Trial and Error

I’ve spent the last three weeks baking and trialing various recipes. One morning, I tried my hand at making waffles and it came out nicely (and I made maple syrup to go with it). That same day, I baked a chocolate cake but I burnt the bottom (too long in oven) and I almost broke my right arm whisking the butter and icing sugar for the cake. The icing turned out very nice.

The next week, I found a flapjack recipe in a magazine and offered to make a batch for breakie again. It was delicious!!

That following afternoon, mum asked me to make some more flapjacks for tea and I came up with a hitch and bungled the pancakes.

Just Thursday gone by, I taught the ladies in church how to make chocolate coconut balls (ChoCo Balls) that was a favourite recipe of mine from a long time ago. It turned out perfect (as usual) and the children loved it (as well as their mother’s).

Last night (by the way, this is one of my home made posts that were uploaded the next day), I made chocolate fudge and believe me when I say that it was a LONG TIME since I had last made that particular delicacy. I was hooked and wanted to try it again but I came up short and bungled the caramel mix (SHIT).

I don’t know how many more recipe’s I’m gonna try my hand at but it looks very promising for me. Mum says I have the makings of a good desert chef at home… LOL

I hope I can prove her right…

I read this interesting book about making wishes and the history of wish making. It concerns the experience of Noelle Oxenhandler and how she took a year to make 3 wishes and experience how they came to pass. There are several things I learnt from that book:

A wish gives one the chance to release energy into the universe.

A wish must be made without doubt or fear or any negative thought/emotion that could deter the energy released in the wish from drawing what you need to you.

To make a wish requires one to take the extra mile and ensure that one does everything to bring oneself in alignment to the wish’s fulfillment.

A wish is best kept secret; only to be shared with those who can encourage you in keeping the wish alive.

One needs to be specific at times as to what you are wishing e.g. I wish for $299 to buy the new Alcatel on sale at Courts Homecentre.

One’s wish can be materialistic as well as psychological, spiritual or moral.

I’ve learnt all that and even more. To that end, I’ve taken it on myself to drawing up a wishlist and sending out all my conscious thought towards the power of the wish. I won’t detail it here because I want to keep it personal but you can know that it’s mostly material wishing.

Wish me luck!

I'm headed to India

Oh yeah.... this is something quick just to show y'all what i'll be up to in NOvember:



if you haven't guessed it's a program that'll see me in New Delhi... YAY!

oh and here's a little something to commemorate India:

Living in Transition

It’s been a while since I’ve had the chance to upload something on to this blog. Too long I say. So much has happened in the past month that I’ll try and sum it all up.

Since I’ve come back from the Disaster Assessment Tour of Cakaudrove following from Cyclone Tomas, and immediately began preparations for a trip to Suva.

This trip to Suva was for the “Together We Can” Project training. This project is Red Cross’s Peer Education component for their HIV/AIDS prevention and education. Frances, Ateca and I represented Savusavu and we met volunteers from every branch in Fiji e.g. Levuka, Taveuni, Sigatoka, Rakiraki, etc... It was absolutely fun and a pure teambuilding week for us volunteers. We all became so close that when it came for us to depart, everybody was in tears. Yes, that was a definite highlight for me.

Coming back to Savusavu, myself and the two girls busied ourselves with preparing for the work we needed to do and at the same time spent every passing day either in Naverea or Vuniyasawa. Yes, there was grog involved in copious amounts. What bliss!

I must note that ever since we’ve come back from Suva, our mobiles have become a sort of hotline for all Red Cross Peer Educators. Day and night!

Oh I forgot an important piece of news, the week I was preparing to leave for Suva; Mum had been to Suva and came back with Jessica.

The week after I came back, we went to Labasa for a Northern Division meet and I had fun there; got to meet up with Mei Mili and visited the Labasa Branch office.

Came back and began preparing to fly over to Suva for a MEN Fiji consultation meeting. That was a good weekend for me.

While I was in Suva for the consultation meet, a combined Band of Suva Central and Lomaivuna Brass came to Savusavu for a camp and tour. This was a great week for all. They led music workshops and we had a mini concert on their last night. I’ve been tasked with putting together a report for the War Cry which I’ve done, I’m just waiting for the photos to be emailed to me from Nancy and Leibling.

