Fun, Fun, Fun

Last weekend I went to Octopus Resort on Waya Island with some of the other Projects Abroad volunteers, and we had a blast! We left on a boat from the marina in Nadi on Saturday morning, and made it to Waya after a couple hours. It really didn't seem that sunny to me, so I just put sunscreen on my arms and face... but that was a huge mistake. My legs and chest were so red. The other volunteers were astonished at my ability to burn so easily (noone else got burned). And when I went back to school on Monday, all the kids wanted to know why my white skin had red splotches. Luckily my roommate thought to bring aloe vera gel with her, so I'm good as new!

When we got to the resort, I properly sunscreened and spent most of the day reading my book by the ocean. We had bursts of sunshine followed by periods of cloudiness- slightly disappointing, but probably for the best considering I already had a sun burn just from the boat over. I took a break from lying by the ocean to get a traditional Fijian "Lomi Lomi" massage. Very relaxing. :) On Saturday evening, the resort staff set up for 'beach party night,' which consisted of a bonfire on the beach and American pop music videos playing on a big projection screen. I am shocked at how much Lady Gaga, Akon, etc. I've heard in Fiji! I usually fall asleep to the sound of my neighbor's radio... you can hear everything that goes on in the neighbors' houses- no privacy at all. And the kids in my class at school often break out and sing "ga ga, ooh la la..." all together. Always creeps me out. :)

Anyway, back to my story about the resort. On Sunday morning, I went with a group of people on a short hike into the traditional Fijian village on the island. The village invites the resort's guests to come to their Methodist church service every week. All the girls had to cover our knees and shoulders, and everyone had to take off our shoes to go into the church. (The people in the village don't wear shoes.) The service was nice. The choir is really good. I wished I could understand what they were saying though. Except for one sentence in English, the entire service was in Fijian. I'm glad I went though. There was a hurricane here a couple of months ago, and it hit the village pretty hard. Even before the hurricane, most of them were living in "houses" made of aluminum sheets, etc., but now a lot of the roofs are missing as well. It was really sad to see.

After church, I came back to the resort and went snorkeling. It was absolutely amazing. I really wish I had brought an underwater camera. I saw sooo many gorgeous, colorful fish and coral reefs. Such a great experience. I probably could have stayed out snorkeling all day, but we had to get on a boat back home to Nadi on Sunday afternoon. The boat ride home felt more like a roller coaster. It was sooo windy, and we were sitting on the top deck of the 3-story boat. You really couldn't stand up without holding on to something for support. Some people went to the lower levels because they didn't like the wind, and one girl even got sick over the edge of the boat, but I thought it was actually really fun. :)

All in all, I'd say I had a very successful first weekend. A beautiful beach, lots of good food, a relaxing massage, Fijian church, and amazing snorkeling- yep, definitely cannot complain.

P.S. School update. My partner-teacher, Sister Vika, was sick on Monday and Tuesday, so I had to deal with the chaos all by myself! I literally almost went insane. The kids don't think of me as a "real" authority figure; I'm just a weird white person. Things got better by Tuesday afternoon though. It's just really hard to keep them occupied when they don't have anything but a pencil and paper (and some of them don't even have that, half of the time!). So I was feeling quite discouraged after school yesterday. But today, one of the girls in my class brought me a bouquet of flowers that she picked from her yard, and another girl brought me a sad little palm branch that she probably found lying by the road. Definitely made everything better. :)

P.P.S. I really really love my host family. I've been enjoying tons of really delicious (although very hot!) Indian food that my host-mother makes for dinner every night. She also packs me a lunch to take to school everyday. And the adorable five-year-old has started calling me "benny," which is the Hindi word for "sister."