The first thing we heard this morning was somebody's alarm followed by it going off another 5 times Because they didnt turn off the snooze this annoyed everyone greatly. The drums sounded so everyone in the dorm rolled out of bed and headed to the dining room. This morning we had fried eggs and toasted bread along with the usual stuff. Breakfast eaten we headed down to the beach to see if Laura could do the village visit today. Luckily the weather was okay so a boat had been organised so long as 4 people wanted to do it, another couple came to the activities shed so that made 3 and Laura asked another chap and he came too so that was 4 which meant village trip at 1:30 wahoo!
After this back to bed as we were up late playing minesweeper... This never really happened as they are doing repairs on the resort, chainsaw right outside our dorm put the kibosh on that! So we went back to the beach in search of a hammock. Our usual one had stuff in it so we tried another and once we both hopped in it ground out, oh. Next hammock it was, after a snooze in the sun it was time for a few games on the iPhone and then lunch. Lunch today was pizza, sausages, more pasta and rice with yesterday's curry sauce dried on it. This wasn't a great lunch, the pizza was okay and so was the pasta but the sausages didn't look like they had been cooked and well the rice was dry so that wasn't too nice either :S disappointing! But never the less we filled our tummies enjoyed some juice and went back to the room so Laura could prepare for the village trip. This consisted of getting changed into leggings to cover her knees and a T-shirt that covered her shoulders. This was so not to offend the village people not that anyone else bothered doing so!
We walked to the beach to see that the tide had gone out, this was a problem as the boat had gone out too.. Laura predicted very wet leggings ahead! She was correct, after saying goodbyes she headed for the boat with the 3 others getting wet legs as she went.
Laura's afternoon
So once I got into the boat we all sat down complete with a man carrying eggs ready to head to the village. We started the very choppy ride which took about 10 mins including a man who got off half way to collect some other things we never found out what they were, we assumed fruits of sorts. Once we got to the village the eldest man aboard helped us out and told us he was our guide. We walked around the beach and up a hill till we saw the village there were 2 very long metal buildings which belonged to the school we walked past the classrooms where children ran to the windows waving and calling 'Bula'
After this we walked through the rest of the village called Nomboro village past lots of houses and their village hall. By this point we had reached the other side of the island and were on another rather lovely beach. We were led to another narrow path which we had to take to get to the next village which was where our guides family lived. The villages used to link by the sand between them at low tide but this was destroyed during the last cyclone.
We followed the path passing some pigs in cages along the way and arrived at the next village called Yamata Village. This village seemed a lot poorer than the first as the houses were more shack like than the first village. Our guide went on to tell us that the cyclone effected this village worse than the first, the government usually send aid and supplies straight away but this time they had not so they were still waiting. Because of this some houses were parts of houses and some beds were outside. We continued walking hearing cheers of Bula from more children too young to go to school yet. Some waved, some chased us and even asked our names and told us theirs. Then some more cheering in Fijian the guide told us this was his house and his Granddaughter was inside. I was shocked as it was almost one of the worst houses we had seen except those without roofs. It was very basic and had a dead octopus in a bag waiting for dinner. We carried on and our guide showed us lots of different plants throughout the village and we saw the plant that they make their local kava drink from. Kava is a muddy brown watery drink that all the locals drink instead of alcohol which supposedly is a bit druggy and makes your mouth go numb like when your at the dentist. Another one is "it's like being stoned in your mouth." Needless to say we haven't tried that one! It's made by cutting the roots off this plant washing it, taking the skin off, boiling it then mashing it to a pulp and then they mix it with some other stuff to make it look like muddy water. Moving on we saw the local village church which again was basic but nice. We saw the biggest house in the village which was the Pastors house and then headed back to the school to spend some time with the children there. The school has about 80 children and is a boarding school for children from islands around come to. The classes were split into grades, kindergarten, grade 1&2, 3&4 and 5&6. I was surpirsed to see how well they spoke English initially and had a good 9 children around me asking me questions and telling me about themselves. But the first thing most of them did was look at my St Christopher necklace. We had a look in the classrooms and most were doing science some learning about eyes others food groups and one about where crabs are found. At this point I found a teacher and got chatting to him he had the mixed 3&4 class. I found out all the children learn 3 languages, English, Fijian and Indian which is new. This was a new government initiative which along with English communication skills and money management lessons meant they had to teach 7 different things which he was quite upset about! It was quite odd as a teaching assistant to see how basic the schools were, lots of the children's work on show in every classroom on any surface available but no real resources anywhere. The reading books looked very much like they came from the 60s and the text books looked like they had been going about the same. But never the less they were so happy with school and all said they loved it. After this it was boarding time so we said goodbyes and climbed back into the boat. We spoke too soon when we said it was much calmer than before because once we picked up the chap who got the fruit the waves picked up. The driver slowed down for a bit as we were all getting a little wet but then the others were calling him chicken and egging him on to speed up and boy did he! It made me wish I had taken multiple travel sickness tablets. The boat was totally out of the water at points! It was so small that it didn't even have real seats so we were just sat on the floor, that was an issue when we hit a huge wave and I was flung across the boat. I genuinely thought I was going to fall out... :S
After that I wobbled out of the boat to dry land where I did feel rather ill.
Myles' afternoon
After seeing Laura off and taking pictures of her in the boat I made myself comfy in a hammock. Drums went for afternoon tea and I actually had to get up and do something, well I didn't, but I fancied a coffee. After coffee was drunkified I returned to the comfort of my hammock waiting for my princess to return. That's my afternoon summed up really.....
After this we relaxed together for the rest of the day followed by a freezing cold shower until dinner where there was chicken in white sauce (couldn't escape that one mum!) After this Richard and us ran from the dining room to avoid the dancing. We were too noisy and got caught by the activities lady! She screamed "where are you going" we said bed she shouted "games" and we ran away to bed with her still shrieking after us all! Games escaped it was sleep time.
No comments:
Post a Comment