I have made it home and getting use to this time zone, and this freezing weather. I have been talking to Stan daily and we thought the government and the military leaders were making some headway towards solving their impasse. But tonight Stan called and let me know that tonight on the evening news Bainimarama announced that if his demands are not met tomorrow he will take over the government.
Fiji army chief's high noon deadline
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Monday, November 27, 2006
I am on my way home
After a lot of waiting and waiting, and talking of should we or shouldn't we go or wait it out; Stan and I talked about it and we decided it is time for me to go home. A very hard decision to leave Stan and dear friends behind. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I got an email from Josie letting me know they are off to New Zealand. I am also disappointed that I will be not be going to Tonga for the much awaited and anticipated monumental event of Stan's brother being ordained as a Priest followed by a huge family reunion. I am saddened that I will not be able to attend and enjoy this huge family event and of course will greatly miss spending time with the kids and Brian. I am currently stuck in LA because of the snow in Vancouver my flight has be cancelled I should be on my way home tomorrow.
Love Jay
Thanks for the spell check Erick!
Love Jay
Thanks for the spell check Erick!
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Random photos 2
These are photos I like or things I want to share with you but don't really fit into an event, more like random occurrences.
Ok it's coup time again.
We here we are again folks and now Canada has issued a travel warning to Suva, Fiji. So I have packed my emergency bags and I am prepared to leave when the consulate tells me I have to. I am also looking into flights home on Monday just as a back up. Get the latest news at:
fiji times
stuff nz
fiji times
stuff nz
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
mold and fungus
How you know it is too humid:
1. It takes 3 days for your clothes to dry, and if they are not dry in 3 days best to re-wash them (starting to get mouldy) and hope for the best.
2. The bread you buy fresh that day has mould growing on it in two days
3. That you have to use “swimmers ears” ear drops after your shower or you will get fungal ear.
4. That you have a slight sore throat and the doctor informs you that you have thrush from eating to much pineapple and mango's and because of the humidity and you now have to suck on fungicide throat lozenges.
5. That you sweat during your 7th shower of the day
6. That your sweat sweats
7. That gold bond powder has become your best friend
8. That you don’t want your own skin touching your own skin let alone someone else’s skin touching you
9. That you didn’t think it was humanly possible to have that much sweat going down your back as you wash the dishes
10. That you pray for rain so it does not feel so humid.
11. That you have created a new dance called the bunch and roll, which is what your clothes do when you are trying to put them on, especially entertaining after going to the bathroom
I guess you can tell I feel a bit overwhelmed by the moisture right now. I went to the Doctor yesterday to have my ears and throat checked and it is confirmed I do have a very mild case of thrush. It seems that the Canadian bodies start to fall apart after about 6 months of living in Suva due to the climate and dietary changes. So no more pineapple and mango's for me, for a bit and I now religiously put drops in my ears after my shower(s). Thank god I have a mild case of thrush and I can treat it with fungilin lozenges, mass quantities of non-sugar vitamin C and probiotic friendly bacteria! As for the skin I put Gold bond in any place that skin touches skin it seems to be helping for the first 10-15 minutes!
The glories of living in a humid tropical country, the things you never have to experience on a 2-week vacation in Paradise.
1. It takes 3 days for your clothes to dry, and if they are not dry in 3 days best to re-wash them (starting to get mouldy) and hope for the best.
2. The bread you buy fresh that day has mould growing on it in two days
3. That you have to use “swimmers ears” ear drops after your shower or you will get fungal ear.
4. That you have a slight sore throat and the doctor informs you that you have thrush from eating to much pineapple and mango's and because of the humidity and you now have to suck on fungicide throat lozenges.
