat left on time, next one is in two hours.

I decide to sleep in an extra hour instead of getting to the island early. Everyone went fishing early that morning and they wont be back until lunch.

I take a bus an hour early in case wheels fall off the bus. The bus driver heroically challenges the world land speed record and I arrive three hours early. I sit around and hum songs to myself for as long as I was on the bus.

This dark conspiracy actually works as a double whammy in some situations where I get both unfavourable manifestations of Fiji time in the one foul setting. Last week I booked a massage for 2pm and had lunch arranged beforehand. Lunch ran late (Fiji time!) and I was getting nervous about missing the massage, so My brother and I hurried out to the road to flag something down for transport. We waited about 25 minutes for a bus, truck, taxi, minvan, anything to drive past and pick us up (No hurries no worries!). This is on Fiji’s busiest highway, where usually you hit something about every 5 or 10 minutes that will get you. Eventually a guy picked us up in a resort taxi and promised to take us right there. We stopped on the way for 10 minutes to drop off some vegetables to a friend of his (Sega na leqa!). Despite all of this we got back to the massage place at 2:03pm and ran to the massage bure. Of course, only one masseuse was there so I let my brother start and said I would wait. At about 2:17 after six or seven Fijian ladies ran around yelling out “SUUUUUEEEEEE? SUUUUUUUEEEEEEEE!” my massage lady wondered in (Ni sa bula Sue!). She had gone for a walk to see who was getting off a big bus that drove into the driveway up the road (You were here at 2? Isaaaaaaa!). As she started to massage I let out a desperate plea “Fiji time start… Fiji time finish?”.

I have to segway at this point and say the massage was great. Even if the massage ladies gossiped the whole time in Fijian. They do a great job and it’s cheap. I would go back. 4 out of 5 for the massage.

At 3:00:00pm the ladies both clapped their hands and finished. I sighed, took a quick look around for German engineers grinning in the bushes and walked off. There isn’t really much you can say in a situation like that… just laugh at yourself and just remember you only paid $12aud for the massage in the first place. Fiji is a pretty kickass place to live, even if there is a country wide conspiracy just to mess with you.

How to not be a bogan on your Fijian holiday.

Fijian people are the amongst the friendliest people in the world. So if you come to Fiji, it’s not like going to eastern Europe* or something where the gruffness and exterior demeanor can often be somewhere between “It is FREEZING here in the winter and I only listen to metal and any electronic music over 180bpm!” and “My year 6 exam had calculus questions in the easy section”. Having said that, if you act like a ridiculous bogan while you are in Fiji, the people here will still smile on the outside, but inside they will be recording stories of your behaviour to share with their friends. After all, there is nothing Fijian people like more than a good laugh. So here is a beginners guide I have put together, and if you follow most of this stuff you will most definitely not be a bogan in Fiji:

Learn how to pronounce bula – It’s not ‘bulla’ like the ice creams, ‘Boolah’ like some kind of cow cockatoo or whatever ‘bullarrrr’ is. Soft m at the start and emphasis on the second vowel (mBulA!).

Learn 3 or 4 words other than bula – I think if you know how to say goodbye and thanks that is a good few strides on the road out of boganville. Goodbye is moce (pronounced moh-they) and thanks is vinaka (pronounced as it looks). If you really want to impress, try au sa mamau (I am full of food).

Resist the urge to have your hair braded – My mum will argue about this cos she used to love it. Aside from being painful and annoying to take out after a couple of days, It can really look strange if you have a glowy white head and tanned face… just sayin. Give the braiding lady $20 and a hug and everyone will be happier. Or if you love hair braids, take them out before the trip home.

Leave the resort of your own volition – Go for a walk and see what you find. Often there are villages, markets and corner shops sitting 100m from the front gate of your nice hotel. Tours and day trips are good, but if you do it by yourself then that’s even more the bomb. Kapow!

If you do leave the resort, don’t later brag to your friends about how you saw the “real Fiji” – It doesn’t make you a bogan, it’s just annoying.

Try somewhere other than the Mamanucas, Yasawas or Coral Coast – These places are nice, but they are also safe. If you have more than a week, go somewhere a bit out there. The really touristy places can be a little bit Australia tourist ghetto.

