Nadi onto Nananu

---

Well, its been an absolutely fantastic 3 days of orientation so far, everyone in my group is awesome and it's basically just been a lovefest. The flight over was a bit rough, didn't sleep hardly at all despite changing and jumping around seats throughout the top deck of the plane. The whole group sat in row 63, and Emily and I sat in 17, which was cool because we got to know eachother well and have become good friends. When we arrived in Fiji, a whole day had been lost in time because of the international date line. We were greated by some of the most intense humidity I've ever encountered in my life, and 3 men in sulus playing the ukeleles singing Fijian songs. At this point, we were all either wiped out or really happy, for me it was an unbalanced mixture of both. It's safe to say that my body was screaming. Since arriving we have gone to the beach twice, had a scavenger hunt in the city, had group building activities, watched rugby (on T.V.,) celebrated valentines day, and talked about our trip in more detail. The town of Nadi is very poor, and people on the street are almost unreasonably friendly. It reminds me a lot of Nicaragua, how happy and nonchalant people are even though they have very little. The outside market where everyone sells their fruit has all kinds of fruit and veggies I've never seen, so the first time we went there Emily and I picked up all the new food we could find. Starfruit, Kava root, exxxtremely sour oranges, tiny little peanuts, and all kinds of others that dont come to mind at the moment. It seems like island life is that of carefree attitude and pure enjoyment of life, no matter how much money you have. Why can't life be that simple? Lastly, the backpackers hostel where we are staying has been a blast. The people who work here are always tending to us, helping us move around chairs for our activities, and making us breakfast. Most of these activities have been trying to get us to hone in on our goals, and focus on being a good group member. It sounds funny, but its helping me understand what it means to be on this trip. And in about 2 hrs we are going to our community, which I can hardly wait for. Right now Emily is poking at me so she can email her parents, so I gotta get off but my next blog will have much more to talk about after 2 weeks in Nananu.

Thank you all for supporting me!

---

Comments

[Evelyn Hamann]

Happy Valentine's Day!!
Hey Dylan - Love reading your blog - sounds like you're already well entrenched & game for trying all the new things!! That's you!! Loving you especially hard today on VD!! Ev & Scott

[Dick]

checkin in -
Dee - cool to hear your first days are great and sharpening your vision for the trip. I've enjoyed the C.D. emails and info for parents and can only guess how much fun it is to be in a completely new culture and crew! Please email back your Common App username, password etc so mom and Kathryn can resubmit. It needs to be done by 2-28 and Kathryn will help her. Somehow it is all just sitting there not having gone onto UPS etc even though Kathryn and Carolyn can see it completed in cyberspace. Don't fret, they've had others in the same situation, just need to do it by 2-28. The bizzels say hey, its a nice clear long weekend here, and I'llprobably sail with the Stel Biz while mom and QF go barn brawling! Peace out, Perl comes down next weekend, and savor every moment while they flash by on the trip of a lifetime - Luv to ya, Dad

[Anja Stokes]

SO glad you are having fun! Fiji sounds incredible, family trip? I think so. Hope you have as much fun in New Zealand as you did in Fiji! Can't wait to talk to you on the phone to hear more!