BULA (Hi) - Greetings from Fiji - I am here!

BULA (Hi) everyone! Here I am in Fiji!

What an interesting start this trip has been!

Got here and ticked the wrong box on the form at the airport and was given only 14-day visa!!! Gulp! I am meant to be here for 6-weeks for university - must do 6-weeks in school in order to graduate from university.

Went to immigration yesterday to sort out the visa problem. An Australian man who lives in Fiji came with me & my interpreter to try sort it out at the immigration office. Immigration let us through immediately into his office and dealt with us immediately. The Australian man was shocked - he has never seen immigration move so fast ever! Must be my blonde hair or our clever way of communicating in sign language and spoken english which fascinated the immigration man. Heh! Anyway, it seems I have to pay a fee to stay here for 6-weeks & my Fijian school have kindly offered to pay the fee for me because they are really excited to have me. The school does not want me to go because everyone talks about me already - look forward to some deaf awareness training too outside of school hours. So the school will sort out the visa for me. Phew!

I had a tour of the school yesterday. A lovely big school and so many smiley faces! Went into my first classroom & my goodness there were no students as they were all outside due to one student lying unconscious on the floor in the classroom - she hit her head!!! And then an ambulance came to take her away. Oh my!

Unfortunately, there are no Arts curriculum in the school but I am going to try & see how I may do some drama & arts in the school - must do because Fiji is rich with arts & culture - & I so love the arts! I also need to work out a way to get some students to teach me some Fijian dancing with those wonderful colourful straw skirts.

By the way, first day here I relaxed on the beach in Nadi - was lovely & so peaceful. I went for a horseride & had so much fun! A gallop along the beach with the wind going through my hair without a helmet was the best feeling ever - I felt so free! I havent ridden a horse in a long time so it was fabulous! For those of you who dont know I was a farm girl when I was younger & did lots of horseriding & mustering cattle - my father first put me on a horse when I was 2y.o! The Fijian man who took me for a ride told me I knew how to bounce on the saddle & hold tight really well. Heh! (No misinterpreting this please!) Anyway I said I was trained by the best - my father who comes from a family with high reputation for horseriding in NSW Australia. The Fijian man smiled & said he is THE Fijian Horsebreaker. So it seems I was in the best company for horseriding in Fiji. Smile ... Mind you, the Fijian man's horse was bucking all the way along the beach next me - a bit scary - I was worried he was going to kick my horse and throw me off my horse but didnt. Phew! So it was a great day riding that horse - I'll be back for more horseriding before I leave Fiji. Though I must say I do have a few saddle aches & bruises now ... Heh!

More news coming soon everyone - perhaps next post will be about my day in the classroom.

Cheers
Lisa