Stand Out

              In case I haven't made it clear enough in previous posts, I stand out here for pretty obvious reasons. Because of this, though, people recognize me and I'm starting to feel like I, in a weird way, belong here. For example, when I went to the flea market the other day, one man said something to me like, "You look familiar... In your face. Do you live around here?"
               You may be wondering how I can be so confident that I was the person that he had seen. Well, if I'm being totally honest, there's literally nobody else here that looks anything remotely close to me. In fact, one of the teachers at Hilton was talking to Carly (one volunteer) while trying to remember another volunteer's name. After providing a brief and vague description (by saying that the girl looked like a taller Lucy. Awesome.), Carly still had no clue who they were talking about, so she started listing off names. When she said my name, apparently the teacher said, "Oh no no. Meghan looks very different than the rest of you."
               Like I said earlier... I stand out.
               On Friday, I was walking through the streets of Suva when I felt somebody poking my back saying, "Bye, Meghan!" I turned around, only to see Martin, one of the boys that we tutor every Tuesday and Thursday at FENC who recognized me from a good half-block away. (It must be my stir-fry hair...)
               On Saturday, six of us decided to go to Colo-i-Suva park. While there, we were able to hike through the rainforest, see several waterfalls, and at the end of our hike, jump off of a rope swing into a natural swimming hole. As soon as we walked up to the rope swing, Ledua, another student that we tutor at FENC, was there, waving at me excitedly. It took me a good minute or so to figure out who he was, but I, being the clear stand out that I am, was easily recognizable. (In case you were wondering, the rope swing was a lot of fun and the hike was amazingly beautiful. What a neat experience to be able to do all of this in the middle of a rainforest!)
               Today, a few of us traveled to Warwick (a resort a couple of hours away) to enjoy some beach time. Unfortunately, it was pretty cloudy, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading, napping, and relaxing all day. The highlight of my day trip oddly came on the bus ride home. Four of us took a smaller bus back to Suva and, after an hour or so, were the only people on it. The bus driver started yell-talking to us to get to know us better, but kept having to look back in order to hear us better. Finally, he said, "How about one of you comes and sits up here so that I can hear you better?"
               ... And that's how I ended up sitting shotgun on a bus in Fiji.
               I spent the next hour talking to this man about literally everything: hopes and dreams, the past, present, and future, religion, family, friends, perspectives, the weather... you name it. My favorite part of the conversation was when he asked why I wanted to be a school teacher. When I explained to him that it's something that I've always known I wanted to do, he told me that he completely understood. He claimed, "When I was a little boy, I thought, 'How neat would it be to drive?' I knew then that I wanted to get my license and drive one day for a job. Look at me now! I'm the only member of my family that can drive... and I get to drive a bus every day! I'm so lucky!"
               This comment truly humbled me. This man then spent the next 10 minutes, verbally explaining to me how to drive, assuming that I, like his family, didn't know how to. I didn't have the heart to tell him that driving is an expectation in the United States. I didn't know how to say that I would be in the minority of the population if I didn't have my license. I wasn't sure how to explain that I actually complain about driving long distances, about having a 25 minute long commute, or about having to sit in northern Virginia traffic. In those few minutes, none of these things mattered as I honestly had tears in my eyes as he (in a very complicated way, mind you) gave me the play-by-play of how to operate a motorized vehicle. As he was talking, I was nodding along and saying, "Okay," and, "Yeah," at the appropriate times, but my mind was wandering as I recognized how easily we take something like this for granted on a daily basis. I only hope that when I begin to complain about things like driving in the future, that Raji, our bus driver from today, will stand out in my mind. I pray that I can remember the pride in his voice as he told me that he was living out his childhood dream and how happy he was making his family by doing so. I want to forever remember the fact that he was excited to work 14 hours, day in and day out, because he was doing what he loved... driving a bus back and forth on the same road, several times a day, on this beautiful island.
               God bless the simplicity and beauty of this world... and may this humbling mindset continue to stand out for me in Fiji, in the United States, and beyond.