Pre-Service Training

Bula and Namaste!

We have been in Fiji now for two weeks. During our first week we stayed at a training camp in Eastern Fiji called Nadave (pronounced nandave). We stayed in bures (dorms) with the other 30 Peace Corps Fiji volunteers. Boys stayed in one bure while girls were split into two. It was very much like college which was fun since John and I have been out of college for a good four years now. We enjoy all of the other volunteers; they are great individuals. Most of the other volunteers are in their mid to early twenties (I am actually the oldest girl at 26....crazy!). There are two "senior" volunteers in their 50's. They are both men and one is actually from Kodiak, Alaska (holler!). While at the training camp we had no access to email or phones. We spent our days in language and cross-cultural classes. In the evenings we enjoyed multiple kava sessions with our trainers. These sessions would last well into the wee hours of the morning. I have not acquired a taste for kava yet, it has the flavor of a dirty root. It is a huge deal here though so I am sure I will learn to love it soon. John already thinks it is great :)

On Wednesday we moved to our host villages where we will spend the next three months of Pre-Service Training. We live with local families in the Nausori area. John and I are living in an Indo-Fijian settlement with a very nice Indian widow. She has given us the Hindi names Gisel (for me) and Anmol (for John). Peace Corps has me learning Hindi while John must travel to a neighboring Fijian village to learn Fijian. We are experiencing the best of both worlds here. Tonight we will be attending our first Hindi wedding and we are very excited. One of the other host moms will be dressing me in a sari for the wedding! Tomorrow we will be going to the Fijian village where John studies for a "Welcome" church service that they have planned for the Peace Corps volunteers. Most Fijians are Christian and church on Sunday can last over two hours. After church the village will prepare a feast....I am not joking.....there is TONS of food. They make fish (all different kinds) usually cooked or fried in coconut milk and wrapped in taro leaves. They also prepare cassava, bread fruit and taro (those are staples at every Fijian meal). There will no doubt be plenty of singing and dancing as well. The Fijian people love music.

So far, John and I love this country. The people are so generous and kind. The Fijian host mothers hug and kiss you and tell you they love you after your first encounter with them.....they are very welcoming. We have yet to visit the beach but have a trip planned next Friday.

We will post some pictures on our next trip into town.

In New Zealand

We just arrived in New Zealand. The overnight flight was surprisingly painless. The airline we used was Air New Zealand. The food was good, the seats were comfortable, and each seat had its own video screen. Two thumbs up for that airline. I probably won't have time to individually email everybody today, but I figured this post would be a good way to keep a lot of people up to date simultaneously. We fly to Fiji this evening. We've got some time to kill in New Zealand. I'm not sure what we'll do.

Trip to Sunriver Oregon

Skiing on Mt. Bachelor in May...beautiful.















Leslie, John, JP and Matthew on Mt. Bachelor













The whole gang and the Lava Lands National Park in Central Oregon.














Posing at the High Desert Museum...John, Matthew, JP, Kurt, Summer and Leslie.

Leaving in 12 days

Leslie and I are currently in Beaverton, Oregon, waiting to depart for Fiji with the U.S. Peace Corps. We have accepted an invitation to serve in the Integrated Environmental Resources Management project. We have no idea where in Fiji we will be working, or what exactly we will be doing. We hope to use this blog throughout our assignment as a way of keeping in touch with family and friends back home.
I'll use this first posting to give a bit of background information about ourselves. Leslie and I both graduated in 2004 from the University of Dallas. Leslie's major was painting, mine was biology. After finishing undergrad, Leslie went on to get her MBA from the University of Dallas, while I am just now finishing my Master's Degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M University. Leslie has also spent the past three years working for the American Heart Association in Dallas.
If anyone is considering joining the Peace Corps and would like to know more about it, feel free to send us a message. At this point, we really can't say much about what Peace Corps service is like, but we can answer questions about the application process. My advice to anyone considering Peace Corps service is to begin the application about a year before you will actually be available to leave. The application takes a very long time. It involves interviews, many many written personal statements, and a thorough medical screening.
At this point, the days are going by very quickly for us as our time in the U.S. is coming to a close. On May 18th we fly to Los Angeles for staging, and on May 19th we fly to Fiji. We have an 11 hour layover in Auckland, New Zealand on our way to Fiji, so hopefully we will have some time to see a bit of the city. Once we arrive in Fiji we will begin training. We will not officially become Peace Corps volunteers until late July when we complete our training. We will do our best to keep this blog up to date. Since we are sharing this blog, some of the posts will be from me (John) and some will be from Leslie.