Fiji: Kadavu (Part 2)

Before I continue my Fiji adventure, a quick note about why i have been absent from posting for so long - i work a lot. if you'd like more posts, but your money where your mouth is and donate - www.murphyforcongress.com.

moving on. i left off upon my arrival in kadavu and the screaming upon meeting em at the airshack. we begin to skip away from the airshack and i begin to relate my harrowing tale from the nadi airport and almost not being able to come. we stop mid dirt road and walk back to the airshack with fumes coming from em's ears. we march up to the ticket counter (literally, a closet in the "airport") and i learn my first fijian - "duna lenga" - which means "i have a problem" it is a strong phrase to use as "senga ne lenga" or "no worries" is a commonly used term to describe any issues one might have on the island. exp. "wow, we don't have power for 3 days" "senga ne lenga!" or "gosh, there is a rat in my shower" "senga ne lenga!" and so on.

so we have a lovely conversation with the ticket guy, who happens to be married to one of the nurses that em works with - so he was quite helpful. we will be returning to this counter in a few days (after the weekend - remember, when though i left on a thursday afternoon, it is now saturday morning)

we start out on the main road again, heading to em's house. i am completely taken aback by how beautiful kadavu is. everything you would imagine a tropical paradise to be. for example, one of the top causes of death is to be standing under a coconut tree and have a coconut fall on your head (fyi: this will kill you) - and it is a serious concern - people don't stand under coconut trees - and there are so many of them! on one side of the road is the ocean, and it is BEAUTIFUL all turquoise and blue and jewel toned. on the other side are the houses and the villages. we turn right up a rather large hill next to a secondary school to go to em's. at the top of the hill are a row of cement gov't issues houses. and em's is right in the middle of them.

we walk in and proceed to have lovely chat with karen (the roommate and a non-positive person) and brandon (other pcv on entire island of kadavu). once i reveal i have brought treats (on behalf of myself and mulli) i was attacked until i gave the chocolate and york peppermint patty cookies up. books that i had brought to read myself were taken from my hands and devoured in a matter of hours. it's very easy to feel special in kadavu.

while karen and brandon enjoyed the books em and i took a walk around her island. i'm still amazed by what i'm seeing - it's positively breathtaking - words cannot describe. we walk past her hospital, past the post office and the grocery store. we stop there to pick up some stuff for the uber-exciting dinner the 4 of us are going to have. there are "fresh" tomatoes and coke's in from the boat and so we prepare to feast on pasta w/ tomato sauce and garlic bread with coke and rum's (rum supplied by the lovely duty free shop that morning at 5am - thanks guys!). at 6 the power came on and we were able to watch the 1 hour music video special. fiji has delayed music videos but hipper commercials - special. there is only one tv channel, fiji 1, which for being the only channel, has pretty fabulous programming.

we sat around for the rest of the night telling "that one time in college" stories, and was mainly comprised of me regaling them with drunk emily martin stories - lovely. we ended the evening listening to my ipod and emily declaring several time "oh this song! i forgot this existed" makes you a little sad . . .