Bula!

Bula! That means 'Hello!' in Fijian. I just got back from a 5 day vacation to Fiji with my roommates. We stayed at the Naviti Resort with an all inclusive package (meals and drinks included). We woke up at 7:30 am Monday morning to catch the 8:45 bus to the airport. It was pretty exciting that I got to bring a real bag this time instead of just a backpack-and what a treat to stay at a hotel instead of a hostel! We got to the airport around 10:00 am and the hilarious mishaps started...

Monday: Day 1

The lady told us we needed to present paper proof of our visas in order to travel to another country (even though our visas are electronically attached to our passports). She refused to give us our boarding passes without giving her a piece of paper with my visa information on it, and of course it was in my desk drawer back on Beach Street... Jaclyn and I freaked out a little bit (okay a LOT)-me the most, worried my dreams of going to Fiji were over. Yes, I was being a bit dramatic, but whatever. They let us go to a computer that we payed a stupid amount to use and had to search our emails to find our visa info. There was only one computer and Jaclyn was going through her three different email accounts near tears, so I figured I'd get a head start on finding mine to save time. I called a friend back in Coogee to hack into my mom's email account (since she was flying home from Hawaii at the time)-great timing mom. After guessing several different passwords, we were in and thankfully found my visa info! He forwarded it to my email account and I printed it out after Jaclyn finally found hers (email account number 3, of course). We got back in line and essentially threw our papers at the lady, furious and stressed and laughing. We knew it was going to be quite the trip from that point on. We went through customs and saw a few friends heading back home to the states... now that was weird. I reminisced about when I first arrived to Sydney and went through customs and all that... how far I have come. We boarded our plane around 1:00 pm-I got stuck with a middle seat in between a gross old man and Kristin, got served a disgusting meal, and had already seen all the movie options. Plus, the plane was about 100 degrees and had children running around like crazy. 4 hours later... we arrived in Fiji! We went through about five different customs lines, which was ridiculous, and it was pitch black by the time we exited the airport. I thought it had been a long day... but then learned we still had a 2 hour bus ride to our resort. Passed out in the bumpy van and finally made it to our resort at 10:00 pm (8 pm Sydney time-a solid 12 hour travel day). We went to check in, and the lady informed us that we only had one room booked, and it was for Mr. and Miss Jennings and their child Piper... First of all, who is Mr. Jennings? Second of all, who is Piper? And where were Jaclyn and Michelle in this?! Piper, we learned, was a random 2 year old who had checked in a few hours before us with his family and was accidentally put in our room on the computer. Kristin and Kelsey's room even had a crib in their room all set up for him. We laughed for a long time about that one. They eventually got it all figured out, and we got two rooms next door to each other. Jaclyn is a wonderful human being and let me have the double bed and she took the twin bed. Wow, it felt great to have a normal sized bed again. The key machine was broken, so we didn't get keys until the next night, but we didn't really mind. We got a late dinner at the restaurant, realized we couldn't understand their language one bit, stuffed our faces since we hadn't eaten all day, watched some of 13 Going on 30 on tv, and then passed out pretty early. 

Tuesday: Day 2

I forgot my roommates are morning people... So with the two hour time difference... That was fun. I was woken up at 8 on the dot everyday (6 am Sydney time-come on you guys! I need my beauty sleep!). We woke up though to the most gorgeous view ever! It was 85 and sunny and you could walk out our room to hammocks overlooking the ocean and the Fijian islands. It was heaven compared to the pouring down rain and freezing cold weather we had been enduring in Sydney. We had a delicious breakfast buffet and then hit up the pool. It looked like it was out of a magazine-it was like we were living a dream. The pool had a swim up bar and bumping music all day long. Kelsey and I got a coconut cut down from a tree and tried some coconut water. Realizing it was disgusting, we emptied them out and poured in real drinks. Ahh, much better. I got back to reading my book by my favorite author Wally Lamb and made a HUGE dent in it-on page 600 now of 720! The staff were possibly the most friendly people I have EVER met in my life, and they always involved us in fun activities. We played pool volleyball with the other guests for a while, learned the "Fiji rules" - 'I will not cry, I will not complain, etc.' - and made new friends, until Kristin lost her class ring. It flung off her hand during the game, and the ENTIRE pool stopped what they were doing to start a search party. One staff member even put on his scuba gear and jumped in. Thankfully he found it. The embarrassing Americans strike again... It was hilarious. We pulled ourselves out of the game after that. We started people watching and trying to learn about all of our new 'friends.' I'm pretty sure we honestly knew every single family at that resort by the day we left. If we were gone for any part of the day, we were greeted with "Where have you been all day?!" by the staff. After lunch, we played a solid two hour game of sand volleyball with more friends and had a blast. It became a running joke throughout the week that whenever we met someone we liked, actually mostly just observed not met, we would call them to be on our 'team.' I got the honeymoon couple from Seattle that I was obsessed with, the athletic Australian couple, the activity directors Boss and Harry, and a few others. Jaclyn called Marcel, the German man who clearly was more interested in her than his wife, Kristin had Piper had his brother Asher, and Kelsey called a precious elderly man who played volleyball with us. I know, we sound unbelievably creepy, considering most of these people don't even know our names and yet we talk about them like we've known them for years... But it provided quite an entertaining trip. We showered and headed to a buffet dinner (seriously all those buffets... not so good for the bod. Going to need to hit the gym ASAP). We made friends with an Australian boy our age, Alex, who was sick of hanging out with his family on their vacation. We played cards with him for a while (I taught my roommates how to play Hearts!). We then watched a Fijian dance show afterwards, and they started out a dance party. I was pulled up into the conga line and enjoyed dancing with the Fijians for a bit. We even got a hilarious picture of the four of us being held up by the spear men from the show. That was followed by a night of dancing on the dance floor. We were pretty much the only four people dancing, but we had a great night regardless. We were dancing like such moms and loving it. Tons of classics, such as Jitterbug, Hey Ya, Dancing Queen, etc. We laid in the hammocks for a bit chatting about life and then hit the hay.

