Bula!
So I havnt posted in a while! Sorry to those who want to know what my life is like! I have realized that I will never get over the fact that Fiji is probably the most beautiful place I have ever been to. This weekend we went to a resort and just stayed one night but I couldnt get over how beautiful everything is. I laid on a hammock and had gorgeous views of the ocean and palm trees. The thing is is that this resort is not even the most beautiful place I have been. Everywhere I look there is beauty I look out my flat window and see palm trees, banana trees, mango trees, and all other sorts of beauty. I trek through gardens to get to class. I dont think that I could have picked a better place to study. I havnt really done to much since my last post. Relaxed on some beaches, done some work(I am STUDYING abroad) but that is about all. This weekend im going to one of the other islands though. Its called Ovalau im going to a town called Levuka. So that adventure should be interesting. Well to those of you who are reading see ya soon!
Moce!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
The aftermath
Bula!
Well the cyclone is over and I finally got back to classes today. The cyclone ended up hitting the northern and easter divisions(im in the central division) really hard but mostly missed the western division and had minimal impact on the central division. The storm forced all of us to stay inside from Saturday to Wednesday. We were finally able to leave the gate of our flats on Wednesday and most of us spent the day in town just meandering around because no one wanted to go back to the flats. In our massive amount of spare time that we had while locked in our dungeons of houses we did get to watch several movies. I was happy to see avatar which I had not seen before. I do wish I would have seen it in 3D but it was still good. The time that we spent trying to find something to do was impressive. I have never spent so much time in one place than I did during the cyclone. On the plus side it did make me appreciate how much I love to spend time outside! Well classes are going well and I have a paper to finish so I suppose this is my update for now! Please pray/think about/help if you can the people in northern and eastern Fiji! Here is a story about how to help! http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=142396 Vinaka!
Moce!
Well the cyclone is over and I finally got back to classes today. The cyclone ended up hitting the northern and easter divisions(im in the central division) really hard but mostly missed the western division and had minimal impact on the central division. The storm forced all of us to stay inside from Saturday to Wednesday. We were finally able to leave the gate of our flats on Wednesday and most of us spent the day in town just meandering around because no one wanted to go back to the flats. In our massive amount of spare time that we had while locked in our dungeons of houses we did get to watch several movies. I was happy to see avatar which I had not seen before. I do wish I would have seen it in 3D but it was still good. The time that we spent trying to find something to do was impressive. I have never spent so much time in one place than I did during the cyclone. On the plus side it did make me appreciate how much I love to spend time outside! Well classes are going well and I have a paper to finish so I suppose this is my update for now! Please pray/think about/help if you can the people in northern and eastern Fiji! Here is a story about how to help! http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=142396 Vinaka!
Moce!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Cyclone Tomas
Bula!
So on Friday which was 2 days ago here we were informed that there was a tropical depression that was on its way to Fiji. It is now Sunday and that tropical depression has formed into a category 3 cyclone and has been named Tomas. It still hasnt hit Fiji yet but they are saying that tonight and tomorrow it will be here. The original reports were that it would be here yesterday but it is moving much slower than expected and getting stronger along the way. Now I live in Minnesota and South Dakota so I have no idea how to prepare for a cyclone. Today there was some wind and rain that was pulling our windows open(they wernt locked) and that was before the actual storm has gotten here. I have no idea what it is going to be like. We have been warned that we probably wont have power or water and to prepare by getting water(which we have done). But beyond that I just dont really know what to do. Well I guess thats my update for now. I wanted to post something before I couldnt for a while. Please be praying for the people of Fiji. I will probably be fine in my flat here but others are not as fortunate to have a house made of concrete.
Moce for now
So on Friday which was 2 days ago here we were informed that there was a tropical depression that was on its way to Fiji. It is now Sunday and that tropical depression has formed into a category 3 cyclone and has been named Tomas. It still hasnt hit Fiji yet but they are saying that tonight and tomorrow it will be here. The original reports were that it would be here yesterday but it is moving much slower than expected and getting stronger along the way. Now I live in Minnesota and South Dakota so I have no idea how to prepare for a cyclone. Today there was some wind and rain that was pulling our windows open(they wernt locked) and that was before the actual storm has gotten here. I have no idea what it is going to be like. We have been warned that we probably wont have power or water and to prepare by getting water(which we have done). But beyond that I just dont really know what to do. Well I guess thats my update for now. I wanted to post something before I couldnt for a while. Please be praying for the people of Fiji. I will probably be fine in my flat here but others are not as fortunate to have a house made of concrete.
Moce for now
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
to much sun!
Bula!
