Amazing which new places Misha discovers for her nap. This one does not look to comfortable and I think she gave up on it when she noticed how quickly I found her there … I bet she would also have not enjoyed the rumble from the subwoofer speaker right beneath her.
Since we knew, we have taken pictures of Ritsu’s ‘profile’ every week. And above as a little glimpse. Amazing … and still some more to go.
We had a nice lazy sunday, I took Ritsu driving for an hour, and when we returned we discovered that the power was gone … I tried to call FEA, but none of their numbers would work. I called a friend to check if they have electricity and they said that they just got it back … so I kept waiting and after an hour the lights came back on, which was great as it was getting dark outside …
But only 15 minutes later the lights dimmed to half and several power supplies started humming (obviously only getting half the power the needed) and seconds later the power was gone again. I received a phonecall from a friend telling me that it seems to be citywide, and we hopped in the car to check it out. It was raining cats and dogs by now, and indeed, all houses and shops were dark. We spotted some emergency lights at some buildings …
Even downtown was mainly dark, a very interesting sight was the movie theater: dark outside, dark foyer, and tons of people standing under the small awning to be somewhat protected from the rain. Seems their movie was over very suddenly.
Like a lonesome candle in the night, the only constant in the universe which is McDonalds was illuminated as usual and serving customers! Another restaurant complex (Pizza Hut, Bad Dog, O’Reilley’s) had lights as well. Not knowing if we ever get power and light back and thus not sure about cooking tonight, we selected McDonalds as our emergency solution.
Gladly enough when we returned the power was back. Now let’s hope it stays like that ….
. …. hey ….. who turned off the light ?????
For tonight’s dinner I made Spaghetti Puttanesca, something that Ritsu suggested a while ago. While I remember reading this on pretty much every pasta menu, I have never ever ordered that one. So when I scoured the internet for recipes, I knew I would have no benchmark for the flavor. Even funnier, I had too many Vick cough drops … and that kinda damaged my tastebuds … so .. flying blind around the kitchen.
Puttanesca is a tomato based red sauce with garlic, anchovies, capers and black olives. There are plenty of recipes and ideas over at google.
The combined flavor of fish and capers reminded me of another italian dish I have not had in a long time: Vitello Tonnato – veal slices with a tuna/caper sauce.
According to Ritsu the sauce turned out just as she remembered …
Incredible that Robert and Hillary are already leaving Fiji again, seems like they just moved here some months ago .. but the job …
Anyways, since Hillary is leaving already tommorow, the 2 got us all together at the Malt House, where we first occupied the bar area and had some snacks (spring rolls and pizza breads, which by the way are great for the small appetite … i think we had the garlic pesto ones) and then we moved to a big table, Rob ordered some bottles of wine .. and then everyone just ordered what they wanted … We tried for the first time a ‘smoked tomato’ pizza, which came closest to our wish of a ‘as basic as possible’ pizza, and indeed, it was nice. According to the menu it was supposed to come with brie, instead it came with feta cheese, but that was ok too. I only took this one picture this evening.
I wish Malt House would expand their pizza business, they have a great oven and make a great crust … but they only offer one size (although they have ONE smaller pizza on the kid’s menu), and only like 8 different combos .. we have yet to try what happens if we just start telling them what to put on the pizza.
But as always, nice place, nice atmosphere.
but I’ve been doing OK although my tummy feels like exploding! I cannot believe that it will get even bigger for the coming 2 months.
Today, I received a nice percel from my mom… with some cute maternity clothing in it. Peter will post the pic of me in the maternity outfits shortly. Boy, I look pregnant! But still, many Fijian ladies tell me “YOU ARE SO SMALL FOR 7 MONTHS!!!” Honestly, I don’t want to become bigger…
Nowadays, I wake up early in the morning because i feel HUNGRY! But I cannot eat much at one time… Even a small amount of food makes my tummy very full. Then, after a short while, I feel very hungry again… This is same as when I was in the 1st trimester. In the meanwhile, I cannot wait to go on maternity leave in 8 weeks! 
And here the above mentioned pictures:
A bit ago Ritsu started taking driving lessons. She did her licence like 8 years ago in Japan and has not been driving since. She has a Japanese and an International licence, but had no chance to practice … and instead of damaging our own car, we rather have a drive instructor worry about his The lessons here are at 15FJD = 8USD really cheap.
But we now also do a bit driving on the side in our car with me on the passenger seat. Our neighborhood is nice and quaint, so more good practice …
We just got back from a little BBQ to celebrate Bill’s Birthday up in Tamavua. We had Hot Dogs and Salad and potatoes and played with Ben, their 4 months old son.
