The Little Things

                This weekend was amazing. Period. We packed in so many adventures in such a short period of time and I loved every last second of it. Lucy, Ben, Aly, and I had a conversation over dinner on Saturday night, saying how we can try to explain our trip as well as we possibly can to others, but our stories will never do the actual experience justice. Living out this past weekend will definitely be an example of this as I know that my words can’t convey everything that I want them to, but I’m going to try my hardest!

                We started off this weekend by heading to a village a couple of hours away. One of the volunteers had visited a resort several weeks ago and met Naomi, the sweet woman who offered to house us. We informed Naomi that we wanted to visit and 8 of us then took a bus out to the middle of nowhere. The bus driver dropped us off on the side of the highway and we waited with some of the locals for a van to bring us to their village. The villages here consist of tribes that live in small homes that are set up in a neighborhood-type format. Sometimes, they don’t have electricity or running water, so you can see how people get both a humbling experience and real sense of Fijian life by staying in a village. It seems like people here LOVE hosting visitors as they give guests the highest honors. For example, Naomi and her family refused to eat dinner until after the guests had completely finished eating.

                Before we could be accepted as guests into the village, we needed to present the chief with kava, a calming anesthetic made from the roots of a plant (and is very commonplace here), in an official ceremony. We all walked out, sat in a line, and waited for the chief to bless the kava and thank us. (At least, I think that’s what he was doing. This was all in Fijian, so we really all just awkwardly sat there in front of members of the village.) Then Ben, being the only male with us, was given the responsibility of presenting the kava to the chief on our behalf. It was very formal, very traditional, and very… different. Once we went through this entire process, we were welcomed into the village with singing, dancing, music, and more kava. We stayed up for hours doing this and all of the volunteers had a blast! The interesting thing about this particular village is that, in addition to guests being given the highest honors, men are also treated very highly; therefore, guests that are men are treated like celebrities. Ben was LOVING being the only male guest as he was able to eat first, was called “chief” and “master” by the locals, and everyone (locals and all 7 of us female guests!) basically had to listen to and do whatever he said. Just take a moment to picture this scene in your mind and you too may find Ben’s newfound power and 15 minutes of fame to be absolutely hilarious, also.

                On Saturday, we bused to another beach and hung out there before we went to do our first two open water dives. I was terrified to scuba dive 40 feet in the water, but after I got over my initial freak out, it was fine. My thought process was something like, “Oh my gosh. I’m in the ocean. I’m underwater. I’m sinking deeper. I’m still breathing. I’m still breathing! I’m still breathing! Hey, this is really cool!” After staying in an awesome beach hut (which cost me a whopping $25 U.S.), we went back yesterday to do our last two open water dives and our final exam. Good news is: I got my open water scuba certification and can now, officially, do a shark dive next week! Although I’m sure it will be amazing, I’ll naturally be freaking out in the meantime.

Our dive group at a shipwreck

SCUBA SUCCESS!

So, what’s the reasoning behind the title of this post? I talked to my friend Jessie several months ago as she was on a quest to find 1,000 “little things” that made her happy. I loved this concept so much and it ended up becoming a great topic at dinner on Saturday night as I experienced several of these little things over the weekend. Because I was able to sum up the “big things” fairly easily, I figured that the best way to end this post is by recognizing the small moments that also contributed to making this weekend one of the best that I can remember.

The Little Things That Make Me Happy (and I was able to experience this past weekend):

·         Looking at the stars on a clear night. While waiting for the van to bring us to the village on Friday night, I was mesmerized by the stars as I was literally in the middle of nowhere on an island that’s surrounded by the ocean for hundreds of miles. Suffice it to say that I have never seen stars so abundant, so beautiful, and so breathtaking.

·         Outdoor showers. The beach hut that we stayed in had one of the best outdoor showers that I have ever seen. It was huge with a waterfall showerhead and palm trees that enveloped over the top of it. I could have stayed in there for hours!

·         Listening to music while riding with the windows down on a nice day. Most of the buses here have open windows and blast the radio through their sound system. It makes the hour or two ride fly by because you just feel so young, so alive, and so free. Plus, they typically play “Top Hits” stations or else Fijian music. I find it amusing that a lot of times, I’m lucky enough to get on a bus that combines the two genres. The other day, the bus I was on was playing “Slim Shady” to an island beat. Seriously!

·         Feeling a sense of accomplishment. I’m not going to lie -- I’m kind of proud of the fact that I’m scuba certified!

