Today is the third day of water rationing after a full day
and half of rain last Saturday/Sunday. 
Thankfully the community received a F$30,000 grant from Fiji Water to
provide rain catchment tanks.  Fiji Water
is providing 24 poly tanks, each with a capacity of 5,200 litres.  This is a much welcomed blessing as the rain
water is very pure and safe to drink while the water from the stream is very
cloudy and suspect even after boiling.  A
few rain catchment tanks were provided by the government over a year ago and
one was installed at our house. 

Although the water is very pure, it can be made even safer
by installing an initial run off tube to catch the first flush of rain off the
roof.  It is made of a 6 foot PVC pipe
the same diameter as the down pipe with a cap at the end.  The initial run off drains into this pipe and
fills quickly.  After filling the clean
water passes by and drains into the tank. 
By making a small hole in the cap the run off water eventually drains
out well after the rain is over.  There
are currently no first flush systems installed on the tanks currently in
operation.  Next time we go to Taveuni I
plan on buying the materials to convert our tank as an example for the
community.

In our efforts to see more of the island we’ve been spending
each week exploring the many trails.  We
hiked about 6 miles today.  We’ve been
trying to make it to the ‘red sand’ area the past couple of hikes but the
trails are hard to find if you don’t know where to go.  Today we made it to the ocean but
unfortunately almost walked in a circle. 
The scenery was beautiful and pristine nonetheless.  The highest elevation recorded on my watch
was about 500 feet but I think some of the peaks we haven’t explored yet are
much higher.

The hikes are good as we see the farming methods, streams,
many different types of plants.  We also
get a feel for just how hard it is to get around the island on foot.  I have no idea how some of the farmers muster
up the energy to walk a hard 2.5 miles, farm all day, and then walk back with
their harvest on their shoulder. They definitely have my respect.

It was parent’s day today and we scheduled a meeting with
the Head Mistress, school principal, and teachers to discuss how we could
assist them during our service.  Before
our meeting we witnessed the daily morning assembly.  The year eight students are called ‘prefixes’
and they organize and monitor the younger students.  Each grade lines up outside their classroom
and measures the distance between each other with an arm length.  The prefixes check alignment and then order
them to march to the sea wall.  Here they
line up in formation, legs tight together, and listen for instructions from the
head mistress. After instructions, which I couldn’t really hear from the
intense ocean breeze, the children sang “If You’re Happy and You Know It” in
English.  When they got to the point in
the song where if you’re happy and you know you should laugh, Kelly giggled at
the students mock laugh.  They all turned
and looked at her while smiling.  It was
pretty funny.  They followed up this
classic with a few Tuvaluan tunes and then were ordered to widen their
stance.  More instructions followed and
then they where ordered to turn 180 degrees facing us.  Kelly and I and the teachers were lined up in
a row behind the formation.  Each of us
said, “Hello,” and they responded, “Hello Sir / Madam,” respectively.  After the greeting they turned again and
received their final instructions from the head mistress to clean up the beach
while we had a meeting.
 
After the meeting we stopped at the kindi and spent about an
hour playing with the kids.  (**note from Kelly – Matt left after 15
minutes to “go to the bathroom” and never came back! I thought he had been
eaten by geckos!!!**) The teacher works with kids ages 3-6 and averages
about 25 per class.  We offered to help
during the play times of 9-10 am.  Most
of the students were at a small table playing with legos, colored shapes, and a
magnet paddle toy.  A couple of the girls
were practicing writing their numbers. 
 
At the office we continued our work on the community
library.  Rotary Clubs in Australia  Therefore the
librarian has been slowly purging books to the council’s restroom and it all
accumulated to a pile of boxes rotting away in the corner.  It appears some had been there over two years
from the critters, mold, and damage.  One
box even had a rat’s nest complete with mother and four newborns!  Thankfully Janice found that one instead of
Kelly.    have
donated boxes of books to the school library but a lot of them are for mature
readers and adults.
 
We have been unpacking and sorting according to adult
fiction, children fiction, and non-fiction. 
The multiple copies and damaged books were placed on the council office
front porch for people to take.  It took
us about 8 hours to unpack and sort all the books.  Next week we will work on alphabetizing and
fine-tuning the fiction book organization. 