Besides all that excitement, we’ve exchanged Jessica for William to stay with us (he came with Pingy along with Hannah)…

It’s been good these past few weeks and I’m looking forward to better days ahead.

I hate goodbyes

i have to farewell some really awesome people from suva

and i don't want to...

really sad right now

Hurricane Watch

So there’s a hurricane in development as I’m typing this post. Probably by the time it’s posted, the whole natural disaster would have passed us over and the relief work would have begun. I’m also hoping that when this post is uploaded, I’ll expect to be in Suva for the Together We Can project training. However it’s dependant on whether the branch can handle the relief work without the peer educators who will be in Suva.

Right now, I’m on standby and awaiting the call from our branch president or from the Labasa Branch for the disaster response team to go out and assess the damage as well as begin the logistical preparations for relief and assistance. This is my first disaster where I will be a part of the disaster response team on the ground. I’ve signed up for administration and logistical support during disasters so that’s where I’ll hope to be of most use since I’m not physically able to help at disaster sites.

Right now, the weather is slowly changing and the wind is picking up speed. What we’re hearing on the radio is that there are two different tropical cyclones headed for Vanua Levu; one from the North East and another from the North West. The danger here is that they could combine into one freak hurricane. Already it’s being predicted that this hurricane would be worser than Hurricane Bebe that hit Fiji in the 1970’s. That hurricane was the worst to hit us so far and this new one could top Bebe in every way.

We’re just waiting and watching. I’m lucky right now that the electricity is still on and that I can spend time typing out posts when I’m bored and in need of stress relief. A bonus for me is that I managed to pen two new poems, one is entitled: Questions… about life… about death; and the other is The Day will return. They are both good poems and I’m seeing a change and development in my writing style. You can be the judge of that when I’ve uploaded them onto this blog. This is it for now in Hurricane Watch; see you on the other side of the storm.

Jinxed

I seem to be jinxing my trip to Suva. The more and more I talk to people about the trip, the more it gets pushed back another week. I called Sevu this morning and he told me that the workshop had to be pushed back a week because the Director General (DG as we fondly call her) wants every branch to have their AGM’s before the volunteers head to Suva for training. And she wants to be present at the AGM’s for some reason… scary. I’ll just play it safe.

So we’ll have our branch AGM sometime next week-ish and I’m hoping to meet the other volunteers of the Savusavu branch. Apparently, most of the volunteers are firemen so it’ll be a crucial thing for me to meet and be introduced to them. I’m getting all flustered at the thought. LOL

I just hope I don’t jinx it, cause that’ll make me shitty for the week. A bonus for me this week is that I got to meet Pita (the other volunteer peer ed) and he is cute. He’s very friendly too. Very friendly. (can you sense my grin?)

But like the title says, I’d just as soon jinx it. I hope not. This Saturday we’ll be going to visit clients at Yaroi village and besides visitation we’ll be doing referrals as well. It’s going to be fun. Meanwhile, I was hoping to be in Suva for the Hope Concert but it doesn’t seem like that’ll happen at all since we have to leave on Monday after the Saturday concert. Gawd that sucks big time; the only thing I have to look forward to now is hearing Rhonda’s new song: “Vows go Unbroken” and seeing the choir members all together.

I’m also looking forward to attending at least one practice for the Suva Community Gospel Choir. That’s a good highlight for me; that and PV practice.

There’s so much to do but so little time to do it. I still have things to buy, at least with the money that Dad gave me; I was able to get the earrings I wanted, one pair of black crystal studs and another pair of black with pink stripes studs. Major plus to me. Hehehehe.

Time winding down & i'm going into cruise control

Life seems to slow down for me this week. Since Sevu came and left, I’m so excited about going down to Suva but it seems like forever till I go; it’s TWO WHOLE weeks before we leave. I’ve already got my list of things to buy when I get to town, the first being a new book to read. Then I’m also thinking about getting one pack of Africa’s Best relaxer and asking Frances to help me relax my hair. That’s like the top two on my list. Then there’s black nail polish and polish remover. And finally, DVDs for my aching collection at home.

