Thursday, October 14, 2010

You eat ants?!

I know, I know… I haven’t blogged in a long time. I’m sorry! I’ve just been so busy lately. So to catch everyone up on my life. I have been in Fiji for almost 5 months! RIDICULOUS.

So I have been travelling a lot lately around Viti Levu (my Island) on Peace Corps related activities and for work. Around the end of August I went out to this beautiful chain of islands called the Yasawas to assist in delivering HIV results. It was one of the most breathtaking places I have ever been in my life. Crystal blue water, amazing reefs, white sandy beaches… I felt like I was living in a beautiful post card… I seriously didn’t believe those places actually existed. I also got to see two PCVs who lived in villages out there… always a good time.

Hmm where else… I went to this other beautiful little island called Cagulai and went snorkeling (which is an activity I am now addicted to… next step Scuba!) I’ve also been to Suva a few times for various things. Suva is like this magical little place that sometimes feels like an American city. They have good restaurants, an assortment of western items, night clubs, bars (with happy hours) and a mall! (more like one gigantic store with a food court on top , clothing on the 2nd floor and a grocery store on the bottom) . Annnnnd, in Suva, stores stay open past 6pm! Woo Hoo! Also, in this magical world of Suva, they have this magical store called Cost-U-Less. What is Cost-U-Less you might ask? IT’S COSCO! It’s a giant warehouse of a store that sells western items in bulk. One minor problem… they tend to jack up the price quite a bit. However, if you really a giant box of oat and honey Natures Valley granola bars … you can have it… for $42 (that’s expensive here in Fiji). I did find an item that I considered a steal… a 5lb bag of Craisins for $20! They are so unbelievably delicious (currently munching on them right now)!

Speaking of food… the list of the week that made this blog is titled

Things I Ate Unintentionally

1. Bones. You all already know my issues I have with shards of bones in my food.

2. Cow tongue. Didn’t want to… but I had a piece to appease my host… tasted like mystery beef.

3. Ants. Ants in this country are the sneakiest little creatures known to man. They can get into anything. You have something sealed in Tupperware… they get in. In a jar… they get inside. Leave any unopened food out… might as well say it was nice eating you. Okay, and this will sound gross but you get so used to seeing them in food that I just kinda… push them to the side and continue eating most times. If one slips in… what a little more protein?...

4. Maggots. Okay so the other day my friend bought a little bad of tamarind candy. Its basically just a sugar coated dried tamarind. He so kindly offered me some so I took a few and began eating. Tamarind sometimes has a seed in the middle so you have to wary of them as you eat. So as I said I was eating them and I went to remove a seed and out crawls a maggot. Maggots DO NOT get the same treatment as ants. I ran outside, nearly vomited and threw out the rest of the candy. I’m a bit traumatized still.

I will leave you all on that positive thought… But I hope all is well back home. If my gators could start winning that would make my life a litttttllleeeee bit better. Oh and this is random, but I found another volunteer here who uses quotes! (it’s a sorority thing)

Okay that’s all for now! Miss you all!