DUFFijian in the Islands

My last post....

2009-02-17T20:39:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry it's been a long time since I have posted anything. But I am home now safe and sound. I was officially medically separated on Feb. 2, 2009. I was in Washington, DC for 45 days for a medical evaluation. I may possibly have rheumatic fever which eventually turns into rheumatic heart disease. I am feeling fine now and I am happy to be home with my family. I am not able to return to Fiji to finish my service. Peace Corps thought that it was too high of a rick for me to return due to my susceptibility to get strep throat especially with my living conditions in Fiji and my job. I am always around sick people being a Health Promotion volunteer and I am in and out of the Sub-division hospital in Tavua at least 3 or 4 times a month. The chances of me getting worse while being in Fiji are twice as likely to happen due to my immune system and how often I was sick over there.

I am currently applying for Americorps to use what I have learned from the Peace Corps and help people locally. I am very excited about this adventure I hope to finish this time. I have finally posted up the last of my pictures from Fiji. They are from Chris's visit to saying goodbye. I really hope you have enjoyed reading my blog and my experience in Fiji. I truly miss everyone I have encountered in Fiji and hope one day to return to Waikubukubu and be able to switch on a light bulb! Thank you for all your support.

On my way back.....

2008-12-15T15:52:00.000-08:00

I will be leaving here late Thursday night. I will be having a direct flight from Fiji to L.A. then to D.C. I will probably have a review with the doctor on Friday and hopefully get the surgery soon after that. I would like to get this all over with so I can be home in Parkersburg for Christmas. We will see. I am feeling better my throat is still remarkably sore and hurting even after all those antibotics thru the IV. But I don't think the pain is goin away til I get the surgery. Well, this is my last post for now while in Fiji. Hopefully, I will have an update back in American before or after my surgery. I hope all is well and are wrapping their gifts for Christmas! See ya soon....

My 5 days in the hospital.....

2008-12-14T18:23:00.000-08:00

I am okay! I am feeling much better now and Washington D.C. has approved for me to have surgery in the States. I just needed to go to the hospital to get antibotics ran thru an IV for me to get better because the antibotics weren't working otherwise. So, i just got discharged and I will be staying in a hotel tonight thank god. Early in the morning my doctor here in the Peace Corps will call D.C. to confirm my traveling plans and details. It looks as though I will be having the surgery to remove the rest of my tonsils in Washington D.C. because they have all my records anf understand my situation. So, it should move much faster this way and I can get to feeling completely healthy again. I am hoping that I can get the surgery done and re-cooperate and be back in Parkersburg, WV for Christmas! I might be really out of it with I don't know a 16 hour flight and surgery Christmas might be a little rough. Especially when I am home and all the food I have been dreaming about will be around me I probably won't feel well to eat it because of my throat. But who knows. Well, that is the update that I have now. I will try to get to a computer before I get on the plane, but if not I will catch you on the flip side in America.

In Suva for 2 weeks....

2008-12-08T15:17:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't written a post in a while, but things have been just a little crazy. I have been in the big city now for about 2 weeks now on medical hold. I am having some throat trouble and some sort of chronic virus in my blood stream that doesn't seem to want to go away after being on medicine for a month. So, I saw the doctor yesterday and they are talking about medically evacuating me to Australia for surgery to remove the rest of my tonsils. Though I had my tonsils removes when I was a little girl there are some portions still in the back of my throat that are getting easily infected because of the climate and pollution here in Fiji. So, right now I am on even more antibotics, which I am not happy about, and waiting for a reply from Washington D.C. to see what the next move is. But it's not looking promising. Either way I am going to have to get surgery and I am 24 yrs. old it's not going to be easy no matter what country we do it in. So, I have just been hanging around in the big city catching up on my Christmas shopping, resting, and eating really good food. I will keep everyone posted.

Okay and here I am.....

2008-11-16T16:50:00.000-08:00

Alright Chris left a week ago and things are rough. I am in Tavua right now about to go back to my village tonight. I hope things go well and i am still not alone all the time. I really need things to change for me at this point because i am getting quite discouraged. I am extremely homesick more than I have ever been. I am just trying to get thru this but I am not sure I can. I had a great time with Chris and I think he really enjoyed his visit to his first foreign country. I have tons of great stories and I would like to tell them to you thru my pictures but of course as usual I can't seem to get them on the computer. I trying to be really hopeful throughout the next few months but I just know Thanksgiving and Christmas are going to be the last straw for me. I did however go snorkeling in Rakiraki this past weekend with the married couple John and Leslie and another village volunteer Natalie. Chris and I were supposed to go snorkeling but never got the chance to because I had to go to Suva on medical hold. I had some sort of red marks under the skin on the palms of my hands and the soles of my feet. They were so painful and burning constantly. I would scream and cry I just couldn't handle it anymore so I called the Peace Corps doctor. It was so bad Chris and I had to pretty much end our vacation and go to Suva for the last five days he was here. There was quick talk about me being medically evacuated to Australia because none of the doctors really knew what it was. But they gave me two shots and some antibiotics and in a few days it started to stop spreading and eventually stopped. But now my hands and feet are peeling. Like the skin is really just coming off completely is quite disgusting and hard to look at. I am fine now but I am a little worried about the fact that we still didn't really find out what it was. They think is was something viral which could just about be anything. I personally think its the water in the river I swim in alot and wash my clothes in. I don't know I just hope it doesn't came back again.

Anyways, I got to go snorkeling at the most amazing place ever. I first went off the shore at this beach in Rakiraki you know baby steps. And I got to see tons a fish and some coral. The water wasn't has clear though to see alot of things. But the next day we went on the boat to the outer reef where you can see some real stuff. The first jump I went with Leslie (we always snorkel in pairs you never know what could happen out there in the deep blue ocean in the middle of no where) and we saw a shark it was so cool. Of course I started swimming slowly the other way. I mean it was cool to see one but from a distance I like them. He wasn't a huge shark but a descent size. But I literally saw hundreds of different kinds of fish. It was one of the beautiful things i have ever seen. It is really like another world down there. The coral is so colorful and the water is crystal clear. I swallowed about 2 gallons of salt water but it was all worth it. I also found nemo for real this time and these huge fish that were bigger than me. The second jump I did was with John who likes to dive down and touch things which is fun to watch. i don't really like to touch things cause i don't know what they are going to do. But he is adventurous and knowledgeable about marine life. This jump saw more cool looking fish and stuff but what is most important was when we were on our way back to the shore. We ran into a group of DOLPHINS! There was at least 20 of them. It was the coolest things I have ever seen. They are really freakin fast. You could see them swimming right beside the boat then all the sudden you lost them and they are like one kilometer away in a completely different area. So we followed them for a while and watched them. They were so pretty and they were jumping and making noises. I wanted to jump in and swim with them but John jumped in and tried first but jumping in scared them away and I didn't want them to go away so i just watched. So that was my excitement this week.

I have been working on the grant proposal for the electricity this past week at the workshop and got alot of work done on it. Tomorrow I have this meeting with a FEA person in town to talk about more details and quotations. I hope all this works out cause this is the only chance of getting electricity for Waikubukubu. If this doesn't work then there is nothing I can really do for these people but to try to re-open their dispensary. Well, I am going to walk around and town and meet with people I haven't seen in a while and eat some food. i can't wait to see Sophia soon I think she is missing me for sure. I know that my phone hasn't been working for alot of people and I don't know what else to do about that. But there is another option that could work much better and much cheaper than phone cards. I don't know how many people have heard of skype but I heard it works well. You have to go to www.skype.com and create a account with a username and password and then it gies you directions on how it works. You basically put money on your account like 10 dollars from you bank account thru a visa or debit card or something like that and you can call me on my cellphone for about 13 cents a minute. You have to headphones and stuff cause you will be talking thru the computer to make the call. Just go to www.skype.com and check it out and go from there just another option from phone cards that don't seem to be constantly working. Let me know if anyone gets anywhere with this program and put up a comment to this post to help others to contact me. Thank you!

Chris is here!

2008-11-04T14:09:00.000-08:00

WE are both sitting in an internet cafe checking the news for the election. We just met up with some volunteers in Rakiraki and are going to the Rakiraki hotel to watch the elections on TV. We are so excited basically the U.S. is going to have a new president very soon. WE will be going to a resort for the rest of the time on a island just north off the main island. I am excited I think Chris was a bit bored in the village. He had a little trouble with the heat and the bugs. But we had a good time and he got to experience the real Fijian life in the village! Well, I am pretty much dreading his departure and I will write more after he leaves next week. Thank you everyone for their birthday wishes. Sorry my phone has been out and not working and there is nothing I can do about it because I live in a third world country.

One more week!

2008-10-19T16:39:00.001-07:00

What's wrong with you people? No comments not even on my pictures. Come on now I know you got something to say. Well, I just have one more week til Chris comes! I can't wait I am going through all kinds of emotions. I do feel like my world will finally be complete after 5 months of it being a mess. My birthday is coming up too but that takes the back burning to Chris's arrival. I don't even care that I am turning 24 years old. Thank god cause if I did care I would probably be freakin out that I am turning that old. I am in town right now and coming from a soccer tournament this weekend. i scored a goal so now I am like a superstar or something. It was of course raining the whole game which you all know how I love playing soccer in the rain. I have some of my best games in the rain. It was the last game of the tournament and we had to win. I scored on the second half. For some reason the coach put me as Captain and so I called for ball and wanted the muddy side cause I thought is was more fun to play in the mud. One of the girls dribbled the ball down the line on the left side and crossed it over I was playing central midfield again which for sure suck at so I don't know why the coach put me there either. But one girl went to kick the crossed ball in the goal and I though for sure she was going to get it in but she missed and slipped in the mud and I was standing right there so I moved to get my head on it but I coudn't get under the ball so I hit it with my neck and it went in but I landed in the biggest mud puttle in Fiji. I was so dirty! The crown cheered and the team just laughed. I had so much fun. I think that the team is really getting used of me and I am starting to play and act like I usually do. So it feels good to be apart of that. Well, I need to get going. Dad I got your package in the mail and Aunt Beckie's but I haven't opened them up just yet. I like to wait til I get to my tin shack in the village it feels more like Christmas and all the kids are watching me and taking all the candy and stuff from America. I love you all and next time I post Chris will for sure be here! Love you Mom and Dad I espesially miss alot of people today! Thinkin of you all.

13 more days til Chris arrives!!!!

2008-10-13T20:05:00.000-07:00

Okay, first of all I am sorry I haven't been on top of my blog lately. I have been moving around alot lately and haven't really had a regular steady schedule. But I have two weeks in my village before Chris comes where I can come into town and update my blog. I have put up 137 more pictures in my picture album so please check them out they are pretty good if I don't say so myself. So since the last time I put up a post. We had out beach weekend that I planned with the Viti levu volunteers. it was fun but it freakin rained the whole time. I got to kayack for the first time and I have not good at it. The place we stayed at called the Beach house is a really cool place and we met alot of cool people our age just traveling the world. I stopped in Lautoka before i got to the resort and did some work for my village. I am tryin to get the youth re-registered so they can recieve money for projects. But its easier said then done. I have to type up a constitution and do all this paper work which isn't a big deal if it didnt' take forever to get to town and then once I get to town I have to pay for the time I use the computer. But I will work on that. It has been nice after my site visit I can start doing to some work around here. I don't feel like such a failure. I also picked up some recycling bags to start my village on recycling which should be an interesting task but I think it is going to work. My host village Draubuta is still recycling after we introduced the idea to them and they are loving it.

I also have been to the movie theaters twice since i put up a post. I saw tropical thunder and pinapple express. It was great I felt like I was right there in America. Til I walked outside and realized I sure as hell wasn't. But it was nice to sit down and listen to humor and good english that I understand and genuily laughed at. When I came back from the beach weekend I was so excited to come back to my village. I realy missed alot of people in my village. Especially Sophia! When I got back I saw the AOG preacher's wife one of my favorite people in the village. I think I have talked about her before. But she wasn't looking good. She had these huge black sunglasses on. I asked her what was wrong she said that there was a problem at home and she got injured. She turned a little bit and I could see the outline of this huge black bruise around her eye and she was just coming back from the hospital. I mean I have never seen a black eye like this before. And right there I knew that the paster hit her. I felt so sick to my stomach. Just when I thought I found the perfect couple in Fiji to look up to it was crashed. I had no idea what to do. I wanted to cook her a dish and bring it over to her house but I was scared of her husband. And him and I were good friends. On the bus I kept thinking how embrassed she must feel wearing those glasses and hiding her face and knowing damn well that everyone knows what happen no matter how many times she lies for her husband. I can't stand how everyone just accepted it and didn't seem to care and that this stuff just kind of happens and it's their problem in the marriage and that we should interfear. But I couldn't stand the fact that he hit her I let people know. I told kelera and she was telling me all the stories that happened to her that her ex-husband did. I think the AOG pastor knows how I feel because I am sure people have told him and the fact that I will leave a place if he is around and I never say hi to him. So we will see what will come of that. Aparantly, he has apologized to the church and all that bullshit makes it okay but not for me. I will never accept that!

So I don't know if I have mentioned but Kendall's boyfriend is coming the same time Chris is coming. On the same plane! We are going to have so much fun I can't wait.

