From Walden

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion."

Week one

Greetings from Fiji!

Week one is down and I'm in an internet cafe on Viti Levu.  I'm staying with a host family and spending much of my day in language and skills classes.  It takes about half an hour to get here into town to use the internet so I haven't had much chance to update.  I'm also using internet at a cafe so I don't have my computer.  I will work on setting up a skype session for some time next week.  I will also try to type a note and bring it in on a flash drive next week, although I hear that can be a good way to get viruses. 

On an interesting note-- I was switched to Integrated Environmental Resource Management instead of Health Promotion!

Staging

We are in Los Angelos now.  After some flight drama and a reroute to Minnesota,  I got to our hotel yesterday afternoon.  The trainees were fortunate to catch a free shuttle from the airport to the hotel and we're actually staying at a really nice place.  After settling down in my room, I met up with a trainee that had shared the bus with me and we spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in the lobby and greeting folks as they arrived.

I was one of the few trainees that had a room to myself- which was frankly really odd.  I hadn't realized before that I've never stayed in a hotel by myself and I found that I was really lonely!

Today was full of icebreakers and information on basic policy.  We've been off since 3:30 and there will be two busses coming at 6:30 to take us to the airport.  Our flight takes off at 11:30, so I think a handful of us will be having a drink or two at the airport to help us sleep.

Can't wait- I'll be in Fiji tomorrow!  And yeah, Jordan, I will work on updating frequently ;)

The last week

I'm down to my final week stateside.  I've packed my bags, and I have most of my room packed.  Now it's just eating my favorite meals, counting the minutes and saying goodbye.  Monday I will be flying out at 7 am, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.  Monday evening will be my official registration and Tuesday is scheduled for orientation most of the day.  I'll be flying out from LAX at 11:30pm Tuesday, and we'll land in Suva at 5:30 Thursday.  It's only a 10 hour flight, but we will be crossing the international date line along the way so there's just a touch of time travel in it for good measure ;)