Fiji

BULA!

Yes this is like a super late and I told all of my family it would be up waaayyyy sooner but, life gets in the way and we'll just say it's on island time. Okay so for the first 2 1/2 weeks of August I had the amazing opportunity of going to Fiji for a humanitarian trip with a group called HEFY (Humanitarian Experience For Youth). While I was there we built bathrooms in a village that was very poor.

Before I go into more detail, I would just like to lay it out there that my parents did not pay for this trip for me. I get a lot of questions asking how I payed for this experience and I am proud to say I payed for most of it (my wonderful parents payed the $500 downpayment). It took me a couple of months to get enough money for it but I worked 3 jobs (receptionist, dog walker, volleyball coach) so I could pay for this AMAZING trip.

The total cost of the trip was around $3500 which included the plane tickets, all of the meals, the materials needed for bathrooms and a t-shirt with a fanny pack. I didn't have to pay for anything while I was there except for souvenirs which was so so nice because that was one reason why I chose this program because there wouldn't be extra costs.

There was 23 people total in our group, 2 trip leaders, 2 parent leaders, 12 gals and 7 gents. Everyone in my group was amazing and it sucks that I made so many new friends and we only had 2 1/2 weeks together.

Sooo we all met in LA and had a direct flight to Fiji that was 11 1/2 hours. Fortunately the screaming 4 year old screaming and kicking my seat behind me only went on for 3/4 of the flight so I was able to sleep for a quarter of the flight!!! Also, when asked if you want eggs or French toast for breakfast on the plane, always ask for the French toast! (unless you're in front of me and there's only one left) The eggs had a delightful nacho cheese in the middle of it with with a surprise tang to it. It was a wonderful combo with the scratchy blanket and I'm sure lice filled complimentary pillow. But hey! I was on my way to Fiji so I didn't care one bit!!

When we arrived in Nadi Fiji, customs stripped my prized beef jerky from me but it was okay because my trip leader said that I could have all of his beef jerky that he had with him. I almost married him on the spot but that also could have been because his last name was savage... We had a super gnarly bus that took us everywhere take us over to a boat dock where we boarded onto a boat for our first weekend adventure. It was an hour long boat ride to an island called Wayalialia. I'm pretty sure about everyone fell asleep on that boat ride except for me (Shocker me not sleeping right??) When we arrived on the island some amazing villagers sang us a welcome song on the beach when we were coming in on a row boat. This island I'm pretty sure was on the bachelor or something like that because it felt so familiar. It was also probably one of the most beautiful places I had ever been (beach wise). We went straight up the resorts dinning and had breakfast. We had about three breakfasts that day. That's when I knew I would love Fiji, they don't skimp on food. Right after we ate, we all quickly changed into our swimsuits to go swimming with the sharks and snorkeling.

Snorkeling is one of those things where when you first start breathing in it you feel like you're about to die because you can't catch your breathe and then you finally settle down and then you realize you can't see anything. Luckily one of my fellow new friends reminded me I had to spit into my goggles and wow did that make a difference. Fiji is beautiful and the fish and sharks are prettier. I could've spent the rest of my time there just chilling in the ocean swimming with the fish and exploring the underwater caves. Unfortunately that wasn't an option. So instead we moved on to the next great thing which was hiking to the top of the island called "rambling rock" and watching the sunset, which was a pretty good plan B to me. After the hike, the wonderful resort workers set up dinner on the beach for us and one of the locals played the guitar for us. I felt so selfish at that moment that I was in Fiji sitting on the beach eating a candle lit dinner with live music and my family wasn't there. It also a really good feeling though knowing that I had brought myself there.

The next day we had made bracelets with the locals and then played volleyball. After that we headed back to the main island on the hour boat ride. When we got back we checked in at our hostel and got all settled into our rooms. Our hostel was right on the beach and it had two pools. It was pretty nice. I was just grateful that I had a bed to sleep in. We all slept in bunkbeds which was awesome because it was like a big sleepover every night (boys and girls had separate rooms).

Okay now that I am sure I have filled everyone with boredom I will now go by with the day-to-day scenario that everyone is DYING to know about. Also these times may be a little off but this is just from what I remembered, most of the time I just followed what people told me to do so I think these are the right times. Also its important to remember that we were on Island time!!

7:00 am - wake up, get ready for breakfast

8:00 am - meet everyone for breakfast at the front of our hostile... Breakfast usually consisted of fruit, toast and eggs, sometimes oatmeal, a couple times we had pancakes as well. One day we had spaghetti, eggs and beans that was surprisingly really good.

8:30 am - scripture study/devotional

9:00 am - Leave for the worksite... This meant that we had an absolute party on the way to the worksite on our bus. I don't think there was a bus ride where I sat down the whole time. I was usually up and dancing to the music getting everyone hyped for the day to come.

9:15 am - Start work for the day, this is where we met with foreman and split up into 6 groups of 3-4 and went to our different worksites and started building bathrooms from the very beginning. With digging a whole for the base of the bathroom and a 5ft hole for a septic tank, to building up a bathroom with a flushing bathroom with a roof and a door.

