Well I finally have interesting things to write about again!
My Mom and Peter arrived last Saturday and came straight over to my host families house. It was hugs all around before we sat down to an amazing lunch. Then my parents and I headed into Suva to the hotel we would be staying it. After taking it easy for a while and enjoying the view from the veranda of the hotel we went down town and I took my parents to Bad Dogs for dinner. The food is so good there! We didn't do much after that, but came back to the hotel to take it easy and read for a while before we all turned in for the night.
The next day we walked around Suva for a bit. It was nice and quiet since it was a Sunday. Unfortunately, a local con guy started to talk to Peter in a very friendly way, next thing we knew he was carving our names into these wooden sculptures and then wanted $50 Fijian. Needless to say Peter was pissed off at allowing himself to be had like that. Oh, well, what can you do though. He threw the stuff in the trash soon after that since neither of my parents wanted to lug it around Fiji and New Zealand. After a quick lunch we started our drive up the Coral Coast - we had a really good taxi driver who told us some of the history of Fiji along the way. We got to the Shangri La Hotel in the later early-ish afternoon. We tried to spend some time by the pool, but it started to rain, so that kind of ruined our plans. On Monday though, the weather was gorgeous! We explored the hotel and lay by the pool. We also enjoyed some very nice lunches and dinners at the hotel. I also got to indulge in a very lovely massage, which my body desperately needed!
On Tuesday we drove further up the coast to catch our cruise ship (The Blue Lagoon). The first night we had a champagne toast at sunset - beautiful! Everyday on the cruise it was possible to get up at 6am and go for a morning swim before they'd pull up anchor....yah, I didn't do it - I tried to one morning and it just wasn't happening! On Wednesday we visited a village. I meet some other volunteers there, who were also helping in the school and some where helping to build houses too. They did a kava ceremony for us - yes I tried kava again, and I'm still not that fond of it! My parents felt the same way I did. After that the villagers did some singing and dancing for us in traditional clothing, or lack of clothing in the case of the men. In the afternoon we went to another island and did some snorkelling. There are such pretty colours here! Thursday we spent all day at a private beach owned by the cruise ship company. You could swim, snorkel, kayak, lay on the sand or in hammocks, and get discount massages, which my Mom and I did! In the evening we got to partake in a tradition Lovo ceremony - very similar to a Luau. They cook a whole bunch of meats, vegetables and roots (wrapped in various leafs) cooked underground early in the morning and then dug up in the evening. It was very flavourful! The crew tried to get all the different countries that were on board the ship to compete against each other in a singing contest - it was pretty funny...Us Canadians didn't do anything - very disappointing! The crew sang a bunch of Fijian songs, very hard to compete against something like that! We met some very nice people on board as well, from all over the place. There weren't really anybody my age, but that's okay, I was expecting that! I was actually just really happy to be with my parents...and not having to pay for anything either helped!
Our cruise finished on Friday and we stayed at the Radisson on Denarau Island. We just kind of took it easy, relaxing by the pool some more and I finished yet another book! We walked to the harbour near by for dinner. There was a very cute gecko sitting next to our table and he keep all the flies away. I think my parents and I were getting a bit tired of each other at this point - we were starting to snip at one another.
Saturday my parents dropped me off at Smuggler's Cover where I met up with my friends because we were going to Bounty Island for the night. It was hard saying goodbye to my parents...but I'll see them soon! Bounty Island is similar to Beachcomber, but you don't get as much for buck. For example Beachcomber gives you a shower towel and a beach towel, Bounty gives you neither. Although, the food was a bit better at Bounty in my opinion. There wasn't much going on in the evening - Beachcomber usually has some sort of show, Bounty doesn't have anything. Oh, well I guess not all islands can have everything.
Today was my first day back at school and a lot has changed since I've been gone! The fence has been started and a mural was started too! I guess I'll be getting my hands dirty soon!