5. That you sweat during your 7th shower of the day
6. That your sweat sweats
7. That gold bond powder has become your best friend
8. That you don’t want your own skin touching your own skin let alone someone else’s skin touching you
9. That you didn’t think it was humanly possible to have that much sweat going down your back as you wash the dishes
10. That you pray for rain so it does not feel so humid.
11. That you have created a new dance called the bunch and roll, which is what your clothes do when you are trying to put them on, especially entertaining after going to the bathroom
I guess you can tell I feel a bit overwhelmed by the moisture right now. I went to the Doctor yesterday to have my ears and throat checked and it is confirmed I do have a very mild case of thrush. It seems that the Canadian bodies start to fall apart after about 6 months of living in Suva due to the climate and dietary changes. So no more pineapple and mango's for me, for a bit and I now religiously put drops in my ears after my shower(s). Thank god I have a mild case of thrush and I can treat it with fungilin lozenges, mass quantities of non-sugar vitamin C and probiotic friendly bacteria! As for the skin I put Gold bond in any place that skin touches skin it seems to be helping for the first 10-15 minutes!
The glories of living in a humid tropical country, the things you never have to experience on a 2-week vacation in Paradise.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
The market
Every Saturday it feels like all of Suva goes "marketing" This is just a taste of the beautiful sights at the market. Watch for upcoming pictures of the spice market.
Josie and I we hosting a dinner party on Sunday night, we had a lot of veggies to get at the market. We cooked all day Sunday creating some amazing master pieces (tbc with the pictures they are on Josie's camera) the dinner was was a success. A few bumps along the way, like forgetting veggies for the vegetable kabobs but at the end of the day we had tons of food and tons of fun.
Josie and I we hosting a dinner party on Sunday night, we had a lot of veggies to get at the market. We cooked all day Sunday creating some amazing master pieces (tbc with the pictures they are on Josie's camera) the dinner was was a success. A few bumps along the way, like forgetting veggies for the vegetable kabobs but at the end of the day we had tons of food and tons of fun.
sushi sushi sushi
We decide to finally to go out for sushi with Josie and the family. We gorged on a selection of sushi and teriyaki it was fabulous. To busy eating to take photos of the dinner.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Pot holes of Suva
The pot holes in Suva are enormous and make driving a sport. I don't drive here but I certainly experience whiplash on a constant basis. Watching and experiencing cars swerving and make wild maneuvers into on coming traffic and crossing all over their own lane makes being a passenger in Suva an exciting event. This is just a very small sampling of the what we call the "lovo pits" of Suva. (A lovo pit is an underground oven that Fijians cook there meals in) One must take extra care not to run over the families using the bigger of the pits on Sundays when they cook their feast.(just kidding!)
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
political unrest plus racism plus lack of hope equals...
Well it seems to have happened in Tonga, riots. I have been telling friends that the one thing that I love about Tonga vs Fiji is that I feel safer in Tonga, now political unrest is happening there as well. Check out the following link to see photos of the riots.
www.matangitonga.to
www.tonga-now.to
www.matangitonga.to
www.tonga-now.to
Here are the latest
Here is where the painting is as of this moment. I am starting to really enjoy the process of painting, I usually start my day with painting for a least one or two hours before I run off to do shopping or lunch with friends. Today we had a thanksgiving lunch with the American womens association AWA for short. It was very good, not at all like one of the other groups that gets together here and is very clicky and not interested in getting to know you if your husbands income bracket is too low. I am off to my Polynesian dance lesson, more to follow....
Sunday, November 12, 2006
the start of our garden
Stan and I both love to garden, he loves planting food crops and I love the flowers, the perfect combination.
Friday, November 10, 2006
oil painting
My classes are finished now, my teacher is moving back to the US. After much struggle, especially with the background, I now feel I have a little understanding on how to move forward with the paintings. Neither of these pictures are done, I will continue to take pictures so you can watch the progression of the work.
Not ready to go home!
On our way home from Sonasali we decided to stop at Sandy beach and stay there a night! I finally got some pictures of the pumice flow that came in from TONGA! It was first thought it came from an underground eruption from the Solomans but now we know it is from an underground volcanic eruption from Tonga. The pumice in these pictures is maybe 5% of the total of what was washing up on shore at Pacific Harbour.
