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!

BULA from Fiji!!!

The revamped 5 year plan is now in session! And it’s great. As the new plan is to not have a plan (sorry mom and dad), things are going swimmingly (pun definitely intended)! I’m currently in NadI, Fiji, where I am working for an Australian-based company called Reef Safari as a dive instructor and Site Manager.

Most of my days follow this pattern:

1. Wake up.

2. Be at work by 8 for the morning meeting.

3. Have coffee or some sort of brekky or just nap until 10.

4. Head out on a super awesome pirate-esque ship (pictures will come soon!) called Ra Marama (which is Fijian for Old Woman).

5. Sail for an hour and a half to Tivua Island, also affectionately known as Mystery Island (the mystery is what the mystery is!).

6. Scuba dive, or relax under a palm tree until I

7. Eat Lunch

8. Repeat Step 6.

9. Sail home

10. Have drinks at Lulu’s bar and schmooze with people I do or do not know.

11. Come home.

12. Bake something in my awesome apartment complete with fully equipped kitchen (minus a toaster that is supposed to arrive any day now…)

13. Sleep.

It’s a rough life I tell ya. If your parents tell you to become a dental hygienist, please don’t listen to them. Listen to me. Fiji rules.

In addition to the general plan, today I got my hair braided and beaded and then made a basket out of palm fronds. My basket needs work. Fortunately I’ve already made plans with the captain of Ra Marama and he’s going to cut me a nice big hunk of frond to work with on the ride home. Yippee! On Friday I’m changing it up a little and staying on a small island called Bounty Island for 4 nights at which point I will have no internet. I intend to spend my free time learning to fire dance. Yes, to spin flaming sticks around my head and body. There will be some great scar stories, I’m sure! Following that I have a few days “off”” and then we’ll see what’s what.

Everyone here is amazing. They ALL remember my name (and then I feel bad because I have no idea what their names are, typical me) and shout hello to me whenever I walk by. The diving so far hasn’t been spectacular, but that doesn’t bother me, it can only get better! My bosses are amazing and hilarious and love me because I buy their affection with cookies.

The weather is sunny and hot and beautiful!

Life is beautiful. No complaints. No headaches (literally! Hooray!!)! A small sore throat but cava fixes that, right? Lovin’ it all. Siga Na Liga (No worries!)

Fijian Phrase of the Day:

Vacava na siga nicua? (pronounced Vathava na singa nee coo ah)

How was your day today?

Gainesville, again...

So here i am. in gainesville. again.

it's not that i mind gainesville so much as i mind NOT being someplace else. But i'll deal. i'm going to have to. I put my room together today, and am going to attempt getting a job this week/end. Then it will be non-stop work as I pay off my debt and start to save for the next adventure: tentatively Spain in august.

Kira wants me to come to DC and if i could find some cheap-as rent, i definitely would. But since the goal is to save money, not spend it, I can't do that. Oh well.

Additionally, I may or may not go to vegas in March. We'll see how well the cash is flowing in a few weeks to decide on that. but that would be amaaazing!

here's to the unknown!

Sale-ing takes me away....

Spring is well on its way and that means only one thing: the Highland Pines Estates Annual Garage Sale-o-Rama! Mom wanted to purge the house of unnecessary junk (which there was tons of) (is junk ever necessary??). So we pooled together our resources (me, my grandma, and my aunt) and dragged in all out on the lawn for the neighbors to purchase for mere pennies on the dollar. After 6 grueling hours of bargaining with the locals and juggling dirty coins, we still have most of the junk. but we are $400 richer! yay!

I purged myself of my shoe collection, and I feel very liberated. I now own fewer pairs of shoes than claudia, a feat I never dreamed possible. All this aside, I think I know what I need to do with my share of the money.... Bakers anyone?

More later. Time to shop!

Sigh...

I had an amazing week with Tayler, whom I heart a whole lot. I'm so glad he came, because he is exactly what I needed, when I needed it most. Not only was it a lot of fun, but it was a great ego boost, and a reminder that not every guy thinks the way dennis does, that there's still hope for me. While he may not be the one I want, he reminded me not to give up hope, which i was steadily letting go of. The last thing he said to me was to be happy, and do the things that make me happy, and to remember all the fun things that make me me, to let them shine. Forget the assholes who make me sad and who make me doubt my awesomeness. He's right, you know.

But now that he's gone and I have no distractions, I'm forced to start thinking about reality again, and sort out what the fuck is going on in my mind: Dennis, Koh Tao, Spain, travel in general, guys, work, living, I'm as clueless as ever. I really am. The new meds are working great, so that's a plus, but it still doesn't help me to figure things out. It just keeps the tears at bay.

I'm relocating to gainesville for a while. This is not the wisest of moves, but it's the one i'm going to make for the moment, because it's a hell of a lot better than being in fort myers. I'm still applying for jobs all over the world. Hopefully something will pan out, and a decision will be made for me. Right now, I just need someone else to tell me what I should be doing. I dont have the strength to do things on my own quite yet.