The buffet is a privilege not a right – Seriously… this cannot be overstated. Act like a lion not a hyena. Did you know that jackals scavange less than lions? Nathan told me this and he works at the museum so I believe him. It ruined my joke until I thought of hyenas as a replacement.

Don’t complain about stupid things – If you book a holiday to a tropical country you are not allowed to complain about how hot it is outside. You are also not allowed to complain about the presence of mosquitoes if you are supplied with flyscreens and/or a mosquito net. If you book an island holiday you are not allowed to complain that there isn’t anything to do other than water activities. If you try to squeeze four people into a two person bure, you are most definitely not allowed to complain about how cramped and small your room is. If you have a legitimate complaint, like you are a celiac and they served you a pasta sandwich with a donut for dessert, then please be nice.

Speak with Fijian people, not at them – Ask them questions, and listen to the answers. Chatting is a national past time here, and people read the news religiously so they will have opinions on almost everything. Also… english is the official language so don’t be one of those guys.

Cover up where possible – In fijian villages women don’t show their shoulders or anything above the knee. So if you are brazillian or medeterranean we might have to have a quiet word afterwards about fashion. For everyone else, they are used to westerners wearing underwear to the beach, but just be discrete and sensible ok?

So that’s it! These are, of course, not hard and fast rules. You might want to go against this advice in certain situations, after all you are in Fiji on a holiday! You’re not a diplomat (probably? Hi diplomats!). As a whole though, I think most Australians could do a little better on the ‘not being a bogan’ side of things, so lets all do our best to limit the amount of southern cross stickers we slap on our utes to say… no more than five, and try to put one or two of these helpful guidelines into practice the next time we come to Fiji eh? Bonza mates! get a dog up ya!

Footnote:
* Despite this gross generalisation, I have many close friends from eastern Europe that are the warmest and loveliest people I know. I hope they all still talk to me after playing up their unwarranted and unfair stereotypes for cheap laughs.

Addendum:
Connie read this and thought I sounded like I am a little bit up myself and quite rude. She sent back a revised copy that I didn’t think was very funny, but definitely a lot nicer. I stuck with some minor edits of the original copy, but in fear that I may have offended some very lovely people such as my mum, I refer you to the following customer service flowchart. Please direct any complaints to me, the jerk who wrote this.

Joose – The Thirst Quencher

Fiji is a hot country. People here get hot and thirsty. A hard earned thirst needs a big cold drink… and the best cold drink is Joose.

Joose, not to be confused with juice, is sold all over the streets in Suva either by the cup or by the bottle. The going rate at time of writing is 50c for a cup and $2 for a bottle, but if you are a whitey with an accent expect to pay up to twice that. Joose is somewhat of an all encompassing term, and there are really only two attributes that are common to all Jooses:

* Joose must be liquid… and
* Joose must be fruity.

This means that all kinds of things can be passed off as Joose, even things that are not in any way related to actual fruit juice. Here is a non-exhaustive guide to the do and don’ts, the can and can’ts and the what and whatnots of Joose.

1) Joose can actually be cordial
If your juice is particularly cheap, you are probably about to be handed a bottle or cup of cordial. Easier to tell when it is red or green cordial, but if it is lemon or orange you might not realise until you take a swig. Either way buddy, suck it up! Joose is not a drink for complaining whingers, you get what you are given.

2) Most of the time Joose is predominately Tang™
All the market sellers claim their Joose is juice, but their Joose ain’t just juice if the Joose house bin is littered with empty tang packets now is it? Indeed.

3) Joose may contain actual juice
If you find a Joose seller that sells Joose that tastes slightly different to all the other Joose sellers, chances are the guy adds actual juice to his Joose. This is a good thing! Latch onto it! Other clues your Joose may contain actual juice is if it is any way sour or bitter in taste, if the consistency is at all thicker than watery and if the hue looks different to other sellers.

4) Joose may actually be juice
I think this has happened once.

5) Joose can be substituted for kava if you aren’t the kava drinking type
Kava is more about the social aspect of sharing drink than it is about getting paralytic, so a bucket of Joose can easily be substituted for a tanoa of kava. Possibly a major contributing factor to the Fijian diabetes epidemic.

