Bula!

Bula! After 20 hours of traveling, I arrived in Fiji at 5:00 am. It is hot, humid, and beautiful here. I am staying on the northern part of the main island in a town called Tavua. We are right next to some poverty stricken villages, which is where we will be doing most of our work.

We had a 2 hour drive from the airport to where we are. The country side is very picturesque. It reminds me a lot of the drive I took through Belize a year ago. Small, brightly colored homes with dogs, cows, and goats wandering anywhere they wanted. There were also a lot of schools right on the highway full of children dressed mostly in blue and white uniforms. It is tropical, yet we are on the "dry" side of the island. If this is dry, I can't imagine what the rest of Fiji is like.

We are staying in a bright green house. There are currently 25 of us there, 4 bedrooms, and one bathroom. It is going to be exciting. Next week we will drop down to 20 as some of the volunteers who have been here for a while head home.

I have only been here a few hours and we have already met up with some of the people we will be working with. We went to the hospital and took a tour of it. I am so glad for the medical system provided for us in the United States. It was small and there were a ton of people waiting to be helped. No air conditioning and primitive conditions. They do the best they can with what they have.

We also stopped at a Chinese restaurant for lunch. Who would have ever thought my first food in Fiji would be Chinese? It was pretty good though.

I am so excited to be here. I think there is a lot we can do to help. I'll post as often as I can to keep you all updated on what we're doing! Pictures to follow soon...