Anyways, my village has had two soli's (fundraisers). the first one for education and schooling for the kids and the second on Fiji Day for the Methodist church which I completely disagree on. Because these people give ALL there money to the church and don't save some for themselves and don't have food to feed themselves and are living in tin shacks. because the Methodist church says if you give lots of money that Jesus will take care of the rest but in reality these people are still hungry and still have not electricity and are living in tin shacks. I can't imagine if they gave all that money for the electricity. I mean they give thousands of dollars and I still have no clue where this money come froms. these people of no jobs. I can't understand that just yet.

During the soli the women of course did all the cooking and I even stayed up til 1 in the morning peeling potatoes and then got up at 6 in the morning to present a sevusevu i think that is in my pictures. I asked one of the guys how he felt about all these women twice his age doing all this work and all he does is sit around. He said well that is a woman's job and you all know me I blew up on him. So i think the next soli I am going to strongly suggest them to switch things up and have the men do all the work and the women sit around. kelera said they did that one year and it worked. So I want to see it myself.

People in my village are starting to mistake me as an Indian because I am starting to get quite dark in this hot Fijian sun. Which is a complement in my book but not relaly good to be mistaken as an Indian in a Fijian village.

we had a soccer game a few weekends ago in tavua and it was awesome. i felt like I was in high school again. I am playing my usual position as right full back and it feels real good! We won our first game and tied our second against Nadi. We always lose against them and that game was like playing against PHS. that is how crazy the crowd was and how excited we were to beat them. I saved alot of goals and almost got into a fight. So it felt just like home for me. It was great!

We had our in-service training at a resort and I got to meet and see all the volunteers in Fiji. I was relaly nice and refreshing to see everyone again. But sucked to know that I won't see them all again for another year. But I got to lay out at the pool and get alot of information about projects I can do and went out with all my friends. So it was a good time.

After the trainging I went to my friends Sarah's house is Navua on the other side of the island and went to this resort called the Uprising. you will see pictures of it in my album. this place was amazing. I wanted to stay for weeks. I never wanted to leave. I have never seen a place like this before. I would love to take chris here but the bus ride would not be worth it because of time. But maybe if other people visit i can plan better and get there Oh yeah I know why We can't go there no one I know could ever afford it. I keep forgetting about stuff like that.

So my village has big big plans for Chris's arrival. the women are preparing a huge dinner thursday night when he gets there. And there are a few more surprises but I don't want to say because I want chris to be surprised. let's just say I almost cried when they told me what they are going to do. I told them they didn't have to do all of this but they said that he is coming all the way from America to visit you and the village and you are now apart of the village and the family here. It is a part of their culture to do this. So I can't wait I will talk alot of pictures trust me!

So lately all I have been doing is washing my clothes and cleaning the house. and working on my community map where I draw up the house and surrounding areas of my village which is considably easy since my village is bearly 40 houses.

One tuesday I went to the headman 's village house to cut weeds in their kasava fields. It was one of the hardest jobs ever. My back was killing me. I was trying to be like a fijian woman and lets face I am not but at least I tried right? After a while it started raining and all the women told me to go back to the house and help cook cause they thought I was going to get really sick. So I went back and cooked and ate the best meal ever. It was so good. they prepared a special plate for me which is a big honor even so that they are still doing that after all this time I have been in the village. I think they did it because I did some manual labor for them. Anyways, the headman and his wife are great and right now so far they are the couple I look up to at least until something happens. They take care of me just like I was there real daughter. and their kids treat me just like I am their sister. I really like that family. they are all very helpful and active within the village. So that is nice to see.

Today, is the 14th of October which means it is Jason's birthday today here. He will be really old coming in at the age of 31! OLD MAN! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON! I hope you got your hand made card in the mail.

Keep sending me messages on facebook and e-mails and comments on my blog please! It really helps to hear from. Hopefully the next time I am on here Chris will be here!

Finding Nemo with Kendall...

2008-10-07T20:55:00.000-07:00

Having the time of my life! Check my pictures just posted alot. Sorry for not being on here for so long. It's getting busy but I will find time to put up a much longer post. Miss you all!

Short entry......

2008-09-17T20:22:00.000-07:00

Let's see I am in the internet cafe right now with Americans! it's amazing. SO this past Sunday I saw the movie Tropical Thunder with Kendall which was a little slice of America right there. On Monday and Tuesday I weaved mats in the community hall all day. Which really impressed my Fijians friends. They think that I am so smart the only thing I did was watch them do it and I just did what they did. I like it i could do that forever if I didn't have to sit there in a skirt. I was going to put up pictures of me this time but I had to go to another internet cafe because my normal cafe was under construction. Wednesday the Peace Corps made there first site visit. It went pretty well I don't really have any complaints things are going well. I have lots of work to do and i seem lately not to be motivated until I get to a beach so I think this weekend will really be needed. I can't wait. My friends Dave and Kendall might be moving around though after their site visit so that should be interesting I am happy for them cause maybe they will be happier I hope. I really don't have much else to talk about cause I was going to use this time for uploading pictures but that once again isn't going to happen. Sorry. I will try this weekend while i am in bliss at the beach. I like to call it my beachin' weekend! (you like the one kelsey)

Another soccer weekend!

2008-09-13T16:29:00.000-07:00

I had a soccer tournament in Nadi this weekend. We won our first game 3-1 and lost the second game 0-1. Some of the usual girls could not show for this tournament so we had some new girls and so I got to play my usual position as right fullback and it feels so good. I felt so much better back there and I don't have to do as much running in the hot sun. Their idea of a flat back four is very interesting for me but I think in time it will turn into a true flat back I hope cause i will go crazy in the back if it doesn't change. I am excited because I get to go to the movie theater today and watch a movie quite the concept for me. I am very excited! What else I was going to put those pictures up but this internet cafe is a bit expensive and the program I use on this computer in is Japanese characters which makes things a bit hard guessing what to click hoping I don't lose my pictures. I have some of the soccer girls but I couldn't get anyone to take a picture of me playing cause i am afraid of leaving my camera with someone. This coming up weekend I am going to the Coral Coast to the beach with some peace corps friends I am very pumped about. two full days at a beach and not being bothered or harassed sounds good to me. Then the following weekend I have another soccer tournament in Ba then the following weekend I am in-service training at a resort in Nadi which will be nice to see all my friends from the other islands. So the next couple of weeks will be full of excitement. Sophia is doing well and growing up to be quite the quality dog. She is getting out of her puppy ways and that makes me sad I want her to stay a little dog but her fur is growing back and she is starting to look like a real dog. I really don't have much more to say I pretty much got everything up on Friday that I wanted to say. I should be able to update again at the end of the week and get the beach pictures up after that.

The 2 musketeers!!!!

2008-09-11T16:38:00.000-07:00

So lately, I have been having a lot of fun in my village. People are starting to warm up to me know. Cause they don't see me as much as a outsider that I am living the same way as they are and they realize that now. So, last week I bought some grog in town and Kelera and I decided we were going to drink all Saturday night but we didn't want anyone in the village to know because they would come over and drink it all. So we secretly had a grog session and this is so much more funnier cause it came out of kelera mouth than mine but she stood up and called us the two musketeers drinking grog. I was dying laughing. It was probably the funniest thing I had heard in a long time. We went swimming in the river and went swinging on the rope and kept yelling the 2 musketeers at it again. We were talking about her daughter that is with here Aunt in Nadi and why she isn't living there with Kelera. I don't want to air out here dirty laundry but basically Kelera's husband left her 3 or 4 years ago for her little brother's wife. So kelera divorced him and now she has a 13 year old son named Ben (he looks like he is 17 though) and a little 4 year girl. I have not met the little girl yet but I saw a picture of her and she is darling. I want to meet her and I want her to come back to live with her really mommy. but it is a bit confusing and hard for our American minds to wrap around. But anyways we were talking about that stuff and I was trying to understand what happened and all that drama. So I asked kelera if she had a picture of her ex-husband with her cause I wanted to see what this asshole looks like. And calmly she said yeah I would show you a picture of him but I threw it in the fire today and burned it. I was like damn okay! She looked at me and I looked at her and we both just started laughing and laughing. I told here I would have done the same thing. Her and I think a like most of the time. It cracks me up she has that woman's dominating thing that I love and keeps me going. She has that attitude that she doesn't need a man in her life. She is just fine by herself and I admire that for her.

Anyways, that night I was invited FINALLY to someone's house for dinner and guess what they had to eat? CHICKEN FEET!!! sick. I was like thank you but no thank you. I could not even pretend to try that. I like to think I am open minded to a lot of stuff but I just couldn't do it. I could see the nails of the chicken man. THE NAILS! though I appreciated them inviting me over I ate dalo and tomatos which is fine with me. Then after dinner Andi braided my hair and they were talking to me how it is taboo to take a shower at night like I did right before I came over for dinner. But one i smelled and two it really wasn't dark just yet and I just bring a flashlight and hang it on a nail and that's fine it seriously takes me like 1 minute to shower. not a big deal but I kept asking why it is taboo and they could never answer me but i thought that was so funny. kendall and I was talking the other day about this shower thing and when they shower. They always ask me in the middle of the day after lunch if I have showered yet and for one why you asking me if I have showered none of your business but that's what they do to make conversation. so I don't take offense to that that's just me being the American that i am. Anyways kendall and I were saying that we don't like to shower in the middle of the day like that because we are not done sweating okay. it's like 95 degrees here sometimes in the middle of the day and yeah it feels good to take a shower when it's hot but like I said i am surley not done sweating so I might as well sweat it all up and not waste another pair of clothes that I have to wash myself in the river and wait to the end of the day and shower. That is what makes sense to me.

So for the last week I have attended 3 funerals. the one i talked about last blog entry and then one man died in a village near ours and a woman died that was related to our village. So we just stopped by the one near ours and presented mats and fabrics for the family and so on but didn't actual stay or the funeral. but the other one we had to spend the night and stay for the funeral cause the woman was the villages headman's older sister.So the village got transport and I was really prepared this time unlike my trip to Nadala to the rugby match. I brought a blanket, pillow, 3 bottles of boiled and filtered water and toilet paper. So i was ready to go. this village was right passed the Fiji water plant which was cool to see. It looked like for a second like a plant from America. But it was a hour and half ride on the back of truck and it was very uncomfortable considering almost the whole village was trying to fit in the same truck so people were sitting on top of other people it was crazy but i survived. Then when we got there we waited and waited and waited and i kept falling asleep and then finally we went and presented our mats and fabrics (sevusevu) again for this funeral and village. then we drank grog! the 2 musketeers stayed up til 2 in the morning. it was fun! We had dinner and everyone was so surprised that I ate so much and by the way I was starting to gain weight now. Because i little known fact that didn't come in the water filter directions that I have to boil my water and then run it thru the water filter. Didn't know that one cause my water filter didn't come with freakin directions so that is why I was so sick for weeks and couldn't hold down anything, but i am good now! So i was so tired at 2 in the morning I slept on the floor in some old woman's house with the same clothes on cause I didn't want to change in front of people like everyone else was doing so I was like heck I am sleeping in these clothes. I woke up in the morning with a group of fijians staring at me and then kelera came and got me to take our shower in the river of course. So I grabbed my bar of soup and a towel and head my way to the river and jumped in with all my clothes. I felt so crappy i felt like a truck ran over me. then I changed behind a curtain I made and brushed my teeth outside with my bottled water and went on our way to breakfast and morning tea and once again they were so happy with the amount of food that I am been eating. They call me Kaiviti now which means Fijian. that I am no longer kaivalagi (European) that I have crossed over. Which makes me feel good and accepted finally. though I still feel like I have a way to go for some people to accept and trust me. But i can see a change and it feels good. Then after the funeral which is quite different. the woman do this wailing and weeping thing that is hard for me to handle cause I they like scream and yell crying and it's hard to watch. Especially when it's a girl my age whom her mother just died and she is just crying her heart out right in front of you. I don't know what to do in those situations. But I offered her my bottle of boiled and filtered water and she drank it so i thought that was a good start. I was sitting my the chief's wife who was also wailing and weeping and of course I didn't now that lady so I am just sitting there with my head done cause I don't have any tears and I just kept feeling bad for the woman's daughter. So that lasts for about 20 mins of awkwardness and the weirdest thing is that they love taking pictures of the died body. I can't get over that one and I hide my camera so no one will use it for that. So after the burial and lunch more drinking grog. So i hung out with some people from my village and they were filling me in with all the drama that went down the night before with the guys in my village and the girls from the village that we were in. I swear sometimes I feel like I am in a jerry springer show. So then we left and came back and the whole village went to bed at like 9 cause everyone was so tired of drinking grog and so on.

The next day the ministry of health came to our village to do a workshop to show us how to make soap. It was kind of cool. I think they can make that into a money generating project. I am will be working with some women's forum in town to make that happen. but that was sept. 11th of course and i wore all black in remembrance of those who died that day. Everyone at first was making fun of me because I was wearing all black until I explained why. I like to think I was fulfilling my 3rd goal as a Peace Corps volunteer which is expose Fijians to American culture. So now more of them understand what happened 7 years ago on that day that any American will never forget. I know I won't. I think more of them respect the fact that I did wear black all day and that it was important to me to do that. I have gotten mixed reactions to what happened Sept. 11th in Fiji. I am not sure what they stance is with most people but I could tell in my village they understood that it was horrible and that it meant something to me.

so one night Kelera brought over this game kind of like a small scale pool. Where you slide this disk to hit other disks in to for corners where there are holes. So all the guys came over to play and they were so loud. And being loud in the village at night is also taboo and a big no-no. So kelera was trying to tell them to shut up but it wasn't working. I went to bed early cause I was so tired cause I washed clothes all day in the sun so I was drained. But the village committee informed me that I have to apologize again. So i had to go to my neighbor joanna (whom i love and adore but doesn't speak a lick of English ) and explain to her how sorry I am about the other night all in Fijian. very interesting. I don't understand what they expect for me to do to tell these people to leave and get out of my house when people are jut now starting to come over and talk and accept me. I don't understand the big deal but I do understand that they have to be quiet because they were really loud and i feel bad for joanna that's for sure i think I might make her some no-bake cookies and give to her tonight.

