Wednesday, March 29, 2006

24 things

comments should be back on, sorry to have lost yours and I have no way to reply to any recently left comments. apologies.




10 things I like about Fiji

1. The lush greenery as far as the eyes can see, and the mountains.
2. The gardening
3. Fresh fruit and veggies. There is nothing like a banana from your own tree, so sweet and soft. (Organic is not the specialty, it is the norm, straight from the ground to the market stand, no additives or pesticides)
4. The rain storms – can be frightening and powerful but the fresh cool breeze that accompanies it is like nothing else
5. You can drive like a nut
6. Round-abouts on the roads, instead of 4 way stops, makes driving even more fun.
7. People loves babies here, I rarely have to hold mine when doing the shopping, someone always just comes up and holds and snuggles him for as long as I’m doing my shopping. This also applies in restaurants, resorts and airports.
8. Have I mentioned the beaches and water?
9. The underwater Garden of Eden that is prevalent under every drop of ocean water here. If you snorkel, it’s like a communion, taking in all what God has given, unbelievable and pure…..
10. The people that make up this country, vastly different from each other, yet making it work for the sake of their country.
11. Ok, I had one more…. i love the winter here! Temps that are do-able and lowered humidity.
12. rhino beetles... they look just like little black rhinos.


10 things I dislike about Fiji

1. The humidity…. we are talking 800% humidity in the summer.
2. The season of cane burning and the general all year-round burning of roadside rubbish…. pyros. We are probably all environmentally asthmatic. No visible sign of legal enforcement, even though the burning of the cane fields is illegal.
3. Availability of products…sometimes it takes 3 months to get all the things you need to just make lasagna.
4. It never snows here!
5. EVERYONE drives like a nut.
6. Housework is a fulltime endeavor. Every day is spent in a spring-cleaning mode. No such thing as a once a week go-over.
7. People forget about the older child and, I think, rudely ignore the child once he’s past the baby stage. Eli wanders why he gets no attention these days.
8. Getting to the beautiful shores is an hour’s drive or a boat trip or, if there is space, a seaplane ride. We rarely get to the beach. The closest beach here is an hour drive and the nice tranquil side of it has been sold off to the highest hotel bidder and no one gets to use that beach unless you are staying there, the hotel won’t be complete for another 2 years. Really lame and shortsighted.
9. Little and/or no enforcement of endangered species and reef preservation/conservation
10. The military coups. We are coming up on an election in May and people are getting a bit nervous and the police seem to have very little power.
11. Yes, another one, it’s really far from my ‘peeps’ would that it was a quicker trip, closer to my loved ones and Wal-Mart. I love Wal-Mart;)
12. cochroaches, moths the size of baseballs, ants (fire and regular), preying mantis (apparently you don't want them to pee in your eye or you'll go blind. this is not a problem as, generally speaking, we don't let anything pee in our eyes!), Minah birds (smaller than ravens, scream louder than ravens, poop more than ravens), spiders (although we are told they are not poison-laden, they still sting/bite and a really creepy and large)


Now, you know I have left out plenty of things from this list, as always, the grass is greener on that other side but Fiji is just a country you have to know it, to love it. We are actually getting to know it. moce.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

tagged

read on, seems like really boring stuff to me.

1. 4 jobs I’ve had
• Mommy mamasita mother Na Mom Mum Mama…..
• Customer Service Agent/Airline employee aka….secret agent (as we called ourselves anyway!)
• owner/operator convenience store
• Medical Transportation Officer – except we didn’t get badges like some other kinds of officers!

2. 4 movies I can watch over and over
• Matrix
• anything Jackie Chan
• So I married an axe murderer
• anything Will Smith (EVEN the Fresh Prince)

3. 4 places I’ve lived
• Regina
• Yellowknife
• Nadi, Fiji Islands
• seriously? As an adult I have only lived in 3 places? What an awakening I’m having.