We got Bill and appron and pottholder set, since soon he will take on the role as the “stay-at-home-dad” and I guess that includes kitchen duties as well.
Yesterday we had another appointment with our Dr. and he confirmed (again) that everything is looking good. He did an ultrascan and this time I was holding my camera over his shoulder .. and while most of it looks very confusing, the tiny beating heart is very visible and just fascinating.
Click here for the VIDEOCLIP
… the last couple of days, but I felt pretty sick and spent most time in bed. Thanks to the great support of my loving and patient wife, and thanks to some powerful drugs I feel pretty fine again. Was nothing dramatic, blood pressure a bit high and again no one really knew what the reason is.
Good to feel better now.
My dad sent me those pics today
So .. who are these scary looking guys and that little girl in the middle … well . they are all Julius Nacken!
Sigmund Freud there is my great grand grand grand father, born in 1809. The little girl is my grandfather Julius when he was a kid .. and the third picture is him when he was all grown up and able to stare people into oblivion.
I think someday soon I will have 1809 Julius’ hairstyle .. but I will not want to have his beard !!!
Thanks to my Dad for digging up these pic!
I tried to listen to the new Harry Potter Soundtrack, since I am a sucker for John Williams .. and this “Something wicked this way comes” is just fantastic … but following this link returns a
I thought AOL is a BIG and ALL OVER company .. and they do not consider mac users ??? shame shame shame !!!
Well .. this is not Julius .. but I can imagine him looking a bit like that and having that attitude
Since I am still pondering about the whole thing and the action I may take (there is only one phone provider in Fiji) i just post the email I am planning on sending to Telecom Fiji here .. and will take a couple of looks at it before I actually send it out … but I think it is a pretty interesting ‘glimpse of the current situation’ if some company ever thinks about doing business here …
Tevita,While you and I are still discussing the issue of outstanding erroneous charges to my account once again my phone got disconnected …
- without prior notice
- on a Saturday when no one is around to fix it
- while Telecom is sitting on 500 FJD of my deposit money.
- my wife is 7 month pregnant …. A working phone line is essential for us
- The customer support (112233) staff has been incredibly inefficient. First a lady by then name of Lisa … Telling me that she will contact her supervisor and then hangs up on me without getting my number … Next a guy I could not get the name from .. Saying they technically cannot hang up on customer calls .. And then he hangs up on me … Third guy tells me that phone will be reconnected … But we cannot finish the call because my vodafone card runs out … I wasted 50 $$$ on that and it took several hours to get the phone back up …
- I left my phone numbers with several people AND the automated answering machine … never got a call back …
I really hope we fix this issue very soon as I am in talks with legal council about compensation in this matter and 2 newspapers are very interested in the story and I have it all documented …
Telecom Fiji claims to have high goals … And I totally acknowledge that you, Tevita, did some really great things to customize a client’s need in a positive and efficient way … But the job is not done when a customer gets disconnected because Telecom is not getting their billing right and let their computer system disconnect their clients.
First of it was time for a second blood test for Ritsu, baby related … and since she was not allowed to eat before, she got very hungry and I called the hospital to check how early we could come. And we could go right away and I believe we had the same lady who did the blood thing last time one Ritsu …
Its incredible that a test on hemoglobins and clucose only costs us 7.44 FJD (=4 USD / EU) …
We also got a tour of the Maternity Ward .. to see where I will be fainting in 86 days … the place was very nice, clean … not scary at all .. I think they really put emphasize on having the place have a positive aura ..
On the way back from the hospital we stopped for some bakery stuff and the newspaper .. and then have Ritsu drive around a bit. (Car practice)
After that we went back home and Ritsu noticed that a recent wound on Misha’s back got worse .. and promptly we were on our way to the cat clinic … she got some shots and the wound cleaned out and she behaved pretty well …
And then it was time for Ritsu’s first driving lesson in Fiji … and it seems she had a lot of fun .. although she was sweaty all over when she returned …. but it seems she was happy with the lesson and she is going to do some more …
once again Telecom disconnected our phone because left hand does not know what right hand is doing .. and because of the continuing discussions I am having with them .. and some imbacille or automated computer routine decided that we are to be disconnected …Too bad there is no choice between phone providers … but to disconect on a Saturday, when there is no one around to reconnect ??? This is just crazy … and then when I called (from my mobile / cellphone, which costs like 2 USD / EU a minute) i got hung up on twice (first person was Lisa, I forgot the second guy’s name) and then heard that it is being reconnected … well .. I am still waiting for that …
Last night we were invited to a nice get together at Rob and Hillary’s place and we all had a lot of fun .. I even got to dance a bit .. which seems easier in a sulu (skirt) …we had drinks and pizza and chicken curry and a jolly good time .. and I got a good portion of baby eposure which makes me feel that I am ready for the job … well .. I keep in mind that no one is ever really ready for that … but I am getting used to things and I am just getting this feeling the everything will be alright and a lot of fun …
I had lunch with Ritsu at McDonald today … every once in a while it just gets us and we have to have junk food … but .. they currently have the spicy chicken burger as a special item .. and I used to love the Zinger at KFC … but KFC is just way too greasy here .. so .. this chicken burger is much better than that.