Joose really is a versatile drink. Next time you are in sunny downtown Suva man up and order a Joose. It’s the lucky dip of the beverage world. Besides, it’s gotta be better than the “water” we get from the taps sometimes.

A nice place to play

One of my favourite times in Fiji so far… for about an hour I was just chucking a volleyball in the air for some kids to jump and catch. You can only get to this place by boat, it was amazing.

Things Fijian People Like

Singing harmonies
Contrary to tales and folklore, not every Fijian person has a voice that would make angels weep tears of joy. In fact I’d say proportionally the number of amazing virtuoso vocalists in Fiji is similar to that of my home country, Australia. The general standard of vocal prowess though is top notch. You still get the odd guy or girl who sings a bit out of tune, but it is rare, and the average Joe in the street understands harmonies, can sing a fifth and has memorised his natural vocal part for about 200 different hymns.

Naps

Short back and sides
It’s manly, it ventilates, it’s $2.

Volleyball
It really is fun watching an unassuming and well rounded Fijian mama take apart a bunch of loud, shirtless backpacker jocks in a game of volleyball. They should really know better though, Fijians love playing volleyball, and they will mess you up at it if you give them half a chance.

Two minute noodles
Some prefer ‘Maggi’, others like the homegrown brand ‘Chow’. Here is an authentic local recipe for a dish called ‘noodle fiesta’ that some kids showed me at Kadavu:

8 packets of Chow noodles
2 tins corned beef
2 tins tuna

Boil 10L of water and put in a bucket. Break noodles into bucket and add spice packets. Stir. Wait for a couple of minutes, then serve noodles onto plate. Scoop corned beef and tuna onto noodles and stir through. Consume with cordial (aka ‘joose’).

It’s a good meal, but I’m not sure about the nutritional value.

Church
Church for a few hours and then lovo. The perfect Sunday. Church in Australia definitely feels a bit short now when I go to a service.

Political discussions
Fijians read the newspaper every day, and they absorb everything. They seriously put my feeble memory to shame. So if something happens in the political world, I no longer need to read the paper, because chances are my taxi driver or the people at work will tell me something about it. I know a lot about the uprisings in the middle east now. I mean, enough that I could probably be a political correspondent.

Schoolboy athletics meets
In Fiji, schoolboy athletics is more popular than adult athletics. The Coca Cola games is the biggest competition and it was just on. There was busloads of kids screaming, people everywhere, the coverage on the TV was national and the results made front page of the papers. For three days the whole of Fiji had massive ‘Coca Cola games fever’ and everyone was talking about it everywhere we went. I think it might even be bigger than rugby.

Slapstick comedy
If you do get hurt here, people are going to laugh at you.

Roti
These are so cheap and so good. The Indian diet has definitely been adopted by the whole country and roti are at the centre of it. It’s a good thing too, because there is only so much cassava a man can eat.

Greeting each other in the street
If you walk past someone you know, you have to say hello. Suva is about as populous as the shire, and the downtown area is only about as big as Miranda fair. I’ve been living here six months and I always run into people I know, so it must take Suva natives about an hour to walk across town with the amount of people they would be bumping into.

Children
People here actually don’t think of other people’s kids as annoying here. They actually dote on them, even picking them up and giving them hugs! What is that all about? In my world people just say that kids are important and valuable then treat them like inconveniences until they are old enough to vote, work and pay for things! Crazy backward Fijian culture!

Formalities
If there is an occasion, there is a speech.

“Mates rates” and the non-commerce-based implementation thereof
Gotta say that as annoying as this is, I probably would get involved in this in a big way if I was kaiviti.

Surprise dress regulations
Sorry… no thongs…. on Saturdays… and maybe Fridays…. and uh… long pants…. yeah wear those too… we like our club sweaty so you buy more beverages.

Putting money and clothes on performers mid-performance
I’m still getting my head around this one.

Top 40 hits
Since living here, I have grown a new appreciation for Rhianna, Akon, TI, Beyonce, Jason Mraz, Train, Lady Gaga and many others. I’m still not quite there on the ‘Beib train’ though, no matter how many times I hear it on the bus, in the taxi, on people’s ring-tones when you dial them or in the cluuub.

