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My Fijian Experience part 3

Monday 18th of April 

Interesting day, the school ran out of A4 paper right on exam week.. So head teacher asked me to go into town and get some after assembly which was about 9:30. I then waited till 11:00 till transport finally came while old ladies were complimenting on my hair haha. Finally made it to town with a 4wd and the ocean just looked amazing!   The reefs where crystal clear blue and lots of bamboo rafts out fishing. In town I got the A4 paper from the post shop and then up to the royal for some Internet. Then went and bought some bread from johny's and got some bread :)  saw Kumar outside so I though I'd catch his taxi back to school. By the time I got back it was already after lunch time at 1:15, so head teacher let me go have lung so I smacked some bread :) after that went back to the school did a little bit of work in the class.

After school I went into the village and got some iceblocks for some of the teachers back at school which were amazing cause the hot sone had been getting to our heads.

After eating ice blocks I walked down to the reef hoping to go for a swim, but he wind picked up and the clouds started to cover up. So I took some photos of the water and saw the moon rise! Was amazing and I've never seen a moon so big. All of Sudan while I was taking photos it started pouring rain! With no houses for about 2km! I then jumped out in front of a truck, scaring him to death, then got a lift haha. Got back home and realised I'd left my flippers back at the water... Lucky a taxi was in the village dropping people off so I took the taxi back down to the reef thinking he would take me back, but he didn't so I walked the 2km back in the rain.



Wednesday 20th of April

Lai couldn't walk properly today so I took the year 8 class for the day. They were very quiet and was a big difference compared to the younger kids! They seemed scared... Although some are taller then me... But it was a good day at school. After school Leps came over and went up into the jungle and got some Kavika which is a wild fruit there. Layla also came and she got me some fresh water prawns to eat so yummy! But then she threw a rotten BreadFruit at me so I picked up a toad and threw it at her...



Thursday 21st of April

last day at school this term, and was super super busy photocopying for exams, doing a sports photo shoot thing for class 2 and doing stuff in the office at the same time. Was really sad saying goodbye even though even though I got 1 term left. After school I packed up my stuff, sated my goodbyes and waited by the road for transport with a trail of kids following me. I got a van I to town and ate Easter eggs that mum sent me. Thanks mum!!!!

My Fijian Experience Part 2

Wednesday 16th of March

Again today working on the draft for the kindergarten to get it finished as soon as possible and hopefully by the end of this week. 1500 words later and it was the end of the day, then had a good chat to he head teacher and looked at some building plans. They seem to trust me a lot with this haha it's a good feeling though.

After school we were going up to the plantaion, walking theough the village when one of the village man was holding a snake! So i got to hold the snake yew!! Didnt have my camera on me which was annoying but going back tomorrow to see if he hasn't eatin it already... Up at the plantation we planted 30 Dalo plants and some iguana, huge afternoon, the chief of the village just kept on giving us food to plant so we just planted it all! We where ment to be planting beans but we never got around to it, so Ma was angry at us and ate chocolate haha.



Friday 11 of March 2011

Friday again! Fridays is always the fun day of the week I think, running around playing rugby with the students and then getting taken by the girls to play duck duck goose.... Its always so fun though. Today the boys were showing me there dance moves haha they are awesome dancers and show me up even though they are in grade 4 ! See video

After school Ma and Lai came down for a swim with me at the reef and same with a few of the students from school. Heaps and heaps of fun just playing around and taking photos. When we got home we realized that we were on tsunami alert :/ we tried to stay up as late as we could to see what was going on but we all fell asleep. R.I.P. those who died in the Tokyo earthquake and tsunami.



Saturday 5th of March

An exciting day! First proper holiday since I've Been in Fiji and wow! Met Mady, holly, floss and Renee in Levuka and caught a fibre boat which was the size of a small tiny to the island, 45min later we were on our own little tropical Island call Leleuvia. It's super duper small only takes 10 mins to walk around and proper o my a minute if your ran!