view from our room

hammock and island

the pool

drinking out of the coconut!

being held up by the spear men

the four of us on our first night!

dancing like moms

Wednesday: Day 3

Similar day-breakfast, laying out by the pool, volleyball. We learned that every day is the 'finals' in the volleyball game. We thought it was a pretty big deal the day before, getting to participate in the final round. Another running joke became referring to everything as the finals. "What a final guys... what a final." Also sort of fitting, since this was our last final hurrah before we head back to final exams and then home. We also went kayaking that day for a bit which was fun. The front part of the beach is really shallow and when the tide goes out you can walk all the way out to an island, so we were called back in after a bit so we didn't get our kayaks stuck when the tide went out. We walked out to the island after and explored for a bit. We saw a wedding happen on the island, which was beautiful. We went on a free sunset cruise late that afternoon, made more friends, saw a gorgeous view of our resort and the sunset, and learned a little bit about Fijian culture. For example, 900,000 people live on the 360 islands, tourism is their biggest industry, and coconuts are their main export. We had dinner at the Chinese restaurant that night, hit up the dessert bar at the buffet afterwards, and then went to bed early.

walking to the island

the four of us on the island

fancy drinks

sunset cruise

the gorgeous sunset

Thursday: Day 4

Josh, one of our staff member friends, asked us to join him that morning to go see his village and see the Fijian way of life. Apparently, it is quite an honor to be invited to someone's village, so we were really excited about it. We were told to dress very modestly and covered up and meet him at the bus stop outside our resort at 9:30 am. I was sweating like a pig in the humidity and my floor length skirt, and the bus was quite late-they have 'Fiji time' similar to Australian time-aka, not on time, ever. We eventually met Josh and got on the 'bus.' A strange old man, George, also accompanied us to go fishing in Josh's village. We got on the bus, and Josh pointed at me to pay for everyone, so I gave the bus driver $10 and we all got on. It was not like a Sydney bus. It was a local Fijian bus. It was PACKED with Fijians going to work. They were all speaking Fijian and all seemed to know each other-it was such a cool experience. I had no idea what was going on, but we went with the flow and found a seat. I hadn't really realized Fiji was a third world country when I booked my trip, but as soon as we left our resort, you could definitely tell. We got to Josh's village, Vatukarasa, after about a half hour. We had to donate money to the village before we could enter. He first took us to the Kindergarten. The kids thought we were celebrities. One put down chairs for us up in the front of the classroom and we got to sit and be their audience while they sang to us. They were absolutely adorable and such happy, loving children. After their performance, we got to play with them for a little bit. They were all hugging us and jumping all over us. I could have stayed there all day. I almost got teary eyed leaving-it was such a beautiful experience. We walked around his village for a bit after, seeing how they cook their food, wash their clothes, etc. They all live in tiny shacks, kill pigs and cows for food, and fish in the ocean just a short walk outside their doorsteps. They all welcomed us with "Bula! Bula!" and were more than happy to show us around. They are a very Christian community and aren't allowed to do anything but rest on Sundays. Also, an interesting fact: they used to be a cannibal community back in the day... I loved seeing the village and am so glad we went. I know I went to Fiji for the sun and the beach, but I love doing different things like that too. Josh went fishing with the old man, and basically told us to find a ride back to the resort. Pretty hilarious. Some of his village friends gave us a ride in their van-which I realize sounds SO sketchy, but I promise it wasn't. It was such a safe and friendly village that we didn't even care. I would not have felt comfortable doing that in any other country. They almost wouldn't even take our money when we offered it to them for the ride. We even got to jam out to local Fijian music on the radio in the car. We had lunch and laid out by the pool for a little but, and then it unfortunately started to rain. We did our souvenir shopping, showered and had an early dinner. We had our last dinner at the Talei Restaurant at the buffet where we saw all our friends (the Seattle couple, Marcel and his wife, Piper and family, etc.) and laughed about all the funny stories from the trip. We went to the lobby after dinner to watch an interesting frog race. 12 different frogs, representing 12 different countries, were auctioned off to the highest bidders. People bid up to $70 for a frog surprisingly. Then the frogs were lined up and hopped across the dance floor. Jamaica won, although I was rooting for U.S.A! A live band played music that night and everyone was up dancing. We had so much fun dancing to Celebrate, 500 miles, etc. and learning some Fijian dance moves. We stayed until the band stopped playing and then went to bed.

the kindergarten

me and my children

walking through the village

Vatukarasa Village

our last night!

Friday: Day 5

We got up at 8, had breakfast, did some last minute souvenir shopping, and then checked out of our resort. Such a fabulous vacation! Even though there were some mishaps and the resort was definitely geared more towards families, the staff were so friendly and we had a great stay. We got in our airport transport, had another two hour ride to the airport, and then a two hour wait for our plane. The kids were out of control on the plane, the food and movies once again sucked, but at least I passed out for most of the trip. We got back to Sydney around 5 pm local time, grabbed our bags, and then got on the bus back to Coogee, getting home around 7. Another long, long day. Unpacked, showered, grabbed dinner, and complained about how cold it was. Take me back to the sun please! We made a rule that we weren't allowed to look at any pictures during the trip, so we all gathered around on the couch and looked through the pictures together on Kristin's computer. Definitely going to miss these girls! A truly wonderful vacation with great people!! Can't wait to sleep in tomorrow :)