I’d have to budget my allowance properly so that I can also take Jessica & William some McD’s or Fish & Chips for lunch, depending on which is financially viable for me.

I’d have to budget for meals (bfast & dinner), I was thinking of getting like some Chow noodles, eggs & tinned meat (plus onions) and cooking at the motel room kitchenette. That would erase my need to go and constantly buy dinner. It’s gonna be a labour of love for me to save my money and not spend needlessly. I was thinking of taking like $20 and depositing it into my bank account for emergencies. Just something I could tap into in need. But if all goes well, I wouldn’t even have to touch that money; just leave it for when I come back into Savusavu.

But even before I leave, there’s some stuff I’d like to get; like a pair of black crystal studs and some DVD’s for Rhonda (Who will of course have to pay me back when I get there). So there’s much to do in preparation for that time.

But again, I can’t seem to stress how slow time seems to crawl by this past week. I’m just hoping that I don’t lose my sanity in this preparation for Suva. God knows how excited I am at the prospect of seeing everyone back home again. I’ve also given some thought into job searching in Suva and also house hunting. I wanna be able to find something to take me through and also keep me going. It’s not that I want to leave mum and dad behind, it’s just that I need to begin to take care of myself, in my own way and in my own space. Cause if I keep tagging along, I’ll just keep sacrificing my personal identity to placate them; and that’s not me. Not One Bit.

So this is me, winding down and going into cruise control.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

You would not believe this but it’s an actual word. I mean it… I typed it on Word as the title for my next blog post and the spelling & grammar application told me that I had spelt it wrong and gave me the correct spelling. SHIT. I mean it’s bloody amazing. I’m still speechless. Seriously. Can’t you tell?

I found some really tight fonts and I’m hoping to grab some more pretty soon. Oh and I’ve found a really amazing quote by Catherine Booth I’ve made into a sticker-ish kinda thing, check it:



The mini sticker will go on all letters that I personally send, especially to stuff like my SWY application for this year and my YPF application. I’m sooo in love with it. Now all that’s left is for me to figure out how I am going to occupy my time here in Savusavu more effectively.

Big News. At the time this post goes on-net I’ll be in the new house. Once again, we’ll be living in transition, with boxes everywhere and life a living hell for me. I’m trying to get the message across to mum and dad that I’m not sharing any bedrooms with anyone. Not ever. My time sharing rooms are over. I want my personal space. Look, I’m not a teenager anymore; I’m not in high school. I will not share a room with anyone. Not now. Not ever. Hell to the No.

I’m excited about tomorrow (Sunday, 28 Feb)... Sevu comes into town and we’ll be meeting with the Branch volunteers at the Fire Station. I’m sooo excited. I wonder if the guys are cute… oops, too much information for this place… LOL

The humidity here is driving me insane. It’s hot and really sticky. I’m just thinking about getting in to the bathroom for a really long shower. Let me see, it’s five o’ clock now, I’ll be out of the shower by 9pm? Hahaha. Nah, I won’t take it that long. I want it just long enough to cool me down and leave me shivering.

Oh the afternoon breeze is amazing and the temperature is dropping but I still feel sticky and in need of another shower.

Looks like I’ll have to continue this post later, maybe tomorrow after the meeting. Fingers crossed we can have some grog. I’m also dying for a cigarette. It’s been yonks since my last roll. This incidentally was when mum and dad went to Suva and I took a stroll to the shop and smoked by the hot springs… LOL

Wonders upon wonders… it never ceases to amaze me how much can change in the space of a few hours. Since my last typing this post, I had a chat with mum and she said that I get my own space, no sharing. YES!!!! I wanna ask dad if he could find something that’ll work as a book shelf for my books. If there’s one thing I’m looking forward to in Suva is buying a new book (or two… three… four… hehehe). I’m so glad to have a room to myself, and it’s a huge room mum said, so there’ll be plenty of space. I wanna get a rug for my own, oh and I’m definitely saving up for my own laptop.

