Bula! First night in Fiji

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Fiji is sooooo great!!!! We stepped off of the plane and immediately felt the heat outside. The airport is really tropical and there were 3 guys playing Fijian songs while everyone waited in line at customs. Everyone says "Bula!" when they see you (aka hello) and it's considered rude in their culture when you don't say it back.

Workers from my hostel, Bamboo, picked us up at the airport. On the drive to Bamboo I was completely taken off guard by the views out the window. I knew Fiji wasn’t the most developed country but it’s way more Third World than I was expecting. Bamboo is a bit beat up too but now I’ve realized that it’s actually pretty nice considering the standards of living in Fiji.

On our first night (11/24/12) we stayed at the hostel. The area seemed a bit sketchy when we got here so we didn’t want to go anywhere without exploring in the daytime first. We had dinner at the hostel and then partook in our first Kava Circle! Kava is a Fijian root that they grind up and soak in water like tea. It doesn’t have a strong effect other than leaving your tongue a bit numb but if you drink enough bowls you’ll mellow out. Bamboo has Kava every night for a couple hours around dinnertime and it’s a great way to get to meet people. I’ll have pics of it when I have internet that can load them but they’re up on Facebook too!

That night we hung out with just the 8 of us from my school group. We had some Kava and then played card games with drinks that we brought from the airport. It was sorta weird at first because we have all known each other for 3 months but are from different little cliques that formed over the semester. Regardless, it’s a good group of kids and we all get along so I know we’ll have fun together.

Before bed we went night swimming! Melissa and I hadn’t been to the water yet so we didn’t know what to expect. The ocean was practically bath water!!! I could really get used to this 😊

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Photos

Kava circle
Rico playing songs and serving Kava