Hi HO HO and Merry Xmas and (post) Chanuka to y’all!
Am writing from my very breezy room courtesy of Cyclone Evan
which is lashing about Fiji, and although Rotuma was issued a Cyclone warning,
we haven't had anything major happen here besides nice cool winds (the type
that blow through the window and make the ceiling fans move...)
When they issued the warning I got all excited and started
thinking of how we can prepare for it... Carl did his thing by bracing our
house in a few places and nailing some boards up against the windows in the
house we’re currently in, and me??? I harvested Pineapples to make Jam (so that
the cyclonic winds wont blow the beautiful Pineapples away), harvested loads of
bananas and baked 3 banana breads (to freeze, you never know...) harvested a
lot of my basil (the only thing that has survived the harsh Rotuman heat in my
garden) and made a batch of Pesto, in case Evan might blow my precious Basil
plants away, and ended up making a delicious meal of Spaghetti with seared
fresh Tuna, Rocket, Chilli and Lime. YUM. How else does one prepare for a
Cyclone???
Carl bracing for the cyclone (sorry you gotta twist your head!)
Carl bracing for the cyclone (sorry you gotta twist your head!)
The kids were getting really excited and kept asking if the
“Curricane” has arrived, but luckily, and to their disappointment, we have been
(to date) spared the worse. Apparently its hitting Fiji big time right now, but
I don’t really know what the effects are. Hopefully not too bad!
It is the festive season here too, not nearly as
outrageously exhibited as back home, but still, on December 1st most
people here put away their cane knives and stop working for the whole month and
celebrate.
Rotuman celebrations include the annual farmer shows, in
which each village has their day of farmers boasting their MASSIVE pride....
Watermelons, pineapples, Taro, Bananas, Cassava, and there is a competition and
prizes and everyone is merry.
Another traditional celebration is the “Farah”, where a
group of people, or a whole village get together, dress up in traditional gear
and go around the island, or from house to house in their village, park
themselves in front of some ones house and start singing and dancing
traditional Rotuman songs and dances. The “hosts” then have to come out with
bottles of perfume and Talcum powder and douse the entertainers, as well as
offer them treats (watermelon, lollies, whatever). This can happen at any time
of the day or night, and quite often people go around in the middle of the
night and could arrive at your home at 2am and you gotta get up and enjoy their
entertainment. The 2am-ers are usually the drunks, hopefully they will skip our
home when doing their rounds...
I went on a couple “Farah’s” organized for the kids in our
village, the boys love getting dressed up in their “Bula shirts” and waiting in
anticipation for what kind of treats they will get. As for the dancing- Noah is
the one who is always up there shaking his stuff, making sure he gets to his
little girlf Briseis, to ask her to dance before any other kid does, and they
dance the night away.
As for Saulei, he refuses to get up from my lap (until the
treats are brought out) and hardly even lifts his head from the ground (thinking
if he doesn’t see anybody- no one will see him) in fear of being asked to
dance. It appears though that the “Henfisi” (white girl) is quite popular among
the 6-10yr old boys of the village, and I always get asked to dance by some
blushing excited little boy....
"Farah"
We return home from these things looking like zombies and
smelling like brothels, but very happy...
Carls dad returned to Oz last week after 7 weeks of hard
work here. He helped build the bathroom of our house and they worked really
hard on it. The laying of the bricks turned out to be much harder than
expected, but it is done. The brick laying and roof that is. It still needs to
be rendered, fitted, plumbed, tiled and everything else, but we have a shell.
The process of building the bathroom... more process...
The boys manualy turning the high-tec cement mixer
The process of building the bathroom... more process...
The boys manualy turning the high-tec cement mixer
The Bathroom shell (it looks a bit more like a bar at the moment...)
Carls uncle Varo, aunt Aggie and son Muero have gone to Fiji for a few months leaving us alone in their house (well, almost alone, with his old uncle Ringa). It was sad to see them go, especially Aggie, as she is my main company here, but they are happily in Fiji with their kids and grandkids.
This means that we are, for the first time in –I don’t know
how long- just us four (well, almost), a family of US. This means so much more
freedom and less stress over bulk cooking and meal planning and cleaning and
bla bla bla. I can decide to wack up a
meal for 5 in 10 minutes and it is sooooo easy!!! Am loving it!!! I have more
time to play with the kids and do other stuff, and its a joy.