By the way people are loving the no-bake cookies. people are asking for them and the recipe. i never thought that I would be popular anywhere for my cooking skills especially no-bake cookies. Holla!

I also would like to point out the diversity in Fiji on the long road to my village from town that takes about 2 hours to get to my village. there is a Hindu cemetery and a Muslim cemetery all beside a Fijian village. that cracks me up every time I pass it to go to town.
I was going to put up some more pictures of my village and the people in it but the computer is very slow today and I think I might be here all day if I try that. But I should be able to next Sunday cause I will be in a bigger town to do that cause we on Viti Levu (the main island) are getting together for a beach weekend at a hostel on the Coral Coast and it's going to be a blast so on my way back I will have to stay the night somewhere cause I can't get to my village on Sunday because there is no transport to I will have time in a bigger city to upload some pictures and plus some pictures from that weekend on the beach. Well, I am about to get some lunch in town and relax before I start my weekly shopping for food and then catch the bus to my village. Kelera is in Suva right now for a YWCA board meeting so i have been lonely without her being around but she will be back tomorrow.

i think that is all I have to say for this adventurous week stay tuned for next weeks update. And keep checking the blog for more pictures there are some really funny ones of us swinging on the rope into the river and the kids. And afterwards getting yelled at by the qase ( the old men of the village) for playing on Sunday (Sigatabu, which is sabbath no playing or working on Sunday) which sucks cause that makes Sundays a very boring and hard days for us Peace Corps volunteers. every Sunday sucks for me so I hope that this one coming up is better. they are better when i am not in the village cause I can do whatever I want and not have to follow the rules. Ya know! But anyways I hope you are still enjoying this blog and hope to hear from people soon!

Long week in the village but plenty to look forward to...

2008-09-05T16:12:00.000-07:00

First of all I would like to thank Rick Ball and gang for the greatest comment on my blog. It made me laugh so hard in the internet cafe I got plenty of looks to shut up. That was great I needed a real laugh in my life. My friend Amy and I were talking about that the other day how we really haven't had a genuwine laugh in so long. Then when you realize that you are laughing for real you kind of stop and enjoy life for once. Cause it's hard to be pulled out of your comfort zone and thrown into this life that we live now. Anyways, I have a few things to talk about this week. Not much cause I was maily really bored this week.

AS I was talking about last couple of posts there was a death in my village and I attended the funeral this past Tuesday. I have attended a funeral before in Fiji during training but it was a high cheif (also an old man), but this funeral was much different cause thee guy was in his last forties (way too young to die) and it was very unexpected. He had a wife and kids too. People were wailing, weeping, and crying. It was to much. I didn't even know the guy and I can feel the pain from the family. It was hard. I actually walked up to see they body before they buried him which they take pictures of (kind of strange) and he seemed like a very nice man. I think it was the point that I can't handle that much crying from other people. I can't stand to look at that much pain and especially knowing that people whom I love at home are hurting too from a death very close to them. It was hard to sit there at that funeral to a man I didn't even know knowing that I should be home attending a funeral for someone I loved dearly. It was hard to hold back the tears though most people thought I was crying because everyone else was crying but really i was crying cause my heart and mind was home thinking of others.I think that is the hardest thing to do is to find the balance between life here in Fiji and life back at home. Cause no one here knows how my life back at home was and I tell them but they can't understand it. I tell them that stuff happens and they listen, but for them it is the here and now. But for me that is not the case. I don't know I just felt really guilty and helpless this week being in Fiji and not home.

Though on the lighter side of things when there is a funeral in village people eat alot. Which is common in my family. When someone dies you cook and you cook for people. SO I did do a lot of cooking this weekend. I made this amazing apple turnover and fried eggs with rice and tomatos. Thought the village was slaughtering 6 cows and carrying the cow parts across my front door and everytime I almost went to my outhouse to throw up it was good. They had asked me to help cut the cow up for the funeral and I said yes reluctantly but disapperaed when the time came to start cutting. I think I could have done it but I just was in a bad place and didn't have the heart to kill this poor cow. But I did eat him that's for sure. I don't get much meat to eat so when I can get a hold of some protein man I dig in! Cause ya know it's fresh! (hehehe)

Anyways, the kids are back in School!!!!!!!!! Though I was bored I rather be bored alone than be bored with a bunch of little kids staring at my every move and laughing at me mess up at their language. Though there is this one kid that is for sure the devil's child. His name is Saki. He is awful. I have never yelled at a kid so much in my life. They thought the white person had gone crazy. First he stole my playing cards. And in the village playing cards are a big deal and can keep a person occupied for hours. So I was mad about that then five days later he comes over and i asked hime where my cards are and he had them and he lied to the other kids saying that he asked me to borrow them which was not true. So I mad him give them back and he couldn't play all do with them, but the other kids could. SO there are like 10 kids in my house playing cards and he is acting like a baby in the corner and if he hits Sophia one more time I might have to hurt him. So anyways, all the sudden him and this little girl are talking in really fast Fijian so I couldn't understand most of it (and people do that too if they don't want me to know what they are talking about they talk really fast to i can't pick up any of the words, but I will be doing that too and use slang words when Chris comes or any other volunteer so they know what it feels like dang it) then he stood up and hit the little girl so hard I though that he broke her back I could hear her little bones just snap. I flipped out! I stood up and grabbed him and yelled and pointed my finger in his face (which is very bad thing to do in the village, but it was my instinct and I wanted him to know how serious I was) and at first this was all in English and Saki understands simple English so I know he knew what I was saying to him. Then he pretended to not understand so then I yelled at him in Fijian and all the kids knew what i was saying so he had to say it. I was saying "vosa vosoti" which means say your sorry. I said like 5 times and he finally said softly "vosoti au" which means I'm sorry. He had tears in his eyes from me embrassing him in front of the other kids but I didn't care no one will hit anyone like that in my house or around me or other kids. Then right after that Kelera came back and the kids told her what happened and she yelled at him forever it was great. It think his problem was that kept associating me with the missionaries (that give out all this frees tuff to people) and he thought that he could just take anythign from me and I would forgive him because I am a missionary. But guess what kids I am not a freakin crazy missionary. I am a freakin American so deal with it. SO that pretty much set him straight.

there was a meeting the other night that since the kids have to walk to school everyday for 6 miles now the school is providing boarding for the next 12 weeks of school. So the kids will stay there (there is only 15 kids that are from my village that go to this school so far away)all week from Monday to Friday and come home for the weekends. But they have to go to church on the weekends so I won't see much of them at all. It was good news right after the other. First the kids go back to school and now they have to stay at the school all week. that is awesome. I loved that idea. and at the meeting I was like yeah that will be much better for the kids and in reality is is because when it rains the kids can't go to school cause the road floods and then they are always late cause it takes them so long to walk to school and they stop and play half of the way anwyays. and then when they get home they are too tired to do their homework. So this is best for everyone that's for sure.

So, Kelera and I was talking the other day about when Chris comes to visit next month! I can't wait by the way. So, we are going to fix up the house really nice and get new fabric for the couch and chairs and new mats for the floor. We are also planning to cook him a Fijian feast. I am going to buy fish in the market in town and we are goin to cook those with prawns that we are going to catch in the river and make some really good traditional Fijian dishes and I am also going to cook some of the stuff I have been cooking from the Peace Corps cookbook that is fabulous. So I hope he comes to eat cause it's going to be amazing. The rugby team is very exctied to meet him and play rugby cause they know he played football in America which is a big deal. And I am starting to collect boiled and filtered water so we can drink grog when he gets to the village which is a common and respectful thing to do when you first get to a village. SO it's going to be the whole Fijian experience. I am excited for Chris to experience this new culture and I jsut hope he doesn't get culture shock too bad for too long but he will be fine. Though it will be fun for me to watch someone else go through this other than me cause I know what it feels like and it can be sometimes fustrating but intensely excited at times.

So other than my complete boredom this week is was okay minus the funeral. Yesterday I walked arounf the village for few minutes just to see if i could find anyone to kick the soccer ball with and I couldn't find anyone. I could have swore the whole village left and moved away like it was a ghost town and no one told me. Whew I was bored. But anyways, I am starting to gain some weight back cause I realize how to clean the water properly so that 's a good thing. I can hold things in my system more then 20 seconds. So that's a plus. I hope to get some phone calls sometime this week. That would be lovely.

Also I have thought of a few more things on my wishlist....

Kool-Aid mix
ranch dressing packets (not sure if they last ourside a frig long but it is impossible to get ranch dressing here and I was thinking maybe those packets from WEndy's or McDonald's would work I don't know)
skittles or nerds would be fabulous
and finally gravy packets for mashed potatoes

Also there are some recipes I am requesting so I can try...

Mom devled eggs (sorry I don't know how to spell that word)
I know you need mustard and mayonaise which I think I can get but I need directions too
rice crisy treats
and finally mashed potatoes like Grandma used to make them
(I have heard that the Peace Corps has cut the Thanksgiving dinner this year because of a budget cut so we won't be having a thanksgiving dinner and that is not okay with me so I need to start preparing for the and get some stuff together to make it as close as I can to the real deal.

I think that is all I have I hope all is doing well and hope to hear from people soon! love you all!!!

put up some more pics!

2008-08-31T16:19:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post letting you guys know that I put up 35 more pictures of my village. I will be trying to take more pictures of more people in the village that way you can see some faces that I see everyday!

Keepin it current...

2008-08-30T16:10:00.000-07:00

Though I have been able to get to a computer often lately. I always have so much to say cause I experience stuff so fast on a daily basis that is blog worthy. So, I write it down in my lil notebook to talk about it when I get to town. I know that I have mentioned our rugby team before, but I am not sure that I talked about how good they are. We didn't win the tournament but they are a very good team. They aren't has big as the other teams, but they can hit hard and they are very fast. So they just fly past people. But the same team that won last year won this year too.

Also when I was in Nadala (the village past mine) I met a woman named Flora. She was very nice and the weird thing was she was white, but Fijian at the same time. Her father is a Frenchman and her mother is Fijian and she was raised in a Fijian village her whole life. She looks just like a white woman but speaks Fijian. She was to go to France a couple of years ago to meet her father who is a very rich man (an engineer in France). She had the plane ticket and everything and the day before she was to leave she got randomly married to a Fijian man. Which means she can't leave and she was stuck in that man's village for the rest of her life. But she seems so happy, but after meeting her I couldn't help but to think how much her life could have changed. She could have had a completely different life for herself and I wonder if she would have been as happy. It is just so remarkable how by one decision a person makes can change their life forever. She has a little son named Kali who I absolutely love and he was drawn to me (most kids are not) because me and his mother looked so much the same with our light skin. it was so cute he would run up to me and say you look like my mommy and that made him so happy to see another person look like his mom whom he adored. It was just a great relief to meet someone that puts up with the harassments of looking different in a Fijian village. Cause it is hard people don't have a buffer they will say whatever they want. Hurtful or not. So it was good to see another surviving "European" in a village.

Oh yeah I have a very serious rat problem in my house now and I have purchased rat poison and placed it fabulously throughout the house but I don't think it's working. So i will need to come up with other tactics to kill! They are so loud at night I wake up from them running around the house at night. And have to clean up their poo every morning.

So last week there was a Kindergarden meeting that actually happened. The kindergarden hasn't been happening because the current teacher had a baby and now school is about to start up again and they want the kindergarden back in place in the village. But people have a problem with the current teacher saying that she is not turning in the reports to the committee to turn into the Ministry of Education to fund the Kinder. But she is and she is complaining that the committee are the ones that are not turning in the reports. It's like sometimes I feel like I was dropped right in the middle of a Jerry Springer show. The village drama and politics will blow your mind. So the parents that didn't like the current teacher didn't attend the meeting. Which doesn't make sense so we were going on the fact that they hard people didn't like her. But she is the only one that has experience and qualifications to teach the kinder. But Kelera my counterpart is also qualified but doesn't want to do it because she is already apart of another organization and dealing with me and the Peace Corps so she has too much on her plate. So the only other person is the President on the Kinder's wife. She went and received 6 weeks of training to be the new teacher but it is against the Kinder rules because she is the President's wife and that could be a way of them getting extra money cause the President is bias because his wife is the new teacher. So basically we have no teacher and can't decide . I say have the old teacher but she got tired of people accusing her of things and resigned right there in the meeting which was funny to me because they people there was for her and not against her. So i said screw the parents who don't like the teacher don't send your kid to Kinder then. That's the end no more to talk about. But now they are going to have a village meeting Tuesday to decide what teacher , but there isn't any options because Kelera doesn't want to do it and the other teacher isn't allowed. So that meeting should be very interesting. I can't wait for them to be like why don't the Peace Corps volunteer do it and I am going to laugh in their face because one I hate kids and two I am NOT qualified by any means and just because I am from American doesn't make me qualified to teach a Kindergarden. So we will see, I will keep you updated on the Fijian village drama.

