Fiji

"Yea..." Dima continued, talking mostly to himself. "It's as if the author of my story got into some stupid argument, retired to Fiji, and just left me here to rot."

I live in Fiji.

Fiji is called "Viti" in Fijian.

If I had all the time in the world, I'd build a boat and sail to Fiji.

Many people in Fiji don't have access to clean drinking water.

I want to visit Fiji.

Suva is the capital of Fiji.

Fiji became independent in 1970 after nearly a century as a British colony.

It is now Saturday, the 12th of July of 2014. My Chinese neighbours Irene, Fred, and RJ have a garage sale, from which I buy 8 Chinese books, including the translation of George Orwell's 1984. It is really a prize, a treasure about an alternate history of three competing supernations—Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia—on Earth. All the books are in the most modern form of logograms, often called "Simplified Chinese" as contrasted with "Traditional Chinese." The family are ground floor tenants of Chinese-Indian Moli and Chinese Leong, both from Fiji. Their house with a big back balcony is next to and north of my home on Lulu Island.

Abraham my neighbour is the son of Moli, a Fijian of Chinese and East Indian descent, and Leong, a Fijian of Chinese descent. Abraham arrived in Canada at the age of 14, whilst Isaac his brother was 8, and Sandra his sister was 4. So, Abraham, over six decades old now, still has good memory of Fiji. He still knows some Fijian, but his siblings do not. He learned to speak Cantonese for his wife's family. In Fiji, he knew some Hindi from friends.