Ahhhhhh

Ni Sa Bula!
So, I am doing well! Still getting those fresh fruit smoothies in the mornings and learning to tali ibe (weave mats)! It is very time consuming, back breaking work, but well worth it to say I took a weaving class! The women in the village insist I learn and my Nei Eta is a master weaver, so I am being taught by the best! Oh, tomorrow in my village we are having a tree planting session and I must keep two flowering plants alive in my house’s front yard. Wow, I do not have a green thumb at all and I must keep something alive for 6 weeks. What a joke. “Dee, I know you can help me out on this one!”
Well, I am definitely missing everyone! My TUBS, LEXI, WIL, Mom, Sis, Katers, Hoseys, Lauren Q, Megan D, David, Julie, Mo, Vanna, Jana, Jane, Tommy, Aunt Lisa, Daniel, Aunt Sarah and Uncle Mark, Nathan, Ashlee, Uncle Frank, Aunt Suzan, and of course everyone else that I do not have time to type! Oh, and Megan, I need you to write me about your PC stuff! What is up?
Weather has been absolutely gorgeous. I actually wear my North Face fleece in the mornings to get to Nausori or language class and the days and evenings are about 70-75 degrees. If anyone wants to come and visit I would recommend this time of year, next year. It is soooo pleasant and supposedly the best weather we will have all year.
I guess I should update everyone on what I have been up to… this past weekend two other trainees and I went to stay with a current volunteer near Rakiraki. She lives in a bure and it is situated on a bay with an absolutely amazing view. She has done some amazing work already including finding a new fresh water source, got the funding, and completed a fresh water spring project. Wow, in only eight months! What a trooper! We hiked through mud flats, mangroves, cow poop, swamp, and forest to get to a really nice beach and snorkel spot. The coral was healthy and plentiful, but not many fish. Kinda different than what I am used to! There were HUGE coral heads, soft corals, blue chromis, sergeant majors, and butterfly fish galore! I found lots of bright blue sea stars and sea cucumbers that Melissa and I played football with. Good times! Then the next day we hiked into the bush and picked wild cherries. We brought them back to the bure and made eight jars of fresh jam. Yummmm, best jam I have ever had by far. Yes David, it beats Mayhaw jam by a long shot! (Probably because we made it in the middle of nowhere, Fiji) So, after all of that we were beat, but somehow the next day I made it to Colo I Suva to swim in natural pools and waterfalls with Christian, Graham, and Scott. Gorgeous! We have to go another time to see the lower pools, the nature trail, and the rope swing. So that was the last couple of days for me… what have ya’ll been up to?
Tomorrow is the tree planting and language class, then I think Epi, Dee, Niu, and I may go to Suva for a MIC show (not sure what it is yet) and possibly pizza or burgers! Friday is a field trip to learn bee keeping and gardening, I think, things change every second, and then language class. We are also doing a project in our village where we must conduct a priority needs assessment so that we can plan and possibly complete a capacity building project for our host village, maybe a rainwater catchment system or a composting toilet. Learning a lot of environmental stuff!
Now on to my next wishes… Lol, I think I will add this section at the end of every blog because I don’t think ya’ll understand how many things we take for granted in the US. I absolutely LOVE getting the care packages and letters so please keep them coming! Much love! So… now I am wanting lots of chocolate (esp. dark like dove dark chocolates!), I want cheese but of course you cannot really send me that, dried fruit is a good one (like cherries, cranberries, raisons, at some point I may need plums or apricots…if you know what I mean), a pumous/foot stone (my feet are peeling away, I guess because I had princess feet before I came and now they are Big Foot Wal-mart feet… blah!), and possibly some school curriculum books for primary schools. I am just trying to get the word out early on... textbooks and really books in general are really really expensive and hard to get your hands on here. So if anyone reads this and knows of some old school textbooks (since every time a school starts to use a new edition the old edition is tossed out) that they are willing to donate or if anyone has some extra income that they would be willing to help pay for books to be mailed it would be much appreciated! Anyways, I will talk more later, it is past my bedtime!
I love you all! Miss you bunches! -Me