·         Finishing a really, really good book. I’ve been reading a good amount here and I finally finished The Bronze Horseman Trilogy over the weekend (awesome recommendation, Lyss!). In general, the best books that I’ve read are the ones where I become emotionally invested in them. This book was no exception as I had tears streaming down my face while reading on the beach on Saturday morning. I actually put sunglasses on just to hide the fact that I was so emotional over the book!

So, may you stop to think about and enjoy all of the little things that make you happy throughout the next few days. I truly believe that focusing on and recognizing these moments (in addition to the “big things”) is a perfect way to realize just how blessed, beautiful, and satisfying life can be!

Hot or Not List: Fiji Edition

                It's official! I have too many stories to share. In an awful attempt to get as many in as possible, I've decided to make Meg's first official "Hot or Not List"! So, without further ado...

Things that are "Hot" in Fiji:

1. Rugby. Everybody here is obsessed with the sport. Sometimes, when I say that I'm from the U.S., people say something like, "Ahh, the U.S.?! That's a big competitor for us in rugby!" Yesterday, I even received some trash talk from teachers in the staff room. In case you were wondering: Yes, I took it well. No, I didn't know how to react, so I just laughed in response. And no, I had no clue that the U.S. even had a rugby team. I guess now would be the appropriate time for me to say, "GO, U.S.A.!"
2. My name. I went into a class yesterday, and introduced myself. As soon as I said, "Meg," the teacher goes, "Meg? Meghan? We have a Meghan right here!" That's right. A Fijian child with my name who had never met anybody else with her name before. I asked her why her parents chose "Meghan" while all of her classmates have very Indian or Fijian names. Her response? "They thought it was very modern." BOOM! (Thank you, Mom and Dad, for my "modern" name!)
3. Desk decorations. Seriously, who needs lockers when you're allowed to decorate your DESK? I've noticed that it's very cool to put fabric, a tablecloth, or duct tape pictures on top of your desk, especially in the secondary school. My personal favorites were the green sequined desk (see picture below) and the girl that I was sitting next to yesterday whose desk was entirely devoted to One Direction. It even included a huge picture of all of the members of the band holding puppies. Go here http://www.topnews.in/light/files/One-Direction_1.jpg and you may die, also.
4. My cab driver this morning. When I got in the taxi, I asked him how he was doing today. He responded with, "Very good! Those that say they are 'good' are in the world. Those that say they are 'very good' are in the Lord. Praise Jesus!" I then spent the next 20 minutes talking with the cab driver about Bible verses, how to spread the good news of the Lord to others, and discussing how to enter heaven. By the end of our drive, he had taken me on a free detour so that I could see his church and invited me to visit his taxi stand in the mornings to read through Luke with him. What a brilliant way to start a Friday morning! (Also, fun fact of the day: his name is of Indian descent, but he's changed it to "James" as it's more biblical. How awesome!)
5. The tea that I've been force fed nearly every day this week during "recess break". Literally... It's SO hot. Because it's steaming, I find it so hard to drink when it's as humid and hot as it has been outside! Today, I was also force fed a tuna and carrot sandwich. For those of you that don't know, I don't like tuna. For those of you that haven't visited Fiji, they hardly ever refrigerate things here. Yes, I was force fed a warm tuna sandwich today that I tried to wash down with steaming hot tea while sweating profusely. I couldn't decide which of the two evils was better. After choking down half, I thanked the principal and informed him that I needed to continue my observations. He felt badly that I was being rushed, so he gave me a warm tuna sandwich to go, also. YUM!

Hot List: Green sequined desks.

Things that are "Not" (Hot) in Fiji:

