Life is Good

I’ve been here so long that my roommate has already come and gone home. She arrived in Fiji on the same day that I did, but she was only staying for a month, while I will be here for two. Before I came, I was hoping I would have a roommate to make the transition a bit easier. And especially during the first few days here, I was soooo grateful to have Hannah around. We pretty much went everywhere together, so I didn’t have to figure out the taxis, buses, etc. all on my own! Even though she’s back home in England now, I hope we stay in touch. On her last night in Fiji, we went out for pizza with our host mom, Shabreen:

We did an interesting art project at school last Thursday. Sister Vika came up with the idea, so I can’t take credit for it. She had me supervise the kids while they melted crayons with a candle and then traced a picture of a butterfly. The end result was actually pretty cool, but the process was slightly dangerous in my opinion. Notice the open flame:

Of course, all 40 kids in the class wanted to watch rather than sitting and waiting their turn, so I had to keep sending the crowd back to their own desks. Pretty sure this project would never be done in an American classroom. We didn’t have a nice new box of crayons to use; instead Sister Vika dug up some old stubby crayons from various nooks and crannies. Since the crayons were so short and worn down, I was surprised and happy when no one ended up burning their fingers. Here’s Steven working on his butterfly:

Friday at school brought another interesting/horrifying experience, which would never happen in the States. Sister Vika had been teaching the class about various insects, so one boy named Jeremy brought in a MASSIVE SPIDER that he had found in his house. He claimed the spider was poisonous and that one bite would paralyze, if not kill, a person (he didn’t know the word for “paralyze,” but he acted it out for me, so I got the idea…). I didn’t know if he was correct or not, but I wasn’t going to take any chances. I even hate small, harmless spiders, so I was concerned that he brought this spider in a glass jar without a lid. The top was partially covered with tape, and that was it:

Here Jeremy is holding the jar in front of his face, so you can tell how huge/disgusting the spider is:

Now for the exciting part... Vani, a girl in the class who is constantly in trouble, “accidentally” knocked the glass jar off of Sister Vika’s desk – while Sister Vika was out of the room. The glass fell on the floor and broke, leaving a gaping hole for the spider to climb out of!!! Of course, the sound of the glass shattering led all the kids to crowd around while I tried to think of what to do. There was no way I was going to try and recapture the spider, so I made all the kids wait outside of the classroom and sent a couple to get the teacher from next door while I kept an eye on the spider. Much to my disappointment, the teacher from next door wasn’t even slightly concerned about getting rid of the spider. I pointed under the shelf where the spider was lurking, but she was completely content to just leave it there. Meanwhile, Jeremy kept telling me he was worried it would bite one of us. I had no idea what to do, and the teacher next door said it was time for all of us to go to “singing practice,” so the spider was left alone in the classroom for about an hour. You better believe I took my bag and lunch out of there so that I wouldn’t come back to find the spider inside. Eventually, Sister Vika came back from wherever she had gone (sometimes she disappears on me…), and she was able to find another glass jar. Luckily the spider hadn’t gone too far, and she was able to find and capture it again. Thank goodness!!!

This weekend I went to Pacific Harbour with two other Projects Abroad volunteers to go zip-lining. It was sooo much fun! The course is in a completely uninhabited part of the mountains, so even just the drive there was really cool to see. Here I am flying through the jungle:

And we got a group shot after we finished. From left, Sireli (our Fijian guide), Hine (volunteer from New Zealand), me, and Andy (volunteer from Scotland):

I just finished enjoying a long weekend! Yesterday (Monday) was a national holiday, so I didn’t have school. Everything closed down for the Queen’s Birthday, but strangely enough it wasn’t actually her birthday…? :)