Heading to Fiji
Hawaiian Airport
February 2015
I arrive at the Hawaii airport at 9PM. But my flight to Fiji is not until 4AM. I have a very long wait until I move
again. So my first stop is the bar. Two men sit beside me and they speak a language
that I have never heard. I don’t recognize any tones or words.
“Where are you from”, I ask them, interrupting them and
unabashed at my question. “I don’t recognize your language”, I tell them with a
tone of authority, as if I have heard all languages and dialects to date.
“Fiji,” they tell me in unison, not bothered by my
interruption. “We speak a half broken language, “ one of them adds.
It is a language I have never heard before. “Does anyone speak English in Fiji?", I ask in
a little bit of tone of desperation and hopefulness.
“Oh, yea, everyone”, they announce. “We just speak Fiji when
we don’t want you to hear our conversation", one of them laughingly tells me.
What a relief, yet another country that will tolerate my
language ineptness.
