Cola vina kemuni kece,
So I didn't email yesterday because the public holiday had all of the internet shops closed. It kinda sucked but Fiji knows how to party.
My week this week was really nothing super special. Just lots of normal day to day things. Proselyting, walking, slipping in rain and mud. That sort of thing. I am finally getting around to your tons of questions today, so tons of answers. See if you can guess the question from the answer.
-We do not go home for lunch. We do our studies until 11 in the afternoon, eat quickly and then are usually gone the next hour.
-A typical food day...so for breakfast we will usually just drink cocoa or something. For lunch we will make some Chow and tin fish with rice (something like that). For dinner it is kind of whatever our members make us. Fish, chicken, chopsuey, rourou, kasava, dalo.
-We walk all day. Lots of walking.....LOTS of walking.
-I really am not about the spiders here, they are pretty gross. Also I'm really not a fan of the fish markets. I hate the smell.
-Awkward teaching moment, well we were going over the baptismal questions with Maraia (my first baptism in Bau) and I didn't know how to say some words to describe sexual misconduct so I used the only word I knew...not a swear word but not polite. I didn't mean it offensively, I just needed to be understood. It wasn't as much awkward as it just made her and her nieces die laughing.That's probably my awkward language moment as well.
-I just want to know if missionaries in Europe use toilet paper or not. Someone told me they don't but that doesn't make sense to me.
-I would tell 14 year old me, "Mack on all the cuties!"
-All my companions have been pretty cool. Not to many weird habits. Elda Visawaqa, my first companion, used to shower 5 times a day.
-I don't think I have one of those "Don't tell Mom" stories yet.
-I don't really feel home sick. I absolutely think Fiji is the greatest place on the world. I do, however, believe it is misadvertised...a bit.
-All the Resorts are in the West, Suva area, and Vanualevu. No where near me. There are tourists, but they never talk to us. I'm sure there is a tourist season, but we don't really pay attention to it.
-We get medicine from our mission nurse, I know not where she gets it from.
-I miss food the most. I miss basic white kids the least.
- Yes I miss Sister Grimmer.
-Here for work people do all sorts of things. Fishing, accountants, PR, athletes, Sugar Cane, Farmers. Tons of things.
-They are recovery really well from the typhoon. They have a very resilient spirit. It kind of looks like New York after Hurricane Sandy.
-People love that I can speak there language. Especially the lewas. I have mad game in Fiji. The language is coming. Toso vamalua. I understand and know vocab, my grammar is still under construction though. I can read it. I've dreamt in it before. Valailai ga.
-People actually speak tons of English. There are actually Fijians who prefer speaking to me in English rather than Fijian. Kids are taught English in school now.
-Chiefs are more like a head of state rather than a head of government. He's purely village based. However everyone respects them.
-People wear normal clothes. Lots of second hand stuff. Sometimes there are naked babies running around.
-The majority of Fijians are Christian, Indians are mostly Hindu and Muslim. Basically every Fijian is Chrisian. They celebrate Easter the same as us.
-We are allowed to eat pretty much everything as long as we can find it. I don't know what Balut is...
-They have a Fiji Day, their July 4th. They also have things like National Sports Day and now a "We won a Gold Medal" Day!!
-There are snakes, however I've only ever seen one, a sea snake.
-I did help clean up a lot after the typhoon.
-I have ridden in a few boats. Nothing crazy though. Just little fiber glass or wood ones.
-Raw fish was a first for me. Gibblets. Literally just a fried onion. We just get hungry and get creative.
I hope this has shed some light on my life. I love you guys so much. Until next week.
Elda Dawson
--
Peace Be Still
Keep it Real
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