So many plans and yet no job to make them a reality. God will provide. I’m sure of it. I may be a sinner but I believe in a God who forgives and have faith in His ability to provide for me despite all I’ve done.

I know people doubt my faith and belief but its like I always say, it’s between me and God. What I believe in and how I exercise it is my own prerogative and no one else’s. People need to focus on their own walk with God and stop worrying about how I’m stumbling over mine.

So there you go, update number two on a Saturday night. LOL. This post will undergo more updates until it’s ready for posting on blogger on Monday (fingers crossed).

_
Once again something has taken place that’s changed situations, this time on a global scale in the space of time since my last post. An earthquake has struck the coastal state of Chile (8.8 on the Richter scale) and it has created a tsunami that at the time of this post will have reached Fiji, although I am not sure as to the extent of its damage to us. I pray for friends and family who live in the areas that can be affected by the tidal wave. I’m afraid that people will get complacent with how it will turn out. We’ve had previous warnings that never came to pass yet I fear that this is one that will hit and maybe with disastrous consequences (or not). I’m unsure as to how far the wave has traveled and also its speed, I am sure, however that the reefs around our islands will offer some protection, in the least.

God be with us all.

This is turning out to be a day of much apprehension and fear. I just got news that waves as high as four meters hit Tahiti this morning between 8-10am. Life has yet again dealt a blow to people all over the world. When the world is slowly helping Haiti pick up the pieces of its wreckage, Chile is rocked with an earthquake creating waves that could destroy the livelihoods of countless other people’s in other countries. Makes me feel like penning another poem... now that’s an idea!

Give me a sec and let me try and pen it…

-
The poem is still being penned and it seems to me that in between breaks for this post, things change over and over again.

When we moved into the new house, mum decided to move the office into the first bedroom and have only two bedrooms for us (meaning I’d have to share with someone… yuck). I didn’t kick up a fuss or anything; I just played it cool and bided my time. Meanwhile, Sevu’s flight was cancelled and so I spent yet another night in his hotel room. Somehow, between my stay overnight with Sevu and returning home in the morning, the living arrangements changed YET AGAIN!
This time with Capt Litiana pushing it through, the argument for privacy has won. I get to have my room to myself and the first bedroom can be the visitor’s room. I’m sooo bloody rejoicing right now. The only thing is for mum to start unpacking her stuff and move the boxes out of my room and put them in the back. I will not share my living space with her luggage. HELL NO. That’s the second argument I’ll have to fight and to the bitter end, I will.

So that’s it for this post of many changes. The word has lived up to its name: SUIPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS.

Another Week Passes By

Another week goes by and I’m slowly getting into the feel of things. I’ve finally met Francis (the health coordinator for the Savusavu Red Cross Branch) and I’m getting used to seeing new people around the house. I don’t know if I will ever get used to seeing frogs jump around the house, and it’s becoming a past time to count the numbers of moko (geckos) running around on the ceilings and walls of the house (15 at my last count). And as we slowly wind out our first and only month in this house, I can’t help but feel a wind of excitement draw me in as we finalise the documents and payments for the new house. We move in to the new house on the first of March (which is the week after next week).

There’s gonna be so much that I’ll be preparing for. One being the Peer Ed training for the FRCS Together We can Project. Sevu’s coming up sometime next week-ish to start recruiting Peer Eds from Taveuni and Savusavu for the training. The next thing I might have to look forward to is the upcoming peace camp. It’s being organized for April and George said that I could re-apply and see if I could get in. On the other hand I’m also gonna nominate Rhonda and whoever else might want to apply for the camp from the Choir.

So as you can see, my post is becoming more coherent and easier to understand. LOL. Meaning that I haven’t fallen bored and closed the document to continue it another day. However, this means that this post will be a short one as I’m slowly running out of things to put into this post. Internet here in Savusavu is annoying. There’s a computer place in town with good internet but the connection speed once you open a new tab just slows the whole pc down. Oh and I’m sure that it’s got a low RAM. Which reminds me, I have to get a new RAM chip (maybe just order it from the computer place and pay for the extra shipping charges. Also I have to ask how much it’ll cost to have the Sound Card changed. But I don’t want to give the pc for fixing only to wait a long time for it cause we need it for Corps Stuff. The shop does pc maintenance and they have a lot of old computers lying around, probably waiting to get fixed.