 
We found a lot of gems including several classics such
as:  Watership
Down, Huckleberry Fin, Fahrenheit 451, Cool Hand Luke, Pride and Prejudice,
Never Ending Story (not a classic but a great movie!), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (ditto), Tess of D’urbervilles, A
Separate Peace, Animal Farm, and 1984.  Also alot of the fiction books are Reader’s
Digest Condensed Books, which have condensed novels from several famous authors
such as Grissom and Norah Roberts.
 
It felt really good to let the books breathe again and there
is an air of excitement from the people who visit the office and see all the
books spread out.  Several of the
councilmen have even been spotted browsing the picture encyclopedias and nature
books!
 
I measured the free wall space of the council’s conference
room and shelves will work nicely around the perimeter with enough space to
accommodate about 40% growth.  It will
also warm up the place, which is pretty stark at the moment.  We are hoping to help find donations for a
couple of computers with internet for an internet café/research center.  The students currently research from 15
year-old encyclopedias and there is no public internet on the island. 
 
Here’s the floor plan of the proposed library awaiting
council approval:
 

 
It is a great space for a library as three sides have large
floor to ceiling windows and two sides are unobstructed views of the bay.  The center of the room already has a nice
conference table and there are plenty of chairs to set up a reading area. 
 
Also, the water project is scheduled to start off next
week.  I took a few more measurements
today and the community is currently consuming 43 litres/person.  This equates to about 25,927 litres/day.  In order to sustain their current usage and
flush toilets the water supply will need to double. 
 
I have attached my spreadsheets for those with similar
projects or challenges.  Hopefully they
will be helpful to other volunteers challenged with water shortages.  Let me know if there are any math errors or
mistakes. 
 
One thing I like about the data is it shows if the water
supply significantly changes.  I would
think a spring fed creek would be pretty consistent but in just one day the
water feeding our tank dropped 300 ltrs/hr. 
Monday we plan on taking a tour of the sources to get before and after
shots of the upcoming modifications and see if there are any blockages.

Rain catchments from Fiji Water! YEAH!

It is sometimes hard to walk around the village, there are all these little creatures that seem to come around!

A gigantic ant mound and of course Mataio with his "man knife".

Mataio checking our water… all day every day!

Mataio in his cowboy shirt from Texas = thanks Linda for sending the material! Everyone is jealous!

The water project funded by the Fijian Government should
start next week.  I wasn’t expecting it
to come through but it did, and everyone is very thankful.  In order to see the impact I’ve been
analyzing the water usage prior to the improvements to evaluate the impact it
has on the community.  Since there are no
meters, measuring the water use is somewhat a fuzzy science.

The main tank serving about 600 people was built in 1992 and
has a capacity of about 62,000 litres. 
It is fed from two sources, both of which are artesian spring fed
streams.  We’ve been told that when the
water source is blocked the tank it empties in 2 days.  This put water use at 31,000 litres per day,
or 52 litres per person.  This seems like
a lot until considering leaky taps, leaky pipes, or kids leaving taps on for
fun.  There is also a lot of water used
in washing clothes as most have washing machines that do everything but spin
dry.  These consume a lot of water. 

My main reason I’m worried is the flush toilet roll out is
going strong.  They have applied for a
grant for 80 flush toilets and if everything goes right they’ll start to be
installed next June/July.  This will
increase the water use per person by 28 litres considering each flush uses 7
litres and a person goes to the bathroom 4 times per day. 

The only way I could measure the water inflow to see what
the new demand would be was the bucket and stop watch method.  I think this will work o.k. after the first
trial test.  It is pretty simple.  Just take a breakfast cracker bucket and fill
it in two litre increments marking the level as it is filled.  Then take a stop watch and time how long it
takes to fill.  Divide the litres by the
hour and you have the flow.  Of course
this doesn’t take into account variations in flow from the source and assumes
it is constant.  Hopefully after several
readings it will average out to be close to the same.

