And no.. I don't mean my fair maidens over in Gangam land.. This is more about how a "fresh off the boat a.k.a FOB" Fijian ended up living the dream in the land of Elizabethan splendour. I'd love to be able to regale you with a love story that will sweep you off your feet, make you teary-eyed, envision candyfloss bunnies.. the whole works but then where's the fun in that and realistically speaking, my romance buzz is more or less your typical millennial style story, I met him in a bar and his pick-up line that got me hooked was, "Do you know why Native Americans are referred to as Indians?" And the rest as they say is history... Literally!
So, said trivia-buff swept me off my feet and brought me here, here as in where Queen Elizabeth lives, as in the woman who used to be on every single printed note that I exchanged for my sloppy lunches in school cafeterias back home in Fiji, sits on her royal throne (no pun intended) here. I still haven't met her though.. And might be on a waiting list for awhile with that also, but I digress (something you will find I tend to do A LOT!) You could say however that I am here by invitation of the Queen, the trivia-buff (I quite like that term and I think he shall be referred to as such for the remainder of this blog) serves for Queen and Country and because of that, this FOB is now living the dream, following him from posting to posting across the wonderful United Kingdom. I say wonderful but most times it is to the middle of nowhere where dreams go to die a silent, dreary death, however what keeps me going is the fact that I'm a nosy islander and I pretty much suss out the area before anyone even has time to unpack their garage.. Trust me when I say, "nomadic-by-invitation-of-the-Queen" families need unpacking of garages, we are natural hoarders. Add a Pacific Islander into that mix and you have the entire row of Costco furnishings and toiletries in that garage.. I may or may not be guilty of this.
So back to why are you even reading through this now too lengthy first post, in the almost 7 years I've been living the dream in middle earth with trivia-buff, I've noticed that no one has had the opportunity to enlighten those back home (or around the world for that matter) on what exists outside the usual go-with-flow army life for a Fijian. I'm here to change your perspective on the status quo and change the rhetoric on what being a Fijian in the middle of nowhere entails! Bearing in mind, this will be about my personal life experiences and I appreciate that no two experiences can ever be the same so I'm looking forward to this bringing to light more life experiences from other Fijians also living here in the UK. Happy 1st of the month!
With love from Middle-Earth with a slightly rekindled dream-fire,
Bella x