Corned beef
See: 2 minute noodles.

Bula shirts
Hawaiin print shirts that you can dress up for a formal dinner, or dress down for a day at the beach.

Pets
M: Bula honey, this cat followed me home. Can we keep him?
F: We already got 3 pregnant dogs, 4 cats, several mongooses and a chicken
M: You’re right, we need a bigger house.

Fruit
Totally understandable because it’s delicious here, and grows on countless fruit trees in every backyard and vacant block in the country. Despite this, our neighbours suckered Connie and Nikki into giving them our bananas off our only banana tree! They’re too nice for their own good sometimes.

The Dogs of McGregor Road

Fiji is a great country, with many beautiful things to see. Probably one of the least beautiful things in the country is the dog that lives at my work premises.

This dog is as foul a creature as anyone has ever dreamed. It has horrible bald patches on it’s hindquarters from days spent dragging ass on grass round and round the clothesline pole. It has dirty, horrible gray paws, gnarled growths in odd places all over, a short and slightly inbred looking head and a formidable odour. The pictures to not do it justice, I’m telling you this animal is so mangy and ugly it would probably make an onion cry. Now sadly, this is not one of those ‘diamond in the rough’ or ‘hunchback of notre dame’ type situations with a heart of gold behind the rough exterior. No, this foul beast delights in attempting to bite the living crap out of me every day.

There was one week in particular where the “sorrowful louse” waited at the top of the stairs every morning, and growled at me until I made an attempt to quickly jump over it. During my leap of faith the “wretched canine” would then try to snap at my ankles, usually following me up the remainder of the stairs biting and chomping until I made it inside. It was a mission every day just to get to my seat, and by the end of the week I was so on edge I was freaking out like a chainsmoker after a long haul flight. Someone said hello to me on my walk from the street to the office and I jumped so high I think I caught a glimpse of Samoa for a second.

Friday finally arrived and I walked gingerly into work. As I came upon the stairs I stopped and peered up looking for the “savage monster”, but to my shock he was nowhere to be seen. For a moment there was a monumental celebration going on in my head with firecrackers, a marching band and ceremonial monkeys on bicycles. Today I would be able to walk up the stairs with the respect I deserve as a lifetime member of the top level of the food chain. I took a few steps and then it dawned on me. Like admiral ackbar and many others before him:

I turned and saw it, the “grotesque salivating force” was rampaging towards me. Having fooled me into a false sense of security, the plan had worked like a charm and he would be upon me in seconds. I had about twelve stairs to climb to reach safety. He had only three or four meters of gap to close before he’d finally get to chomp the living crap out of my ankles. I turned and ran up the stairs. The “unworldly terror” was closing fast despite its mangy and slightly inbred legs, and in seconds it was growling and gearing up to start biting. I made it to the half way point up the stairs when it took the first lunge, snapping and missing by inches. I jumped and tried to run faster, looking out behind me for attacks. Snap! Snap! I just moved my ankle in time as his gnarled jaws crunched together again. With a massive leap I jumped through the office door to safety, the invisible line of inside and outside the only boundaries to an audacious lust for my blood.

After a week of this, and knowing I wouldn’t get anything done at all while I was so incapacitated by stress every day, I was presented with a key to the front gate, ensuring dog-free passage into my office. This was probably one of the greatest things I have been given in Fiji, and I am absolutely anal retentive about the key’s whereabouts at all times, as I sometimes have been accused of misplacing things as small as keys (Hunt loses his house keys twice in one week, 2011, Various Authors).

When I arrived back to work after my recent trip to Australia I was told the only news around the office was that “The puppies are getting bigger”. My first thought was “We have puppies? I must have missed a previous edition of the TGNI Times” and my second thought was “Uh oh… potential spawns of Satan!!” There are actually two dogs at my work, one is black and lovely, the other is the aforementioned “sentinel of the abyss”. I ran outside and saw two very cute looking puppies (good sign) trying to climb the stairs (bad sign) to get to their mother, the black dog (good sign!). I was happily convinced that spawns of “the demon that shall not be named” had successfully been avoided and thus I was free to play with and enjoy said puppies. Which I did.

