What have I been doing with my life for the past year?

That title seems to be a common thought amongst volunteers. At first, when someone asks you, what you've done/what you're currently working on...it's hard to come up with something to say as the things we've done/doing seem so basic. But then once you brainstorm and put the things you've done into words- it actually sounds super badass. For example: just doing little things like creating a sign with official office hours, making sure people talk in a polite manner, making sure people make their own tea and do their own dishes, etc. seems so small-scale it's not even funny. But then you put it into professional terms and voila!: Establishing professional work environment in which employees are treated fairly and equally respected. woohoo! I feel so helpful. ;0)

Anyways, we just had our annual mid-service training with all of the volunteers. It was super fun to be in a nice hotel and eat DELICIOUS food, AND hang out with old and new volunteers. At this conference they also had an annual Peace Corps Run where I ran my first 10k!! I actually did really well, I forgot to time myself exactly but I think I did it in about 48 minutes. And I didn't even train- whoop!

Monday was a SUPER fun night, it started out at our Manager's house, where she made us some AWESOME mexican food for dinner and then baked banana chocolate boats w/brownies aka best day of my life. The new volunteers found out what site they'll be at so that was super fun too. then of course we all went out dancing. Melissa and I discovered the coolness of 'seat dancing' it's so much less  pressure than actually dancing. When you're standing, you have to worry about your whole body looking cool while dancing. Whereas, if you're dancing from you chair, it's only your shoulders. And it doesn't take much to look super cool. haha I know that's random and lame. whatev. The night couldn't have ended more badass aka went for a swim WITH my clothes on (which was great b/c they smelt of smoke and would have had to wash them anyway).

There were plenty of funny moments from this conference but some are definitely worth mentioning:
Upon talking about the challenges of capacity building with locals, this was said by Brain:
'So I get it: capacity building is the only way this project can work.
And I also get it: There's no way it's going to happen.....But, I'm doing it.'
It might not make sense, but it really shows how a lot of volunteers feel whilst working on projects in Fiji. :0)

Another funny is how Labasa (the largest city on the northern island) claims that it's 'Now Crime Free'. good gosh. that's what great about living in a developing country...you can make any claim and people just might believe you. awesome.

ok, this one got kind of long. sorry about that. I like to write this stuff as I'm not keeping a diary, I like blogging better. :0) It's just too ridiculous not to share with everyone.

Nukomoco and Firewalking!

This one is a post from 2 weeks ago that I accidentally forgot to publish. oh well- here it is!

TONS of Indian fried treats: 400 calories

7 cups of tea with full cream milk: 500 calories

Catching up with my old host village where everyone feels like family: PRICELESS

I know I put this on my facebook status, but I had to blog it too so that I remember how I felt this past weekend. It was super fun to catch up with everyone AND my old Hindi Master Mahend jii came too, so it really felt like home. :0) I also did a training with the new village that is hosting the new group of vol's that just came. It was SO fun! They were SO happy to have me- I almost felt bad, I think my Hindi Master like super talked me up. It was funny, they of course fed me way too much and sent me away with jewelry. the usual. :0) But that night I had THE FUNNEST time, sitting around drinking grog with some of the local PC staff, my hindi teacher, and some other locals from the settlement.

That Sunday I also got a chance to go an annual Firewalking Pooja that's done within the South Indian custom. It was super cool, these men and women fast all day, do very long cleansing programs, walk about 2 miles barefoot from the sea to the temple, and then have to walk over piping hot coals 3 times each. Crazy.

Fall Cleaning in Fiji:

What would that entail???

• scrubbing off mold from dressers, towels, shoes and bathing suits
• sweeping/wiping cockroach poo from......everywhere
• de-bugging my entire house, not excluding inside my dresser drawers and drawer itself

As for work, I've been busy. Seeing as my religious organisation is NOT a business, and that it's in desperate need of an income, I've been brainstorming some ideas to get some cash flow. Therefore, at this year's annual Sanatan soccer convention my goal is to have sanatan logo pens, sanatan logo silicone yellow bracelets, and also mini-sanatan flags. And actually I just announced it to my org and they are super excited about it- woohoo! So that should keep me occupied for the moment as I have no idea where to import these things from.

Also something random I thought I'd mention as I hope it will give you a chuckle: the ability of most Indo-Fijian women to narrate everything they're doing as they're doing it. It's like they're constantly talking 'gang-plan' and after a while (like 5 min) it gets OLD. I have to talk myself out of going crazy sometimes, but then I realize that I think it might be stemmed from the fact that most Info-Fijian women have 1. not been able to attend school and 2. have not taken a prominent position in the workforce. (They're mostly in non-decision making roles) Therefore what else would they have to talk about besides their daily domestic events? Then again, I feel like men do it to sometimes, they say those things that are just assumed in a conversation. ANd then once they've agreed on everything, then they say it again just to re-iterate. Plus I think the culture just requires that you talk a lot. AND talk in a high-pitched/border-line yelling tone. So that's fun! ;0) It makes me laugh.