1. The teacher today that very sternly told her class to "shut up" because they were giving too many answers. I was shocked, but wanted to laugh so hard at this one. I'm trying to figure out how much trouble I would be in for telling my students to shut up. (Don't worry -- I would NEVER do this!)
2. The recess and lunch bell. I'm used to a quiet ding when classes are to start or end. I swear that I jump every time their bell goes off as it sounds like an emergency siren that's blasting right in your ear. Like, I truly feel like I should find shelter immediately because a tornado warning has been issued inches about my head.
3. Lying students. This one is also hilarious though. A Class 2 student came up to me yesterday and told me, "Excuse me, ma'am? When I was in your country, I saw you." I smiled and said, "Oh my gosh, that's crazy! What was I doing? Where was I? Did I see you?" He told me that he didn't remember because it happened a very, VERY long time ago.
4. How stupid I feel when observing secondary school Math classes. I don't remember how to do functions, matrices, or trigonometry, yet here I am, watching the lesson and taking notes on things that the teachers and students are doing. Even worse, I've been tutoring secondary students on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Please know that working with these students has been the most rewarding part of my trip so far, but when they ask me their Math questions, I've learned to go find Lucy and to have her work with them instead. I'll take the Reading, the Science -- heck, I even worked with students on the digestive system, the history of Fiji, and the background of the ukulele! -- but when it comes to advanced Math, I am NOT the go-to person! In fact, Ben is sitting next to me right now, looking up a geometry/trigonometry question that one of the students had yesterday as it stumped all of us. I joked with the house the other day and said something like, "I don't care if you don't want to work with students, but if you're smart AT ALL, we need you to tutor on Tuesday and Thursday!"
5. That the people here don't realize how beautiful and desirable their country is! In the U.S., people would say to me, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe you're going to Fiji this summer!" Here, people are asking me, "Why would you CHOOSE to come to Fiji during your vacation?!" When I comment that it's a beautiful country and that the people are so friendly, I don't think they buy it. Clearly, although the numbers are the same, my "HOT" list far outweighs my "NOT" list. I just wish the locals could see this as clearly as I can!

I hope you enjoyed this compilation of Meg's first ever "Hot or Not List: Fiji Edition" and that you, like James, have a "very good" day! God bless!

Fly on the Wall

                … That’s what I’ve felt like for the past few days here while doing my observations. The only differences are that this fly is not inconspicuous. Instead, I’m like a huge, obvious fly that very noticeably stands out no matter where it goes.

                So far, I’ve visited six schools. Of these six schools, 2 were Catholic, 2 were Muslim, and 1 was Buddhist… and they are all a part of the public school system! (Just imagine how much the uniforms vary from one school to the next!) At each school, I’ve been given a schedule to observe various Reading and Math classes. Then, I go into the class (after knocking on the door and waiting for the teacher’s permission to enter. I’ve learned that it’s rude to just walk in on your own accord.), introduce myself – but only if the teacher wants me to, and then sit back. The teacher then goes about their normal lesson as I take notes very… conspicuously while trying to be inconspicuous. #tallwhitegirlinfiji

                Some interesting things that have happened during my observations:

1.       I’m treated like royalty. The Ministry of Education called each of these schools ahead of time to inform them of my visit. Because of this, I’ve been served lunch, have been willingly driven around by school personnel, have had headmasters brag about their schools, and have had teachers apologize for their lesson plans as if I actually cared. Yesterday, I spoke to the entire staff at a secondary school (which had to be 50+ teachers!) as I sat between the Principal and Vice Principal at the head of the table. Apparently, the teachers were very concerned/worried/interested in understanding my ministry business, to which I shared, “I’m from the U.S.A. I’m just here to observe so that I can see how schools in Fiji are similar and different from schools in America. I’m learning a lot and am hoping that I can make it a fair trade by sharing some resources and ideas to help you, too. Thank you for having me.” Needless to say, they were extremely relieved to hear this as they were expecting a big observation from the Ministry itself! In addition, I just received an e-mail from the Ministry telling me that they’re very interested in meeting with me early next week and to hearing my frank assessments of the schools here. (Who am I to judge?!) Moral of the story: I guess you could say that they think that I'm kind of a big deal here. The size of my head has only grown a little bit and I’ll only expect a small amount of this treatment when I return home.

2.       I’m constantly being asked if I’m a “Miss” or a “Mrs.” The manager at a school yesterday even grabbed my hand, checked for a ring, and then cried out, “Oh, thank God! Don’t ever put a ring on this finger! It will give you great headaches!” I laughed very hard at that one.

3.       I was observing in Class 2 yesterday when the teacher started talking about lenses. I’ve noticed that not many people here wear glasses, but at this particular point in time, I happened to be wearing mine so that I could see what the teacher was writing on the board. When she started talking about lenses in “spectacles” and how “old people wear them” or “people that have bad eye problems,” I suddenly changed from being a huge, obvious fly on the wall (even more obvious as I was in a Muslim school!) to a huge, obvious alien that had just crash landed from another planet. I swear 32 pairs of eyes (spectacle-less eyes at that!) turned to stare at me, the foreigner wearing glasses. I’m sure that each student was thinking, “What’s wrong with HER eyes?” AWESOME.