So the preacher's wife (asembly of God) keeps inviting me to dinner and breakfast and I love it! They food is so good! One someone invites you to dinner or over to their house you are to bring something so for lunch I brought apples and for dinner I brought cooked sausages. Which just so happen to be what we were eating for dinner so we had alot of sausages. Sausages here are like my pizza in the U.S. I look forward to the sausages which is sad. She goes back this week to being a teacher up in Nadala and I am sad cause she is so cool and talks to me in really good English and makes me feel welcomed and treats me the same as everyone else. And gives me cooking tips and very important information about people in the village.

Also since the kids have been out of school for 2 weeks the worst 2 weeks in the village and I can't wait for the kids to go back. They have been coming over to my house asking for help on their English homework. Which I am all about helping them. This one little girl comes over who is in grade 6 I spent like 2 hours on her homework and then it went into Math. Which I felt really bad cause I was not much help at all. But she has got her English down. (A+)

So since the kids are home all day I don't get anytime by myself. When I go to bed at night I am telling people to leave my house so I can sleep. Then as soon as I open my doors in the morning kids are just sitting there to come in and hang out. I hate it because I want to eat and it is so rude to eat in from of someone without offering food and trust me these kids will eat my food they don't care but I don't have alot of food for these Fijian kids to eat me out of the house cause I just have enough for little ol me. So i have to wait to get to a point where I am so hungry I dont care anymore I just sit there and ask permission to eat and go. I don't offer or nothing it is getting to the point where I am to break those culture norms and be myself be reasonable because I have to eat I don't care anymore leave my freakin house for 5 secs to i can have a life. Like one morning I woke up and turned on my radio to try to get some descent news and make breakfast and I get the Methodist Preacher at my door asking to look at his daughter's foot that was cut last night and needs help. and i was like oh my god it's going to be so bad with blood everywhere and I won't be able to eat my breakfast. I know that is bad to think but I don't have a strong stomach for this stuff especially where I have people at my door before i wake up at 6:30 in the morning. Before I pick the crust out of my eyes I have already having my name called. So I go over their with my little medical kid and pretty much her last two toes on her foot are almost completely cut off cause she stepped on a knife. She probably needed stitches but of course I can't do that. So i just clean up the dry blood wash out with soap and water and then warm salt water and rumbing alcohol and then put ointment on use butterfly band aids to keep her toes on and wrap it up so it will heal not deformed. That is the best I could do. And I should them how they need to clean it out like 2 times a day and do this stuff and don't walk around with flip flops on and don't put smashed green leaves thinking the Fijian magic medicine will work it will get worse. That is the best I can do.

So Nat and mark guys on the rugby team and good friends of mine came over one night to hang out. They brought over lemon juice which would be their beer or grog but they are 7th day so they keep it clean which it fine with me. I feel safer. But they were talking about how they want to come to America so bad and meet some American girls to marry. It was so funny the stuff they were saying. Like they were going to bring their loli's (blow pops) and cream buns (they greatest things on earth that I want to make popular in America) and ask a girl to marry them. I was explaining to them that is not how that works back in the states. But it was a very funny night to hear them talk about getting a wife in America and what they want to do in life. But in the back on my mind I was thinking they are never going to get out of the life they are in right now. I that makes me so sad cause they have so much potential to become a successful person in life. But they can't wait to meet Chris at the end of October because they are "Brothers in color" Yes those are the same words he used which cracks me up cause they concept of African-Americans is hard for them to wrap their minds around that everyone is not white. They are really excited to play rugby with him because they saw the pictures of him ans notice that he his big and athletic and played American football for college. So they wanted to see if he was going to be around to be in one of their rugby tournaments. It's very funny I can't wait for Chris to experience this too!

So remember Tomasi (little boy with infected toe) his parents now are so grateful and nice to me that I have taken him the hospital for two days in the a row for his injections. Tomasi's dad is the chairman of the village so he pretty much runs they place and always comes over to my house before I go to sleep and walks around to check if everything is okay. Cause lately I have been by myself living without kelera cause she has had some family stuff to take care of at the farm on the outskirts of the village. So one night people didn't leave my house til 12:30 at night and he came over checking and asking if I am okay and so on. I said yes I am fine all the doors are locked and I am alone. So then 5 minutes later i hear someone outside my door and I am who the crap is that. And it's him again but this time with his wife whom I really like cause she really does care about her son and his toe. So she came and asked too if I was okay and needed anything. I was thinking you guys care more about me than you do your own son. I don't understand. Though it can get really annoying to be treated like 4 year old as if I have never lived on my own before I know they are asking to be nice and they really do care about my safety in the village. SO that is nice to know.

So we had our first death in the village. It was Kelera's father's cousin (don't ask about the relation they don't even know everyone is related in Fiji) died riding a sugar cane tractor and fell through and one of the tires ran over him slicing his body in half. He was only in his 40's which is sad and had a wife and 3 kids (1 daughter and 2 sons). So people are very upset about it obviously and the funeral will be sometime this week. They were telling me that every school vacation the kids have someone always dies in the village. That it is a curse or something. And they were telling me who died everytime vacation happened. So that is kind a scary.

Finally, I have thought of another thing on th wish list. French vanilla cappuccino mix. That would be so good in the morning than coffee all the time and it's instant coffee so it sucks. So i would appreciate that very much thank you! That's all I have for now I hope everyone is still enjoying this blog and I am trying to keep it updated the best I can. Let me know if there is anything else I can do. I was to put up more pictures this time around but left my camera at the village so I will have to try next week. But I only have about 30 or so it shouldn't take long. I need to take more pictures of people that I am talking about in my blog so you guys can put faces to names and people I talk to and play with everyday! Sorry I have been slacking in my picture taking but if you know me well that is to be expected. Miss everyone so please keep updating me on your life too!

Swinging on ropes like monkeys.....

2008-08-25T16:41:00.000-07:00

So I am in town again for Tomasi's toe and I realized last night I forgot a few things. First I was talking to my Dad yesterday on the phone and he asked if I needed anything and at the time I couldn't think of anything, but now I have thought of some stuff. Like blow up pool toys like beach balls, tubes, small rafts nothing too nice just pool toys you can buy at the dollar store! I think that would be great for when the kids play in the river behind my house. They usually play with wet t-shirt and toss back and forth so beach balls would be great. Then I was thinking Sophia could use some dog toys cause she is biting the hell out of my hand. She it starting to get her teeth in and all she wants to do it bite and play and she is starting to get quite a bite on her. And she is turning out to be a good little guard dog barking at people when the come up to me. And I know my Mom as sent me a flea collar for Sophia which is badly needed for her but it would be nice to get her a collar to tie her up cause the big dogs and roosters in the village pick on her and I am afraid she is going to get into a fight and get really hard so I like to keep her tied up at night and while I am away from my house. Just a small collar she is still a lil puppy and not pink. Sophia is not a girly girl she is tough like me!

oh yeah, and of course I can always use batteries and hand sanitizer. Two things that are impossible to get reasonably in Fiji. The batteries last about i don't know 5 minutes.

oKay, and now the stuff I forgot to talk about. So behind my house the kids have been swinging off this rope off a cliff into the water. So I tried the other day and I played with is all day and at the end of the day I was doing backflips off of it like the guys. they we so amazed that I could do that. it was so much fun. I got pictures of the kids swinging but not me it's hard to trust someone with my camera near the water ya know what I mean. I also got pictures of the huge waterfall by the road before you reach my village. Tourists take pics of it all the time. So i will be putting that up soon. There is a picture of my climbing the waterfall like spiderwoman! And I am starting to have alot more time and I have been writing a lot of letters lately. So people be checkin your mail and write me back. I especially love cards with letters inside. I like to read them over again on a hard day. I hang them up in my room . cause I understand that sending a package is very expensive and often takes a while to get here. Don't forget my new address P.O. box 1141!

Oh and to add to my list of comparisons from yesterdays post!
#11) still sells RC cola!!!!

I think that is pretty much it. I feel like sometimes I repeat myself cause I can't remember if I have already talked about something or not. But once again Happy Birthday to Chris it is already the 26th here so I get to celebrate your birthday first! yay!

In town again

2008-08-24T16:15:00.000-07:00

Okay right now I am in town to take this lil boy named Tomasi who has a very infected toe to the hospital for an injection. I think I have mentioned him before on my blog but recently I have convinced his parents to take him to the hospital on Saturday morning. tomasi had to go because he has been missing school for a month now and they kept putting smashed green leaves on the wound thinking it was going to help but really it was making it worse. So, me, tomasi, and his dad went to the hospital Sat. morning and on the bus tomasi's dad said I was wasting his time and his money by asking him to take his own son to the hospital. Let me tell you I was so damn made by the comment I didn't know what to say. I kept my mouth shut for the time being just because of Tomasi. But I was thinking are you kidding me all he spends time and money on is drinking grog and smoking. and it's only 2 hours of his sat. morning. Are you kidding me? I kept thinking how I took 2 freakin years of my life and left all the people I love and care about in another country to help strangers far away and wasted thousands of dollars to convince this stupid man to take his own son to the doctor cause in a few more weeks tomasi would lose his foot that's how bad the infection was. You would look at it and you would want to throw up. I was so upset but that I wanted to come home and I talked to Kelera about it and she made me feel much better cause I was thinking if this is the kind of attitude I am going to get when I am only trying to help I will not be able to handle that for the next 2 years that's for sure. But Kelera convinced me that the village needs and wants me here. So Tomasi has to come back to the hospital today and tomorrow and the parents don't have enough money to take him for the bus fare so I agreed to take him and pay with is like 5 dollars I can spare for the boy. I just hate it that he can't play with his friends or go to school he has already missed his exams to go to the next grade so he has to repeat the following grade he was to complete but couldn't cause he missed too much school from his toe cause the kids have to walk 6 miles to school everyday!

Going to the hospital is a whole another story. That place is a mess. Today there was blood all over the floor and no running water. The governement doesn't provide anything just injections which I am not sure what they even do for someone really.

So, I have been training for my soccer games and running early in the morning with people from my village at 6 am. Up and down the mountains and I can tell it has really helped. It is hard to practice soccer cause they field is so bad but I get a few kicks in every once in a while.

I can't remember if I told the story about the trip to nadala the village up past mine. But it was hell. I think I called it feeling like a caged animal. I had nothing but crackers and lemon leaf tea from two days straight and I got so sick and I was so cold. All they had for a bathroom was a pit hole and no toilet paper. Not Cool! Oh yeah and before I left I was waiting for the transport to come and I had fallin asleep and woke up to a room of a bunch of Fijian men drinking grog and they wanted me to introduce myslef and shake hands with them all which I hate doing cause I have to crawl around on my knees and pretend to be this stupid American tourist until they hear me speak the language then they think I have been married into the village which I explain I am not that I am a Peace Corps volunteer and so on. They love asking to take my picture on their phones I don't know why but i think it is pretty creepy to want to take a picture of someone just because they are from the U.S.

Okay to start the comparisons of Fijians (the inteiror) and West Virginians.If anyone is offended by my comments get over it because I am bored over here and I think it funny. So get over it.

1) most people don't have most of their teeth
2)still sportin the mullets and rat tails and today I saw the shaved in stairs or steps on the side that was popular in the early 90's. NICE!
3)can't understand them because of their accent or dialect
4) still ride horses on gravel roads
5)still listens to old country songs like Shania Twain (in Lautoka I actually danced to a disco version of Shania Twain's old classic but I was just so excited I knew the song and the words)
6) they both know the "Country Roads" song and sings it often
7)both live in the mountains
8)have cattle running around and farms
9) both have kids running around naked
10) swims in rivers and jumps of cliffs and considers that their bath

That's all I got for now but I am sure I will come up with more later> I hope you enjoyed my incite!

Okay moving on, I met these 3 cute smart little girls that live intown and come to our village every once in a while for church and they speak perfect English probably better than my English. I can't wait to hang out with them again.

It is also been nice the pastor's wife from the AOG church as been inviting me to her house for lunch which is the first time someone as officially invited me to eat with them. I wonder sometimes why people haven't been inviting me because that is usually a Fijian custom but the pastor's wife seems to think that people need to buy food in town for me to eat and that they don't have enough money to do that so they don't invite me over for dinner. But in reality I will still eat their food. I just don't think people think I am really goin to be here for 2 years.

I have been decorating my house a lil bit more chaning up the fabrics making it look nicer. I will be putting up some pictures up soon so don't worry.

Oh, on the secodn soccer game we won 1-0! I played a much better game because it wasn't has hot I get fried during the games.

I am very excited to get this week over with because one the kids will be going back to school. They have had a 2 week vacation and they always come over to my house and want to play but I always feel so crappy and old I can't keep up with them. I don't know if it is because it is so hot or just because I really don't like kids. And I get to see my dear friend Kendall this weekend. She is having a very hard time so I am going to go save her and we are going to spend sometime with each other and catch up with what has been going on in our lives. Well, I think that is it for now I have tried to sum things up so it wouldn't be as long but I didn't leave too much details out. I will keep writing if you guys keep responding and once again HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS!

Another short post......