I just realized I havnt updated everyone in a while. My original plan was to post once a week but well oops its been almost 2 weeks. Ive been pretty busy since the last time I posted. I think I have figured out all of my classes. Well as far as I can. I have most definitely figured out the public transportation system. Yay for not having to drive ever! I got to see Alice in Wonderland. Which strangely enough came out in Fiji before it came out in the States. Fun fact about movies in Fiji, they are super cheap. I can go to a movie get popcorn, pop, and candy for cheaper than the price of a movie at home. Also the theater is nicer than the Detroit Lakes theater. This is why all of us international students have decided that it is a good idea to have a movie night once a week. Last weekend was also quite eventful for us australearners. We went to the rugby tournament on Friday which was really hot but pretty fun. It was really funny to see all of the people hiding behind any shade they could get because the sun is so hot here. On Saturday we decided we should take a trip to Sigatoka and to the sand dunes. Also another really hot place. It was cool though because we were the only ones there. But thats how it is in a lot of places that arent super touristy here. So we stayed over night in Sigatoka(because it is a 3 hour bus ride from Suva) and on Sunday we went to Natadola beach. It was so beautiful! We spent the day swimming, attempting to body surf, building sand castles, and lounging on the beach. Sorry to those of you who picked a cold place to study abroad weekends in Fiji are spent in the sun! The only downside that I have found from all of this sun is that being from Minnesota I have absolutely no tolerance to the sun and get burnt all the time. I try to prevent this but to no avail. I guess its the price I pay for living in paradise. Well thats all I can think of for now! Im sure that if you ask there are many more interesting things I could tell you!
Moce
Emily
I just realized I havnt updated everyone in a while. My original plan was to post once a week but well oops its been almost 2 weeks. Ive been pretty busy since the last time I posted. I think I have figured out all of my classes. Well as far as I can. I have most definitely figured out the public transportation system. Yay for not having to drive ever! I got to see Alice in Wonderland. Which strangely enough came out in Fiji before it came out in the States. Fun fact about movies in Fiji, they are super cheap. I can go to a movie get popcorn, pop, and candy for cheaper than the price of a movie at home. Also the theater is nicer than the Detroit Lakes theater. This is why all of us international students have decided that it is a good idea to have a movie night once a week. Last weekend was also quite eventful for us australearners. We went to the rugby tournament on Friday which was really hot but pretty fun. It was really funny to see all of the people hiding behind any shade they could get because the sun is so hot here. On Saturday we decided we should take a trip to Sigatoka and to the sand dunes. Also another really hot place. It was cool though because we were the only ones there. But thats how it is in a lot of places that arent super touristy here. So we stayed over night in Sigatoka(because it is a 3 hour bus ride from Suva) and on Sunday we went to Natadola beach. It was so beautiful! We spent the day swimming, attempting to body surf, building sand castles, and lounging on the beach. Sorry to those of you who picked a cold place to study abroad weekends in Fiji are spent in the sun! The only downside that I have found from all of this sun is that being from Minnesota I have absolutely no tolerance to the sun and get burnt all the time. I try to prevent this but to no avail. I guess its the price I pay for living in paradise. Well thats all I can think of for now! Im sure that if you ask there are many more interesting things I could tell you!
Moce
Emily
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Classes, Rain, Tsunamis, and friendly people
Bula!
So I was just reading my last post and I apologize to everyone for being so scatter brained while writing it. I have just had so many new experiences that I dont quite know how to write them all down. Well, this last week I had a few less new experiences. Strangely enough Fiji is feeling more and more like home every day and I am getting more and more used to it. I started classes a week ago. Which was interesting. If you have any problems with things being on time, knowing when things are supposed to be, or people being extremely unorganized dont ever come to Fiji. I have found that if something is not working out the people here are completely fine with it. My classes wernt showing up, the places didnt exist, I had no idea where I was going, and it was all around unorganized. However no one seemed very worried with the fact that not even the professors knew where their classes were supposed to be so I decided that it wasnt a problem. The other thing I found strange about the Uni system here is that many of the professors are not Fijian. I have a British man teaching me Fijian, a british woman teaching me history, another woman who im not sure where she is from teaching me politics, and one professor who is Tongan and Samoan who has lived in Fiji for 30 years teaching me history. It is a little strange but it is also interesting to have so much diversity on campus. The diversity however does not stop with the professors. The students are from all over the pacific to so I get even more view points than I could have ever asked for. The only thing that annoys me in class is im always pointed out as the white girl and asked for the American opinion on things. Like im the authority on America. Oh well I guess I will try to be a good ambassador for America as much as possible. This last week I also went to church on Sunday. It was an interesting experience. Church was normal but after we met a man from Canada and his Fijian wife who invited us out for lunch. We found out he is starting a charity here to build homes for people. It was really a different experience for me because in the states someone would not ask us to dinner (much less buy us dinner) within the first five minutes of meeting us. But here that is totally normal. People are very welcoming and want to know about you and want to share about themselves. But in all Fiji is going very well. The tsunami warning here turned out to be nothing. However there has been a substantial amount of rain the last day or so so that has kinda sucked. Oh well! Could be worse. Thats all for today!
