frogs, fashion, coconuts.

My host brother Save is so wonderful. He is only 12 but so thoughtful, interested, and considerate. When it rains, he is sure that he covers me with the umbrella. When we eat, and he finishes first, he asks me if he can leave the table. When we read from the Fijian bible at church, he moves over each word with his finger to show me where we are. An exceedingly sweet kid. So when we came back from a neighbor's house the other night and a frog was hopping across the living room floor, I was pretty shocked when he ran up to it and proceeded to kick it as far as he could.

Still trying to process this. But I couldn't get mad. I just ran up to it, picked it up gently, and placed it outside. Save then said, "oh you like froggy? I'm sorry" (I don't think it was even injured!). I said that yes, I do like frogs. I know that he has such a big heart -- but, like lots of Fijians, that just doesn't extend to animals. It's insanity. But, at the same time, does he think it was insanity that I went through so much trouble to catch the frog and take it outside? If it was an American child who did that, I would have absolutely lost it (as much as I am capable of losing it) -- how could anyone raise a child that does that? But since I am in a new place, I'm not really in a place to pass judgment, even though my thoughts on the matter are pretty defined. I know Save is a sweet kid that was raised well. Just another interesting cultural disconnect that I haven't quite resolved...

In other news, my aunt has now made me 3 dresses. Of course they stick the kid who never wears any dresses with the host family who loves making dresses. I tried explaining to my host mom that at home, some of my friends have never seen me in a dress. They laughed and laughed, of course, and the next day, I had another new dress. Maybe they think they are making up for lost time. It is very sweet. But I do miss pants. And ice cream for that matter.

My host mom at lunch today de-husked and cracked a coconut in about 25 seconds. It was incredible. She first slammed it against a sharpened piece of re-bar, then held the inner cocounut in her hand and whacked it with a huge knife, caught the coconut juice in a cup, and whacked it once more to cut it cleanly in half. It was probably the most impressive thing I have yet seen here in Fiji. She tells me she'll teach me how one day, but we shall see. Amazing.