After a few days I was walking around the back watching out for the “Destroyer of souls” when I came upon the puppies. There was actually three, and one had a golden streak on it very reminiscent of one “Harbinger of sorrow and malice”. Just then a thought occured to me… maybe the black dog was the mother and the “Murdurous rampaging juggernaut of destruction and filth” was the father? The puppies all started barking at me and advanced menacingly. I was confused and alarmed but not really afraid… since they were cute puppies. When they closed the distance I was waiting to see what would happen. I steeled myself and waited to see what kind of a biting a ferocious puppy could inflict. They made it to within striking distance of my legs and one let out a not-quite-yet menacing growl…and they all started licking my legs.

It seems when you cross good with bad you get bizarre.

Here is a youtube clip of the new editions for those who have been pestering me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHare0YN6wk

Return to Oz Part 2: The Recap

For the most part, Fiji is not a difficult place to live, in fact many facebook chat exchanges with volunteers in legitimate situations where they are actually roughing it go like this:

14:53 I got a sweet coffee grinder
unnamed-volunteer-in-a-crazyass-place* is offline.

(* online name changed to protect the innocent)

So when I went back to Sydney and a lot of people asked “Is it good to be back?” and “Do you think you will stay longer?” and “Have you tried kava? What’s it like?” I didn’t know how to answer? I mean I wrote about my kava experiences already! Aren’t they reading my blog religiously? Also… my horrible secret is that Suva city is a lot like Australia, except the coffee sux, everyone is tall and black and my friends and family are only on computer. So in both a sociological and geographical sense, being back is both strange and familiar. Mind you, rural Fiji is very much a developing country – I just don’t live in that part on a day-to-day basis.

It was great to come back and see everyone I love, and there were some amazing experiences in such a short week, but I kind of missed Fiji a bit, because at the moment it is home, and maybe even becoming comfortable. I’ve always thought of expat Suva to be a bit of a false community, because there are so few of us, and everyone is coming and going a lot, so the depth of relationship is hard to attain, but going back made me realise even more that I have genuine friendships in Suva, so I predict for the foreseeable future I will love wherever I am but miss wherever I am not in my trips between the Feej and Australia.

As far as back home goes, for the sake of brevity I will catagorise my comings and goings.

Good times:

• Dee and I both caught marlin and Dan and Kyle were stuck on a ship with nothing to do but talk to me. Kyle also hooked a dolphin which is pretty unheard of.
• My mum’s birthday was beautiful.
• I finally played the new COD and got killed a lot because I have no idea about the maps.
• I got to go to my church twice and had lunch with some great friends.
• White horse and Single Origin! Proper coffee! Frozen Ristretto!
• Seeing how much people’s babies had grown even in 4 months.
• Taking my boat out on the harbour with Eddy.
• Rockband session with the crew that involved more gear than a real band uses.
• Mexican food in Newcastle with Carla.

Regrets:

• I packed to go back to Fiji too quickly and accidentally left a lot of things in Sydney… like my camera charger.
• I didn’t buy any Powerade™ powder, which was pretty high up on the list.
• I should have brought back more heavy wooden souvenirs because next trip I can see myself being over the luggage allowance.
• Shoulda bought more coffee 😦
• I didn’t get to see some people that are very important.

I had a beautiful breakfast of poached eggs and amazing coffee on Monday morning with my brother then came back to Suva. It was sad to say goodbye again to a lot of people that we loved.

Nikki’s parents are in town at the moment and her mum mentioned she reads my blog and enjoys it. So here’s a shout-out to you Mrs Harte. It was nice having teppanyaki with you! I also caught one movie already since I was back, and dismayed over suckerpunch getting delayed until the 7th of april. Here’s my review anyway:

Battle: LA – This is another “deceptive preview” movie where all the shorts make it seem like it’s the greatest movie ever and it turns out to be ok, and not at all the type of movie that they paint it to be. If they just made movies to accurately represent what they show you in previews I would be a lot happier. I’m secretly terrified suckerpunch is going to be like this. Battle: LA was less of a starship troopers type assault on crazy mechanical aliens and more of a black hawk down style survival movie that made me feel like I was playing one of those splinter cell games. I might have to go see the King’s Speech to purge myself. Rating: Excellence in explosion frequency.