The first test showed 1,475 ltr/hr flowing into the tank
from the two sources.

To support their current and future use the community will
need about 3,500 ltr/hr which gives them a delta of almost 2,000 ltrs/hr.

The next step is measuring outflow which involved using the
cane knife.  Any work involving the cane
knife is fun, except weeding my bele patch. 
That isn’t fun.  I wacked down a
bamboo trunk near the tank and marked off one foot increments, my tape measure
does not have meters.  I then stuck the
bamboo into the tank and noted the depth and time.  I plan on going back before peak usage starts
at 4pm and noting the depth.  If I’m
feeling really motivated I will go back at 6pm after the evening peak usage is
over.  The peak morning hours are 6 am –
10 am. 

A book I found really helpful in measuring water flow was Engineering
in Emergencies, 2^nd Edition, by Jan Davis and Robert Lambert.  It has a lot of useful information about
basic, and some complex, engineering systems. 
I’d recommend it for any volunteer.

A major battle is the quality of the infrastructure.  A lot of the pipes are exposed leaving them
victims to solar and human deterioration.

Here are the two sources currently feeding the tank.

Download WaterAnalysis

The water project funded by the Fijian Government should
start next week.  I wasn’t expecting it
to come through but it did, and everyone is very thankful.  In order to see the impact I’ve been
analyzing the water usage prior to the improvements to evaluate the impact it
has on the community.  Since there are no
meters, measuring the water use is somewhat a fuzzy science.

The main tank serving about 600 people was built in 1992 and
has a capacity of about 62,000 litres. 
It is fed from two sources, both of which are artesian spring fed
streams.  We’ve been told that when the
water source is blocked the tank it empties in 2 days.  This put water use at 31,000 litres per day,
or 52 litres per person.  This seems like
a lot until considering leaky taps, leaky pipes, or kids leaving taps on for
fun.  There is also a lot of water used
in washing clothes as most have washing machines that do everything but spin
dry.  These consume a lot of water. 

My main reason I’m worried is the flush toilet roll out is
going strong.  They have applied for a
grant for 80 flush toilets and if everything goes right they’ll start to be
installed next June/July.  This will
increase the water use per person by 28 litres considering each flush uses 7
litres and a person goes to the bathroom 4 times per day. 

The only way I could measure the water inflow to see what
the new demand would be was the bucket and stop watch method.  I think this will work o.k. after the first
trial test.  It is pretty simple.  Just take a breakfast cracker bucket and fill
it in two litre increments marking the level as it is filled.  Then take a stop watch and time how long it
takes to fill.  Divide the litres by the
hour and you have the flow.  Of course
this doesn’t take into account variations in flow from the source and assumes
it is constant.  Hopefully after several
readings it will average out to be close to the same.

The first test showed 1,475 ltr/hr flowing into the tank
from the two sources.

To support their current and future use the community will
need about 3,500 ltr/hr which gives them a delta of almost 2,000 ltrs/hr.

The next step is measuring outflow which involved using the
cane knife.  Any work involving the cane
knife is fun, except weeding my bele patch. 
That isn’t fun.  I wacked down a
bamboo trunk near the tank and marked off one foot increments, my tape measure
does not have meters.  I then stuck the
bamboo into the tank and noted the depth and time.  I plan on going back before peak usage starts
at 4pm and noting the depth.  If I’m
feeling really motivated I will go back at 6pm after the evening peak usage is
over.  The peak morning hours are 6 am –
10 am. 

A book I found really helpful in measuring water flow was Engineering
in Emergencies, 2^nd Edition, by Jan Davis and Robert Lambert.  It has a lot of useful information about
basic, and some complex, engineering systems. 
I’d recommend it for any volunteer.

A major battle is the quality of the infrastructure.  A lot of the pipes are exposed leaving them
victims to solar and human deterioration.

Here are the two sources currently feeding the tank.

Download WaterAnalysis

As of today, 082909, we have been here 100 days. To celebrate that fact I thought I would write 100 things I have learned….