While we were walking the beach we decided to take a look at the Outrigger resort, which is right next door to Sandy Point. We were looking at the beautiful sunset and the pumice; when I heard the woman next to me say to her husband "what is that scum on the ocean" I explained to her about the eruption and that it was pumice not scum.
I don't understand why the hotel, where the guests are paying a lot of money, did not take 10 minutes to write up a page about this very cool event that occurred in Tonga, and floated to Fiji. Take what some would think as a negative and make it positive by using it as an educational opportunity and make it an interesting, exciting event. Instead their guest are left thinking that the beaches of Fiji are covered in "scum" just what we want them to tell their friends when they get home!
Check out this cool article about the possible new island! and more amazing pictures of the pumice.
pumice from tonga
To see and read more about Fiji check out Josie'e blog at www.bulafromfiji.blogspot.com she has links to the Fiji times and their coverage of the possible coup. Also some great pictures and thoughts about the garbage problem in Suva and other parts of the country, and much more.
While we were walking the beach we decided to take a look at the Outrigger resort, which is right next door to Sandy Point. We were looking at the beautiful sunset and the pumice; when I heard the woman next to me say to her husband "what is that scum on the ocean" I explained to her about the eruption and that it was pumice not scum.
I don't understand why the hotel, where the guests are paying a lot of money, did not take 10 minutes to write up a page about this very cool event that occurred in Tonga, and floated to Fiji. Take what some would think as a negative and make it positive by using it as an educational opportunity and make it an interesting, exciting event. Instead their guest are left thinking that the beaches of Fiji are covered in "scum" just what we want them to tell their friends when they get home!
Check out this cool article about the possible new island! and more amazing pictures of the pumice.
pumice from tonga
To see and read more about Fiji check out Josie'e blog at www.bulafromfiji.blogspot.com she has links to the Fiji times and their coverage of the possible coup. Also some great pictures and thoughts about the garbage problem in Suva and other parts of the country, and much more.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
coup schmoo holiday
Sonaisali resort on the western side of the island.
Our adventure at Sonaisali resort:
With the recent tension in the Capital, is the coup happening? Is the military going to take over the government? Josie and I decided we needed a break; so we booked 2 nights 3 days at Sonaisali Resort.
Since getting home I have been asked by friends how our little holiday was and if I would go back too/recommend Sonaisali resort and the answer after much contemplation is NO! There was a series of little mix-ups and attitude that added up to a whole lot that was too much to over look. Here is a list of the “little mix ups”
1. We arrive early; check in is not until 2, no problem we go have lunch. Josie hears one staff member say to another “their room is ready but don’t let them in till 2”. That’s fine; maybe one should talk quietly so we don’t over hear you, at 2 they proceed to give us our room number and we have to lug our bags to the room. Other guests seem to get a porter to help with the luggage? We get to the room, and as we look around we realize something is not right. The sink has toothpaste in it, there is a wet used face cloth beside the sink, garbage in the bins, the room has not been cleaned at all! We trudge back to reception; did I mention it was really hot? And now we are in a full sweat! We are given another room; thank god it is a bit further away so we get to take a golf cart. All is great in this room; off to the beach we go!
2. Next we get ready for our dinner, our dinner reservation is lost, and we have a dinner that ends up taking 2 ½ hours to be served. That would be fine if it was just Josie and I, but the kids were starting to get restless and sleepy by now it is almost 10pm. So we ask for our desserts to be wrapped up and Josie takes the girls to bed and I wait, and wait, and wait.
3. The used plates from the dessert and the cockroach (see pictures) are put outside our door Saturday night (we don’t want to attracted more creatures) and they stayed there till Monday and I can assure you creatures came and visited the plates.
4. The bottom of the pool is so ruff that our feet looked like they had a major case of road rash.
5. 3 sets of towels in the room, when you offer the room as 2 adults and 2 kids, am I wrong that adds up to 4?