4. 4 TV shows I watch(ed)
• Kumars on 42nd (hilarious show from London about Indian family and their talk show host son)
• NCIS
• Lost
• CSI

5. 4 places I’ve vacationed (or more)
• UK & misc Caribbean Islands
• USA & Mexico
• United Arab Emirates
• New Zealand/Australia

6. 4 of my favorite dishes
• KD who doesn't love to shovel in the mac and cheese
• My Moms Lasagna
• My Sisters Cesaer salad
• sushi, sashimi etc

7. 4 sites I visit daily
• tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com
• tesspeak.typepad.com/my_weblog
• charlescaldwell.typepad.com/the_searchlight_of_insigh/
community.webshots.com/user/bjr1008.

4 places I’d rather be right now
• Not really any other place I’d rather be. My boys and my husband are here.
• however, I would bring all my ‘peeps’ to me if I had an option.

whoops.

here is me, trying to be all technical teddy and such and have lost all comments on my blog, and apparently the option to leave comments....even though at the end of each post is a comment option...will the real slim shady just please stand up? If only I could remember what I did last time I did this! Whoops.

Monday, March 27, 2006

day old news

In the news....


'MAN SHOT, police believe theives had gun'

'measles outbreak and conjunctavitus outbreak over most of Vanua levu.'

'Lumina Estima people mover -cheap running- deisel 4wd- a/c - sunroof - ER registration - seats 7 - asking 23k' (we are looking for a van)

'School holidays delayed due to upcoming elections'


that's about it for this bitty of day-old news

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

forgettable things

This is week 3 of illness at our house. Alec and Elias have just finished a round of antibiotics, in time for Elias to catch a cold. Vaughn has a cold, I was down for the count last week for 3 whole days....I didn't spend that mch time in bed right after having a stinkin' baby for petes sakes! Gerry, as you have noted on the previous pic has been dealing with the worlds' nastiest boil and just finished his meds in time to catch a cold too. To top it off, I busted a toe 2 nights ago.

On a positive note, somewhere between all this illness, I actually managed to get a hair trim. I got ticked at my hair and kinda hacked at my 'fringe' (south pacific for 'bangs') So, if that don't beat all!

I spent this a.m. doing gardening and if you have never gardened with a cane knife a.k.a. machete you have not lived! I imagine I'm a super-spy (think Alias) and am honeing my skills with a little 'karate kid' lessons (you know wax on-wax off type of repetition and then all of a sudden, whamo! You can chop wood with your bare hands) That kind of gardening is good for the spirit! Plus, it's the only thing I do that lasts more than 50 seconds.

My boys are watching Wallace and Grommet the curse of the were rabbit. They don't seem to be too interested in it. (we are large purchasers of the gray area of video/movie copyright laws in Fiji) Vaughn wants to have something to eat/drink and is keen to use his teeth at the same time. Presently he and I are at an impasse on the whole nursing thing. Firstly, I will need him to withdraw his chompers from my .. er.. uhm... contract and He seems to need me producing steak from the aforementioned contract! see? impasse.

Well, Ger gets to overnight up at Yasawa Island resort. (I think the last celeb that stayed there was Ralph Lauren and family) http://www.yasawa.com/home_eng.htm you'll get the picture why I don't feel so sorry for him.

That's the latest in a long line of forgettable things. moce.

Friday, March 17, 2006

pics

After weeks of trying to post and getting nowhere, this is what I have come up with!

Part of the Honigman crew. Gerry, his Dad, Rye, and the boys. This was taken the night Rye moved back to Canada.









This lovely is what Gerry has been dealing with for a few weeks now. This is actually a boil that is on it's way to healing. It looks gross now but you should have seen it before! Boils are part of life in the tropics. Very common to get them. So far, only Vaughn and I have managed to avoid them. Alec had a nasty few in his ear that totally sealed it and a few on the leg and abdominals. Elias had several on his head. It is not like anything I have ever seen and I have a tough gut but his thing almost made me lose the plot. as close as I've ever come to it anyway! ENJOY!