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!