Return to Oz Part 1: Not Oz at All

I’m heading back to see my family and friends in Australia. There are a few family gatherings on for birthdays and although Fiji is awesome I do miss some things about Sydney, and the beautiful people living there.

I had teppanyaki with Connie, Grace and Nikki for lunch. It’s a little pricey ($10 aud/$18fjd) so we usually look for an excuse to go because otherwise we feel like we are blowing our whole allowance on one meal, even though that is far from true. Today’s excuse was my “farewell lunch”. Glen would have come, but the habitats didn’t pick him up in the taxi so he probably was left with a bunch of dalo and some bele at the markets… cruel girls, very cruel.

I headed off in the afternoon for my house to pick up some things and go. I was in a hurry and of course hit the worst traffic so far that I’ve seen on my way home. I think I was stuck at the flagstaff intersection for about two whole minutes! inexcusable! Once home, I grabbed my stuff and headed to the bus bay. There was a bus waiting but I opted to let it go and wait one and a half hours to try out the new Chinese made buses I have heard so much about in Suva. It was very swish inside, but there was one problem that should have been picked up before they put in that bulk order. The seats are made for chinese people and not Fijians. I barely fit into the seat and I’m half the size of some Fijians. I seriously cannot imagine how this is going to work, because the seat width and legroom is not going to work in this country. Ruh roh.

So I got to Nadi and manged to save $1.50 Fijian by not getting in the dodgey bus stand “taxi” cars, instead I walked 3 blocks to the main street and got in a legit taxi. It probably wasn’t worth it.

I know you guys probably don’t want to hear much about Australia since you basically all live there, so I’ll post up a picture of my hostel room to increase the Fijian-ness of this blog entry. It was $18fjd which is $10aud and only has two beds in it. If I get back home with no diseases it will be a net gain.

On a personal note…

I’ve been commentating a lot so I thought I would strip it back a little and just give you an update as to what has been going on. Connie and I have been continuing in our assignments working on various tasks. Probably the coolest news from my assignment is that I might be helping start a prawn farm 😀 and Connie’s top news was that she was on the news, walking in the background of a village.

Our house is going amazing, we live with 3 other very nice people. Glen has got me addicted to football manager and I’m happy to report watford won the champions league and premier league double this season. Nikki has got me addicted to pacific splits which are like splits and splices back home, except they only cost 55c so we are in big trouble for our diets. Grace is our other housemate and we enjoy having verbal banter which usually involves me chasing her around the house whipping at her legs with a tea towel. So far I haven’t drawn blood (I’m sorry Coggo and Nath, I have failed you both).

Suva city is in the middle of hot season. If you check a 2 week forecast it is the same every day – 30 during the day, 24 at night, storm in the afternoon, mosquito plague invasions at night. It’s like clockwork. We had a 29 degree day last week and even the expats had themselves convinced it was a cold snap; people were wearing jackets and beanies in the streets.

We managed to get away again a couple of weekends ago to the yasawa island group, which is touristy Fiji. It was nice but now that I’ve been to some of the quiet out of the way places, I can’t hack the people or the prices of the tourist brochure Fiji anymore. There are so many nice people and places in Fiji.

I booked flights to come back to Australia, so stay tuned and hopefully I’ll have a night in the city where we can all hang out. I’m more of a small groups kind of guy, but I think with the time I have it is the only way to see all the people I love, and be around for things I really want to go to like church and birthdays.

I’ve muscled my way into a couple of sports teams over here. Tuesdays Is the day of DOOOOOM because I play a 45 minute half of full field soccer, and then play a basketball game in vodafone arena afterwards (which I might add is like an oven). I also play soccer Fridays, usually only a half game again. Both our teams are undefeated, but I’m not contributing much in basketball. I’ve scored one point in three games

Unfortunately the films coming out over the last couple of weeks have been a bit trash so I don’t have any reviews for you, but I did see a NZ film called boy that was very good, and I’m quite excited about suckerpunch. I’ve also been watching season 3 of the wire and playing guitar scales a lot.

Anyways, that’s all the news for now – take care people! Hit me up with your news if I forget to ask ok?!