1. God's creation is very diverse.

2. Learning a language makes you feel stupid – learning 2 is brain suicide.

3. Dishwashers are overrated.

4. However, washing machines and dryers are WAY worth the money.

5. Armpit hair makes your clothes smell – I have always known this but now Mataio does and has remedied it.

6. Hiking for an hour burns 500 calories.

7. Water from a green coconut is good for you, milk from a brown coconut is not.

8. Lifejackets make good seat cushions on fiber boats.

9. Powdered milk ain't so bad.

10. I can live without cheese.

11. No matter how slow time moves, days still pass quickly.

12. Cooking for others is fun and not fattening.

13. Gardening is hard when free-range chickens like to eat your seeds.

14. Composting is important but invitees bugs.

15. Plastic lasts forever.

16. Yeast is finicky when it comes to water temperature.

17. Watching others that have religion without a relationship with Jesus is painful.

18. Music is soothing even when you can't understand the lyrics.

19. Roosters are annoying.

20. Only female hornets sting.

21. Geckos eat mosquitos and I love them.

22. I can live without air conditioning.

23. I really DID hate driving a car.

24. Matt looks cute wearing a flower headband.

25. Every seashell is unique.

26. Dog poop in Fiji is gray.

27. Raw fresh fish is really good. 

28. Cooked fresh fish is even better.

29. I now know 10 recipes for cooking rice.

30. Being away from family and friends is still hard.

31. Electricity is expensive.

32. I don't look THAT silly in flowered clothes.

33. Matt thinks bushy eyebrows are hot.

34. Saying no is rude, instead you should just say thank you and walk away.

35. UNO is a fun game even when Matt always wins.

36. SKYPE is awesome. Call me.

37. Praise God for rat-proof containers.

38. Sweet potatoes are better than kumalas, but don't tell Apa.

39. Rain is important.

40. A smile is the best communication in any language.

41. Tuvaluan is easier than Fijian.

42. Running without a road is hard.

43. Ankles develop big pink calluses to cope with sitting cross-legged 8 hours a day.

44. Machetes are useful in the bush.

45. Picking papaya and banana off trees is harder than it looks.

46. Cold showers really are cold.

47. Sweeping is easier than vacuuming.

49. Age appropriate teaching really is beneficial.

50. I can change.

51. Hand washing laundry is a good arm-workout.

52. iPhones are still useful without the phone part.

53. Podcasts help retain intellect.

54. Windy days do not make good boat days.

55. Working with Matt on projects is rewarding.

56. Kerosene lamps smell bad.

57. Dead coral is good fertilizer.

58. Mattresses without springs are more comfortable.

59. A piggery is a pig pen.

60. Feasts are fun but there seems to be lots of food wasted.

61. Refrigeration would help with food waste.

62. Immersing an item in water will keep it cool for 24 hours.

63. While baking, you can substitute oil for butter and banana for egg.

64. Drinking hot tea when it is hot outside eventually makes you cool.

65. Saving face is more important than telling the truth (for others).

66. Yaqona still tastes gross.

67. A good hammer is worth the money.

68. Flushing a toilet uses 6 liters of water.

69. Ants can't swim.

70. Humidity cuts down on skin lotion costs.

71. I have even less balance than I thought I did.

72. Children don't need toys to play and have fun.

73. It doesn't matter what your watch says when it is Pacific Time.

74. Lemon leaf tea from our tree in the backyard is better than any tea you can buy in the store.

75. Showing a teacher how to print on both sides can rock their world.

76. Who needs shoes when you have really big, rough feet?

77. Cutting grass with a weed-eater apparently uses less fuel than a lawn-mower.

78. Community is easier with less distractions.

79. Matt can make a pretty good slingshot out of my exercise bands.

80. Weaving baskets and mats takes great patience and hand strength.

81. I brought too many clothes, but don't tell Matt.

82. I can eat 15 bananas in one day.

83. Good buckets are hard to find.

84. An egg carton makes a good plant nursery. 

85. MacBook Pros don't come with a modem.

86. Matt can make a table out of a door and some scrap wood found under the house.

87. Reading a book a day can be normal.

88. Peace Corps training was a waste of time.

89. Learning while doing and teaching is best.

90. Your curtains don't have to match. They just need to be obnoxiously colorful.

91. Not having a ceiling makes it easy to hang things from the rafters.

92. Receiving mail makes for a really good day.

93. A good church is priceless. 

94. Cooking on a gas stove means you never know how long it will take.

95. You don't need foil when you have gigantic leaves.

96. Keens are better than Reefs.

97. Kids need loving attention no matter where they live.

98. I took school for granted.

99. Generosity is not a game where you keep score.

100. Life's too short to be normal!

As of today, 082909, we have been here 100 days. To celebrate that fact I thought I would write 100 things I have learned….