                Random other things to note: I'm currently working on my SCUBA certification which is both exciting and terrifying, I got the team to play Psychology the other night which they found to be hilarious (shout out to CNU volleyball days!), and that we've been going to see movies every Tuesday night here as they cost the equivalent of about $2 in the U.S. I guess you could say that I'm having fun and, apparently, becoming a whole new person... or fly... or alien... After all, who would have EVER thought that I would watch movies this often? Or, more realistically, ever get SCUBA certified? Don't worry, though... I'm not planning on becoming a professional... ever. I hope you appreciated that comment as much as I enjoyed writing it. You're welcome.

Culture Class

                On Friday, I was fortunate enough to go to Hilton Special School for their “Club Day” (a day where they focus entirely on art, culture, dance, gardening, etc. instead of the content areas). Personally, I thought the highlight was the hour-long culture class as I learned A LOT.

                The students were split up into several classes. In one class, I had way too much fun hanging out with the kids during the end of their lesson on Fijian music and dance; however, the class that I spent the majority of my time with focused on traditional Fijian foods (I’m just picturing my students from this past year rolling their eyes as they read this. What can I say? I’m predictable! I love food!). I had the opportunity to grate cassava, smash coconuts to make cream, and roll out dough to make roti. I quickly learned that all of these activities are pretty labor intensive and that Americans are AWFUL at them all!

Can you tell which roti the Americans made?! (Hint: Find the most irregular shaped ones!)

Scraping coconuts to make cream!

                For what it’s worth, I was truly humbled by this experience. After all, us Americans have the luxury of avoiding all of this labor and simply buying the pre-made and pre-prepared products at the grocery store. Thank you, culture class, for showing me just how much effort it takes to get to that final product!

                Besides the actual class, I feel like I’ve been learning a lot about Fijian culture in other ways. On Friday night, the local museum hosted a culture night where many entertainers (dancers, musicians, etc.) performed traditional acts. I'll just sum it up by saying that it was a lot of fun to be able to experience this! Today, I was able to observe (!!!) in both a primary and a secondary school to prepare for my teacher training that I’ll be conducting in the near future. I learned so much about the education system here and how a lot of it is, well, influenced by their culture. For example, when an elder asks you a question, it is rude to not answer. Although this sounds similar to America, imagine what would happen in a Fijian classroom when the teacher asks 40 students a question during his/her lesson! (Correct answer: loud chaos!) Another example is that engaging students in reading is a huge struggle here. Again, it may sound similar to America, but the culture is that oral stories are more valued than written ones, so it makes it twice as difficult to motivate students to read! Now THAT'S an obstacle to overcome!

                Lastly, I want to share some things at random that I’ve learned through my “cultural” experiences:

1.      Haircuts, specifically for males, are very different. I honestly never knew that there was an infinite number of ways to make a mohawk!

2.      Dress. Professional attire is similar for females, but for males, they have the added bonus of wearing either pants or a sulu, which is basically the male version of a skirt. Because it gets so hot here, it’s rare to see a man wearing pants. Instead, most opt for the wrap around that falls just below the knee. Mike – Are you ready for me to bring one home to you?!

3.      The kindness and friendliness of the people here. When I did my observations today, the teachers and administration at the two schools were literally bending over backwards for me. I was driven around by both headmasters to get from one point to another, I got the cell phone number of one headmaster to contact if I "EVER need anything", and several teachers gave me e-mail addresses so that they can continue to help me with my findings and research on Fijian schools. This way, the training can be as relate-able as possible!

4.      Driving here is ridiculous as I feel like I’m constantly playing a game of Frogger. Basically, if I die in Fiji, it’s because I got hit by a moving vehicle. The silver lining (I guess?) is that Suva isn’t as congested as most cities you would think of, but pedestrians should definitely cross at their own risk! (Don't worry, Mom! I'm being careful!)

5.       My name is very difficult for Fijians to say. So far, I’ve been called, “Magnet,” “Maggot,” and “Bacon.” Every new name that I’m given, I find hilarious, yet I can’t correct them because I don’t want to be rude. My personal favorite story from this occurred today, when I introduced myself as “Ms. Meghan”. The teacher wrote “Ms.” on the board, but didn’t know how to spell my name, so she stopped writing. One of the students then asked me where I was from. When I responded, “America,” the teacher wrote that on the board. So, for about 30 minutes today, my name was Ms. America on the board. Thank you, Fiji. I accept. In the meantime, I've decided to officially introduce myself as "Meg" from here on out. After the Ms. America ordeal, I got about 30 six year olds to get my name by saying something like, "My name is Ms. Meg. Like an egg, but Meg." If THEY all got it, then I think the rest of the country will be able to handle it, also.

