Here it Comes

Well, if we had enough electricity to warrant a fan, you better believe that excrement would by flying in all directions from it. We are slated to move out of our house on Wednesday, either to a house in the village near where we are now, or if Peace Corps decides that the Koro Experiment has been a failed on, to another site. There was supposed to be a meeting on Monday to determine whether we stay on Koro on Monday. If the result of the meeting is that we are being pulled from our site, Peace Corps would come and get us on Wednesday to go…well somewhere else. If the decision is for us to stay, we would move on Wednesday to a house in the village, that while not quite the luxury we have enjoyed here, will keep us dry.

Then came news of cyclone Tomas, heading our way. (By the way, a cyclone is just what we call a hurricane around these parts.) Koro is in the direct path of the category 4 (out of 5) cyclone and we are expecting 100mph winds. The rest of Peace Corps Fiji is hunkered down in consolidation points, but since we are so isolated, we are our own consolidation point. There won’t be a meeting to determine our fate on Monday and no one from Peace Corps will be able to come on Wednesday because the seas will be too rough to send the boat. Meanwhile, it is business as usual here, so the school doesn’t think that a little breeze and a sprinkle of rain are any reason to not move. Plus, I am good and sick with fever, general body aches and pains, and various bodily functions happening that you don’t want to hear about. Nice timing, huh? (By the way, I made a joke about dengue to some folks via e-mail which was taken a bit more seriously than I had planned. It isn’t dengue; it’s probably just meningitis or something.)

Anyway, the real reason for the blog is to show the cyclone photos because these are pretty cool. Here are a couple of sights that show the impending destruction. This one,

http://www.met.gov.fj/aifs_prods/65648.html

is the tracking map. On the map, Fiji is the island group with Nadi, Suva, and Labasa in it. To find Koro, find where it says “18:00 15/3” (March 15th at 6:00pm). There is a “4” next to that showing where the eye of the storm will be then. Now, go south one “4” and look for a small island that looks like a little shark’s tooth next to the “4” there. That is Koro. If it is any consolation, we are on the eastern side of the island. This one is the satellite photo:

http://www.met.gov.fj/aifs_prods/gms_ir.gif

I really like this view because it is real and gives you the scope of it. These are updated every few hours so if you want to track our demise, it is there for the world to see! Our house is sturdy and has been around for more than a few of these, so I think that we will be perfectly safe. And while our house is on high ground, I am more concerned with the flooding that will most likely happen in the village—could be really bad as that river is prone to flooding.

I will update this as I can, and as long as the internet stays up during the storm. Since this will by first direct hit from a hurricane/cyclone, I am pretty excited!