Random acts of generosity

Usually I would hope that it was me showing these random acts of generosity to strangers, but I don't know if I am capable of actually being so generous as many people around me are being. I would have to say I need to learn something from people who are capable of showing kindness at random to even the most undeserving of guests. Because really I haven't done anything to deserve this treatment.

First before the generosity there was a speed bump where I could forget how nice people are when it is overshadowed by the constant heckling from all the stand owners in the largest fruit and vegetable market known to man. Because I am a minority, which still is sinking in, but still am white which automatically implies I am there to spend loads of money on anything. It is a barrage of an individual opening a bag and placing a potato in and saying only one dollar per kilo as I maneuver around them in order to get to the mango. Thanks to the exchange rate and the abundance of competition in the market for selling everything prices are dirt cheap, which is very enjoyable to me. And this isn't an exaggeration when I say the largest fruit and vegetable market ever. Try and imagine a Wal-mart completely full of different stands selling every produce product capable of growing on the island. There is also a second floor which sells spices and the oh so desirable kava, which I haven't had the urge to buy yet, it may be the flavor or lack of any effectiveness. I did hear though I need to drink about 100 gallons before you really start feeling the effects. Tolerance is opposite than alcohol, which is very weird to me.

After Edgar and I bought enough fresh fruits to indulge ourselves for hopefully a week, but I've been really hungry and continue to lose weight, so bring on continuous eating!! Later that day the entire study abroad community was invited to some random house for a bar-b-que. I was rather impressed, because it really was just a school kid who just likes to hold gatherings for the foreigners. I don't know entirely their motives, but I was happy to find there are some people in the world who prefer some classic rock over "Party in the USA" as amazing as that song is I guess I can find a few songs I enjoy a little more. Also I have discovered that no one in the other American group, who originated from UW Platteville, LAME, have absolutely no interest in talking about me. If my sentences doesn't start with bar, beer, or drunk I have nothing of interest for them. My favorite response to me talking is the no looker. This involves the receiver of communication to ignore your existence while you talk and when you are done turn, for only a moment and say either oh or yeah?, either way I get the message. I didn't need to talk to enjoy myself. I have free food to exploit, and I did. It involved eating 6 lamb dogs and all the chips and cucumber slices I could get before they were gone. All of this due to some guy who just wanted to meet me because I'm different. I like that feeling now and then.

Afterwords it was a Danny style weekend that somebody else planned. Game Night, simple safe and a great bonding mechanism. One of the girls in our program has a house and invited us over, and again free food and I wasn't shy. First we played bannanagrams, which I recommend to anyone who enjoys a good family friendly game. It is speed scrabble pretty much. We played in a team and I found out the hard way the language and education gap between some people is unbearable. Never again will I team up with an Aussie for a word game. Not only do they make up tons upon tons of words, but they don't believe in the real one's that are over 3 letters. Little did I know but jeer is an exotic word that only exists in the literary masterpieces of old english, therefore it doesn't exist. I enjoyed her contributions to the teams by pummeling our opponents with a constant no, and, the, you know only the real words. After the humiliating defeat it was my time to shine because I control my destiny in charades. The use of entertainment as the category really made things simple because we only missed a total of 1 in about 50. There would have been another, but somebody had to break a few rules by pointing to the sky in order to aquire Star Wars, unbelievable.

Sunday adventures of the new churches was successful. My church going entourage placed ourselves in the castle of Fijian cathedrals armed with a fantastic pianist and chorus we have one heck of a service, if only all the songs were in English and not Fijian then I could have fully busted out the vocals. Due to the obvious fact that we were not regulars to the church, which every pastor finds a need to point us out, also the other churchgoers are intrigued by us and this time it really paid off. This 60 or so Canadian and his Fijian wife instantly offered to take us to lunch. Not wanting to be rude of course I accepted free food. We drove all the way to Lami town and it was definitely worth the numbing effect on my entire left leg, a side effect from jamming 4 into the back of a little car. Turns out he worked for Habitat for Humanity but because things were not functioning as he pleased they are attempting to begin their own charitable organization. More to come later, but for now it is bedtime Moce ya'll, I'm a culture blending machine.

