Ouch. Fiji is hot hot hot. The weather in New Zealand had been a little bit cooler during the last few days, so we really weren't prepared for the transition. While Fiji is only three hours north of New Zealand, California is a similar distance from Seattle, the climate and temperature are drastically different. Upon stepping out of the airport we were greeted with a blast of hot wet air, causing yours truly to become instantly sweaty. I didn't think the humidity was as appalling as China, but it was definitely a sticky place to be. We arrived at our hotel and tried to get settled in, but they were a bit slow with the luggage delivery. We probably could have carried the luggage ourselves had we known that our room was fifty feet from the check in desk, but they were a little bit vague when giving us the location so we spent a good twenty minutes trudging up and down the enormous hill that the resort was located on looking for our room. We figured that it might be close to the water so we headed in that direction. Some of the other guests told us that we should inquire at the bar which happened to be in the farthest corner of the hotel property. We asked at the bad but they didn't now either. I guess the employees don't stay in the rooms so they don't know, makes sense, right? Through process of elimination we were able to figure it out though, and it turned out that our room was actually the closest one to the check in desk, we had simply walked by it. When we finally found it, our luggage had not yet been delivered. We went back to desk and saw that it was still sitting there, but were told that they would bring it to our room. We wanted to go down to the water and swim for a bit but without our swim suits we were a little bit stuck. They brought it eventually and we were given our first introduction to Fiji Time.
In Fiji there are really only two Fijian words that any tourist needs to get by. Actually there are four words, but only two of them are Fijian, and you could probably get by with just one if you really tried. The first word is Bula. Bula, in addition to meaning hello and serving as a pickup line, is pretty much the national slogan. Almost anything you buy in a tourist shop will have the word Bula printed on it. Many of the Fijian people you walk by in the street will turn to you and say Bula with a big smile, although its hard to tell if they are simply being polite, or if they are quietly laughing inside because they know that you're foreign and they get a kick out of making you feel like you belong. There seems to be a fine line with languages and learning them. Some people embrace your attempt to communicate while others frown upon you for not having mastered what they consider common knowledge. For example, an older man that we talked to at the Skyway Lodge told us about his trip around the world. He had been to China for a few weeks and so he knew a few words like hello and thank you. While we were talking to him, the cousins of the owners wife came in to make dinner. He turned to them, smiled and said “Nee-how,” which means “hello” in Chinese. The two women however were Korean (I'm not entirely sure if this is true, but since the owner told us they had dropped their children off in Korea with his wife's cousins, we assumed her to be Korean), and not Chinese. Eventually, after several tries, it seemed that they had picked up on what he was saying. Now I'm not Chinese, but after having spent a month there I have a slight idea of the difference between a good and bad Chinese accent is. The old man's Chinese was terrible, and since he didn't really know anything else, he simply said “shae-shae” (thank you) and turned back to his conversation with us. The man probably wasn't trying to be rude, but he simple assumed that the girls were Chinese and decided to drop his knowledge on them. This doesn't seem like the best way to go about communicating, but I guess that's my opinion. Back to Fiji. The second big time word is Fiji Time. Fijians are all very laid back and to them, time isn't really a factor. If something gets done now or in an hour, what's the difference? It probably works well for them, as they likley don't have anything else to do, but its a bit of a bugger when you are trying to schedule cruises and what not. We usually had to wait anywhere from 10-40 minutes for our pickup, and while it didn't really make that much of a difference, other than we wasted a bit of time sitting in the lobby, it was a little bit of an annoyance. The island lifestyle definitely takes some getting used to. Bula and Fiji Time are probably the only Fijian words that I know after spending a week there, because they get used so much that it almost pushes everything else out of your brain. I understand that in the grand scheme of things, being a little late probably doesn't matter, but why not just arrive when you say you are going too. Being a little early never hurt anyone either right? I personally think that they've taken the laxness a bit too far, and I consider myself to be a very lax person, but once again that's my opinon. I think it counts especially when other people are depending on you. All said, the island life isn't really my speed, but they sure have nice beaches. Vanaka means thank you, but you don't have to use that one too much, as people are always late it seems that they don't mind if you don't say thanks.
In Fiji there are really only two Fijian words that any tourist needs to get by. Actually there are four words, but only two of them are Fijian, and you could probably get by with just one if you really tried. The first word is Bula. Bula, in addition to meaning hello and serving as a pickup line, is pretty much the national slogan. Almost anything you buy in a tourist shop will have the word Bula printed on it. Many of the Fijian people you walk by in the street will turn to you and say Bula with a big smile, although its hard to tell if they are simply being polite, or if they are quietly laughing inside because they know that you're foreign and they get a kick out of making you feel like you belong. There seems to be a fine line with languages and learning them. Some people embrace your attempt to communicate while others frown upon you for not having mastered what they consider common knowledge. For example, an older man that we talked to at the Skyway Lodge told us about his trip around the world. He had been to China for a few weeks and so he knew a few words like hello and thank you. While we were talking to him, the cousins of the owners wife came in to make dinner. He turned to them, smiled and said “Nee-how,” which means “hello” in Chinese. The two women however were Korean (I'm not entirely sure if this is true, but since the owner told us they had dropped their children off in Korea with his wife's cousins, we assumed her to be Korean), and not Chinese. Eventually, after several tries, it seemed that they had picked up on what he was saying. Now I'm not Chinese, but after having spent a month there I have a slight idea of the difference between a good and bad Chinese accent is. The old man's Chinese was terrible, and since he didn't really know anything else, he simply said “shae-shae” (thank you) and turned back to his conversation with us. The man probably wasn't trying to be rude, but he simple assumed that the girls were Chinese and decided to drop his knowledge on them. This doesn't seem like the best way to go about communicating, but I guess that's my opinion. Back to Fiji. The second big time word is Fiji Time. Fijians are all very laid back and to them, time isn't really a factor. If something gets done now or in an hour, what's the difference? It probably works well for them, as they likley don't have anything else to do, but its a bit of a bugger when you are trying to schedule cruises and what not. We usually had to wait anywhere from 10-40 minutes for our pickup, and while it didn't really make that much of a difference, other than we wasted a bit of time sitting in the lobby, it was a little bit of an annoyance. The island lifestyle definitely takes some getting used to. Bula and Fiji Time are probably the only Fijian words that I know after spending a week there, because they get used so much that it almost pushes everything else out of your brain. I understand that in the grand scheme of things, being a little late probably doesn't matter, but why not just arrive when you say you are going too. Being a little early never hurt anyone either right? I personally think that they've taken the laxness a bit too far, and I consider myself to be a very lax person, but once again that's my opinon. I think it counts especially when other people are depending on you. All said, the island life isn't really my speed, but they sure have nice beaches. Vanaka means thank you, but you don't have to use that one too much, as people are always late it seems that they don't mind if you don't say thanks.
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