… And all of these lessons are only from week 1! I’m looking forward to making many more memories and to learning so much more in the coming weeks... and to potentially promoting world peace as Ms. America.

Well, whatever you call this work that I'm doing here, I say: BRING IT ON, FIJI! Bring. It. On.

Fijian Time

                Things have been progressing here in Fiji. Yesterday, I had a meeting with four (!) board members of the Ministry of Education. Previously, they had expressed interest in holding teacher trainings, so I went to receive more information from them regarding this. I was very excited to find that they were interested in having me hold a Reading and Math workshop for the teachers in the Suva school district. (For those of you that don’t know – this is RIGHT up my alley as I would love to teach education at the collegiate level one day. Actually, that’s an understatement. I genuinely get excited thinking about the fact that I WILL teach at the collegiate level one day. Yes, I’m that big of a loser. You can judge all you want.) We set a date for the training and began ironing out the details, but I asked to do some observations first. See, the education system is SO different here, that I want to make sure that whatever I may be discussing in these trainings is applicable. Otherwise, it would be a waste of time for all parties involved. In the meantime, I’m anxiously waiting for them to get back to me about observations and with more details about the workshop, but I’m trying not to get my hopes up too high about this potential project.

Why? Well, like I had mentioned, this would be a dream for me, but I’m quickly becoming accustomed to the fact that Fijians truly live on “Fijian time”. In fact, if I wouldn’t feel like a piece of me was missing, I’d take off my watch altogether as it really doesn’t serve a purpose here. If somebody tells you that they’ll get back to you tomorrow, consider yourself lucky if they actually do because, realistically, it will probably be several days from now. This mindset honestly drives such a big part of the culture as there are little time demands on anything. To emphasize this even further, allow me to take a moment to break this down even more: Imagine teaching without stressing out about the limited time you have. Imagine showing up for a meeting or an appointment and not having to worry if you’re there on time or not. Imagine a world where you don’t worry about what other people think because you just do things whenever you want to do them because, hey, it’s Fijian time! NOW, you may have the slightest idea as to how laid back the cultural mindset is… and now, you may understand why I’m trying not to get my hopes up for this project as my time left here is slowly ticking away.

Despite my rare annoyance with “Fijian time” (and yes, the locals actually use this term to joke about and reference this laid back mindset), allow me to say that it’s been fantastic to live a completely stress-free, worry-free, live-your-life-however-you-want-to type of lifestyle. So, while I’m waiting to hear about this potential project, I suppose that I have no choice but to wait because although it can be frustrating, I’d be lying if I said that Fijian time wasn’t a beautiful, beautiful thing.

I’ll end this post by saying that I’ll update my blog again soon – but you’ll just have to live via Fijian time because who knows when that could actually be!

God bless!

M Smile

               Day 1 of volunteering was already incredibly humbling and rewarding. I went to a school down the street which only educates students that are deaf or have physical or mental disabilities. As soon as I arrived with 6 other volunteers, we were greeted by Sala, a deaf girl who was so excited that we were there, that she was running in circles giving everybody endless hugs. I was then placed in Class 1 which is equivalent to 1^st grade, but I was working with 10, 11, and 13 year olds that had some pretty severe mental disabilities as the levels of classes here are determined on ability rather than by age. We learned about the letter “I” and then sang some songs. I was so moved by the fact that these students were so inspired by singing a song as simple as “The Wheels on the Bus”. I can’t even begin to describe the way their faces lit up over something so simple, but it was amazing to witness.

                We returned back to the house after lunch, where I met with a local NGO that works with the most at-risk and needy students in the Suva school district. I had the opportunity to work with some of these students on Reading this morning at one of the local schools. Here, they practiced letter names, sounds, and sight words. Mary, the “Reading Recovery” teacher, asked if I would help with testing. I was impressed that Fijian schools used running records that are very similar to what we use in the U.S. to assess fluency (which I am constantly administering to my students!). After we finished testing, I asked Mary if she wanted help with determining the type of errors and with finding the accuracy rate. She looked at me, smiled, and said, “I don’t know how to do this. I taught myself about running records on the Internet.”