2008-08-22T20:06:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the short post again but once again not much time and the computer is moving so slowly. But just to touch on a few things I want to wish my beloved boyfriend of almost 8 years now a HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY on August 26th (Tuesday)! Since I don't know if I will be at a computer before then. Also, I have changed my address again here in the side of this blog. It is now P.O. box 1141 I now have a private mail box instead of sharing one with the village cause it does not get checked often. So now I can check my mail everytime I come in to town. I am now in town for a soccer tournament and we lost our first game 2 to nothing. We have another game at 4. So I am killing some time at the computer. Also, I have some really great news about my life in the village. Sophia has come back into my life!!! David was visiting Draubuta my old host village and was speaking with my host mom and was asking about Sophia and David asked if he could take Sophia to me cause he was going to be passing through my town anyways and she said yes of course anything to make Alisha happy. So David called me and told me and I said YES please save my puppy! Poor Sophia was a mess I have never seen so many fleas on one animal in my life and she was so skinny. David found some flea shampoo so I have been giving Sophia a bath in the river every other day. She is startin to get fat again and she is busting out of her 3rd world country attitude and turning into a very sweet puppy I once remembered back in Draubuta. That's all I have to say for now though I have so much more to talk about. But no time but don't worry I am writing it all down. So when I get time I will really tell some stories about what's going on. But people are really starting to warm up tp me now! and accepting that I will be living with them for 2 years. I hope Chris that you have a fabulous birthday and I wish so badly that I was there to celebrate with you! But look in the mail there is a present coming your way!

Short post.....

2008-08-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

I am so sorry this is going to short, but I had so much funny stuff to talk about that is going to take me a while to type up because ya know your girl types so slow, but I am doing well and keeping busy and have lots of interesting experiences a long the way. I went to a rugby tournament the last couple of days and that ended up being one of the most interesting experiences to come for sure I will give details later, trust. So stay tuned to the blog also my mailing address will be changing again soon because the p.o. box that I have right now is the village p.o. box and the headman of the village is supposed to check it on a regular basis and he is not so I am going to open up my own p.o. box so I can check it anytime I want. I am having my mail sent to Suva forwarded to my address in Tavua but for now keep sending stuff to my address to the left under the picture link on my blog. I will also be having a very funny post soon comparing Fijians (the interior Fijians not the coastal Fijians)and West Virginians soon! I was just thinking one day just how much Fijians and West Virginians have in common and it is very funny to me so I will be putting that up soon too! I hope you all enjoy it very much. I just have a few more things I need to add on the list that I think people will appreciate.

Things have been going okay I am getting a bit sick again I think I caught a bug in Nadala (the village where the rugby tourney was) so I get to see sam the spider on my toilet alot! I will get better though just have to let it run it's course. Anyways, big soccer tournament this weekend that I will be playing in so I am looking forward to that. I am sure I will stir up a lot of conversation being the only whitie playing. I sometimes feel like a caged animal being stared at my every move. and being asked if I am okay every freakin second as if I can't handle to tough life of being a fijian, though I get sick every two weeks I think I am doing a pretty damn good job thank you. I just wish people would treat me the same and not like a Queen from another country. I can't stand it and I feel bad cause I am kind of not in a good mood to people cause of how they treat me like they offer everything to me first and make sure I have something to sit on and lord forgive me if I sit in the sun cause of my white skin will burn but they are starting to realize that I am not burning that I turn burn just like them. As soon as I get it through their heads that I am a human being just like them and they treat me the same I will be doing much better mentally. But til then they have to adjust to me first. I am going to be here for a long time two years and I don't think they realize that I will be here for two years. And if there is no way they are going to keep treating me like I am new all the time or a tourist or that I married into the village and that is why I am living in Waikubukubu not a volunteer I might scream at something real soon! I have so much more to say but I have no more time left. I will try to come town again and put up what I have been writing about say please keep checking my blog it's going to good!

Living the life of a Peace Corps volunteer

2008-08-06T19:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I have decided to make a list of blog worthy topics to talk about each week. So here is my list! SO please are starting to come over to my house more and talk to me and they want to know more about me. They asks to see pictures of my family all the time. I have them all taped up by my bed but so many people ask all the time I just keep them on my table so I don't have to get them down everytime. Well, most people say obviously I look just like my mom and that my brother are clean looking and tall and my dad has beautiful blue eyes. But one comment I thought people might like is that they think jason looks like Prince William!!! Ha Ha Ha! I love it! Hence Prince William might be the only white guy they have seen in pictures, but I thought that was interesting.

Next topic I was in the market the other day and this guy started talking about a green card to stay in America and was asking me how I can stay here in Fiji for 2 years. SO i told him about the Peace Corps and so on and then he went on telling me about this card a friend from New Jersey gave him called Starbucks. And with his acsent I couldn't understand him but he showed me the card and it was a gift card for Starbuck's coffee and he thought it was a card like a green card. At first I didn't have the heart to explain to him that he could get some really good coffee for free and not a member of the U.S. But i had to tell him the truth cause he kept asking me about the card so i broke it down for him I can just see his heart breaking. But at least now he knows.

Okay so the last week in the village I have attended 6 church services in 7 days. Rough and if anyone knows me well completely out of my normal life. But I wanted to meet more people and wanted people to know that I was there and why I was there. So every service I got up and made a speech in Fijian introducing myself and why and how long I will be living in Waikubukubu village. SO there are three denominations in my tiny village. 7th day advendists, Asembly of God, and Methodist.

Last Monday morning there was a community walk to the village dam to clean it. THe dam is where the village gets their source of running water but they have to clean the dam every three months. So I wanted to go to see how it works. Well as usual no one showed up but two people the village chairman ( extremely funny man), me and my counterpart Kelera who is like my best friend here and I call her my bodyguard) because she doesn't let anyone mess with me at all. She was telling me one night that she didn't care is something ever happened to me in that village she didn't care is she went to jail I would be okay. So that makes me feel safe and she is no joke she would kill someone. Anyways, we hiked through the jungle and I mean the jungle we had knifes to cut the bush away to get to the dam and I went in feet first and on my knees scrubbing the dam. It was so hot and it's very hard. Next time I am going to show them how to make a filter with mesh and wood to help clean it faster just like the strainer one would use to clean out a swimming pool. Being a lifeguard as paid off.

Then this past Sunday I went to Methodist church service like 8,000 miles away. not really but we walked to whole way and it felt like 8,000 miles. We started at 8 in the morning and got there at 10:30am and took us all day to get back from 2pm to 6 because it was so hot. I thought I was going to die because it's up and down and no flat land all in flipflops and a long skirt. but I kept thinking it was good exercise and I got a pretty nice tan.

So before I arrived in my house in the village the village committee (5 old guys) decided certain rules that people could not break regarding me in the village. One rule is that people had to be off my compound at 8 pm. At first that was fine with me but I didn't know that from 7-8pm is prayer time and no one could come over til 8:15 so I asked to move it back til 10pm cause that gives me time to cook dinner and read and go to bed about 11pm everynight. Well the first couple of nights people just come over and I didn't want to be like leave. So kelera and I have to apoligize to the committee for breaking the rule that I had no say in. It was so funny to me that I have been living on my own for 5 years now and I have to say sorry to 5 old guys from Fiji about people being at my house til 10:30 at night. It's not like we are drinking and having a party because the youth that do come over and visit are all 7th day and AOG and don't drink alcohol, no smoking, grog, tea, coke, coffee and aren't allowed to dance. Which is very interesting to me. And I ask them all the time about it. I can't stand that they can't dance. They say it is in the bible, but I keep asking them to point it out where in the Bible does it say that but they never do. So tonight they said they will bring their Fijian bible and I have an English bible and they will show. Not my bible by the way it was forced to me to bring to church everytime because people feel bad for me.

Next there is this dog that walks around and he is awful looking so I feed him my scrapes. I asked Kelera why half of his tail is cut off and she said that because the village people think if a dog is skinny they cut off his tail and he will get fat. NOT TRUE!! So this poor dog walks around with half his tail and always gives me this terrible look and I feel so bad for him. SO every dog I see that is too skinny I feed them food so his tail won't be chopped off cause I do not want to be around when that happens.

Oh yeah, the old men in the village built my fence to my bathroom and shower it looks great and I feel much better now going to the bathroom at night.

When we were walking to the Methodist church on Sunday there are all these Indian women walking through the sugarcane. They see the two Fijian women in front of me and then the see little ol me and they say "who is this child who's girl is this and like pinch my arms and what to dress me up in their fancy Indian clothes, but Kelera everytime is like no she is with us and they leave me alone. It is so funny i feel like people are fighting over me.

So, I have been pretty much really happy with my stomach lately and using the bathroom, but I do have a lil friend in the bathroom everytime. the biggest spider I have ever seen in real life! Is body alone is about the size of my palm. Yeah! So i took my lil toilet scruber and and always hit around the toilet everytime I use it because I am afraid this spider is going to take a huge bite out of my butt. So, now when going to the bathroom I have no fear of people scarring but now a spider. Whom I wish to call Sam the Spider. Please know when I reference the name Sam i am talking about the spider who lives in my toilet.

There is this lil boy in my village his name is Tomasi. He has been out of school now for 3 weeks because he got a cut on his toe and it has been really infected. So he can't pass on to the next grade because he as not been able to take his exams because of no school for 3 weeks and everyone feels bad for him. I asked to go see him and and look at his foot. Well, one it is so infected because they put mashed up green leaves in the wound then wrap it with gauze. So i was trying to suggest that maybe they could clean the wound out with clean water and damp it dry and apply this ointment I gave them and wrap it with clean gauze everyday. So that tells me I need to get a hold of the Red Cross in Fiji and have them do a workshop on first aid.

Next how the 7th day guys are tryin to convert me to be a 7th day Adventists. Not going to happen. They don't drink beer, grog, tea, coffee, coke, the girls don't wear makeup lipstick or earrings. Hell no! But everynight they keep trying and I basically gave it to them straight. I am not here for religion and I have nothing to do with religion here in Fiji I am not a missionary. We have these little arguments all the time about what they believe is in the Bible. And how should lead my life. aw but I think I am starting to get through to them that I have moral and values and that I don't need to follow the Bible on how they think i should be in my life. The whole thing of no separation between church and state here in Fiji. It is a bit hard to deal with on a day to day basis. We pray all the time before eating even a small snack before a soccer game before a meeting a workshop and so on. At least 15 minutes for each prayer.

So, lately the youth have been coming over to my house to talk about this program from the Ministry of youth and sports that helps youth between the ages of 15- 35 who are unemployed which is pretty common here for the economy doesn't allow descent paying jobs are no jobs at all. They are all so excited about this program. It starts up again next year and all they have to do is register in Lautoka but the problem is most of the boys don't have the bus fair to get to Lautoka which is like 6 dollars. So I am going to have to figure out a way to fundraise to money for these boys to get there and register for this program. The program accepts usually about 2,000 youth a year so it is really important to get them in. They lead a rough life. They all wake up at 4 in the morning for devotion and then run for rugby from 5-6am then cut sugarcane from 6:30 am to 5:00 at night then play rugby from 5-6:30pm go home eat dinner devotion at 7-8 then free time before bed. so they want a new life and this program is free and provides training and a job at the end. They have 2 weeks of life skills training and then 4 weeks of specific job training then they can decide if they what the 3 month work attachment training or go into another program that helps them with micro finance and generate their own money. When I was telling them about it I can just see their facing lighting up cause they saw an opportunity to get out of this hard life that they are living in. And also I am tryin to get a HIV/AIDS workshop cause they don't have any idea what kind of risks are out there is Fiji cause HIV/AIDs is high in Fiji considering their size. But they want to get their "rugby" field fixed which right now it is a cow pasture with tons of holes to twist and turn your ankle. So they can get some money to did that since they are considering a rural village they can apply for money from the government they just need that person (me) to link them up to the ministry. So that has been good for me and makes me feel like I am doing something.

the peace corps is making into quite the cook! I made (from scratch)pancakes and syrup. The syrup was so good the pancakes took me a while but they ended up being delicious! I am taking baby steps with cooking my next step is baking a cake with icing without electricity and a oven. Impressive I think so.

And the latest news and the greatest news I have been recruited to the Tavua women's soccer team. I ran into Christy (Fre-3) and the team Friday night while going to a variety show at tavua college. I guess they had already registered me to play in their tournament this weekend in Nadi and asked me right there to play and I didn't have anything with me. The coach is so cool he had a jersey cleats and shinguards and they hired a bus to take to the game. So they picked me up in Ba at 8am and I was all the sudden on my way to Nadi for a soccer tournament I was so excited to play in a real game. The girls are so cool to. I feel like I am in college again playing but I am actually playin this time. They think that i am so good because I played in colleg e in the states. the coach asked me to play central mid which interesting because I am used of playing defense but i did okay considering. We played two 60 minute games in the hot fijian sun and by the end of the day i was so brown. They were like are you okay. I was getting knocked around everywhere cause I am not used of being a whoppin 110 pounds so when I went into a tackle i was getting rocked. So i learned quickly to back off. but I am the only foriegner in the whole league and people from all over fiji are trying to get on this team because they won the championship the last couple of years. I love playing for them I almost scored 3 goals for me i thought that was good. I just need to get more touches on the ball cause my touch is a bit rusty. It is so funny cause when we walk up and the other team and the crowd sees an American playing on the team they start talking and yelling at me. It is much different in to States. They laugh at you if you mess up and yell at you which is really annoying. So i am going to have to get used of that. But I will be practicing with them next week and getting to know that girls better. IT's nice to meet some girls my age cause in my village there are not many girls. SO that's nice. Everything is in Fijian though like when the coach talks and the girls play on the field they tell me what to do in Fijian which I can understand on the field because I know like directional words like go back, go, left, right, return, stop and stuff like that but when the coach talks during half time I have no clue. I feel like that part in Love an d Basketball where the girl goes and plays basketball over seas and the coach talks in Spanish the whole time and she just asks the players afterwards what he said> I just sit there and pretend like I know what is going on then later ask a teammate what the hell he just said. And i know he is saying something about me cause I hear my name in between all the Fijian. So it is interesting because something that is so familiar to me like soccer is different because of the language and the culture and the freakin hot sun! but I love it because it feels like I am in Charlotte playing my the team at Queens. Makes me feel at home! WE have another tournament in Tavua next week so I am going to start training hard Monday. Yesterday we tied the first game and won the second if we win the tournament next weekend the team wins 2,000 dollars! This thursday i am goin to a rugby tournament in the village up passed mine way in the mountains and since I am the manager of the village's rugby team I get to meet the most famous Fiji 7's rugby player who will be the chief guess for that tournament! I am stoked! Anyways I miss everyone at home and I am always thinking about you all I finally uploaded all my swearing in pictures and final pics of my house with all my stuff in it! so take a look with captions! I hope you enjoy.