1. God's creation is very diverse.

2. Learning a language makes you feel stupid – learning 2 is brain suicide.

3. Dishwashers are overrated.

4. However, washing machines and dryers are WAY worth the money.

5. Armpit hair makes your clothes smell – I have always known this but now Mataio does and has remedied it.

6. Hiking for an hour burns 500 calories.

7. Water from a green coconut is good for you, milk from a brown coconut is not.

8. Lifejackets make good seat cushions on fiber boats.

9. Powdered milk ain't so bad.

10. I can live without cheese.

11. No matter how slow time moves, days still pass quickly.

12. Cooking for others is fun and not fattening.

13. Gardening is hard when free-range chickens like to eat your seeds.

14. Composting is important but invitees bugs.

15. Plastic lasts forever.

16. Yeast is finicky when it comes to water temperature.

17. Watching others that have religion without a relationship with Jesus is painful.

18. Music is soothing even when you can't understand the lyrics.

19. Roosters are annoying.

20. Only female hornets sting.

21. Geckos eat mosquitos and I love them.

22. I can live without air conditioning.

23. I really DID hate driving a car.

24. Matt looks cute wearing a flower headband.

25. Every seashell is unique.

26. Dog poop in Fiji is gray.

27. Raw fresh fish is really good. 

28. Cooked fresh fish is even better.

29. I now know 10 recipes for cooking rice.

30. Being away from family and friends is still hard.

31. Electricity is expensive.

32. I don't look THAT silly in flowered clothes.

33. Matt thinks bushy eyebrows are hot.

34. Saying no is rude, instead you should just say thank you and walk away.

35. UNO is a fun game even when Matt always wins.

36. SKYPE is awesome. Call me.

37. Praise God for rat-proof containers.

38. Sweet potatoes are better than kumalas, but don't tell Apa.

39. Rain is important.

40. A smile is the best communication in any language.

41. Tuvaluan is easier than Fijian.

42. Running without a road is hard.

43. Ankles develop big pink calluses to cope with sitting cross-legged 8 hours a day.

44. Machetes are useful in the bush.

45. Picking papaya and banana off trees is harder than it looks.

46. Cold showers really are cold.

47. Sweeping is easier than vacuuming.

49. Age appropriate teaching really is beneficial.

50. I can change.

51. Hand washing laundry is a good arm-workout.

52. iPhones are still useful without the phone part.