I got straight into the water with my camera and water housing cause the reef raps around he hole island, I walked in slowly and I must not have tightened up the housing cause it came through the port really quick!! Probably the most scared I've been in fiji ! The camera wouldn't turn off and I couldn't take any photos, super duper scared! I took the battery out, left he camera for 5 mins, and it was like nothing had happened. Very lucky!!!

Snorkeled for about 4 hours and made a good friend with a fish! I swam with it for about half an hour, it kept following me, nibbling on my flippers and swimming through my hair haha. It swam with me right back to the shore! Poor fish looked lost when I finally took my step out of the water :(

Walked around the island, exploring what we could, picking up amazing shells that had been washed up onto the sand.

We then had an amazing dinner filled with sea food and traditional Fijian food, then managed to have a few drinks around the bomb fire and nearly got eaten by a snake!!! Not really but it was scary. An amazing island

My Fijian Experience

Friday 4th of February 2011

Woke up really early to the sound of roosters and dogs barking which makes it feel like I'm living on a farm again. School started at 8 and I was in the 3-4 class with the headmaster where I got to help them with their maths and English which was awesome fun!! Some smart kids and some not so smart kids which makes it interesting

Since school finishes at 2 on Fridays we headed into levuka and did some grocery shopping with Lei and Ma my host family.

When we returned i played with duby the dog and attempted to play volleyball with Ma haha, then I got asked out by a few of the local girls to come drink kava in their village. I ended up having to dance with alot of the mothers there haha. also talked to some of the local boys and they are going to take me out on there raft next sat to the reefs yew!!





Thursday 3rd of February


What an epic day.. Davids car took a little longer to fix then he thought so we ended up leaving after 9:30 instead of 8:30. I was mention to be getting dropped off first but because it's a small island and were facing the other way, I ended up being the last to be dropped off. We dropped Haley off at her placement, then Floss's and then Maddy's. While driving to my placement on he most remote part of the island we just had to get another flat tire and ther were no tools in the car to change it!! We then waited for nearly an hour while it started to rain, then David went for a walk to get some tools. When we tried to tools we broke them haha, so we just got in the car and drove going about 2km to reach the next house along. After about 40mins we got to the house and managed to change it, and happily drive off to my placement.

On arrival to Visoto village it was nearly time to go home so I had a little bit of time to go say hello to the kids. Ma's class all laughed when they found out I was a boy because of my hair haha. and got a few giggles while walking through the rest of the school.

after saying hello we had a teachers meeting, I didn't really no what was going on but I tried to understand as much as possible which wasn't much. I then had to attend he welcoming ceremony (it has annals but ive forgotten) where the elders all drank kava. While they were drinking kava we got a massive dinner which had some interesting food!



Wednesday 24th of January

If had been quite an interesting day. I travelled into Nadi by
Half and it seems like the girl behind me was checking me out! I then for incited into a shop by a local Fijian and we had a kava ceremony a d he tried to con me into byeing a surf board which 25 dollars!!!! After that he got one one of his good friends to drive me back home In one his mini buses which was very interesting, a few Indians and Fijians in the van but hey did not say a word, they are just very shy around us which us sad. Lime I see other tourists that as In Nandi they just look sly and out of place! Like white people are welcome but they just don't fit In and are the odd ones out which sucks. After the trip back it was a nice swim in the pool and some of the he UK people bought a carton of Fiji Gold which was very yummy! After having a few to many I went and got a feed at he takeaway store next door to he resort and eventually met up with Natalie and holly and another vunteers ne except I can't remeber her name ! :( I'll get to it eventually. After dinner a few of the volunteers went to the club next door, I chose not to didn't look to fun for me. So I jumped on Facebook and chated to a few friends back home.