Things are lookin good....

2008-07-31T20:17:00.000-07:00

I have been at my site for one week so far and I am really starting to like it. I have washed all my clothes in the river at least three times now and I love it. It's so beautiful down there. I swim everyday and jump off cliffs into the water with Kelera when we get bored and there is nothing to do. I am still working out the whole eating situation because I am not used of not have a frig. But I will get the hang of it. I met with alot of people in the village so people are starting to talk to me now and I am learnin the new dialect. I also am playing soccer with some primary school kids and by the way Jason the kids love Twizlers here. WOW! The met the youth in the village which just so happen to be all boys which is a bit intimidating. The rugby coach is also the Asembly of God pastor and for some reason he just thinks I'm it and wants me to play touch rugby everyday with the boys but I play for like 5 minutes cause they are too fast and scary for me then I just move to the side and play soccer. But since I have been in Fiji I have not been allowed to play rugby with the boys the village I live in seem to respect women cause even in the village meeting about me and my safety the women did most of the talking. They have built the fence around my bathroom and shower so I feel really safe now and people come over at night and play cards and so on. We went literally in the bush freakin jungle the other day to clean the village dam and that was pretty interesting. I have pictures of all the swearing in but they are taking forever and I am not sure I will be able to ever get them up in these internet cafes in Tavua. I went to a church service last night that was pretty traumatizing for me. They said that I was the answer to their prayers and so they proceeded to put their palms on me and pray out loud individually for my safety for the next two years and that I don't get home sick. It was scary! Well, I don't have alot of time to write cause I need to get some food for the next week. But I would love to hear from people and what is going on in our lives cause you all know what is going on here in Fiji but I always wonder what is going on in the U.S.

It's Official!!!

2008-07-27T20:06:00.000-07:00

That's right! I am officially a Peace Corps volunteer! It's kind of crazy. I have so much time on my hands I don't even know what to do. Since I have sworn in I have been washing my own clothes in the river in my backyard. Yeah, so life's not so sweet. I am trying to download the pictures from swearing in right now but I am not at my usual internet place and I am in a little remote town so I'm not sure I will be able to put up pics for a while. Things have been rough lately because the excitement of swearing in and finally becoming a Peace Corps volunteer has died down now and I am left sitting in the dark (literally)! It was really hard to say bye to the Pre-Service staff and the other volunteers. Oh yeah, a couple of anouncements I forgot to mention, one, I did pass the language LPI final test with an intermediate low I have moved up for novice high. Quite impressive for this little girl from WV. Thank you! By the way bot everyone passed the test which is crazy. And as a group of volunteers in Fiji we were the first to swear in everyone in our group all 32 of us made it through pre-service trainging. First time ever for Fiji Peace Corps! No one has early terminated YET!

At this point the only thing that is keeping me alive is the fact that Chris is coming at the end of October. I can't explain how exciting that is! I could start crying right now if I really think about how exciting that is for me. As far as my house in the village they fixed the windows and put cage mesh on all the windows and put locks on all the doors. They fixed the shower door too but I just put some extra tin to cover some spots so I feel more comfortable. All they have to do now is to put the bamboo cage to my bathroom. So, basically everything is good i just don't use the bathroom at night. I have the whole place to myself so that's nice. It was hell getting all my stuff to my village. The Peace Corps hired a bus for all the viti levu islanders but by the time the bus would have reached Tavua it would have been 9 at night and there is no transport to my village at that time. So, I had to spend the night with Kiva in Lautoka (The second largest city in Fiji, probably my favorite city so far). Then take a taxi to Ba and then get all my stuff out and get into another taxi from Ba to tavua then get all my stuff out and hire a truck to take my things to my village which wasn't cheap that is for sure. But my counterpart was not there for the first two days which sucked alot and I was very happy to see her yesterday. I went to church yesterday but it was weird because every last Sunday of the month they go to church in family clans which makes no sense to me but whatever. I sat there in a wooden shack sweating and not understanding a word they were saying.

So the people in the village are pretty much banking on the fact that I will be the one to get electricity in their village. Like I am there last hope after all these years of trying. Which is enormous amount of pressure on my side.

I really am starting to miss alot of people from home and things and consequences are getting harder and harder to deal with. I just hope I can deal and stay here in Fiji and help these people get electricity. I have no idea how to do it but at least I have determination. Keep me updated on news from home and remember to write letters to my new address. And don't forget my cellphone works in the village so feel free to text me or/and call please!
Thanks

My last days in Draubuta!

2008-07-18T14:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have mixed feelings. I am excited pre-service training is about to be over, but I don't want to leave my host village. I love it here. The people are great and so nice and now I feel like I have to start all over again. I have to learn a whole new dialect and new people. I am excited to start my service though. I talked to the programing staff and they made some changes at my site yesterday! So, there are mesh wiring on all the windows and bolt locks on all the doors and they are fixing my shower door and building a bamboo cage around the walk way to the outhouse. So that makes me feel better. I have contacted the police post in the area and have explained my situation and got contact numbers. I am feeling much better about the safety of my site. So please don't worry I am okay and I will be fine! First impressions were very bad and it will take a while to get used to of this big change. Just when I thought I was starting to feel comfortable my life gets all messed up again and I will be happy to finally get comfortable in my own space. I am excited though for the first night I get to stay the night with Kendall and Kiva in Lautoka the second largest city in Fiji. At least I get one hot shower in the light before I go into the bush. I will be able to get all the stuff I will need there too like laterns and a keorisine stove. And they have some great second hand stores there too and pizza! So i will have a good time before I have to stay at my site in the middle of no where. There have been some changes so I am not sure if Sophia will be able to come with me or not to my village but I sure hope so she will make me happy and occupied.

Culture not was really fun last night and I finally got a henna tattoo on my left hand. It's very interesting and it's really funny when Fijians see it in the village because they think its really funny. Anyways, I really don't have mush to say about this week. I am just excited to spend my last couple of days with my friends before I go off to my village. From there I don't know what I will do but I will figure it out I hope. Oh, yeah I forgot to mention last night i tried a little thing called bat hunting. that's right mom and dad bat hunting! I am all about killing bats. Last night was the most beautiful night ever. The moon was so bright that we didn't even need a flashlight (torch) to find your way. The moon was so bright that there was a shadow when we walked. It was the craziest thing I have ever seen. I felt like I was walking in a movie. But anyways, back to the bats. So you go with a torch and gather a bunch of thick sticks and you have to go to a certain fruit tree that bats eat at night. You stand underneath the tree and shine the torch up into the tree and look for the bats eyes to shine and then when you find one you throw the stick very hard at the bat and knock it down and it falls to te ground and you then kill it. This is very hard and I'm not completely convinced it works, but I love watching others try. I usually just wait for a bat to fly by at night and throw a bunch a rocks into the sky and hope one hits the bat. It is kind of like snype hunting in West Virginia. Those of you who know what that is knows what i am talking about.

Language is going well I guess. We have our final test this Monday, so I'm sure it will be fine. Oh, yeah we had our last HUB day in Draubuta last Monday. it went really well and our meke (Fijian dance) was a big hit. I guess this was the first time in 5 years that anyone in Draubuta has performed a meke in public because a lay preacher from another village came in and said that meke was not allowed. So that was interesting to break that tabu (taboo). I have video of it but I am not sure how to get it on my blog. I also have video of the trainees in the Indian Settlement doing a dance. Take notice of my new address on the left of this page. My address has changed to my site village. When packages come in I will get a slip at my home and I will go to town and pick it up. Please don't send anymore mail to the old address because I probably won't get it for a very long time cause the Peace Corps will hold it forever in their office. And it will take me a while to get to Suva again from my village. And don't forget I have my cellphone I have been trying to send text messages to some people so let me know if they are going through. I think for someone to call me that they have to buy an international phone card and my cell phone # is 927-8982 but you have to dial the Fiji country code 679 and sometimes you might have to dial 011 before that so just play with it and see what works. I do love it when I get text messages and calls on my cell though its not very reliable. I will try to answer your call! thank you! I hope everyone is doing fine and I hope I hear from everyone. Thank you for all the packages everyone!

my site visit to Waikubukubu village

2008-07-11T15:41:00.000-07:00

First and formost I need to send out some thank you's. Jason Duffield thank you so much for the huge box of toys. I recieved the box yesterday and the kids especially Rusi went CRAZY!!! Rusi went through the box and kept grabbing anything he could and was saying nogu which means mine, mine, mine all mine! My host parents were laughing. We were playing basketball last night with the toy and I gave the stuff animals to the girls and they love the light up flying disks those things are awesome. So thank you so much Jason that meant alot to me and the kids. My host parents asked me this morning to send you regards and their love to you for the gifts! And for my other thank you Rebecca I just got done looking at your pics of the wedding. And i'm not going to lie i am trying to get myself together here in this internet cafe. I was bawling for sure. It was beautiful and I wish so much I was there. My god, you are beautiful. Talk about being jealous! I love the wedding cake with the butterflies, so you! i love the pics and Josh you look good to but just because my smelly cousin makes you look good! hehehe sorry your part of the family now!!!

So about my site visit, I put my pics up so check them out the mountains are wonderful, but it is a hard place to live. I am not going to say much about my visit cause quite honestly it was hell. The first 24 hours I was there I probably cried about 6 hours of it. they have no electricity and no generator and sometimes running water. I first got there and it took about 2 hours from a small remote town (Tavua) to get to my village in the interior of the island. I met everyone in the dark and it was scary I presented my sevusevu to the chief to welcome me into the village in the dark and my shower was questionable. the village is small with about 50-70 people which is very small and i probably only met about 5 kids since I was there which is depressing. there are 10 villages past mine that are even more remote but they all have electricity and running water which doesn't make since. I think my main project for the next two years is to get electricity for this village and how one American girl to do that I have no freakin clue. What makes me think Fiji Electic Co. is going to listen to me. Anyways, the next morning I was so excited to get some sunlight to walk around but even during the day people stay inside in dark rooms and I can't stand that. They don't play outside or do anything. They have a completely different dialect than what I have been learning so no one could understand me so no one really talked to me. It was awful, I drank their water to see if it was good enough never again will I do that because I got really sick and passed out. So i learned my lesson on that one. But food is an issue because there is not refrig and they eat dalo and ro ro leaves which I cannot live off of for 2 years. The shower is an issue because it's either in the river which i am not comfortable with becuase there are guys walking arund everywhere. My house is okay but they gave me a tiny little room and use the rest for their storage and I feel like I don'thave my own space and the family that used to live there still kind of do which sucks becuase there are people walking in and out there are way too many doors and windows in the house that don't lock and are completely unsafe for my to live in. I am not worried about the village people bothering me or harrassing me but the men that come from all over Fiji to cut sugarcane around my village that bothers me because they don't know who I am and if I am showering in the river or my makeshift shower where the door doesn't shut and swings open and i am way too tall for it i am to get on my knees to shower they will jump me and I am not comfortable with that at all. So have to have a serious talk with the safty and security office abuot my housing and I hate it because I feel like I don't have my own space for 2 years. I will not live with a family for two years because they won't let me do anything or go outside. i don't know how I am going to run because it's all mountains and it unsafe for me to walk on the road because of the sugarcane cutters. I am going to stop complaining right now cause I could go on for days right now. I have to keep positive. But the other people in my group all have mansions in cities and when i say mansions I mean mansions. I will take pics and show everyone and we can just have a comparison. I am not mad I am in the bush but I am upset about not having my own space and my safety and security. I am not sure how to deal with all of this and it's been really hard to come back to my host village and hear everyone else's great stories about their sites. I know there is alot of work in my village to get done so that's a plus and I can bring Sophia there and that makes me happy for can be light in the day or in my case during the night because I just sit in the dark and stare at the walls at night. But I am really ahppy to be back to my host village and hang out and see everyone for a few more weeks before I have to go back to Waikubukubu. I just have to get some strenth from somewhere.

So, things that I may need when I move from home are a headlight, that's right Kelsey I do need a headlight for mu large forehead cause I can't see shit. More socks because it is FREEZING there no kidding I feel like I literally went back to WV. and finally long lasting batteries for my flashlights. So, monday we have hub day at my village and my group is doing 5 mekes which are Fijian dances and I will have someone take video of that and you all can see them next time I get to a computer. I think that is all I have to say right now and i will try to have more positive comments next time I hope. Just in a hard time right now and I have no idea how to deal or cope with it. Love and miss everyone a whole hell of alot right now! oh yeah my cell is working dial 011 679 927 8982 but you have to use a international phone card or have international on you ground phone. Thank you!