                I was floored by how much she knew simply by researching it online. I then explained to her how it works and helped her assess them. Then, we talked about what running records are used for and I told her that I would bring her some resources when I return. She was so excited to have more information regarding this as the only thing that she’s been going off of is the handful of books that she has. Because there are so few, many of her students have now memorized the words in the books because they’ve read them so often! (Allow me to send a HUGE thank you to all of my coworkers who provided me with a suitcase-full of books. Clearly, you can see how this will benefit this specific project!) I’m excited to spend time working on getting these materials together for her tomorrow.

                This afternoon, I went and worked with students that are in secondary school as they are, apparently, very low in their content areas and have been identified as needing extra tutoring in order to bridge the gap before they take their term exams in about 8 weeks. The first student I worked with was Alecio. We worked on his Social Science as he was having a tough time memorizing dates, vocabulary, and information from his notes. He was laughing at me as I came up with songs and dances to help him remember this information, but he can now tell me what blackbirding means (kidnapping) and when Fiji became a British colony (10 October 1874). Hey, however crazy he thinks I am, I’ll call that a win!

                I then worked with Ledz, a 17-year old, on his Math. We worked on the identity and inverse properties, exchange rates, and percentages. I was surprised that he didn’t know how to do basic multiplication and division. When I asked him why he wrote something down in his notes, he responded with, “I don’t know. My teacher wrote it on the board, so I copied.” I then asked if he understood something else, and he said, “No. There are too many children in the class to ask questions.” With that being said, when he finally understood percentages, his face lit up and he said something like, “Oh! I finally understand!” He was so excited, that he then asked to be my Facebook friend so that I can help him more in the future. BOOM!

Working with Ledz

                I also had the opportunity to observe Class 5 (about a 5^th grade level class) today. I found it interesting that during Math, they copied their notes from the supposedly “consumable” workbooks that they use year after year. In addition, they were sharing these workbooks among 2 or 3 students. There are many more things that I can talk about here, but I’ll just sum it up with the fact that the education system is very different here, but the majority of the people that I have worked with seem grateful to receive help. They keep telling me that I can teach them so much, to which I respond, “No – you can teach ME so much!”

                Lastly, you may be wondering what the title of this post means. Well, when I was working with some deaf students yesterday, I learned how to sign my name in Fijian. They learned how to spell it, but then it became difficult to spell M-E-G-H-A-N over and over again when they were speaking to me. Instead, they shortened it by calling me “M Smile”. One girl (who is not deaf) translated for me and said something like, “We are calling you M Smile because you have a good smile.” How beautiful, how inspiring, and how perfect of a reason to continue to smile while working with the wonderful students of Fiji!

Bula Venaka!

Imagine that you just took a 10 hour flight from L.A. to Nadi (pronounced NAN-dee), Fiji. Upon your arrival, what’s the first thing that you would do? Now, multiply that by, well... a lot. Now, you may just have the slightest idea as to how my first weekend in Fiji went.

                "Bula" in Fijian means hello. "Bula venaka" is an especially warm welcome. Needless to say, I think I had the warmest of welcomes in this beautiful country.

                After we landed, Brittany and Lucy, our country directors, picked all 11 of us volunteers up from the airport. Thirteen of us smashed into a 10-seater van (with our luggage!) and we headed to Denarau Beach, home of many of Fiji’s most well-renowned resorts. We ate breakfast on the beach as we watched the sun’s rays glisten and dance across the water. It was beautiful to see the water sparkle like this on the other side of the world, and I was able to enjoy it for all of 10 minutes or so before Lucy, Ben, and I started walking down the road to our next adventure.

                When we were just about to check in for our “Day of Fun” as I now like to call it, we saw this man drive by slowly in a trike… You know, a 5 passenger motorcycle on 3 wheels. We asked for a ride around the block and I think I almost died laughing at the ridiculous-ness of this situation. Then, we ACTUALLY checked in, were dropped off in the middle of a golf course, and, about 2 minutes later, our helicopter flew in to pick us up.

                Allow me to say that again as I’m still pinching myself over this one. A freaking helicopter! We took a 15 minute ride (most of which I was saying something like, "This is unreal!") to another island, called Castaway Island, which only houses a 5-star resort of little huts. There, it was all-inclusive for us to enjoy lunch, snorkeling, paddle boarding, and kayaking. We rotated doing a little of each of them because… well, why wouldn’t we?! The neatest thing is that there are these dark blue starfish all around the water. I kept seeing them and would get excited every single time because they were just so beautiful and unique! 