Fiji Day 3 Mudd pools

Fiji just keeps on amazing me ! after about 3-4 hours of boring talking about nothing, we got to meet the queens direct re presenter here for Fiji which was really cool! after eating lunch with him we were off to the mud pools. The dirt road which we had to take to get there was shocking, potholes everywhere, old run down houses and not to mention the best corner store ever! the mud pools where pretty snazy. it was just a dam full of loose mudd on the bottom which we covered ourselves in, reminded me a bit like Emu Gully. After washing off all the mud we swam in the natural springs to relax, right before we all got amazing massages!

After a really short fest we were off to the Indo-Fijian night where we had the most amazing indian food and the host were absolutely lovely. I even got to try on some traditional Fijian Dresses.... They had a lovely view from there house of all the mountains and also their dog Rambo loved me haha and he gave human like hugs ! we said our goodbyes and headed off home with our Indian driver blazing Justin Beiber with the bass up full hahaha was another fun day in fiji.

Fiji Day 2 Kava

Was an annoying wake up today my body clock is still 3 hours behind which made it feel like 4am wake up. After breakfast we heading up to the biggest markets in Nadi. Alot of people try to sell u stuff as you walk by but u just have to say no although it can be hard at some times if you want it! Our Fijian guide who is 18 is super duper shy and its hard to get him talk but he seems like a good fella and is a awesome drawer and flogs me in pool! not that its hard... We had to give a presentation of what we thought about the day and some questions which we had to answer, was pretty boring but gave us some helpful info for going to our placements on Monday.

After presentations we were off to a local Fijian village where we got to drink some Kava ( A bit like magic mushrooms ). Its a nasty tasting drink that looks like muddy water !! although i didn't feel any effect from it which is good i think. The Locals looked scary there and didn't say to much nut we very kind. There hole village will get together on most nights and place cards and share a meal most nights! sometimes i wish it was like that on my street back home.

Fiji Day 1

Wow what a day, definitely the saddest Ive ever been today having to say goodbye to my family, its going to be so difficult being away for so long without their love and support. the flight was fun though scoring a window seat that no one wanted!! but apart from from looking out the window most of the flight it was pretty boring although i got to talk to Natalie and a few other volunteers which was cool. On arrival I stuck with Ben and Maddy they seem like really cool chaps as well and we even got greeted by singing Fijians which was amazing! after going through customs etc. we had a hectic drive back from the resort with an Indian man where we are going our orientations. Fijians just drive all over the place i swear road rules don't aplly!! at the hotel David and Sarah gave us a little talk ( David is scary ) and we got to meet a few of the other volunteers. Shopping afterward was very interesting with heaps of different food and drinks available in funny shaped bottles. After shopping me, Maddy and Floss got a few drinks from the bar and swam in the pool. Although being a sad day it was definitely an adventure!

The Sadest thing

Without a doubt in my mind this is the sadest I've ever been, I dont even no what emotions are going through my head right now. Going into another country for 8months knowing absolutly no-one, and pretty well having to start life at the beggining.

I honestly dont no how im going to cope without my family. My amazing Parents that love me so much!!! they still drive me to the beach and the bus stop so much even though I live so far away, My younger brothers are the funniest/biggest little rats I no but they have the biggest hearts, And my oldest brother Josh who has always been there for me and always makes me laugh through tough times. Ill cherish the memories.

To Dan, Tim, Callum you are the greatest friends ever! I couldnt have gotten through this year with out you, Along with Matt E, Matt S, The Pugh Sisters ryan and caris and Eliza and kellie. I love you all


Keep an Eye out on this Blog as I will be posting weekly on what I'll be doing in fiji, Also my address if you want to right and please do!

Skype Name: steven_lyon_2011


Adress:

Steven Lyon
c/o Visoto District School
PO Box 37
Levuka, Ovalau Island
Fiji Islands

See you all soon. Please keep me in your prayers, Lifes about to get tough


My last shoot

Getting Closer

Not much time left on the sunnycoast, 2 weeks to be exact. How im going to miss days like these!