Fiji Time!

I can't believe it has been nearly two weeks since I wrote my last blog. In Australia I was on the computer everyday and checking my emails several times a day. Welcome to Fiji where internet access is limited, slow, and probably not working. I have tried to use the hotel's email but a virus got into the system this week. A hillside neighbour has wireless and it only functions early in the morning or late at night. If I go into Suva or Sigatoka I have to pay heaps.
I have been trying to get things moving with the business but I am being hampered by family hierachy, family priorities and Chita's resistance to get moving. We have a potential land dispute on our hands which may seem scary for Australians but is every day life now in the cleaned up Fiji. I would like to get a lease signed by the landowner,however, he does not read or write and does not trust paper. He also prefers to keep his hand out constantly and expects to be helped. I don't want to go full hog into the cafe and find we are paying rent and gifts to keep going. We need a few grand to open but without a lease we can't get a bank loan. Grants are available from the government but that is also a go slow area as the budget was only released last week.
Chita is pushing me to quit even trying and just head back to Australia and take him with me. This is something I can't think about. I am an A type personality. I came to do a job and I am going to do my darndest to get it happening. I optimistically thought I would have everything researched and ready. Builders finishing off and we would be earning an income within six months. Hmmmm.
The reality has hit. I need to get a job. The economy is depressed and not much is being advertised in the paper. What is on offer will be paid Fiji wages. At this point I don't really mind, as any sort of cash will do... I am slowly becoming Fijian. I applied for a job with the Australian government as a small business advisor. I had my interview and was told my cv was exceptional and I was more than capable of doing the job, however it was given to a Fijian..... Frustrating. The salary was $27,000 Aust which is a middle income wage here...
Am also trying to liaise with the family. I need to get a meeting organised with the family and the landowner. I have one of the advisors for the anti- corruption board on side offering to act as a mediator. However, the family are resisting. It is their land which was signed over to this landowner by a trick. It is not theirs on paper, but to the village, yes. That is enough for them but not enough for me.
I have to be careful as women do not have all that much say. It has to go through the head of the family or the eldest brother. Chita's eldest brother is never around so I am pushing for Joe to act.
In the meantime my funds are disappearing and my desire to get a job, earn some cash and have some choices about what to do on weekends is high. I did not come to Fiji to be a housegirl and cook and clean. I need a project. Anyone got anything for me? I am desperate.
Chita and I are getting on well. Fijian relationships between men and women are different to us. They don't talk much, and fulfil clearly understood roles. I find that the Fijian male has a full life, of meetings, family functions and rugby, whereas the women are at home, or if they work in the hotels, they are out partying and picking up. I fall into neither category. I love cooking and being a homemaker but I also miss interesting and stimulating female company. Last night I wanted to visit a neighbour and discovered the torch was missing. I couldn't head down the hill in the rain without one, as I would end up sliding down the hill on my ample backside. Although, weeks of going up and down the steep hill, has tightened up my gluteus maximus.
Its an interesting plight I face. A career girl for so long and now I am in limited circumstances. I understand now why Fijian girls have babies. It gives you something to do. Have told Chita, a baby could be my new project... I try and give myself treats - a frozen yoghurt once a week at a Hawaian ice cream parlour in Pacific Harbour. I walk down the beach and end up having chats with the ladies at the Handicraft. I chat to Melania,who was the first ever policewoman in Fiji. We talked about a Fijian pumpkin dessert she is going to show me how to make.
I am trying to keep fit. I am trying to be positive. I am trying. Every other day, I give it all up, and give in to Fiji Time. I forget about deadlines and targets and go with the flow. I sit on the bus daydreaming. I chat to the van or taxi drivers about life, I walk for no reason anywhere. I read the paper everyday and keep up with Fijian affairs. I have an afternoon nap. I feel great afterwards and cook and clean with gusto. I find australian dvd's to listen to aussie accents and thoroughly enjoyed watching Jindabyne on my own yesterday afternoon.
With Chita, its the everyday that is the glue between us. I am less likely to have a hissy fit these days, as I have a better understanding of Fijian culture. Do I have a place here? Can I make a valuable contribution? Will I always be a European or kavalagi and never a kaiviti ( local)....
I think, ponder, let go....

I try and make contact with any female in the vicinity - a sixty year old American ex alcoholic who has taken up AA in Fiji with a vengeance, a sweet Christian American girl who lives in Lautoka and has been a missionary for eight years, An Italian who smokes too much dope and accidentally gave part of a cookie to her two year old son; Yes I will talk to anyone...
I visit Chita's mum once a week and fill her in on a week's worth of gossip. I contribute by paying for a fare for her somewhere, buy washing powder or food, and help with the electricity bill. In Fiji its care and share. I like this aspect very much.