More pics

2008-07-04T18:33:00.000-07:00

click on the link to the left then click on My Photos and then the album Meet Sophia and look at the other one's with captions this time!

So much to say......

2008-07-04T17:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, let me first start out about where I will be living for the next 2 years of my life. I am very extremely happy about where I will be placed. I will go next week to visit my site and the people i will be workinig with. I will be living on the west side of the main island (Viti Levu). I am kind of living in the interior of the island which is unsual for a volunteer most are on the edge or coast. But i will be living in a village called Waikubukubu (literally meaning water swishing around in your mouth, aka they are known for their waterfalls). I am in a very isolated village with only 33 households. The village is very excited about my arrival and have already built my house and it ready to be moved in. the closet city to me in abuot 45 minutes away. the bus only comes twice a day to my village so if i miss that i only have two other option. one flag down a car to take me to town or horse riding! yeah that's right, by the way did ride myself a cow, very interesting I will try to pics of that one. I don't know yet if I will be living in a tin house or a bure like the old Fijian houses made of straw. I am kind of hoping for a bure. But there is quite a catch to my living situation. I have a tap so i will have water in my village but i don't think acutal running water. The main problem is that I will not have electricity! yeah, you heard me NO ELECTRICITY! hehehe I will keep you updated with that situation. I am mainly working with the women's group in the village and also the youth group. I am very happy with this assignment because this is what i really wanted. i feel pretty nervous though because they will be expecting alot from me and i think of myself of a little girl from ol' West Virginia still and I need to get it in my head that I do have something to offer to these people. So, in a few weeks it's going to be me and lil Sophia and all my stuff riding on the bus to my village. I can't wait. I have never been so nervous. I have heard that they people of my village I will be moving into are very exctied to meet me and they have been preparing for a long time now. the last time a peace corps volunteer has had contact with this village is in 2000. so they are pretty fresh to work with. So, i do have Dave to the north of me in Ba, Kiva and Kendall to the left of me in Lautoka, and sylvia south west of me in Nadi. My village is about 91 kilometers from Nadi, which is good so when people visit me I can get to the airport pretty easily and we won't have a lot of travel time and that means we save money. my supervisor is the turaga ni koro which is crazy cause he is like the right hand man to the chief. I also have alot of Indo-fijians around my village because on the west coast where i will be living they produce alot of sugarcane. It is very hot and sunny not alot of rain so that is great! I am pretty far from a beach, but there is a wharf in my village where there is gold mining and a river flows from the ocean and people swim and take a ride to the ocean. That's exciting can't wait to see that. Hopefully, next saturday i can put up pics of my site and let you guys know how it is. There is also a girls league for soccer in the Tavua the nearest town for me to play. My counterpart is a girl (thank God) and her name is Kelera Vauvau I heard she is great and gets alot of work done. I think I will have alot to do which is good cause i don't want to be bored in the dark with Sophia. Okay i think that is all i have now for my site just a few other topics i like to talk about.

So my host mom likes to buy me little things every once in while. She bought me this huge bright pink towel to use cause I used one of my towels to give Sophia a head and shoulders bath to kill the 800 fleas she has. So, i am pretty sure i told her a hate pink but yet she still keeps buying me pink things, but i wear them with pride. oh yeah she also but for the 4th of july for me huge hoop earrings that are bright red with white pock-a-dots. Yeah i was very patriotic on the 4th.

for the 4th of july kendall, sylvia and I made no bake cookies they were a big hit. this mornging we did our youth workshop for waste disposal in the village. It went really well. I spent three hours picking up trash but i think we opened people's eyes. cause they saw a whitie picking up their trash in their yard on a saturday kind of embarrassing. the village is started to recylcle so that's a good start.

And finally I got a cellphone. you would have to dial 001-679-927-8982.I can also receive text messages. I can call too but it costs alot of money that i don't have so it's free from someone to call me from the states. all incoming calls and texts are free for me. I feel much safer too walking around with a cellphone!Well, I hope all is well and enjoy the more pictures i just posted and with captions!

2008-06-27T22:33:00.000-07:00

CLICK ON MY PICTURES LINK TO THE LEFT!!!

6 more days to site announcement!

2008-06-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

Thank you mom, dad, and chris for the fabulous packages!!! I am uploading picture(s) as I type. Wow, they take a long time. I might fall asleep at this computer and then someone will steal everything I have so I better hurry this up! I am sad I don't have a few hours to upload pics on my blog but when I am out of training I will be able to do whatever I want and I will be spending more time on my blog. First and foremost, I need to tell you guys what I got on my first language exam. I scored a novice high. I only have one more level to reach before I am able to swear in. If i don't reach that level I have to wait and study one more week in Suva and swear in a week after everyone else. So sad if that happens. But I am on the right track. I have to reach intermediate low. So, far I can hold about a 5 minute conversation in Fijian. I am so impressed with myself. I never thought I would make it this far. It takes time and hard work but it is worth it!Oh, boy I wish I knew the fastest way to get pics on my blog and I lot of them. I should have taken a computer class before I left. I am just chosing pics I think people will most want to see I guess. I am trying to get more pics that i am in so you guys know that i still exist. I went to buy my cellphone today, but the store was closed. Yesterday (Friday), was a long but great day! I got my great language scores we have a new teacher and he is great. I am not always mad and frustrated and we did a village workshop on waste disposal and people actually showed up even the chief (ray charles). Our chief is so cool. Anyways, we are starting a proposal to recycle in out village. People are very interested and motivated to do this. We made some phone calls and did some research and found a way to help them out. It seemed to be pretty successful and people are asking questions and were excited. We did this pretty early as far as our project but we realyl want to do another one and check for progress before we leave our host village. They are going to be putting up three huge bags one with cans, plastic bottles, and tin cans. The village can recieve money for recycling and it's free bags and pickup. the problem we are trying to deal with now is the rest of the waste and figuring out ways to have fundraisers to get the money for that pick up, but the village can collect a few dollars from each family in the village every 3 to 4 months to pay for it. Which isn't bad. So we have about a month left in the village so we can still help out any questions and encourage people to do this before we go. We want to come back and visit and see that they are still recycling!Then I came home and Rusi was so happy because the tonka trucks Dad sent in the mail. They treat those toys like gold cause they are from the States. And mom the candy you sent was gone in one day. Amazing and what kelsey's Dad would say (Dad#2) FANTASTIC!Oh my gosh my pics are almost done. I hope they work. I can finally put pictures up on a regular basis. I might not have time to put captions with the pictures yet but I will in time. Sorry! Thank you for everyone responding to my blog. I love reading responses and seeing how everyone is doing.

We had Iron Chef day today and my team won! Now that i think about it I have been on the winning team for everything so far. Weird. Anyways I have pics of that and so on. I hope all is well and enjoy the pics!

In Suva!

2008-06-20T18:41:00.000-07:00

I have figured out the way to get all my pictures on my blog, but this internet cafe that I am at right now is not letting me download my pics. The computer isn't working. But I think I might be able to sometime early next week. Mom I got your package the other day! Thank you so much. The candy in there is already gone. Everyone kept saying this candy came all the way from America and somehow that makes the candy taste better. I said it came the great state of West Virginia and everyone starts to sing country roads take me home. That is a very popular song here. We are working on 4 projects right now. Two for our village that we are living in right now. An environmental and health project. The Chief and the elders are asking us to do a two hour program talking about waste management because there is a river at the end of village that everyone throws their trash in. So, we are going to try to explain how that isn't good because people bathe, use the bathroom, and eat prawns and shrimp from there and they taste like polution. And then they want like intro to CPR because the other day we all went to a high Chief's funeral in a close by village and being on time we still waited an hour for it to start. While we were waiting an old man was sitting in front of us and stopped breathing. So, all the sudden all the Fijians stood up and didn't know what to do and started to hit his back and then we realized what was going on and they few of us that know CPR laid him down and cleared the airway and so on. The Fijians we amazed and was so grateful that we were there because they think that if we weren't there the man would have passed away. So, now that news that the whities (American-PeaceCorps) in town has saved a Fijian as spread through the whole district. Now, our village is asking for us to do a CPR program. Which Kiva and I will be doing in a few weeks.

Next Monday, I am teaching a class 8 of about 16 students in a local school about how important nutrition and physical activity is in our daily life. I have an hour to myself. I met the teacher yesterday and the kids they all seem really nice. The kids are really respectful here to adults and especially to foreigners. They call the teachers Madam. Oh yeah! But anyways, I am trying to think of what else has been happening. We had a scavenger hunt this morning in Suva and of course my group won and I had 4 slices of pep. pizza from Pizza Hut. Yummy! That's why I am in Suva right now. I have to head back to Nausori and my village around 4. I am going to be buying a cellphone soon and it is free for me for people from the US to call me. So, as soon as I get my number I will be posting it. Also, text messages will be great too. Phone cards are just too expensive.

So, how is everyone doing? Rebecca how was the wedding? I thought about you all day when it was the time you were to get married, it was like the next day afternoon here. We have least then 2 weeks til we find out our sites. This is a huge deal. that is all we talk about. We also have our mini LPI language test Tuesday so I am a bit nervous about that. My classes are getting better too by the way. The teacher my group had before is now gone and things are much much better. I am actually learning alot. I can't wait for people (Chris, Kels, AND MOM) to visit so i can show off my language skills!!! And show you the ropes. I can't wait to get my own place. I am excited and so scared at the same time because I have to trust others with my safety. I haven't had any problems so far! so that is good. I am very interested to see what kind of job I will be doing. I do know I want to be on the west or north sides of the islands because it is hotter and drier there. Suva and the eastern coast sucks cause it always rains. So remember July 4th is the day.

I already have plans for Christmas this year. My host mom wants me to go to the southern island to visit her family for Christmas. Her dad is the chief so I will be living it up in the village. I am excited at least I have some where to go. If I can remain calm til Chris gets here in November I will be doing good. I thought I would be getting to a point where things should not be shocking me anymore, but they do. I am gotten used to the bucket baths and the babies crying everymorning I wake up and to the food. But other things are always popping up that you don't expect. Like my taxi driver the other day literally almost ran over a child the other day and I was in tears and he acted like he had no idea he almost ended a life. He was like is everything okay? I was like what the hell man? I get really tired of people laughing at us because the language is coming out of our mouths and they are not used of it and they think it is weird so all they do is laugh and all I want is for them to respond to what I am saying correctly in Fijian. That really pisses me off because I am making an effort and I just get laughed in the face. Still haven't gotten over the eguality issues either. I believe that will be an ongoing battle for me. Especially in the villages. But I may not be placed in a village. well I must be going keep checking the blog lots of pics will be up soon and please leave comments. I live for those comments!!!!(and mail)

2008-06-16T19:11:00.000-07:00

Picture!!!!

2008-06-16T19:03:00.000-07:00

Right now this is the only one I could get! I am in Suva now at the Peace Corps head offic. It is so nice! We can use computers, a library, and clean bathrooms. Plus get all the free medicine we want. I love it. Suva is nice but crowded with people and he have to watch your back. We get our site announcements in 17 days! I can't wait for that day. Chris I am waiting to get your phone cards and I will be making a call. Thank you! I will also be purchasing a cellphone soon but it takes a few weeks to get the sim card registered for people in the U.S. to call me for free. All my incoming calls and texts will be free for me. That's the way to go. okay well I am going to try some more pics and I hope you like them. This pic is me and my group that lives in Draubuta village. I see them everyday and I love them.

2008-06-13T21:15:00.000-07:00

Alrighty I can't get the picture uploaded I am not allowed to uplaod pictures in this internet cafe. I will try again later. I only have five more weeks left of training. thank god and then I will be able to talk to people more often and keep contact. I am really sorry I couldn't post those pictures that I have so far, but that will be my next goal to accomplish I promise. I hope all is well and I miss everyone,please send letters in the mail that is the best way of contact. Thank you!

5 more weeks left to go.....

2008-06-13T20:55:00.000-07:00

Okay, well i just had my first pizza in like a month! so good! We went to a high chief's funeral today and it lasted like 3 hours. i fell asleep like 50 times. We had to dress up in black and not talk for 3 hours it was really hard. So, we were all depressed and decided to go to town to relieve some stress and get some american food, aka pizza. Well, last weekend i couldn't get to a computer because I made the mistake of showing my host mom how to make grill cheese sandwiches. I bought a block of cheese the other day because I had not had any chese in forever so i was just nawing on it and i had some left over so I gave it to my host mom. the other day she was like what should i use the rest of the cheese for and I was like grilled cheese baby! So i showed her and then I have to make 15 more for the rest of the village. then I showed her how to make a western nest egg (that's right mom). it was a huge hit !!! SO i had to make 12 of those so i was cooking all weekend. But the western nest eggs are a big hit in the village everyone is trying to make them. I love the fact that the only contribution I have made since I have been here has been the gift of cheese. My friend Kendall and I are going to be riding a riding a cow soon so that should end up interesting. I have been sick for like 8 days now as far as my stomuch goes but I am on antibotics so it should clear up soon. i hope. My language class still sucks but it should be resolved by monday. our days are so packed that I have no time to myself or to do anything productive. i have a picture that I am goin to try to upload but it has been pretty slow but it is a picture of me in a jaba (chamba) and the group of the coolest people i work with everyday. I love them! Okay i am going to try the pictures soon. I hope you enjoy.

In a Fijian village.....