The big surprise was that old pal William sent me yet another media survival kit from Taiwan … included was a DVD copy of a movie I have been wondering a long time: “Legend of the sacred stone … a ‘puppet-fu’ movie … basically it is a puppet / martial arts / cgi movie … and I have only watched the first 5 minutes.. but it is very impressive … crazy to think how that must have looked one the big screen …
William also sent me some stuff he compiled and put on DVD from the Prelinger Archives … they collect all kinds of old educational / commercial and quirky movies … there is e.g. “Perversion for Profit” .. a whole 16 minute rant about how sexual themed magazines and pocket books will turn your youngsters into homosexuals, lesbians .. and even worse … COMMUNISTS .. it is pretty hillarious … if you have the bandwidth .. go check it out …
Seems we are narrowing down on the name search. We came across many many many name ideas … but that one really keeps sticking … it is very versatile, it can be pronounced in many languages … it can be pronounced with 2 or 3 syllables (or even 4 in Japanese)… and to top it of … my grand father’s name was Julius !!! This was not a prime motivation … but it sure made us like the idea even better …
Since we had started playing with the name (‘trying it on for size’) we have asked many of our friends what they think (most of them like it a lot) and we looked at all kinds of possible pop culture references .. and my old pal Norn pointed out Orange Julius. I had never heard of it. It seems to be an old old orange smoothie franchise … but some of their old logos are really cool .. they used to have a devil in their logo … first a big, manly one .. then they made it cute … and then to be all PC they dropped it it seems … Norn redid one of the old logos for us and we are going to put that on t-shirts, lunch boxes, teddy bears and coffee mugs …
The other very cool reference I found, once I started chasing down orange julius stuff on ebay, was Julius & friends. a cartoon monkey and his pals … and while Ritsu and I were going over that site and read character descriptions .. we realized that we are on there too … Ritsu is Bunny Girl and I am Worry Bear … and they seem to like each other … Ritsu had used the japanese nickname ‘Usagi” (=bunny) for years … so is that a weird coincidence or what ??? I don’t think so … really cute … I like those Julius cartoons, the design and the music .. The style and the music is very loungy, very pizzicato five … i keep wondering for what age group these cartoons are made for …
(Click for bigger version to be able to read the descriptions)
I know that Norn could do the same or even better .. but this guy Paul Frank seems to have excellent financial backing .. often it is not about talent .. it is about who you sleep with and how much mula your parents have and are willing to invest in your doodles ….
But one thing I keep saying about the whole name thing … I need to see that little human being first … I believe you can come up with a great name .. and then you see that little thing and you feel it just is not the right name … so .. nothing is final yet .. but we adress him as Julius for the time being …
And here the only photo I know of that documents that I actually met my grand dad Julius Nacken … this is him and that little bundle is me
It seems the rumors I wrote a couple of weeks / months ago were true … there was something stirring and a new coup may have been just around the corner …. then again .. since it has been a part of Fiji’s recent history, that whole idea of overthrowing the covernment seems to be just the common thing to say as a threat … but these coup things don’t seem to be fun … I have not been here during one … but I have seen TV footage … once chaos ensues … people go crazy and law and order breaks down .. which means that houses and stores are being looted …
Since we live right close by the parliament building I really do not want that to happen … and I actually do not think we were that close .. just some words carelessly spoken and some people dismissed … gosh, who knows …
Somehow we both woke up in the middle of the night and spent some time online … and so I went back to bed at 6 AM (after a nice phonecall with my mom) and we slept long, until 10:20 …
Ritsu went to get bread and the paper and around 12:30 we left to go watch “Taking Lives“, a suspense movie staring Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke and Kiefer Sutherland … while he is credited as the 3rd big name .. he is barely in the movie … maybe 3 minutes …
We were pretty much looking forward to this movie … Ritsu likes Hawke and Sutherland a lot and the trailer made the plot look really interesting …
Unfortunately it is not a good movie … plotholes left and right, no real sense of tension … the ‘twists’ are too predictable and do not make a lot of sense … it is a shame to see that much money and talent wasted … The director must have had a great time .. all that production value he could toy with and even get Jolie to flash one boob again (she has done nudity before, in “Gia” … lots of it)
Anyways … I’d say the movie is good for rental on a rainy weekend. It has some nice “jump out your seat” moments … there are moments that suggest a homo-erotic bond between Hawke and Sutherland’s characters .. you have explosions, a car chase scene, a sex scene, swearing and cursing in french and some neo stylish cinematography ….
