sega na lega

Bula! I cannot believe it is only day 3, it seriously has been the longest trip ever and I am only in week one. There is too much to tell you, I think the best way I can organize my thoughts is to tell you everything in sections. So here it goes.

The flight: Actually went by way fast. The only note worthy event was that I made besties with the 14 year old boy sitting next to me. I actually felt quite accomplished because at first he was painfully shy but then by hour 6 he was asking for a hug out of no where and making sure we were watching the same movies. He was kind of weird and kind of funny.

The house: Amazing. It is on top of this hill on a street called Vunivadra Place. It is pink on the outside, blue on the inside. And the view is breathtaking.  You can see the ocean just past the green landscape. It is truly a blessing to be here.

My room: Well, I share it with 5 other girls. Enough said.

Business stuff: On Tuesday we met with the CEO of the biggest shipping company in the South Pacific. His name is Peter and he is the quintessential Australian man. As a hobby he makes low income housing in impoverished areas. It is a really amazing development. People have to apply to get into this housing and abide by various laws such as zero tolerance for domestic violence, and the promise that no second generation family members will live in the community. This latter promise is especially important to achieve the objective of the Koripita community. The point of this community is to give these people a chance to raise their children in a safe place and offer better opportunities for the children to succeed and become self sustaining. Thus they do not allow second generation to live in the community as a way to push the children to move on to better things. Isn’t that awesome!?!? One of the projects that I am thinking about working on with Peter is for the less social children. At Koripita there is this issue where children coming from dangerous villages are so used to staying inside that they never come outside to play with the other children. Peter is very concerned about this issue and I am hoping to come up with a good way to solve it. I think I might try to implement a “buddy system” where as volunteers we can go into their homes and develop a relationship with these children and help them come out of their shell, quite literally. I am excited!!!!

Yesterday I went to training for the World Health Organization (WHO). They are doing a project called Health Promoting Schools (HPS) in which they train teachers in third world countries to better the school’s health programs. Non communicable diseases (NCDs) are the #1 cause of death to people in Fiji, NCDs are preventable through life style change. So the point of HPS is to target children so they develop these healthy habits at a young age. I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to be working as a partner with WHO and I am very passionate about the project. WHO wants us to help do evaluations at the schools so that will be cool. I talked to one of the teachers yesterday and she asked me and Stephanie to come in on Monday and sit in on their PE. She wants us to see what we can do to improve it because it lacks structure and kids often don’t get the exercise they need. I am stoked on this opportunity! I can’t think of anything I would rather do than exercise with the cutest children on earth!

There are other projects going on but I will update you on those later. 

Fijian words we say: Bula (boo-la): Hello and bless you (like after a sneeze); sega na lega (sanga-na-langa): no worries; moce (mo-tha): good bye; vanaka (va-naka): thank you

Food: The noodles here are like China Panda but better and the curries are like Indian Palace, we also eat a lot of fish. I am loving it. And the best part of food here is that Fijians eat it with their hands! So I basically never have to worry about looking like the ill mannered person I am in America. When WHO fed us our lunch they were stoked on how quickly I caught onto their hand eating ways, haha I fit in great. 

Greatest challenge thus far: So given the current past events we have to strictly abide by the buddy system. That means when I see all the amazing places I want to go running I can’t go unless I find someone to go with. This seriously blows. None of the girls here are very dedicated to running so my workouts have been interesting. Day 1 I ran up and down our driveway for like 20 minutes with jumping jacks at the top and some lunges in between, and then I did some kickboxing with weights for 10 minutes. I did this in our front yard and I could see children in the house next door staring at me. They were probably thinking, what is that crazy American girl doing? Working out is just not part of their culture so I am sure the kids had never seen anything like that. Then Day 2 I did a Jillian Michaels video. But today was awesome because two of the girls were going running so I got to join them. I was the happiest girl in the world; seriously running is just my favorite way to get to know an area. It helps me better understand my surroundings and it is my favorite time to be alone. But even today was frustrating because I couldn’t run beyond the other girl’s sight and I had to run where they wanted to run. I just so badly wish I could take off and run as hard as I can up to all the beautiful places and explore as I wish. Running is where I take out my stress and work out any sadness, talk to God, appreciate nature, everything. I don’t think I even realized how important running was to me until now. But I can’t really complain, I am in Fiji!

What I miss most: You. Honestly, if I could see a familiar face I would probably cry with joy. I have experienced a little bit of homesickness but it gets easier every day. I miss being hugged. I miss hearing my mom’s voice. I miss the sound my phone makes when I get a text. I miss people knowing who I am and not feeling the need to show everyone how great I am. I miss people driving on the right side of the road. I miss being able to talk to males. 

What I am falling in love with: walking most everywhere, crazy taxi drives in the country, yelling “Bula!”, smiling faces,  eating with my hands, morning and afternoon tea (aka cakes and hot drinks), always being slightly sweaty (weird, I know), hand washing my laundry, late night chats with my 5 roommates, wearing skirts every day (love/hate relationship), sunset after sunset, the exchange rate, constantly learning new things, how living here feels like you travel back in time 30 years, the chef and her beautiful son, the foooood, not paying tax, bright colored houses, getting to know the girls, the unknown, FIJI. 

So, basically I am having such an amazing experience. I try to never take a moment for granted. There has been hard times; times when I have asked myself why did I sign up for 10 weeks? But then I get passionate about a project, or learn something new, or have a bonding moment with someone, or see the most beautiful sunset of my life, and I remember that I am the luckiest girl in the world.

                            
                                           
                                                     View from our balcony last night :)

The internet is so slow here that I could only download one picture :(