This is a post covering about 3 days, 2 of those not having internet. So skim, or read only if you are actually sincerely interested.
I got on a smaller plane to Suva, Fiji. That plane landed, I grabbed my luggage (with my buddies, I’m a super safe person) and then saw my country director. He took us to a cute (sarcasm) truck that we were going to ride in the back of--Indiana Jones style except without the bad guys.

After lunch, we walked to FENC to travel to a village to tutor children. The people at FENC are super nice, and I was so grateful to speak to Fijians that knew who we were and why we were there. We traveled to the “squatter” village, which is a super poor village where the families live in small huts constructed with metal. When we would walk in muddy areas, it smelled like the mud wasn’t made from just water and dirt. The children were obviously wearing donated clothing, that sometimes didn’t even fit (there were a couple with shorts falling off). And someone had a pig rocking out in front of their hut. It was just chilling there chewing something.
We went into their little preschool, took off our shoes (a Fijian custom), and waited for the children. We learned about “Fijian time” which means if someone is told to be somewhere at 4:00, they will be there at 5:00. Eventually, many children came and we read with/to them. Two little boys kept gently grabbing strands of my hair and smiling. I asked them if they liked my hair and they said yes. I loved meeting these kids, and they enjoy saying "Bula!" (Hello) to us white folk.
The next day, groups of three were sent on a scavenger hunt in the city. First we bought papaya at the market, exchanged currency (I’m super impressed with myself) and ate lunch. We found large fish, touched the ocean, and I attempted to juggle papaya (the picture looks legitimate). We also got on the bus (all by our little selves), even the right bus, and got off at the correct stop. On this bus, it looked like there weren’t any seats left, so I was just standing. I heard someone making kissing noises behind me and I thought, “Oh my gosh, how rude, a guy behind me is making kissing noises at me because I’m a white girl and he wants to make me uncomfortable.” I ignored him. Then I remembered something HELP had taught me before I came to Fiji, which was that Fijians make kissing noises to get your attention. Sort of like “Psst” or “Hey, over here!” I turned around and realized that they had made room for me on a seat. Haha…oops. 

Then I ate sticky fried rice. It tasted like I cooked it…except I didn’t.

On Saturday it was raining like there was no tomorrow. And it’s not the warm rain that I’ve experienced for the past couple of days, it was cold. COLD. And for some reason, my group decided that this would be a good day to try and go to the beach to go snorkeling. This is something I should have thought through a little more. As always, I’m too cool for umbrellas. Ya dumb. This bus ride was a couple hours and even came with entertainment—a TV special of some Scottish guy paying tribute to Jim Reeves (I actually recognized a couple of the songs), and another TV special of a super happy guy imitating (paying tribute I guess) to Buddy Holly…but also singing Elvis Presley songs. Those are my jams. 

We arrived at a road that led to the resort. I decided at this point that if I were to liken myself to a Disney princess now, I would be Ariel, because I’m wet ALL THE TIME. All I can say about this day I guess is that I was soaked for 7 hours...and only 5 minutes of those 7 hours were spent in the ocean. We’ve all agreed that the next time we have to choose between going snorkeling on a rainy day or watching Bollywood movies, we’re watching Bollywood. All the way.