12:00 pm - Lunch time: Every day, HEFY provided PB&J sandwiches, bananas, chips, and muffins which was amazing... however, the village also cooked lunch for everyone which was beyond amazing everyday! Egg plant, chicken, fish, lots of fruit, and different soups were the regulars that were always absolutely fabulous.

12:30-1:00 pm - Go back to work and hustle your little booty off

3:30 pm - TEA TIME!! This was honestly the best time ever because we had lemon tea with milk inside it and lots and lots of pastries that the village made for us. The only thing I hated about tea time was that it meant we didn't have as much time to work after but I'll forgive them.

4:00 pm - Go back to work and work even harder than you did before!! 5:00 pm - Leave your worksite and stall with the children and give them chocolate and toys to play with before your counselors make you leave

5:30 pm - Go back to the hostile and shower or jump in the pool as a substitute for a shower before dinner

6:00-6:30 pm - Dinner time!! For dinner most of the nights HEFY had someone cook a big buffet style dinner and we would go over to the local church and eat it and then maybe play basketball and just hangout. Some nights we went out to dinner like McDonalds, Burger King, a place called "The Awesome Grill" and a Chinese restaurant called "Grace Road Kitchen". I have absolutely nothing to complain about with the food. It was always amazing and delicious. I seriously gained weight on this trip because I ate so well. (Also because of the hard work I was doing so... I'm not sure if it was fat or muscle I was gaining, but either way I'm sure I needed it"

7:00 pm - This is the time that we would hangout with the locals and play games or go to different homes and visit with them. One night we went to a hospital and visited the sick, it was amazing.

9:00 pm - Head back to the hostel and hangout with friends, go play soccer or volleyball on the beach, have "beach walk, deep talks" shower, detox, just kind of rewind and enjoy yourself.

10:30-11:00 pm - Have a nightly devotional

11:30 pm - this is the time we were supposed to go to be I'm pretty sure but this was the time when the most intense connect four games were played, journal writing was done, readings of political books to each other were discussed, learning about new friends lives, stalling while dancing and brushing your teeth kind of moments happened.

12:30-1:00 am - Lights were usually out by this time and everyone was in bed trying to fall asleep before the next amazing day of work ahead.

Okay so this is what we did every single day and it was absolutely amazing! I wouldn't change anything about it

So one the second weekend, we drove 4 hours to a city called Suva. It was on the other side of the Island but definitely worth it. We stopped on the way in who knows where, but it was an adorable little market where we had AMAZING burgers and pizza. I ate so much and it was the best thing ever. Once we got into Suva, we went to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint's temple which was absolutely stunning. After we were there for a couple hours we went to McDonalds for dinner.

Okay, heres where it gets fun... SO we went to where we were supposed to stay and they suddenly didn't have room for us anymore or something like that so we had to find some ghetto instructions to a new place that was gated off and kind of sketchy, but like so legit at the same time. This place was so dope though and there were showers and beds so I was not complaining.

The next morning we went ziplining in the middle of a rain forest and it was raining and tropical and soooooo beautiful. Now everyone please remember I had already been in Fiji for over a week and I still couldn't believe I was there. After zip lining we went to an amazing old ladies house where there was a volleyball net, rope swings, chickens, weird dolls, hammocks and net fishing. Her house was in the middle of nowhere but it was right on the ocean. It was so stunning to be there. The whole time we were there it poured, but it was warm so it felt nice. That night we went back to Nadi and relaxed the rest of the night.

On Sundays we went to church both weekends and spent the whole day there hanging out with the members and having fun. The crazy thing was that the little kids would literally just run up to you and hug you and never let go. We would dance and sing and twirl around and these cute little things would never get exhausted and never let go. Everyone in Fiji was so easy to talk to and so fun to be around. The first couple of days I was there, one of the ladies asked me how I felt about America's new president. We both just laughed about it for a little bit and moved on to a new subject. It was just so relieving to know that we all live in the same world with the same issues, with maybe different political views and backgrounds but the same love for life.

Fiji taught me how pure the world can be.

It has never been easier to love anything or anyone before.

I can't wait to explore more of the world and see everything that God has created. This trip changed my life. Leaving Fiji was awful. I seriously was depressed for the first little bit after I got back because I had just made so many new friends and memories I would never forget and I had to leave everything behind.

There is so much more I could say and so much more detail I could include but the main thing is just that this was the best experience of my life so far. I am so grateful for the amazing opportunity I had to go on this trip

If anyone has any questions at all about any part of the trip I would love to answer them!! Just send me a message below :)

I love all of you and hope you enjoyed this much delayed and late post

-ally b

#Fiji #Adventure #HEFY #HumanitarianTrip #NakavuVillage #Nadi #Suva #GoPro #photographer #ziplining #rainforest #ocean #swimmingwithsharks #snorkleing #netfishing #volleyball