Since Ritsu had a business retreat at Pacific Harbor, a touristy holiday place about 50 km / 30 miles away from Suva, I took the chance to tag along. Pacific Harbor seems to have been specifically built as “the adventure capitol of Fiji” in the mid nineties … Beqa Lagoon is close, so lots of diving and lots of other activities … so lots of investment was made into that area, many hotels, resorts, a golf course .. you name it … too bad that the weather on that side still is worse than the Nadi area and the 2000 coup probably killed the whole idea. Hotels are now very empty, close to closing, while there are many beautiful houses and properties, more and more stay empty … its a shame actually.
This place we stayed, the Lagoon Resort, is a pretty big thing, has big rooms for all kinds of functions .. but when you see a place like that totally deserted … kinda sad. And from what people say, effort making is low … as if it does not make a big difference at all. I could go on and on … If the whole Pac Harbor idea had ever taken off properly, that place would be jumping now, and rightfully so. The architecture is beautiful and the rooms are very nice. While it is not located at the ocean, it is next to one of the many streams that form the whole channel system that Pac Harbor is made of …
It also has an abundance of mosquitos … while the Suva mosquitos know me by now and leave me alone, I was fresh meat for the ones there .. and got bitten even through my shirt …
Since we were already half way, we had made plans to drive another 45 minutes to the Warwick to try out the japanese restaurant there. It sure was an interesting experience. Highlight sure was that for the first time in Fiji I got Ikura (salmon Roe)!!!
The place itself was not that great … the car drive in the dark was fun enough already (obviously in Fiji cardrivers barely learn to switch off their headbeams when they come towards you, but when they are behind you, they sure keep them on to blind you that way) and got us both aggravated and nauseous ..
The restaurant is just somewhat partitioned off of the main eating area .. and since it is school holiday in AU, it was loaded with people and families around the cheaper buffet style dinners … but their noise came all the way across … and people had to shout at each other to keep a conversation … no wonder everyone looked a bit tense and aggressive. So, there is no real kitchen, at least for this restaurant, kitchen items are done in one of the other kitchens and that may explain why our waiter was AWOL for quite some time. There are 2 Teppenyaki tables which seem to be so popular with the tourists that people from other tables even got up when something got flamed (“ooooooh”) or very quickly and loudly chopped (“aaaaaaaaah”). In the middle is a sushi bar .. well .. not really .. no one was sitting there .. and some indian (or as Ritsu pointed out, rather turkish) looking chef only showed up briefly in the unlikely case someone actually ordered sushi. Made it quick and ran away. Thus I had my food about 20 minutes before Ritsu had her shrimp tempura and dinner set…
I had ordered tuna, salmon, salmon roe nigiri and a shrimp tempura roll. Of course the salmon roe was nothing compared to the stuff you get in japan .. it was salty and had less flavor .. but hey … first time I actually seen it in Fiji … that was a big thing … I was prepared that they would say “oh, we are out of that” … so, i believe it came from some jar, similar to stuff I had seen in AU.
Ritsu had the shrimp tempura, which counts as a main course, so she could also order the dinner set: rice, miso soup and mixed pickles. The soup was pretty nice, the rice came in a weird bowl and the mixed pickles were rather italian than japanese (bay leaf, olives) … but the shrimp tempura, albeit late, was a big portion and fairly nice …
All in all it was pretty good, the place was way too loud, none of the staff seemed to be in charge or had a clue, I noticed several other guests waiting quite long for order taking and food delivery, the bottled water I ordered came opened, I should have returned it right away. It was a bit pricey and again, the atmosphere was anything but cozy.
We still had a 45 min drive back to the lagoon resort and by now it was very dark, gladly the full moon guided us a bit and no stray animals were on the road. Some rain along the way added to the challenge, but we made it and after we discovered that the lagoon resort bar had already closed (at 9 PM, the brochure says “11 AM till late” .. so that makes 9 PM ‘late’) we had a very peaceful sleep.
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