53. Podcasts help retain intellect.

54. Windy days do not make good boat days.

55. Working with Matt on projects is rewarding.

56. Kerosene lamps smell bad.

57. Dead coral is good fertilizer.

58. Mattresses without springs are more comfortable.

59. A piggery is a pig pen.

60. Feasts are fun but there seems to be lots of food wasted.

61. Refrigeration would help with food waste.

62. Immersing an item in water will keep it cool for 24 hours.

63. While baking, you can substitute oil for butter and banana for egg.

64. Drinking hot tea when it is hot outside eventually makes you cool.

65. Saving face is more important than telling the truth (for others).

66. Yaqona still tastes gross.

67. A good hammer is worth the money.

68. Flushing a toilet uses 6 liters of water.

69. Ants can't swim.

70. Humidity cuts down on skin lotion costs.

71. I have even less balance than I thought I did.

72. Children don't need toys to play and have fun.

73. It doesn't matter what your watch says when it is Pacific Time.

74. Lemon leaf tea from our tree in the backyard is better than any tea you can buy in the store.

75. Showing a teacher how to print on both sides can rock their world.

76. Who needs shoes when you have really big, rough feet?

77. Cutting grass with a weed-eater apparently uses less fuel than a lawn-mower.

78. Community is easier with less distractions.

79. Matt can make a pretty good slingshot out of my exercise bands.

80. Weaving baskets and mats takes great patience and hand strength.

81. I brought too many clothes, but don't tell Matt.

82. I can eat 15 bananas in one day.

83. Good buckets are hard to find.

84. An egg carton makes a good plant nursery. 

85. MacBook Pros don't come with a modem.

86. Matt can make a table out of a door and some scrap wood found under the house.

87. Reading a book a day can be normal.

88. Peace Corps training was a waste of time.

89. Learning while doing and teaching is best.

90. Your curtains don't have to match. They just need to be obnoxiously colorful.

91. Not having a ceiling makes it easy to hang things from the rafters.

92. Receiving mail makes for a really good day.

93. A good church is priceless. 

94. Cooking on a gas stove means you never know how long it will take.

95. You don't need foil when you have gigantic leaves.

96. Keens are better than Reefs.

97. Kids need loving attention no matter where they live.

98. I took school for granted.

99. Generosity is not a game where you keep score.

100. Life's too short to be normal!

Talofa!

We miss you so much! It is hard to believe that we have been gone 3 months and we are over 10% through our assignment! It seems like forever on one hand and just a few days on the other. We are adjusting to our site, learning the language, and eating too much food. Every day begins and ends with a knock on the door and someone bringing us baked bread, bananas, kumala (similar to a sweet potato), fresh fish, half a cow, etc. Their generosity is a force to be reckoned with! Since our garden is still in the beginning stages and we are busy protecting the small plants from chickens – I am trying to return the favors with baked goodies. I find it ironic that I had to move across the globe to start cooking, but Mataio is thoroughly enjoying it!

The winter (dry) season is in full swing as it dropped below 70 last night to a cool 67. I love seeing everyone in their down jackets and socked feet with no shoes. We are still wearing our usual clothes but it sure makes me miss hot showers!! Yes, we can boil water and do the bucket thing, but that is quite a hassle! I find the cold water shocks the system and there is no need for coffee!

We head to Savusavu, Vanua Levu at the end of the month, so I apologize that you will receive all these updates at the same time. The island only has one internet dial-up connection and it doesn't work with our Macs. We also have to power on the generator to use the island computer so like everything in Fiji, it requires great effort. ;o) We try to save fuel and only use it for island business. (Plus it is so loud your teeth rattle!) But sometimes I sneak of FaceBook while other webpages are loading!

Please continue to send emails and photos!! We miss you terribly and crave updates!!

Kelly Roy

gigglepic.com

vaportrail.typepad.com

mobile 011.679.937.5958

We have arrived! The past two weeks has been a whirl wind… here are the highlights! We were sworn in at the Ambassador's residence on Thursday 7/23, spent the night in Suva and then boarded the Sulliven Ferry to Savusavu on Friday. 12 hours later we arrived in Savusavu  where we did some shopping – 2 sinks, a mattress, and all the household goodies to tide us over until October! Then we loaded up our stuff into a truck for the 2.5 hour trek down a dirt road until we reached Buca Bay at Natuvu. We then dumped everything into the fiber boat and headed to our island! Once we arrived several young men jumped in the ocean to carry our stuff across the beach and into wheel barrels for the last leg of our journey. 

We get to attend both services on Sunday and have been asked to join the church choir! My mom is so proud!! I need someone to send me the Closer to the Start DVD so I can show them our favorite worship services require a sports bra!! The rest of the time we have been unpacking and settling in. Matt installed 2 sinks and we started a garden. I baked cookies for our neighbors – yes BAKED. From scratch, with no measuring utensils, and over an open fire on a gas stove. We don't have an oven, so we made one with a big aluminum pot. It is a PURE miracle they were edible and I think they were either a big hit or our neighbors feel sorry for us because they haven't stopped bringing us food!! Fresh fish, baked bread, plantain pudding, a slaughtered pig, fruit, etc. 