This promises to be a week full of different experiences, new ones and hopefully new places to be. There’s a funeral (my first one in Savusavu) and I think the Protex Clean Hands promotion comes to Savusavu this week and I’ll get to meet the other Red Cross volunteers here in Savusavu.

This is it for now. Catch up again in my next post.

Boredom Settling In

So here I am wondering about how this year would go for me. It seems like this slow, relaxed lifestyle isn’t so good. I miss the whole rushing around and going places that Suva affords me. Here, I just walk to town, check my emails at the internet shop and upload my updates on the blog. In Suva, I walk into town, I catch the bus to Vatuwaqa and wherever else I need to be and do so much in one day.

Even blogging from home is slightly a bore since I type it up one day and wait till I have money to go upload it. I wish I had internet at home so I could facebook, youtube and everything else from the comfort of my own home. It would make my life so much easier.

Right now, it’s my fingers crossed that I get into the Oxfam Youth Partnership program. I think we get allowances for communication costs and I’m hoping that I get it cause God knows my budget can’t handle the extra costs here in Savusavu. Thing sa already, I’m struggling to keep the bank account from closing by depositing ten bucks every month.

There’s a lot that I need to do but as each day passes, something else gets in the way of me accomplishing personal needs.

Check this out… this post right here is actually done over several days. I type something and then I get bored and close it for awhile. Open it again and continue a little more… it’s getting tiresome.

I just wish I could get internet at home so I could post regularly and also check email, facebook, bebo and youtube the rest of my life away. God only knows how much I’m dreaming of having a new laptop and internet.

LOL

This is sooo weirdly sporadic! Yet again I had to close the freaking post and then open and type in something new. Anyway, to the whole reason I’m adding on to this is: GLEE

OMG

I repeat

OMG

I just saw episode 12 and it totally rocked. I mean, it was so amazing. They did a scene with a deaf school choir who signed “Imagine” by John Lennon and were joined by the Glee Club choir singing and learning the signs along with them. It was sooo amazing. I actually cried. If only I could do the same with the PV’s or at least the Community Gospel Choir. That would be a truly amazing performance.


speaking of choir, they have auditions beginning today... gawd i miss them all.

hopefully i get to join them in singing someday this year.

sniff*sniff

Savusavu – boat rides and broken houses (PART II)

Now that I’ve had a chance to talk about my boat ride over here to the beautiful bay of Savusavu, let me try and describe the scenery. Oh and don’t forget, this is part II of my update.

When we got here, it was a little after 5am and there was nothing to see. We got to our house (oooohhh, just you wait till I tell you about it) and as the sun rose, ohmigosh the view from our terrace is spectacular. Looking out into the bay, with the little island across from us. We had the Hot Springs Hotel as our neighbour and the hot springs the hotel was named after at the foot of our drive way. Nice don’t you think?

WELL THINK AGAIN!

Our house was an absolute dump! I thought to myself that my mother’s day could not get any worse. The furniture was ruined beyond all recognition, the house was dingy, and the toilets… oh don’t let me get started on the toilets!

Bloody hell, it was disgusting. I couldn’t go to the bathroom for 2 whole days. My body was in such shock over the state of the toilet, it couldn’t function as it should (meaning – I was so shocked I couldn’t shit). Kaila!

The bathroom was damp and mum used a whole bottle of bleach to try and clean the shower area. It was terrible.

The kitchen had very little in stock. By that I meant that we had one fork, one teaspoon, two table spoons and one teeny tiny cutting knife that disappeared the following day after a church lunch. There were no pots and pans to cook with and the water was not safe for us to drink at all! Mum and I resorted to boiling huge pots of drau-ni-moli (lemon leaves) tea and keeping it aside in the fridge as drinking water. It was refreshing!

The upside to our living here is the price of food at the fresh produce market. We bought rourou, tubua, passionfruit, bananas and two huge paw paws for cheap! My passionfruits were $1 for 7 (so I bought $2 worth). We went to the fish market after and bought some fish for dinner that night along with some coconuts.