Vinaka
Emily
So I was just reading my last post and I apologize to everyone for being so scatter brained while writing it. I have just had so many new experiences that I dont quite know how to write them all down. Well, this last week I had a few less new experiences. Strangely enough Fiji is feeling more and more like home every day and I am getting more and more used to it. I started classes a week ago. Which was interesting. If you have any problems with things being on time, knowing when things are supposed to be, or people being extremely unorganized dont ever come to Fiji. I have found that if something is not working out the people here are completely fine with it. My classes wernt showing up, the places didnt exist, I had no idea where I was going, and it was all around unorganized. However no one seemed very worried with the fact that not even the professors knew where their classes were supposed to be so I decided that it wasnt a problem. The other thing I found strange about the Uni system here is that many of the professors are not Fijian. I have a British man teaching me Fijian, a british woman teaching me history, another woman who im not sure where she is from teaching me politics, and one professor who is Tongan and Samoan who has lived in Fiji for 30 years teaching me history. It is a little strange but it is also interesting to have so much diversity on campus. The diversity however does not stop with the professors. The students are from all over the pacific to so I get even more view points than I could have ever asked for. The only thing that annoys me in class is im always pointed out as the white girl and asked for the American opinion on things. Like im the authority on America. Oh well I guess I will try to be a good ambassador for America as much as possible. This last week I also went to church on Sunday. It was an interesting experience. Church was normal but after we met a man from Canada and his Fijian wife who invited us out for lunch. We found out he is starting a charity here to build homes for people. It was really a different experience for me because in the states someone would not ask us to dinner (much less buy us dinner) within the first five minutes of meeting us. But here that is totally normal. People are very welcoming and want to know about you and want to share about themselves. But in all Fiji is going very well. The tsunami warning here turned out to be nothing. However there has been a substantial amount of rain the last day or so so that has kinda sucked. Oh well! Could be worse. Thats all for today!
Vinaka
Emily
Sunday, February 21, 2010
New experiences and new classes!
Bula!
So I have had an eventful couple of days since I last wrote! I cant believe that I have been in Fiji for only a week! It has been so awesome. I start classes today and now as I write I am sitting in the classroom for my first class. It only took me about a half hour to finally find it. Strange thing about classes in Fiji if your classes overlap or are at the same time thats just fine you can just go to part of one or go every other time. It is still a very strange concept for me. We are all living in apartments that are on campus that are really nice. They are air conditioned so that is a major plus when it is 90 everyday. We even have housekeepers who come and clean up for us. I think its a little strange but its nice because they are getting paid a living wage and my bed is made everyday. Speaking of a living wage most people make only $7,000 FJD a year. Thats approximately $3500 USD. So many of the people live in poverty which is really hard for me to see because the place I live is very nice. We have done so many great things since we have been in Fiji. Just yesterday we climbed a mountain. Which we were told was only a 1-2 hour hike but was really 3 hours to the top and 1 1/2 hours down. It was really fun though there were some kids who were playing in the river who took us up the mountain and back down. They were making fun of us a lot because we kept slipping and falling. I have also made my first trips to the market. The fruit and veggie market is my favorite because there is so much good food to look at and it is really cheap. For example a pineapple here(which is quite a bit smaller than a pineapple back home) is only $2 FJD which is about $1 USD. I have also noticed that I am stared at all the time because I am one of the very few white people here. We are especially stared at when we are in big groups. Everything here is so new and strange to me I just want to explore it all! Well I suppose I should get ready for class!
Vinaka!
Emily
So I have had an eventful couple of days since I last wrote! I cant believe that I have been in Fiji for only a week! It has been so awesome. I start classes today and now as I write I am sitting in the classroom for my first class. It only took me about a half hour to finally find it. Strange thing about classes in Fiji if your classes overlap or are at the same time thats just fine you can just go to part of one or go every other time. It is still a very strange concept for me. We are all living in apartments that are on campus that are really nice. They are air conditioned so that is a major plus when it is 90 everyday. We even have housekeepers who come and clean up for us. I think its a little strange but its nice because they are getting paid a living wage and my bed is made everyday. Speaking of a living wage most people make only $7,000 FJD a year. Thats approximately $3500 USD. So many of the people live in poverty which is really hard for me to see because the place I live is very nice. We have done so many great things since we have been in Fiji. Just yesterday we climbed a mountain. Which we were told was only a 1-2 hour hike but was really 3 hours to the top and 1 1/2 hours down. It was really fun though there were some kids who were playing in the river who took us up the mountain and back down. They were making fun of us a lot because we kept slipping and falling. I have also made my first trips to the market. The fruit and veggie market is my favorite because there is so much good food to look at and it is really cheap. For example a pineapple here(which is quite a bit smaller than a pineapple back home) is only $2 FJD which is about $1 USD. I have also noticed that I am stared at all the time because I am one of the very few white people here. We are especially stared at when we are in big groups. Everything here is so new and strange to me I just want to explore it all! Well I suppose I should get ready for class!
Vinaka!
Emily
Saturday, February 13, 2010
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
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
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