HOMESTAY IN NAMATAKULA VILLAGE
In the town of Korolevu which is located on the famed Coral Coast (where most resorts are), the western side of the main and largest island, known as Viti Levu, lies.
First off, I must admit I quickly backed out of plans to stay in a typical Fijian village once learning there would be no hot water , bucket showers, a sanitation level I was unaccustomed to, no electricity, etc. Though the latter challenge did not bother me so much, I did need electricity to charge my cell phone and netbook plus to keep uploading photos and film onto it so I could continually add more, post new content onto my Fiji blog and work on editing the documentary of my trip daily. I was not sure how often I could get to someplace else where I could. I also wanted to stay at a village with lots of interesting activities within it or nearby. So I opted to stay at Namatakula Village It is one of the most prominent villages and my host family was relatively well off.
Shopping and otherwise spending time in Nadi the first day prior to arriving there was rather frustrating. After my 17 hr. flight from Los Angeles arrived there at 5 a.m., my stay began with an ATM eating my debit card as I took too long deciding how much to take out due to foreign currency conversion, causing me to wait 3 hrs. for the bank to open so I could get it back! After eating breakfast and perusing a souveiner shop and the Visitors Bureau, while my camera battery charged at an airport café, I stored my luggage in another part of the airport and took a bus into town to shop for an international cell phone (which research revealed as the most inexpensive means), use an Internet cafe, and grab some lunch from an Indo-Fijian fast food place (While Indian food has long been my favorite, theirs is different from that in America or their homeland yet still tasty). Finally, I took the 2 hour bus ride to my homestay with hosts Judith and Simon in Namatakula Village and arrived that night. Being there my first 4 nights was nice but hampered by “Joy Time” fitting right in there with the oft’ heard of “Fiji Time”— or could jet lag be my excuse?
I usually just exhale & relax at the beginning of summer vacations but the prior two summers, I'd gone right into the reinvigorating 2 week aTi (Artist/Teacher Institute) after 4th of July & believe it or not, just a few minutes after I'd sent off my Dodge application, I'd received a notification that I'd been nominated for another fellowship for that same summer which I hadn't even applied for; one just started from & at aTi. As soon as that was over each day, I'd go back to still customizing my Fiji trip...I'd spent the 3 days before my trip doing so much running in preparation, I'd barely slept & literally had no sleep the night before. My plan was to learn how to use the new technology on the flights over, but as fascinated as I was by the double decker 4 aisle plane, the warm Fijian flight attendant service, delicious food, & variety of individualized options for entertainment on the plane, I was out like a light shortly after the instantly served meal & slept through the entire flight, just as I had the one before my connection. Because I then spent so much time learning & trying to fix my new technology those 1st few days, (international cell phone, netbook for uploading photos & film + developing my Fiji blog [I wished], & my new camera-camcorder) all bought for this trip, + had so little time there, I couldn’t do or film half of what I’d planned yet still had an exciting time there.
