free time

A lot of people here ask me, ‘so what do you do at home when youre alone and don’t have a t.v.’. So this December blog will be about my non-working non-chore time in Fiji

One of the biggest reasons I liked the idea of the peace corps was to have time, without distractions, to learn and do things that I have always wanted.  The biggest one is gardening and I’ve already talked about that a lot, but another big one is cooking.  I really want to know how to make everything I like to eat with raw materials and my own hands.  This started with just the basics like hummus, roti/tortillas, raita, juice and good tea made from local leaves. Now I’ve begun making bread and noodles and hopefully soon tomato sauce, yogurt, babaganush (spelling) and marmalade.  So far bread was the hardest, mainly because I don’t have an oven, but I’ve recently got it down and want to try different varieties soon.

Another thing that I’ve always wanted to do, and have failed at many times, is to play guitar.  I’ve started and can play chords and a couple basic songs but mostly I just make up my own little melody and try to be creative with what I know.  My voice is horrible so I’m trying to make songs that don’t involve me singing, but for a few special melodies I’ll sing along (oh sun oh sun oh suuuuuun, flowin’ with the river)

ART! My poetry writing is lacking, I haven’t really found a voice here, but I do color a lot. Here’s something I recently made.

Letter writing, even though I’m not nearly as good as some of you are to me. I try to write all my emails and letters once evening a week after I gain the courage to brave the internet café (you’d stress out too if you saw it), save all my e-mails into word documents then read and write back in my home.

I don’t read as much as I should or even could.  Its been really hard picking up a book and reading it all the way through, for some reason this is a common issue among a lot of volunteers.  But here’s a list of my favorites so far:  One the Road by Jack Keroac, 100 Best Poems of all time, Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan, Changing Woman and Her Sisters by Sheila Moon, Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat, Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder, Poker Nation by Andy (…?), and Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut.

Photography happens at minimum because I’m really shy about taking my camera out.  But when I do, I have a lot of fun.  Most of Fiji is green green green green, but there are these tropical plants that have the most vibrant shades of red, yellow, pink and orange and I’m really drawn to them.  There are a bunch in my front yard and one day I took pictures so I could show you all.

Here’s couple pictures from a small tourist island we snorkeled at a few weeks ago.

Gathering with other volunteers.  There are a total of 7 volunteers within two hours of me and we meet up during evenings or weekends to barbeque, play poker (thanks American tax payers), fantasize about good beer, guacamole, pizza, ect and basically shoot the shit.  There’s always someone around to grab lunch or make dinner with so there’s no lack of people.  This is really different than what I thought Peace Corps was going to be.  When I first applied I thought I’d be in a hut hours away from anyone.  Here’s a picture of us gathering after a conference back in October

Random events, parties, dinners, projects….My friend Seli graduated from nursing school and here are some pictures from that 

And things that I still want to do

-make a solar oven

-become scuba certified

-speak fluently

-create something cool out of my old wine bottles

im going to a village to experience a traditional Fijian Christmas and then off to this island for the new year. I hope you all are having great holidays and have a happy new year!

All my love,

Monica