6. There are other little things; I think you get my point. We decide to talk to the manager to voice our concerns, how else do you improve your service but by listening to your guests. He actually said to Josie that because we were paying the special rate/local rate (they have been advertising in the local paper to the local community to come to their resort on a special 189.00 per night plus 40.00 a day for food, for the family, family being 2 adults, 2 kids) we should not be complaining! We told them we would pay the bill in full and we felt that comping us for a future night would be fair compensation they refused and took $100 dollars off our bill.
Note to all resorts!
All your guests and especially your local cliental are your ambassadors, when we have friends and family coming to visit us or when we finally move home and people ask us our advise about: where to stay, what to do, what are must sees, in Fiji we tell them. We are invaluable because we have lived in Fiji and we know!
So guess what Sonaisali you are not high on my list or possibly not even on my list of places to stay, I was willing to over look the little things but your "your local" attitude pushed me to the NO recommendation. Shame on you for your lack of respect to your local cliental; with the event of a possible a coup and travel advisories happening the tourist industry is precarious at best, don’t piss off the locals you need our business and especially our recommendations.
Check out recent article in the
fiji times
Our adventure at Sonaisali resort:
With the recent tension in the Capital, is the coup happening? Is the military going to take over the government? Josie and I decided we needed a break; so we booked 2 nights 3 days at Sonaisali Resort.
Since getting home I have been asked by friends how our little holiday was and if I would go back too/recommend Sonaisali resort and the answer after much contemplation is NO! There was a series of little mix-ups and attitude that added up to a whole lot that was too much to over look. Here is a list of the “little mix ups”
1. We arrive early; check in is not until 2, no problem we go have lunch. Josie hears one staff member say to another “their room is ready but don’t let them in till 2”. That’s fine; maybe one should talk quietly so we don’t over hear you, at 2 they proceed to give us our room number and we have to lug our bags to the room. Other guests seem to get a porter to help with the luggage? We get to the room, and as we look around we realize something is not right. The sink has toothpaste in it, there is a wet used face cloth beside the sink, garbage in the bins, the room has not been cleaned at all! We trudge back to reception; did I mention it was really hot? And now we are in a full sweat! We are given another room; thank god it is a bit further away so we get to take a golf cart. All is great in this room; off to the beach we go!
2. Next we get ready for our dinner, our dinner reservation is lost, and we have a dinner that ends up taking 2 ½ hours to be served. That would be fine if it was just Josie and I, but the kids were starting to get restless and sleepy by now it is almost 10pm. So we ask for our desserts to be wrapped up and Josie takes the girls to bed and I wait, and wait, and wait.
3. The used plates from the dessert and the cockroach (see pictures) are put outside our door Saturday night (we don’t want to attracted more creatures) and they stayed there till Monday and I can assure you creatures came and visited the plates.
4. The bottom of the pool is so ruff that our feet looked like they had a major case of road rash.
5. 3 sets of towels in the room, when you offer the room as 2 adults and 2 kids, am I wrong that adds up to 4?
6. There are other little things; I think you get my point. We decide to talk to the manager to voice our concerns, how else do you improve your service but by listening to your guests. He actually said to Josie that because we were paying the special rate/local rate (they have been advertising in the local paper to the local community to come to their resort on a special 189.00 per night plus 40.00 a day for food, for the family, family being 2 adults, 2 kids) we should not be complaining! We told them we would pay the bill in full and we felt that comping us for a future night would be fair compensation they refused and took $100 dollars off our bill.
Note to all resorts!
All your guests and especially your local cliental are your ambassadors, when we have friends and family coming to visit us or when we finally move home and people ask us our advise about: where to stay, what to do, what are must sees, in Fiji we tell them. We are invaluable because we have lived in Fiji and we know!
So guess what Sonaisali you are not high on my list or possibly not even on my list of places to stay, I was willing to over look the little things but your "your local" attitude pushed me to the NO recommendation. Shame on you for your lack of respect to your local cliental; with the event of a possible a coup and travel advisories happening the tourist industry is precarious at best, don’t piss off the locals you need our business and especially our recommendations.
Check out recent article in the
fiji times
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