Friday, June 8, 2007

First few weeks

Alright, so I have finally been able to make it to a computer that allows me access the the blog site here. It feels like a lot of time has passed since I left, so it's hard to know where to start. Everything is going very well. Upon arrival in Fiji, we spent 3 days in Nadavi, which is just a bit North of Suva (the capital city); these days consisted mainly of general orienatation and some intitial language training. On the Saturday after arriving, we were sent of to our host villages in small groups. There are 30 of us in my training group split between 6 villages; about half are environmental volunteers, the opther half are health volunteers. As it currently stands, there are five of us in my village; Kiova, which is a small coastal village of about 200 people about an hour and a half from Suva. I have been placed with a fitting host family; my host father is a diver and fisherman who has four sons around my age. Staying in the village has been lovely; the sense of community within the village is inspiring and the people have been overly welcoming and generous. The Peace Corps has been keeping us pretty busy with language training and technical seminars, but in my free time I have been able to run just about every day and fit in a few games of touch rugby (rugby is huige here). I'm still unsure as to where I will be placed after the three months of trains; currently we are scheduled to to find out on July 4th, and as you can imagine I am eagerly anticipating that day. Unfortunately my internet time is a bit limited, so cannot as yet go in to much detail; but suffice to say that I am have a wonderful time, the people are great, and I am highly looking forward to getting out there and working. I will write again as soon as possible, and I will try to get some pictures up soon.

Cheers.

p.s. For those who have inquired, I have made my first sulu purchase (a sulu is the professional garment worn by men in Fiji that resembles a skirt), and i will certainly get some picture of me rocking the sulu as soon as possible.

7 comments:

dave said...

Sounds freakin sweet brother. Glad to hear things are going well. Good to hear you're running and gotta love the sulu. I'll definitely have to get one of those. Miss ya and love ya man.

Jessica said...

Aric I am so glad to hear that you are having such a good time. You have no idea how pumped I am about your sulu purchase-I am anxiously awaiting the pictures!!! Nothing to exciting to report here, promise Ill work on that. :) Until next time...

Miss you and Love you!!

dave said...

p.s. Ritter is coming out with a new album in August. Let me know your address so I can send it to ya.

Unknown said...

Good to hear you are alive and well in the native land they call Figi. And with your long hair and girlish figure, I'm sure you will look great in that sulu. Be careful, I hear those Figians swing both ways.

Stay in touch and send pictures!

tbickel said...

sounds great, can't wait to hear about ur final destination. going to see some band called wilco thurs. hope they're good. do not believe mary about urine dump, u know that could never happen. the U continues to lock down so. fla.

go hogs

write ur mother

Mary said...

mr. b I hope you enjoy Wilco--I can't make it.

aric--Mo's cousin told her that he and his friend aric (i feel like that may be YOU) are having a beard-growing contest. If it's true, than I'm putting my money on you. If not, well...grow a beard and wear your skirt and send pics.

love to love to love ya,
mp

Denise said...

Hey Aric

Your Dad finally sent me the link to your blog. This is pretty cool. You left me off your email list boy!

It sounds like you are having an amazing time! So glad to hear it. The language barrier kinda makes me nervous. Ken still wants to visit.

I saw your Dad this past weekend. Let's say he was very subdued! Hurts when there is no designated driver. LOL We had Brett's Graduation Party 6/16. Boy was it hot here! We had Volleyball and Corn Hole set up...but it was too hot to play. Everyone basically stayed in the shade or the bar. Brett (Mr. I Hate the Sun) and his friends spent the whole day and night in the pool! Everyone had a great time...sorry you missed his parties. Mi-Mi and Norma spent the day inside...but everyone came in to chat with them. I think they did alright.

All the Rellar's asked if we had heard from you yet. They ALL say HI and can't wait for an update. Gary and Karen brought Nick over. Tammy's mom is not doing very well. It looks like she has to go to a nursing home.

Your Mom and Jessica went to Brett's Graduation. Then we had a Cocktail Party at our house afterwards. Brett graduated with Honors! Woohoo!

We got Brett luggage for Graduation. He goes..."What am I suppose to do with that?" My reply was "Kid, we are moving you out...your headed for UM!" He finally got it and laughed.

Sorry my post was sooooo long...you have missed alot of family outings!

Ken and Brett say HI...and we miss you.

Love and laughs,
Denise