The 3 chiefs threw us a traditional welcoming ceremony and we attended a traditional wedding feast. Both were fascinating – filled with dancing, singing, colorful decor and of course copious amounts of food. Just about every day we have gone for a walk along the beach or a hike through the island. I understand how people who have lived on the beach hate living anywhere else. The breeze, the sound of the waves, and the view are some of God's finest! We also have an amazing reef in our backyard – the snorkeling is better than any diving we have done!

We have already started working. I finished 17 letters of appointment for the Prime Minister's office and am working on a 3 year strategic plan for the island. We experienced the first day of water rationing yesterday – so hopefully that will be Matt's first project. ;o) They shut off the water except for a few hours in the morning and a few in the evening and then we have electricity for only a couple hours in the evening. It is pretty exciting when the water comes on and the generator comes on – we hoot and holler and are highly motivated to make good use of the time!

The people are incredibly generous and have adopted us into their family. They are always checking in on us and shouting a hello when they walk by our home. The children still shout "Palangi!" (white person) when we walk past but follow it with a hearty "Talofa!" (hello). We have been in Fiji for 77 days and it finally feels like we are getting settled. Since we have moved apartments every 12 months, living here for 24 months is the longest we've stayed anywhere besides our homes growing up! We know it isn't home, but it is the closest we have come the last 10 weeks. 

We miss you terribly and love you very much!

Keli and Mataio

We have arrived! The past two weeks has been a whirl wind… here are the highlights! We were sworn in at the Ambassador's residence on Thursday 7/23, spent the night in Suva and then boarded the Sulliven Ferry to Savusavu on Friday. 12 hours later we arrived in Savusavu  where we did some shopping – 2 sinks, a mattress, and all the household goodies to tide us over until October! Then we loaded up our stuff into a truck for the 2.5 hour trek down a dirt road until we reached Buca Bay at Natuvu. We then dumped everything into the fiber boat and headed to our island! Once we arrived several young men jumped in the ocean to carry our stuff across the beach and into wheel barrels for the last leg of our journey. 

We get to attend both services on Sunday and have been asked to join the church choir! My mom is so proud!! I need someone to send me the Closer to the Start DVD so I can show them our favorite worship services require a sports bra!! The rest of the time we have been unpacking and settling in. Matt installed 2 sinks and we started a garden. I baked cookies for our neighbors – yes BAKED. From scratch, with no measuring utensils, and over an open fire on a gas stove. We don't have an oven, so we made one with a big aluminum pot. It is a PURE miracle they were edible and I think they were either a big hit or our neighbors feel sorry for us because they haven't stopped bringing us food!! Fresh fish, baked bread, plantain pudding, a slaughtered pig, fruit, etc. 

The 3 chiefs threw us a traditional welcoming ceremony and we attended a traditional wedding feast. Both were fascinating – filled with dancing, singing, colorful decor and of course copious amounts of food. Just about every day we have gone for a walk along the beach or a hike through the island. I understand how people who have lived on the beach hate living anywhere else. The breeze, the sound of the waves, and the view are some of God's finest! We also have an amazing reef in our backyard – the snorkeling is better than any diving we have done!

We have already started working. I finished 17 letters of appointment for the Prime Minister's office and am working on a 3 year strategic plan for the island. We experienced the first day of water rationing yesterday – so hopefully that will be Matt's first project. ;o) They shut off the water except for a few hours in the morning and a few in the evening and then we have electricity for only a couple hours in the evening. It is pretty exciting when the water comes on and the generator comes on – we hoot and holler and are highly motivated to make good use of the time!

The people are incredibly generous and have adopted us into their family. They are always checking in on us and shouting a hello when they walk by our home. The children still shout "Palangi!" (white person) when we walk past but follow it with a hearty "Talofa!" (hello). We have been in Fiji for 77 days and it finally feels like we are getting settled. Since we have moved apartments every 12 months, living here for 24 months is the longest we've stayed anywhere besides our homes growing up! We know it isn't home, but it is the closest we have come the last 10 weeks. 

We miss you terribly and love you very much!

Keli and Mataio