2008-06-03T20:41:00.001-07:00

Holy crap! I didn't think I was going to ever get to a computer again! Okay, so I currently am now living in a Fijian village. It's very different than what I am used to. My family is really cool. The group of trainees that are in my village are perfect. Their names are Kiva and Kendall from upstate New York, Dave from Pittsburgh, PA and Sylvia from L.A. They are really cool and they are a great support group. My host mom used to be a 8th grade school teacher but isn't anymore because the wages suck. My host Dad is my favorite he is a soldier in the Fiji Army. He as been all over the world. He is injured now so he is always home. I am struggling with the gender roles right now, but it's cool at my home because my host Dad likes to help out and doesn't make my host Mom do everything like everyone else. They don't have any kids but they have raised a few kids here and there. Right now they are raising a 3 year old boy named Rusi (Roosee). He is crazy and very violent little boy. I have bruises on my legs from him kicking me and one day I will kick back and he won't know what to do! He doesn't speak any english hnd hardly any Fijian. He just screams! Actually no one rally speaks English at all. Which is hard to understand anything that is going on. I am constantly getting laughed at. Rusi also enjoys watching me get dress and during my bucket baths he likes to peek through the wooden door. He always has snot running down his entire face and likes to go through my hair clamps. The other day I fell asleep on my bed while he was playing with all hair ties and I woke up with him running around crying because he got his finger stuck in my hair clamp. SO FUNNY! but anyways i don't have running water and the water is very limited I love waking up and seeing my grandma panties swinging in the wind to dry. Really builds up the confidence and I have managed to use only one bucket of water for my body and hair for a bath. Sometimes we have electricity and on my side on the room but not always. We have no phone and one channel on the TV if we have electricity. I am not crazy about the food but I eat. I haven't really been sick too much. I run everyday to get some time of exercise. I have lost some wait cause I feel like I am eating more fruit and not so much fat foods like pizza which I would die for right now! Or even just a slice of CHEESE! At first i was really struggling with the language but I am putting in some extra work and catching on. The last couple of days have been pretty rough and it's been hard being away from the people I love, but I can see the people of Fiji really need assistance from us some days that is the only thing that keeps me here cause me heart is in two states WV and NC. I am mailing some letters this week so keep an eye open people. Mail is my best way of communicating right now during training. When I move out on my own it will be easier to contact home. Two dates that are good to keep in mind are July 4th and July 24th. July 4th is our site announcements which will tell me where I will be living and working in Fiji for the next 2 years and July 24 is swearing-in ceremony where I actually become a volunteer. I can see why they say the Peace Corps isn't for everyone because this is hard. No joke about it. This is really one of the hardest things I have ever done. I can't believe some of the things I am dealing with. I really had a hard day on Sunday and Monday. WIth some church services and gender issues. Everywhere you go in the village there is rank, at church, home, community hall meeting, kitchen table (if you have one and my family sure doesn't). But you can't go any where with equality! there is no one place where everyone can be equal and I can't handle that too well. Even giving offering at church you have to give in order to your relationship to the Chief and by the way out chief is so chill. He look just like Ray Charles. He has something wrong with his eyes and has to wear sunglasses which is so taboo in a village but he is the chief so he can do whatever he wants I guess. But he makes me laugh because I just see him shooting up in the bathroom or something I don't know. Anyways, my family is last in rank so we have to wait to do everything last just because of birth right. That is so annoying to me. Why can't we all just give our offering at the same time. And then there is a man up at the head of the church sitting at a table counting all the money in front of everyone. He writes down how much each family gives. That was hard for me to grasp. Then the women do everything. They have to sit in the back of the room. Wash clothes, cook food, take care of the kids, and so on. But that is why I like my host Dad because he washes the dishes and helps cooking and I love him for that. If it wasn't for him I don't know what I would do. So, i am trying to get over these roles because right now since i am still new at the village i get special treatment but i know soon that will fade and I will be expected to take a woman's role in the village. And ya know I won't be able to keep my mouth shut. Anyways, I am also worried about the health stuff and I hope that they place me at a site that will be fitting for me as far as my background. and I would love to see the ocean soon. I have only seen it once and I am losing my tan here which who the heck loses a tan in Fiji? I guess only Peace Corps volunteers. But this Friday we have water safety at the beach and I can't wait even just to get out of a freakin' skirt for God's sake. Well, I am trying to think of more to say. I hope all is well. It's been hard and I know that it is only going to get harder soon. So, i have been thinking alot about home and feeling guilty for not being apart of people lives. I want to know what is going on. I hate this no contact to the outside world. But hopefully i can concentrate on my work here and not be so homesick for people and FOOD! My typical day though here is that I wake up at 7 am that's right folks 7AM and get ready and eat a huge breakfast. then walk 2 minutes to my community hall and have language from 8am to about 10am then morning tea which means more food. then talk about cross culture matters from 10:30 to noon then lunch. From one to sometimes five but usually earlier health tech and lectures and meeting different health people around fiji and learn about what they do in the health promotion in Fiji. Then come home usually run in the rain and take a buck bath and fight Rusi off my back and study my language and then dinner. Watch some TV with the fam then off to bed to write letters. Man the first night at my host families house I was so scared I fell asleep with my flashlight on in one hand and a whistle in the other. I didn't know the language the people and I knew I was in the middle of nowhere in Fiji. The rain here is crazy it rains so hard and fast and doe not STOP! It is hard sometimes because we are going to places where people have don't see Americans and I can feel the safety issues and the looks. But we are never alone we always have a native with us. But it is really hard. Most people I have met are very nice and usually try to get me to marry a Indian boy they might know. They are all about marrying one of us off. Not me though I'm taken. Going to town is quite the task and is very intemidating to me. It is chaos people are everywhere there is no such thing as personal space. I could feel sometimes the tension between the native Fijians and indo-Fijians (indians). I can't wait to go to Suva soon the capital and see the sights and the rest of Fiji. I will hopefully get some pics up of my fellow trainees and host family. You all are going to love Rusi! Well, I love you all and think about you all the time. Miss you!

In Fiji!

2008-05-23T22:40:00.000-07:00

Thank you chris for the last post. Well written! I am made it to Fiji. I thought that I would never make it. I am in town for only a few minutes. Next week I will be moving out of the place that we are all staying together as a group into host families. I don't have much contact to the outside world here, but i will be trying to find a public phone when I get to my host family village. We started language yesterday and of course I suck and get extra attention because I suck so bad. I love it here by the way!!!! The Fijian people are the kindest people I have ever met. This town that we are in is very busy and I felt really stupid walking around with the bucket I just bought and soap to start handing washing my clothes. I took a great cold shower in the dark last night. I don't mind the cold showers it feels good in the heat. We are actually in the cooler season right now, but for us it feels really hot it doesn't get lower than 70 degrees. I am sharing a bunk bed with another girl. Oh yeah, the other day I was in Auckland, New Zealand at 11:30 am i was drinking a margarita in a Mexican restaurant while Country Roads started playing in the background. WOW!! Made me feel at home ya know of course everyone thoght I was crazy when I got up and started singing all the words. I have so much more to say but I don't have time. Just know that I love it here and i miss a lot of people. You are all on my mind and wonder what you guys are thinking. Chris, mom, and dad I am going to find a phone later tonight. i think I found one the other day but the cord was cut. I miss you guys so much. I think I just want to hear some voices, but I really do like it here and i feel like I have alot of challenges ahead of me with languages and my techincal stuff with health. Oh yeah, I played some soccer with a plastic dodge ball the other day in a long skirt I scored 2 points. It felt good to move around and get some evercise. Okay, I have to go anf catch the bus back to the place we are staying. I drank some kava not bad tastes like dirty water and it does make your tough numb but not for long. You don't feel drunk just sleeping and dizzy. Love you all and I am thinking alot about home trust me. I feel safe and well taken care of.

Made It!!!

2008-05-22T14:21:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone this is chris, Alisha asked me to let everyone know that she made it safely to New Zealand and that so far she is having a great time and loves the people that shes met so far. I haven't heard back from her since she left there but she said as soon as she gets internet she will be posting another update.

About to leave for New Zealand

2008-05-19T21:04:00.000-07:00

Can't talk long but I made it to LA and flying to New Zealand soon. I miss everyone and my group of 32 people are great! I will be in a small village north of Suva so I will not have much access to internet for the 1st 3 months. sorry this is short i love and miss everyone!!!! talk to you all when i am on the other side of world!! IN FIJI!!! so excited! love you chris thank you mom and dad for everything

Leavin' for Columbus!

2008-05-17T11:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I have to say I am pretty impressed with myself! I don't want to brag or anything, but I am under my weight limit for my baggage. Of course, domestically American Airlines has changed their checked baggage policy, but the Peace Corps will reimburse me the extra charge on the second bag. A person can only check one bag instead of two like before. I am only allowed 50 pounds on the larger bag and mine weighs in at 46 in half! The second bag can be 30 pounds and I weigh in at 28 in a half. I feel like a load of bricks have been lifted off my shoulders knowing that I am under the weight limit. So, I am about to go to Columbus, OH tonight and spend the night at a hotel by the airport and wake up at around 5am to get to the airport for my flight leaving at 7:50am to Dallas, TX. There I will switch planes and fly the rest of the way to L.A. I am excited and nervous about meeting everyone in my group in L.A. The ones of have met already on the internet seem nice. Well, I am not sure when I will be able to get to a computer again before I leave for L.A., but I hope to get a hold of one before I fly out to New Zealand. So, I can give you all the scoop on the people in my group! That's right we are flying to New Zealand first before we get to Fiji. A 13 hour flight, I don't know why cause if you look at a map it just seems a lot easier to just go straight to Fiji, but what do I know. So, we will be spending almost a day in New Zealand before we actually get to Fiji. Well, I'm off and I will keep in touch.

2 more days!!!!

2008-05-15T19:46:00.000-07:00

All righty then as Ace Ventura Pet Detective would say. I think I am ready. I have everything. I just have to fit it in two bags and weigh 80 pounds! So, I first want to thank everyone responding to my blog and the written comments are great and very encouraging, something much needed. Now to important things in life, I watched my last episode of Grey's Anatomy tonight. Talk about the things I give up for an adventure such as this. I said bye to most of my family members and Chris this week. So, its been rough. In two days I have to say bye to ol' mom and dad. I have been dreading this part most of all. It was so hard to say bye to Chris I just thank god I haven't had to say bye to everyone at the same time. These gradual stabbs at the heart are easier to bear I suppose. All I can look forward to is when Chris visits in November!!! I want to thank a quite fantastic friend (Kelsey) who came to visit this week making this week a lot easier to deal with because I had her arrival to look forward to. It meant the world to me that Kels came all the way up to the Burg and cold weather to say our last goodbyes before I leave.

For anyone out there religiously watching Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, and/or the Bachelorette I would really appreciate a short summary of what is going on. I'm awful, I know. To let go of some things is just too hard. Arg.. the luxuries.

Well, the next time I hope to get a hold of my blog I will have pictures of my baggage and waving goodbye to you all. Then I'm off to L.A.

10 days til departure.....

2008-05-07T17:47:00.001-07:00

Okay, so this is my first post. I have less than two weeks before I fly out to Los Angeles for orientation. I am very excited about going to Fiji, but at the same time I am trying not to think about all that I am leaving behind. I moved back to West Virginia a few weeks ago and it has been quite different from Charlotte, NC. Things move a lot slower here which I like. I don't have to schedule my plans around five o-clock traffic and of course not going to work as been great. I have gradually been saying my goodbyes. I have left behind the five years I have spent in Charlotte and all my best friends I have met there. Looking back to the day I decided to go to Queens University I never thought I would have had so much fun and met so many great people that will be apart of my life forever. Through the last couple of weeks, I have tried to get over the fact that I will no longer live with my best friends again like I have for the past five years. I can't believe all this is happening. I feel like everything has been stripped from me. I have no job and no best friends. I can only hope to make friends in Fiji like I have in Charlotte. Now, to leave my home, my comfort zone. I will miss the mountains of the West Virginia the most. The beauty of the state is breathtaking. I can't even talk about how much I will miss my family and Chris. So far, this has been one of the hardest things I have ever done and I haven't even done it yet. I have been preparing for this for over a year now. The anxiety is piling up so much I feel like I could explode. I am packing very little (2 bags with a total of 80 pounds) for two years and three months and moving to another country where I know no one. I am relying on complete strangers. I mean who does that? There has been so many ups and downs already I can't even imagine what lies ahead of me. I have read everything I can find about Fiji and I feel like I still have know idea what to expect when I get there. I keep dreaming about the first time I went to Guatemala, when we visited this island off the southern coast to distribute food to families hit by a hurricane. The people were so kind. They were so happy to see us and welcomed us with open arms. They didn't want us to leave. They had little resources on that island and it seemed that the world forgot about them. They had no food, barely much clothes, and certainly a scarce supply of water. I loved it there! I felt like I found heaven. Kids were running around happy not a worry in the world when in reality the world was against them not helping at all. The adults wanted to show us around and were very proud of there homes and schools they have provided for themselves. I miss that place often and I hope Fiji might be something like that. I don't know what to expect only my dreams give me a glimpse of what might lie ahead. I hope to become one of these people, to laugh with them, cry with them, eat with them, suffer with them to understand what it feels like to be forgotten. I know this might sound crazy, but I am ready. I know that I can't change the world in two years, but if I can impact just one person's life it will all be worth it.

To my friends, I beg you to keep in touch with me for I will miss you unbearably. For others, don't be strangers and enjoy this blog about my adventure. Thank you for everyone who have gotten me to this point. I would be nothing without my friends and family. This is as much as your adventure as it is mine!