Lentils Everywhere!

I was awakened this morning by an army style shouting informing me that I had to do push-ups. It was only Chris, but damn, it ruined my pleasant morning in my sleeping bag. We've been staying with this woman who is a music teacher in Auckland, but owns a farm in the Coromandel region. We've been stranded at her house here in the city for a few days since she had to attend a conference mid-week and before that her car was broken so she couldn't show us her country place. But it's been loaded with fun things to do and amazing scenery regardless of the 1 million people and such associated with big cities. Chris however, has been playing gym coach and whipping us all into shape, despite my Fiji-acquired sinus cold. I'm all better though--it must have been the sudden jolt of Patrick smashing a bag of lentils over my head in retaliation for me eating his cheese.

It was an easy plane ride, but I waited just as long for Patrick to pick me up as I did watching the instant classic of Mr. Bean's Holiday on the plane. My cold got worse and I had to keep my head clear for customs because New Zealand is extremely strict about customs and quarantine. I declared all I could think of that might be considered part of any of the categories--including my shoes and sleeping pad--but it was fantastic when I was opening my snorkel and mask case to show them the shells I'd brought. The shells were fine, but I'd forgotten about the seed pod I found. The official immediately confiscated it, leaving me to silently recite the mantra of "please don't fine me". Even better though was when the sand flie flew out of the case and caused a moment of panic in the woman who made a mad dash around the table to kill it. I pretty much thought I was screwed at that point. But like most New Zealanders, she was almost too nice and let me go with just the shaking of her head and a "have a pleasant stay in New Zealand".

Well, we've also been stocking up on essentials for our journey in Gerald (our car). Unfortunately, the only dominoes set that New Zealand sells are Cinderella and Spongebob picture ones. We do have Uno though, and that is essential for our entertainment needs.

We should be in the countryside of Coromandel by Saturday night. We've been given the task of building a deck outside of our host's house. Thank god Patrick knows what he's talking about, because I have no idea how to look at her blueprints and make it into the same thing. Her place sounds amazing and we're waiting to get a look at it and the work associated with it before we decide how long we want to stay there.

Fiji

When I first arrived in Fiji I was thinking about how my first blog entry would be a bitch session about flying there and how United is probably the worst airline, next to One Two Go! of course. But now that I've been here for a few days, I just want to say, "fuck United, and long live Fiji."

I landed early in the morning Fijian time after having slept like a baby on the plane. I waited to catch a flight to Suva from Nadi, and during that time managed to meet someone that knows someone that works with my aunt here in the capital of Fiji. It's a small island with smaller circles. Anyway, my aunt and cousin and I spent two nights here in the city, but then made a plan to escape to the east. While in Suva we checked out the Colo I Suva Forest Park outside the city. As we descended down the trail, my aunt couldn't help but play with the giant centipede on the tree trunk. Only later did we find out that these things are carnivorous and as quoted from a Peace Corps worker stationed in Tonga, "I've been bitten three times. Each time I went to the hospital. And those three bites were easily the most painful three experiences of my life." Apparently they make bee lines for people and can hightail it faster than you can walk. The only way to kill them is to sever the head... way cool.

Anyway, we dropped in on these natural and manually assisted pools. There are about 12 of them and they all flow into each other. The last of them is this giant pool with a rope swing that drops you from a good 25 feet if you swing from the top step. The pool was so deep and though it was fresh water, it was easily warmer than the air. It was great to be there though with only 2 other strangers. It was nearly a private amusement park. After that, I was given a sample of Fiji Bitter, the best beer in Fiji. I was a little put off since I hate bitter beers, but... totally worth it when you have just been swinging like Tarzan for a couple hours. To clarify, it's not really bitter and it's the bomb. Also while in Fiji I saw my first Bollywood film. The name was something like Dhamaal, but seriously people, what the fuck? It was supposed to be this comedy, but it was more ridiculous than Naked Gun 33 1/3 and it directly stole lines from Road Trip and was nearly identical in plot to It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. Either way, it made me want to see it again, probably because of one scene where this guy dies and as he drops his head in the guy's hands by his side, his leg kicks out and knocks over a bucket.

On Sunday we headed for Waidalice river mouth and pulled Xiomara out of school for the first half of the week. Our destination was a small island of Caqalai (pronounced: Thungalai). There we basked in the sun and snorkeled in some of the clearest water I've ever seen. The mental images still astound me. We did some diving off of another little island off of our little island. It's aptly named snake island and though we didn't see any of them in the water like was reported, we'd seen one earlier in the morning by Caqalai. Also while diving we saw a small shark, moray eel about 5 feet long, and some giant fish that we could never identify, but presumably Cod.

I feel like my words can't do Fiji justice, so I promise next time, I'll just post some pictures.

Last Minute Reminders

So I leave for Fiji tomorrow, actually, I leave for LAX, then Fiji, then to another airport in Fiji. It's all really complicated for Fiji. I hope I can just crash on the plane (probably should use the term 'crash' when flying). There would be nothing more disappointing than to arrive in Fiji and want to sleep for the entire day. I don't think I'm forgetting anything though. I should be all set to bounce tomorrow, but like usual, I'm sure I'll remember 5 things I wanted to bring when I'm 20 miles outside of Nadi Airport.

I'm hardly taking anything, which is so unlike me. I have the packing desire of a 14 year-old girl (not in what I bring, but how much I bring), and it's not fair because my clothes are like 4 times the size of theirs. Anyway, I am way light on clothes and was still able to bring a mask, snorkel, water filter, and travel scrabble. God help me if I ever forget travel scrabble again.

So yeah, my new backpack really rocks the house. It's carry-on allowable and not I can just send my sleeping bag through with all my sharp, pointy, and liquid items. I truly believe that the prohibition of water through the security checkpoint is a buy-out of the FAA by Bottled Water.