It's almost Halloween!!!

I always seem to be away for Halloween… I love Halloween with all my heart. Any holiday where you knock on random people’s doors and they happily give you handfuls of candy cannot be bad! Add costumes and decorations into the mix and well, it’s like Chanukkah come early! Funnily enough, Halloween was the first time I’d ever heard of Kira, as my freshman yeah of high school we were both throwing Halloween parties on the same night. All of my new friends who went to middle school with her felt obliged to go to her party, not mine, so I immediately hated her. Oh how times have changed. I love you HLM!!!!

This year I’ve scraped together a cowgirl costume, which is really just clothes I already had, plus a hat, that’s not really a cowboy hat, but close enough. I will be the only one on the ship in costume, but I don’t care! Halloween rules! (Pictures forthcoming!)

In other news, Fiji is awesome and you should all come visit. The diving is beautiful, the weather is still great, the food is delish, and the people are amazing.  Why havent you booked a ticket yet??? I think everyone should come in March and we’ll have a super awesome Fiji party! Do it! Do it! Do it!

Here’s pictures, since there are several requests for them:

A beautiful sunset, one of many…

Andrew and Kay, my bosses. (Kay is in Australia this week and she promises to bring back several bags of chocolate chips for all my cookie baking needs. Yes that’s correct, there are no chocolate chips here. Travesty.)

One of the many islands we cruise past during our 3- and 4-day trips through the Yasawa Islands of Fiji. 

ME!!!! 

Bula!!!

After a week anfd a half on the cruise ship I’m perfectly content! It’s a lot of fun, they feed me amazing food, the diving is great, the people are awesome, and I get to teach courses! It’s a bit challenging to teach on board when you want them to still feel like they’re cruising, but it’s fun! I’ve just certified three students, while juggling intro divers and certified divers in case I wasn’t busy enough. I‘m back in NadI for half a day in between.

I’m loving it, and want to stay here, but I’m sure that as soon as Fabian gets back from holiday, I’ll be back on Tivua with good ol’ RaMarama. Oh well.

Dominique gets here so soon!!!! I’m excited.

Also, I’m getting over a terrible sore throat. It was extremely painful and I am now on antibiotics to squash it. I think in the next day or so I will be 100%. Thank god, because this has sucked.

Miss everyone!

xx

Yondra! (Good Morning)!

I can’t believe it’s been three weeks already! It feels like I’ve only just arrived! I have a few days off work now and I’m spending them on Bounty island with Romano and Dan. This morning I woke up to the sound of waves crashing on the beach, changed into my bathers and went out for a swim in the ocean (crystal clear water, of course!), had breakfast and am now relaxing in the dive shop, enjoying the sun and the cool breeze as I update!

Last week I spent five days on Bounty, covering Romano’s days off and taught my first Fijian Open Water Diver course. My student, Rhoda, was awesome in the water, which made things really easy for me. It was also a learning experience, because I now know how I want to teach courses here in the future.

Everyone I meet is wonderful, and so friendly. It really is great. So far the weather has been lovely as well, sunny and hot, with a cool breeze. But it’s getting into the wet season which means afternoon storms and the potential for cyclones. Think hurricane season at home. Hopefully at that point I’ll be stationed on Reef Endeavor…

Reef Endeavor is apparently the best place in life. It’s a cruise ship that does three and four day cruises throughout the Fijian islands. I’m going to be covering someone’s shift on there for the next little bit (potentially for the next month!), starting on Saturday. I’ll be working with Dan, and he’s filling me in about all the awesomeness I can expect. Mostly he tells me about the food and how I’ll be eating like 8 times a day. Haha. Sounds like heaven to me! I guess the clientele are mostly families and older couples. And I’ll be doing mostly Intro dives (meh) with the occasional course. I get my own room with a king size bed and my own space. Yes! Hot showers, air con, fresh towels, hooray! Who would have thought I’d get excited over fresh towels??! It’s the little things in life…

My friend Dominique (whom I met in Australia) is coming here to work and should be arriving in the next week or so. I’m sure I wont see her until my next days off, but I can’t wait. I haven’t seen her since she left Australia which was nearly two years ago. Needless to say I’m excited to see her again.

Not much more to report really, but I’m having fun. Miss you all.

Fijian Phrase of the Day:

Sototale (pronounced So-Toe-Tall-A)

See you later!