BIP's South Pacific Tour 2006
Day 3
By Erin Godwin and Maggie Vicker
Today, team Jax woke up around eight and headed out to learn about the culture of FIJI. The first place we visited was the Fiji Museum where we learned about the first inhabitants of this island.
One exhibit that was especially eye catching was the cannibal display. This part of the museum showed the actual tools the early Fijians would use for human sacrifice. One reason they practiced this “cannibalism” was to show power over other villages. The plan after the museum was to head out to a Fijian village where very conservative cultural practices are held. In these villages knees are not allowed to be shown, no hats are allowed, no sunglasses are allowed, no exposed shoulders are allowed, and also no jeans. Many of the girls on tour had to buy a sarong so we would be allowed in. Unfortunately, it has been raining a majority of our visit to Fiji, so this village we intended to visit was under water and also they had a death. Because of their practices, the villagers had to participate in ceremonies and so they could not cater to us. Plan B consisted of riding around in our vans seeing all the different sights in Suva. We saw the President’s quarters where many of our girls took pictures with the guard out front.
We saw the Parliament where there was a military coup in 2000 where a member of Parliament was killed. Our last sight we saw was the Methodist church founded by a Methodist missionary named Thomas Baker. By that point in time, we were starving and ready for lunch. We stopped at a hotel named Trade Winds and had chicken stir fry. Right in time for a nappy. We left the hotel and headed home to our Capricorn hotel to take naps and rest before game time. A few hours passed and the “mighty mites” warmed up and prepared themselves with the help of Maggie, Stacy, Taelor, Erin, and Nikki. Unfortunately we lost to the U21 team in three games but certainly not without a fight. The scores were 12-25, 9-25, and then 15-25. Directly following their match, our senior team played the Fijian national team for a retaliation. With many long rallies and a few injuries, Team Jax beat the Fijian team in four games. The scores were 25-14, 25-21, 18-25, and 25-23. It was a long match and very hot, but we wanted to prove our talents and we did. After our match , we are all sweating profusely so we showered at the gym and then shared a dinner with the Fijian national team. This was definitely the best part about Fiji. We had an Indian dinner prepared by some of the coaches on the opposing team. Our team was spread out among their players and it didn’t take long for us to converse with these girls. We asked lots of questions in mere curiosity of wanting to learn about their culture and them ours. We exchanged email addresses, lots of laughs, took many pictures, and some of us even switched t-shirts. Maggie switched her magic city volleyball t-shirt for Maca’s “Shake your coconuts!!” t-shirt. Anyway, one of the best parts about being on these tours is getting to first hand meet the players and learn from each other about the “worlds” we each live in. They also presented us with a special tropy as a token of their appreciation. Needless to say, it was a great day here in Fiji.
