new places and new faces

Bula!
Man have I heard that word a lot! I have officially spent my first day in Fiji! It is beautiful! I cant believe that I woke up in paradise and will be for the nest 4 1/2 months! This morning we found a little gecko or some sort of small lizard on our counter it was so cute! But I have already learned a few things about traveling and Fiji. Here are some good and bad things. Asking people in an airport where to go when your plane is late-good. I almost missed my plane from LA to Fiji and the people there helped me find my way very well (even though I had to go all the way across the airport)! Men wearing skirts-good. The men and women in Fiji like to wear sulus so to all of you guys out there it is okay to wear a skirt. Although what I have noticed is that men will wear a formal sulu to work and women will usually wear pants. Its a little strange but oh well! Missing your plane in Fiji-not bad. The group of us who flew togeather from LA all missed our last plane from Nadi so Suva. So instead of waiting for 7 hours in the airport we cached a bus that the airport provided around the island. It was really cool to see the island and it only took 2 1/2 hours so we wernt to late getting to pacific harbor where we are having our culture and adventure program. Roads in Fiji-bad. The roads here are either gravel or very poorly served blacktop. The two main roads on the big island (kings road and queens road) are blacktopped. The use of the roads would be like a four lane highway in the states but the actual condition would be like a back county road that rarely gets repaired. Fried coconut-interesting. Last night we were all hanging out at the resorts resturaunt where most people are at night and our director(Jalyassa) had the cook or someone make us fried coconut. He told us he calls it Fijian popcorn and that is just what it tasted like. It was a little strange because it didnt have the feel of popcorn in your mouth but it had the taste. Trying new things-AWESOME! If you ever go abroad try what the locals have. Dont eat the food that you recognize eat something that sounds strange. For example pineapple pop. It was really good and all the pops and things here are made with real sugar so it is really sweet. Also if you ever find yourself on a tropical island in the South Pacific (AKA Fiji!) the people are amazing and will want to talk and make sure that you are at home. Well, I guess that is all I have today I will write again soon when I have the time! We are going to an island to do some beach stuff today and tomorrow we are going to a village. So we have a busy time ahead of us and I cant wait!
Vinaka!
Emily