Close of service and things to come

April is quickly coming to a close. It is amazing how fast time is flying! My bro will be here in one week!!!

Early in the month I started my dance classes with the women in the village. I originally planned to run one session a week, thinking that would be what the women would want, but it turns out they want to dance every day. So, as a compromise, because I have other commitments in town, we train three days a week. The average turn out for the dance classes is about 12 women (plus way too many children). The average age of the women who participate is 35 (we have a few teenagers and a few grandmas who really skew the average). It is great to see the young women and the older, distinguished, maramas come together and have such a good time. It is hard to hear the music above all of the laughing. The men in the village thank me on a regular basis, saying that their wives and mothers are feeling better. I cannot take credit for the success of this project. The women in my village asked me to start a class because Lydia (a volunteer across the bay) had started a class in her village. She started a trend in Ra. Natalie (aka Nuper) is starting a training class in her village on Monday. Also, the two villages that neighbor ours want me to come and give classes with them. Lydia should be super proud of herself and her village for setting such a positive example!

Yoga to help stretch before dancing.

Tae Bo kicks.

John and I recently spent a week in Pacific Harbor for our COS training. The training focused on preparing volunteers for life back in the States. We fine-tuned our resumes, received our exit dates, gave organizational feedback, and talked about dealing with reverse culture shock. The conference was full of very useful information. The most exhausting session was the feedback session. Our group has been very unhappy with the office for a while now so there was a lot of feedback and requests for clarifications and policy changes. The session was handled professionally but it took two hours. When we were not in session we enjoyed the luxury of The Pearl Resort. We swam in the pool, did beach-side yoga, dressed as pirates at a bonfire and used the media room as our own private Rubrics Cube party location. It was a bittersweet week: hanging out as a group again was wonderful but saying goodbye (for good in many situations) was very difficult. I did not realise what great friends John and I would make in these two years.

Peace Corps Fiji 2008 -2010

The day after arriving back from Pacific Harbor I started the final round of beekeeping and small business sessions for my service. The trainings are two days long with a mix of technical beekeeping skills, personal finance, business finance and basic concepts in small business. The first two trainings went really well, in fact we had over 40 participants at the Namara training....our biggest group yet! The first training was in Narewa village, on the Western side of Ra. The training came at the perfect time as our beekeeping equipment, purchased with the PCPP funds, arrived from America on Monday! The potential beekeepers of Narewa village were the first to use the bee suits on Monday afternoon. The handing over ceremony for the equipment is this next Monday, April, 26th.

Me teaching personal finance in Namara village in the interior of Ra.

Finally, John and I have confirmed our schedule for our travels after we complete our Peace Corps service. We are going to spend four months in South East Asia: Hong Kong, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysian Borneo, and Bali. We plan to return to Oregon on November 12, 2010. From there we will visit John's family in Phoenix for Christmas and our Dallas friends for New Years. Mark your calendars.....the 2010 holidays are going to ROCK!

Booty Shakin' Good Time

So this post is a long time coming. There was not much to report after returning from New Zealand. Other than cyclone Thomas that spared most of Fiji and my mysterious sickness. The first half of March was pretty uneventful.

Update on the sickness: I am pretty sure my respiratory issues were caused by a food allergy. I have now been on a restricted diet for two weeks (of six total). I cannot eat wheat, dairy, meat, sugar or salt. I have been devouring beans, nuts, fruits and veggies. Thank goodness it is avocado season! The diet is not as restrictive as it sounds and the best part is that I feel much better. I have a family history of wheat allergies so I am pretty sure that wheat is the culprit.

Now onto more interesting news. At the end of March John and I traveled to Leleuvia Island off the Eastern coast of Viti Levu. Since our last trip to Leleuvia management has let things go a bit. The food was not as good as I remembered (could have been the diet) and the dorms seemed run down. The weather did not want to cooperate either, it rained every day. We still had a great time though. Four of the Suva volunteers joined us on Saturday. Mid-morning on Saturday we went for a SWEET dive and saw 12 sharks, 3 turtles, a Napoleon Wrasse, and beautiful Gargonian Fans. It was one of my favorite dives in Fiji. The dive totally made up for what the resort lacked. The snorkeling is also great just off the beach. John saw a bunch of Eagle Rays and some huge fish while snorkeling. We are planning to return to Leleuvia in May to complete our Advanced Diver Certification.

I have started a Dance/Jazzercise/Tae Bo/Yoga fusion class with the women in the village. Last night was the first class and it was a big hit. There were about 15 - 20 women and girls in attendance (even my Bubu came!). By the end of class everyone was sweaty and happy...yay for endorphins! I used my American Heart Association donated pedometers so the women could count their steps and figure out how many calories then spent (roughly). Before each class I present five foods and their nutritional content so that the women can also see how many calories they consume.

Yesterday was a busy day. In addition to dance fusion, I also went to Lautoka with my counterpart from the Business Incubation Center to pick up our beekeeping training equipment from customs. To our disappointment we were not able to pick up the equipment. Turns out there is a TON of paperwork you have to fill out in order to clear $4,000 FJD in goods from customs. Peace Corps is currently helping me process that paperwork so I don't have to pay import duties. We should receive the equipment by next week. This is perfect timing as we start the final round of beekeeping trainings on April 19th.

Finally, our village has an "official" marine tabu (MPA). It took a year-and-a-half to get to this point but it finally happened. We had a bose va koro (village meeting) on Tuesday and the tabu was voted in unanimously. John is excited to bring out FLEMA and the Ministry of Fisheries to train the village. Hopefully the UNDP grant will also come through to help with the tabu. John is crossing his fingers on that one.

Next week is our Close of Service Conference (COS) in Pacific Harbor. All of the FRE 6 volunteers will be there. I am really looking forward to seeing everyone. We are planning some fun, after session activities including the Rubrics Cube game and Pirate dress up.