               After spending hours on the island, we headed back to the helicopter pad and took off again where Aiden, our pilot, decided to do some tricks. I was laugh-screaming (for those of you that have been on a roller coaster with me before – it was kind of like THAT) as he flew us close to the water, then flew straight up, stalled in the air, and we nose-dived back down to a normal helicopter flying height. Total number times that Aiden did this for us during the day because we kept begging him to because it was so scary yet fun? 3. Good news, Mom: I'm still alive! (Video and pictures coming soon!)

The beautiful view of Fijian islands from the helicopter!

                Last night, we stayed in a hostel on the beach and then spent the day today laying out, making coconut bracelets, and playing sand/grass volleyball. (I’m really not sure what to call it as one side was almost all sand and the other side was almost all grass. Josh – Can we play THAT sometime?!) Then, we caught a bus to Suva, which is where we will primarily be doing our volunteer work. I’m SO excited to get started tomorrow!

                In the meantime, some things that I know many of you are wondering/going to ask me:

• No, I didn’t really experience jet lag. Ben and I basically pulled an all-nighter as we flew here so that we could adjust our sleep schedule as quickly as possible. It seems like it worked!
• Our house is honestly fantastic. I’m so grateful to have my own bed, a bathroom that I’m only sharing with three other girls, and wireless internet. I honestly have no idea how our country directors nailed this place!
• Yes, the Yankees are going to win today. I've already told my Dad this. Since I'm 16 hours ahead, my mom thinks (or perhaps just likes to think) that I can predict the future. I'll field any and all questions about your day if you'd like, too.
• Because of this time change, allow it to sink in that I never experienced June 14th, 2013. Since I feel like I missed out, I'm hoping that you can e-mail me something really cool that you did on that day. I apologize for blowing your mind, but at least I'll gain that day back when I have two July 25ths, 2013s (I have no idea how to make dates plural, so I just threw a bunch of "s"'s in there. You're welcome.)
• Lastly, to all the Dad's out there -- allow me to be the first to wish you a Happy Father's Day! I love you, Dad!

                   On that note, it's time for me to go to sleep. Thank you so much for all of your e-mails, support, and prayers. I look forward to continuing to hear from everybody as I begin my volunteer work tomorrow. Until next time... Bula! (It also means "goodbye." What the heck!?)

Coming Soon: Fiji Adventures!

... As if Thailand wasn't enough!

Yes, that's right! For those of you that haven't heard, I'm travelling to Fiji this summer with the same organization that I went to Thailand with last year. I'm very excited to do humanitarian work again and, specifically, to work with schools in the beautiful country of Fiji! I'll be leaving on June 13th, exactly 6 days from today, and I couldn't be more thrilled (... and stressed with all of the preparation that still needs to be done) about it!

Now, with that being said, please know that I set up this blog last summer simply to share my adventures with anybody who wants to read about them. I love writing, I love telling stories (even though they may be awful sometimes), and I love sharing my experiences with others. I will not be begging you for donations, support, or money; however, I feel like it would be ridiculous for me to not mention this information while I volunteer 7 weeks of my time doing humanitarian aid work all summer. After all, anybody can help to create a change, right?!

So, what can you do to help?

1. Donate to HELP International (www.help-international.org). 

• Note that these donations don't go towards my personal trip, but directly towards the work that we're doing in Fiji. If you would like more specifics on how to donate to our team or towards specific projects that are or will be occurring this summer, please contact me!

2. Sponsor a box of school supplies to be shipped.

• Between several coworkers, friends, and family, I have gathered a good amount of school supplies to bring with me to Fiji. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately?), there are too many supplies for me to pack in my suitcase. Please let me know if you would be interested in shipping some of these items to the schools there! (Note: I have no idea how much this would cost at the moment, but I truly think that this would make a world of difference to the students and teachers there. We are so fortunate to have so many supplies here... Why wouldn't I share this with others?!)

3. Become my personal assistant to help contain my stress level over the next 6 days... I mean, what?!

In all seriousness though, I am SO looking forward to all of the adventures that are to come in the near future as I know that experiences like this are frustrating... yet humbling, rewarding, and life-changing. I only hope that you can get a small sense of all of these emotions through my blog so that I can shed light into the reality of humanitarian work and how amazing it can be!

Next stop? SUVA, FIJI!