I'm so Excited!!!

with a giant sigh of relief, I present to everyoneSanata Dharm's Official website:
https://sites.google.com/site/sanatandharmfiji/home

(keep in mind I haven't bought a doman name and still need to clean it up more, add more info and such) But I'm just so relieved it's finished in time for our Annual Convention which is this weekend (BOO for the fact that it's over Easter holiday though and all the other volunteers are going to the outer islands for their vaca...whatever. I'm over it though, because I get to COME HOME in 2-3 weeks and so maybe it's for the better that this Convention is keeping me busy until then).

Anyways, so we'll be having our Convention all weekend long on the western side of the island...aka sweat will be pouring from every pore in my body. can't wait. (please tell me you sense my sarcasm.) but after that's done then I'll be doing a business workshop which I am actually REALLY excited about...there are a few women who do sewing, cooking, etc and want to start small businesses from their homes. So I'm going to help them and I am really excited about that fo sho. :0)

ok, that's all for today...just a good day at the office!

Moldy shoes and giant killer centipedes...

+ =

HOORAYYYYY FIJI!

Just 2 more things to add to the list of reasons why I love Fiji!

And that centipede may not look as 'life-size' as he really was...honestly. He was actually hanging daintily on the towel I wipe my face with. That was a nice surprise when I went to dry my face off, grabbed the towel, and a poisonous insect the size of my face flies off. Yes, he was that big. And with giant tarantula stingers at the end of his butt that I'm quite positive were meant for my eyes. regardless, I killed him and it felt good.

So 2 weekends ago I got to celebrate yet another Hindu Holiday called Holi (prophet Mohammed's B-day). It was super cool! I went back to my host village for the weekend where it was fun to celebrate with all my home peeps. So basically, what happens is all the boys go around from house to house playing the drums and singing. At each house they're given a treat to eat (of course) and they continue like this all throughout the settlement. At each house they throw powder and colored water on each other which is AWESOME and like paintball except without the guns.

I had a lot of fun playing with my host fam...eventually it turned into playing in the muddy water/throwing mud at each other, which we all know- I super love.

BUT because someone mixed the powder so strong and also because I'm the only blond-headed person they know....the end of the day came to a close with this:

coolio.

Dolphins + 80ft waterfall + Shayface = Priceless

So my good friend, Shalyn, came and of course we had some adventures!

Pics from Left to Right: Shay and I at the beachouse hotel, Shay cooking some bad-a muesli pancakes in Steve's 'kitchen'-that's the village style, the 80 ft waterfall we climbed and jumped from!, last 2: as volunteers/visitors experience the beautiful parts of Fiji...it's usually accompanied with the not so beautiful experiences as well.  That first one is a local cure, chew on some mango leaves, for when you have tummy issues aka sick nasty. And the 2nd pic is Shay showing off her tokens of remembrance from Fiji- aka some cuts that got infected but were showing improvement when she left.

So my good friend Shalyn came to visit me recently, and of course, we had an adventure!

I met her at a small Beachouse on the Coral Coast when she first got there, and what did we do on that first day? Flirted with the locals and got them to let us borrow some free snorkel equipment of course! and for 5 american dollars they took us our to a cool spot to snorkel the next day....but on the way we managed to find ourselves in a school of DOLPHINS! it was awesome....they were jumping in and out of the water, one did like 5 spins in the air, and were swimming only 10 feet from the boat. This is random, but I've personally always felt that dolphins are god's 'right-hand-man' creatures. I mean, they're super cool, kill sharks, and save humans. So it was kind of awesome having them all around.

So we went for a good snorkel, saw lots of sea cucumbers, a GIANT Lion fish, and plenty of coral. visibility wasn't that great, but when the sun came out it was great. We had met up with some other PC volunteers, 2 of which went surfing while we were snorkeling. Steve (one of the vol's and also who's village we stayed at) said there was a giant 6 foot bull shark below him while he was surfing. At first I thought,'oh man, that would have sucked for you if you got bit...good thing I wasn't over there'...but then I realized...I wasn't too far from him at all. So thank you sweet Chisu (Jesus) that it didn't head our way.

So after we headed back to Steve's village where I pounded out some tortillas/roti and we made some AMAZING bean and cheese burritos. They were so good, I think I'm going to make them all this week.

Next day: this was the hike from hell but it was worth it. Actually, the hike up to the first waterfall was really nice. Steve's pal from the vil, Saka, was our tour guide and was showing us all kinds of things you can use off the land, my 2 fav things included:

-There was a leafy plant you could use that if you crushed it up and rubbed it in your hands with water, it would produce a bubbly soapy substance that you could use to bathe yourself! (I love planet earth)

-Second, if you realized someone was lost in the woods and needed find them, there was a tree that you could pound with a rock and it makes such a loud noise you could hear it from miles around. I just LOVE Fiji.

So once we reached the first waterfall....ugghhh AMAZINNNNNNNNNNNG! I had never been to waterfall before, and the water felt soooooooo refreshing. We climbed about 15 feet up it and jumped off. I'm pretty sure I minorly voilated by Saka who had to grab my booty to keep me from falling. oh well, I'm alive.

After playing under that waterfall, Steve talked us into trekking up to the 2nd waterfall (without shoes)near his village. 'It's just a 30-40 min trek to it...no biggy, and you probably don't want your shoes...' WRONG. About an hour and a half later, after climbing up the first waterfall/some mega bush hiking and some steep rocky/river climbing, and as my feet were sore from knife walking, we made it to that damn 2nd waterfall. At many points during that climb I found myself thinking, thank gosh that this is my friend with me that's as ballsy as I am as opposed to my mother, who would have immediately ordered me to 'Get the Hell down from there'. (Sorry mom, but it's true) :0)

So lesson for the day is that paradise isn't easy...unless you wear shoes. :0) jk. But we really did have an awesome time, after the hike Saka made some Roro from some coconut milk and ferns we found out in the bush. It was phenomenal and I was glad Shay was getting to do so many Fijian things!

After that, I sadly had to go back to work on that Monday while Shay stayed in Steve's village and got dive certified. Later that week she got a taste of the Hindi flavor where she graciously and happily went with me to do errands, PC office, went to the market (bought some pumpkin), visited my host fam, came to work with me, and even helped me hang my laundry. And we proved to be some pretty good cooks using my make-shift 'oven' (if you'd even call it that) when we made some caramelized onion and pumpkin pizza, and some pretty tasty home-made cinnamon rolls! I seriously had SOOO much fun hanging out with Shay, it was really good to have a friend from home visit!

Ok, sorry if this was super long! I just had such a cool adventure!