Our first night here was nothing eventful; it was the living arrangements that made us wary of everything.

Savusavu is a beautiful place. I just can’t wait to see its beauty in the comfort of our new house and away from the horror that is our interim place.

So there you have it… part II of my first two days in Savusavu plus the prelude (the boat ride).

Savusavu – boat rides and broken houses (PART I)

I was going to start from how beautiful this town is or describing how quaint it is and I remembered something… THE BOAT RIDE OVER.

Let me start from the very beginning. The boat to which I am referring to is the SS Suilven, the best inter-island ferry we have in this country. I first went on this boat in 2007 when after the Savusavu Music Festival, the then Malaga Singers returned from Savusavu aboard the Suilven bound for the capital city. It was a fun boat ride; we were put in the first class lounge so it was pretty decent (we even had bunk-like sleepers). I could never forget that ride. Ever.

So when mum decides to tell me that we were traveling to Savusavu in the Suilven, I thought to myself (YES!) and began pushing for us to get either first class tickets or the pricier but much better cabin tickets. You may ask, what’s the difference? Well, let’s just say that even though you’re first class and all that, you still have to share bathrooms with the economy class passengers. Cabin passengers, have their own spacious cabins with a really, really nice bathroom (including shower with hot water) that looks like it came out of a hotel catalogue. Meals come with the cabin (YUMMY!) and they can also use the first class lounge, should they choose to go there.

Now, you may say that I’m a snobby bitch, but let me remind you that we all seek the better things in life, even if it means spending a few extra dollars to travel in relative comfort.

So there I was, tempting my mother and father to buy the pricier tickets, all to no avail. We all got economy tickets. And it all went downhill from there!

Picture this. We’re sitting in the economy lounge, packed like sardines, people all over the place, some even lying in the spaces where it could be found. There were people everywhere: inside and outside. Then it happened. The air conditioner broke down and stopped working altogether (economy class only mind you; the cabin ac’s were working in fine order). I was stuck in the lounge with no air circulation, no space to move around, no space to lie down and nothing to drink to replenish my internal water supply that was being sweated out in this 11 hour voyage. All I could do was periodically walk around the outside of the boat, navigating my way round sleeping bodies so I could get some fresh air and then return to my hot, humid and sweat smelling corner. I must say, the smell of human bodies cramped in one space with no ventilation is absolutely nauseating and disgusting to say the least. I have to be hones about that. I felt bad for the babies and children who had to coop up in that space.

Mum and dad? Well they spent the night on the benches outside.

I’ve had a fair amount of chances to berate them for not getting us better tickets on that ship. We’ve all agreed that if we are to travel back to Suva by boat, it’ll be in the cabins or we won’t travel at all. I’m gonna keep them to their word.

Looks like I’ll have to continue this later cause talking about our house is another long post with elaborate descriptions. Keep an eye out for Part II of this blog post.

New Year, New Change

Yeah, so i had fun reading back to my old posts and i've realised that i am one vain bitch (if you dont' mind me being blunt). Life's changed so much from my earlier ranting and raving about how unfair life is and how despairing it's all become. so much's happened and i'm looking forward to making a real impact with it.

It's 2010 and i've decided to move forward with the times (note, keep an eye out for a poem i've penned on this new outlook) and since i couldn't grab a diary for this year, i'll have to make a concerted effort to post more on this blog that i've renamed into NESIAN PERSPECTIVE. I thought of so many names but i stuck with this one cause it means that i can talk about stuff related to me and my community and how the work i want to do or am doing can contribute to society's growth and developing the skills base of young people in Fiji.

I'm moving out of Suva to the northern town of Savusavu with my parents. A far off paradise and i'm excited to say the least. of course i'm pensive about what to expect but i'm glad to know that it's a new chapter of my life just waiting to unfold. who knows what Savusavu holds for me?

Packing up stuff at home just made me realise how much stuff i've learnt and accumulated in the past year alone. i'm grateful for the lessons i've learnt in 2009 and i'm hopeful for the great things i'm gonna do this year, whether i'm in Suva or Savusavu.

Ofa 'atu,

SY