[The last renewal of this page: Apr. 15, 2012]

== As the first step, I moved to a special single room at the Skylodge Hotel ==

I have been investigating carefully the best place to live in during the last one month staying at the homestay homes, and the best choice without any hesitation was Skylodge Hotel.
They have a guardman at the gate, and the security in the area seems to be alright. It looks like a gate of the gate of the campus of the College, or some public facilities.
In this area, there are cottages as independent houses, and a regular hotel, together.




Inside the area is full of green! It is something like a cottage place in Karuizawa in Japan, and with just seeing it at once, we may feel that we want to live here right away!




Where I want to stay is one of those cottages in the woods. They are unbelievablly cheap! With a big living room, a bed room, a laundry room, a bathroom/Shower room, and refeligelator, gas stove, air conditioner, other furniture being installed, it is only about 30,000Yen/month! They have a lot of trees in the garden, and it is so convenient for the radio amateur like me who want to put up the wire antenna bewteen trees, and is just like a dream!




However, it is full occupied now, and no empty cottage is available!






This is the entrance of a regular hotel at the end of the faccilities.
I have been spend a hard time to visiting here to find an empty cottage, and meet the hotel manager. He at last did a great favor for me to set up a special big single room for me with a ultra super cheap price, so that I can stay there and wait till the empty cottage will be available.




They have a nice feeling resort hotel type bar and restaurant.






The also have a swimming pool though it's small, so I would be able to enjoy swimming after I get back from the work everyday and then a glass of beer??






It is large enough for one person, and they brought two beds, reflegilator, TV, desk and chair, Ironing table and Iron, so that it'll be a perfect room for me.








Lovely air conditioner! Enjoy drinking beer, talking with my friends near my home in Hanno, Japan over the radio by remotecontrolling my radio equipment in Japan through the internet without worrying about anybody else now! Oh, my! It's a paradise...
I anyhow moved here like this. I now can open and unpack the carton boxes that I sent from Japan.




It is really something to drink beer at the poolside at night after coming back from the work.

A lunch at a small japanese restaurant "Ikkyu" in Nadi town. Actually it looks so miserable in a picture, but I was exited with a japanese food and felt it so delicious.




A taxi dirver that I happened to got on was a father of a local staff of my company! It's a small world here.
The steerng wheel was convered to be thicker. This is a charactristic feature in Fiji. Most of sedans and buses has this thick wheel.




I found a small Korean restaurant just closed to the hotel which I am staying. (I maybe hooked on here in every weeked)
I ordered my old Solrontang. If it is in a Korean restaurant in Japane, it'll cost more than 2,000Yen, but here it's only 500Yen. (It is still very expensive for local peoples)




As I was drinking beer here, the students of the language school managed by my company came in. The right one is a korean student who I recently worked for, and the left one is a japanese student who is one of the close friends of him.




This is a well-known pose ? This winning pose gets stronger due to the skin color being gotten closer to the local peoples.?! (I just dropped in the office on Sunday, and therefore I am in such clothes.)




This is a pineapple that I bought in the market at 70Yen(US$0.90), cutting with a new knife looks so sharp that I just bought. Oh, gee with, it's so delicious! It is filled with flesh and so juicy. I ate it up all, but it was absolutely the frist time in my life to fill the stomach with only pineapple.




On a Friday night, there came in my colleagues to the pool-side of my hotel. From the left to the right, Ema(single), Ba, Lo, Lo's borther, Lo's husband.
At the other side of the pool, a band is playing music and songs, and the atmosphere is perfect.




I asked Lo to get us all in one, but a big reflex camera with a zoom lense seemed to be a little bit difficult for her, hi hi




From March 29 to April 1, a huge cyclone attacked Fiji Islands. An extremely strong shower continued for a few days, and the water flowing from the mountains attacked the falt and low area on the island. IThe terrible flood covered wide area, and in some areas, the water reached to the roof of the houses. (It is said this kind of flood never have occured in the past 100 years)
This picture was taken after the water had been withdrawn, and at its peak, the water lever was 2 metere higher than this picture.




People fleed on the roof.




A strong stream was running on the street.




It's helpless...is the words their faces were telling me.

At lunch time on April 18, 2012, when I was eating lunch in a cafeteria of the airport, my cellular phone rang and one of the lcoal staff of my company was calling me to get back to the office for emergency work.
I was just started eating lunch and did not like to go, so asked her what' the world happening, but she just insisted me to come up...
As I come upstaris and get in my office, there waiting a big surprise!!!
Though I have been keep it secret as I don't like to accept my 60th birthday...! Local colleagues were waiting for me with a big cake which they bought sharing all! What an exciting surprise!!
Okapi is my nick name here, and the age 16 is a great thoughtfulness for me! Tears are likely to come out!




This is what we normally do in a wedding ceremony...




Joinning with our director and trainees who were visiting here from Japan by chance, all of about 20 peoples sang "Happy Birthday to you" for me, and that made me so embarrassing.




Although I had been saying that I would never ware the red jacket even I got 60th birthday (* It is a tradition and custom in Japan), a red Bula-shirt was give me as a present, then I easily surrendered...
Oh yes, this is not a jacket, it's just a Bula-shirt... is a reason to accept the situation.
I have never be celebrated birthday at work in my life, never experienced such a big surprise!
Thank you so much everybody!!




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