Farewell Pa...
Carls uncle Varo, aunt Aggie and son Muero have gone to Fiji for a few months leaving us alone in their house (well, almost alone, with his old uncle Ringa). It was sad to see them go, especially Aggie, as she is my main company here, but they are happily in Fiji with their kids and grandkids.
A wonderful thing that has happened- I have a new friend!!!!
She is the loveliest Samoan woman, mother of 8 (!!!) great kids, one of which
has become Carls surf BFF) and the wife of a Rotuman doctor. They all live in
Fiji but have a house here and come here for holidays.
I cant emphasize enough how nice it is to have a friend here
who is a foreigner like me, who knows how it feels to be a foreigner in this
culture, who appreciates the things that I appreciate and who can really
understand where I come from and how I feel about life here.
Their whole family are very kind and generous, they invited
us over for dinner the other night and we had the nicest night I have had since
leaving Sydney 7 months ago! It was such a treat!!! There was a Xmas tree which
the kids couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw it and hung around it most
the night, We had bottle after bottle of lovely Spanish wine, we ate STEAK and
decent Sausages and HAM and salads- all the things we JUST DONT HAVE here and I
felt NORMAL!!! Great company, great food, hanging out with GIRLS- it was like
HONEY poured all over my soul...
The thrill of a real Xmas tree!!! (excuse the head twisting again...)
And because we both know how we love the good things in life
we are constantly exchanging little treats with each other, I bring her soaps,
she sends me home with some yummy wholemeal nutty bread she brought from Suva,
I bring her books (THE trilogy!!!) she sends over a pound of butter, I give her
some home made pesto, she sends a basket full of vegies, I send her some home
made virgin coconut oil and some divine Red wine liqueur vinegar my in-laws
brought, and so on...
AND, her son, Carls BFF, just returned from Suva and brought
us 6kg’s of BACON!!!!! Yes!!!!!!! Bacon Bacon Bacon! Bacon Bacon Bacon!!! Bacon
and egg rolls, bacon in fried rice, bacon pasta... YOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!! I am one
happy Jewess!Every few days I jump on the bike and ride down to her village, we go for a swim and bob up and down in the water for ages chatting about meaningful things!!!! Such a treat!
The house is looking beautiful, nothing yet happening on the
inside, but the outside looks great! After Carls dad left, Carl had decided to
take a very well deserved break from the house and do other stuff like surfing,
fishing, gardening and a bit of nothing too!!! (very UN-Carl like...)
Chanuka came and went, and being the only Jewess on the
island, and probably surrounding islands and maybe all the way to Australia or
New Zealand, I wanted to do what I could to preserve the spirit of Chanuka,
even here! So the kids and I collected scraps of wood and built a very wonky
Chanukiya, and I spent a whole day preparing 40 Dulce-de-Lette filled donuts.
They tasted great, disappeared within 10 minutes and made me feel sick for the
rest of the day. At least I tired...
Building Chanukiya
I made my very last attempt at hosting a little ladies night
on our new deck, made some beautiful sushi and sashimi, and finally made the
Pinacolada’s I’ve been dreaming of making here (freshly squeezed coconut cream,
freshly picked sweetest pineapples in the world and really bad quality Rum...),
hoping the girls will appreciate the fine delicacies I presented them with. But
Rotumans, bless them, they down their drinks as fast as a nomad travelling in
the Sahara desert without hydrating for a week, would down a glass of water... just
to get drunk as fast as possible, and no need to describe the rest. So REALLY, I PROMISE!!! That was my LAST time
drinking with Rotumans. It just doesn’t work for me...
School holidays here, slightly different than back home,
very mellow and the kids just have to find ways to entertain themselves. Its
not like I can take them to Museums or playgrounds or the cinema or children’s
holiday activities... over here its all about climbing trees, shooting
eachother with stick guns (or their Nerf guns their uncle sent them), going to
play with kids up and down the road, or nagging me to death. I'm actually
enjoying it! Enjoying the time with the kids, who are speaking fluent Rotuman
now, they even talk to ME in Rotuman at times, and translate for me what other
kids are saying to me, which is quite amusing...
Some school holiday activities...
So from a cyclone safe Rotuma, I shall sign off and wish you all happy holidays and new year, and thanks for reading me, thanks for your comments and lovely feedback, take care and spread the Love
xxx
Cinnamon Scrolls
