Third Goal

Yaqona Ceremony

Everything in Fiji starts, continues, and stops with a traditional yagona ceremony. Yaqona comes from the dried root of the pepper kava plant and is a tranquilizing but nonalcoholic drink served in a coconut bilo.

Lessons Learned

    1. Always wear a sports bra when riding the bus. 2. Hiking for an hour burns 500 calories. 3. Your dream needs to become a reality when it haunts you like a nightmare. 4. Powdered milk ain't so bad. 5. In Fiji, I am more likely to die from a falling coconut than a shark attack. 6. When traveling to the big city concentrate on the 3 C's ... cheese, chocolate, and cold beer! 7. You know you go to bed too early when your neighbor asks if you have problems with your electricity. 8. M...

Zulia Tells a Funny Story

Welcome to the Savannah Region

Two girls curiously peer at the stranger while their mother has gone into the cassa ronde to fetch some tchakpa, a fermeted millet drink that she makes herself.

New Year's Eve Fireworks

Why the old King's village is famous for its pigs

Mark dug the knife into the side of the pig, it's golden roasted skin crackling as he drew it down to its foreleg, carving out a generous haunch for the guest of honour sitting to his right: a pastor that would, at 10PM later that night, be one of the dozen preachers to give consecutive messages until bell rang 2011 in at midnight. We were sitting at a long table, looking out across green Tongan fields from the airy porch where the feast was set, red flowered cloths tacked up in horizo...

The Peace Corps Experience: The Next Generation

A lot of people assume that Peace Corps is a certain way: noble, self-sacrificing people leaving it all behind to live among throngs of starving children in the middle of nowhere -- or, The Peace Corps Experience. We are not living the Peace Corps Experience. No doubt, some people do live something more similar to this way, but even then, it is almost never exactly the noble ideal.Instead of living the Peace Corps Experience, my husband Mark and I are living what could be called The Peace Cor...

Inviting the New Year

As an OCAP volunteer I am involved in promoting activities that bring together the colleagues of Samal Center, a rehabilitation center for disabled children and youth. As 2011 approaches, the country of Kazakhstan celebrates with Grandfather Frost and Snow Granddaughter, rather than Santa Clause and his elves. Here we see Grandfather Frost performing a traditional song while the colleagues dance together and sing along.  

projects

Two Peace Corps projects have consumed most of my time.  The first is continuing to train the Park Rangers in using a laptop computer.  We had to send our laptop into the city for six weeks which was a bit of a setback.  The tutoring is slow due to the newness of them using a keyboard and mouse for the first time however we’re starting to see progress which is mutually satisfying.  I have received a new laptop which I’m hoping is a little more reliable. On the second project a group of ...

bricks

handmade bricks for the bakery.  Only 273 more to go