Something I forgot to mention, all of this occurred during a tsunami warning. Believe it or not I was completely confident in my safety and that if there was a true state of emergency someone would come to my rescue and explain the need for immediate action. Little did I was completely oblivious to the danger I was in. I read the paper the next day and I felt it was actually talking directly to me when the article is titled "No care in face of disaster," and people going to church was specifically stated as one of the ignorant actions to have taken during the day, so I just feel like the reporter was driving in a taxi to higher ground and watched me specifically enter church writing this article. Whoops!! Luckily the island of Fiji was spared and only 1 meter high swells were recorded on Venua Levu, the large island directly north of mine. Sorry family for allowing the stress levels to rise because I was completely unworried about the apparent danger. Specifically to Dad I need to apologize, because on skype I just felt you fall out of the conversation into a deep worst case scenario vision, something I feel you have come to master throughout the years.

When it was safe to wonder the island of Fiji I decided to go for an adventure on my own. I packed my bag and set out, only to be seeking shelter from the rain within a mile. My sanctuary came under a nearly dead tree where a Fijian about my age had hunkered down also. The probably had a better chance of getting me struck by lightning than actually keeping me dry, but I made due with what I had. Anyways turns out his name the Fijians name is Ruben who is 18 and heading down to the TFL national stadium with his uncle Mogil and cousin Ben to watch his older brother play soccer for Lautoka. He invited me, and after a second of comprehension, because I couldn't decide if making a friend was worth dealing with a soccer game, nevertheless I decided to join. When we got to the stadium I got some odd instructions to stand by his uncle and cousin by a tree on the other side of the parking lot while, what looked to me, Ruden scouted out the perimeter of the ticket gate. We stood for about 30 minutes usually ignoring me by speaking Fijian, which sounds similar to just mumbling a lot of l's and vowels together. Each minute only made me more suspicious of what actions we were going to take. Finally the group ventured forward to a closed gate and began watching the first of two games through the holes. On the way there Ruben asked me a question that only worsened my suspicions. He asked "are you worried?" A little startled I gave a negative, but obviously I'm not very good at hiding my emotions. After a while I found out they had some sort of hookup in the fields staff who let us in at halftime of the important game.

After some discussion of ticket prices and by deciphering the clues given to me I think his family is really poor and unable to afford the $3 entry fee into the game, so they figure ways of getting in even if it means watching half the game from behind a distant fence. I felt very accepted when I was allowed to pass as one of the privileged to enter the game for free during the half. When we sat down I laid my bag next at the full distance of my reach and Ruben asked me to move it closer, which will be relevant later on. His brother's team ended up winning 4-0 beating the champions of the league. On the walk back he wanted to see my place, so I invited him to our 2nd annual pot luck between the Australearners. He was very appreciative, but he is actually very shy, and he doesn't have the greatest english so I thought he was a little uncomfortable.

Later on we sat and talked about life and he explained his ideas of the Fiji islands. His suggestions involved all of us to stay in as much as possible because he sees Fiji as being very a very dangerous place. Two years earlier he moved to Suva and while downtown someone threatened him with a knife. He attempted to run and fell into a hole in the road, but found a rock while down and scared off his pursuer. He has a very large scar on his leg from the incident. Along with that and knowing people who will just beat and rob people at random he is very suspicious and cautious of everyone. He explained to me that when it was raining he called me under the tree, because he was worried about me being in that neighborhood because it is very rough, and that is why he invited me to the game. He also advised me to move my bag because there is always a possibility that someone would snag it. I found this to be a very thoughtful gesture almost on the level of a good Samaritan even though I felt free of threats at the time. I don't have any way to contact him anymore, but hopefully I will see him around because he told me he would show me how to climb a palm tree and because a little inside Fijian insight is always helpful.

The fact he considered the safety of a complete stranger, who is much more privileged than he, and he was aware of that because he mentioned it in discussing why I would be a target, shows a level of care and kindness that someday I can only hope to reproduce in my own actions. I am thankful that I have finally made a Fijian friend and even though he looked miserable at the potluck hopefully he feels good about meeting me also. I don't think he really enjoyed the food, but that was ok because then there was more for me, and trust me I took full advantage of it.