One Week

I leave next Tuesday. Here is my to-do list before I go:
Buy skirts
Buy iodine tablets
Buy fiber bars/American snacks
Get my tennis shoe from Jen
Move out of my house
Buy a swimsuit
Do my laundry
Send out my thank-you cards
Interview for a job
Freeze my Gold's Gym membership
Pay my bills before I go
Say goodbye to my CASA child
Get an ISIC card
Make up the trainings I missed
Check out with HELP
Go to the temple
Pack for Fiji


all that + 28 more hours of work. Can I do it? Perhaps I should have started earlier. I'm such a procrastinator. But like the great Ellen Degeneres says, "why do today what you could do tomorrow?"

I'm excited! And scared.

10 Days.

42.8%

17 Days

and this blog will become much more exciting!

Flight. bought.

JOHNSON/HEATHER
   
SERVICE               DATE  FROM           TO             DEPART  ARRIVE
  
AIR PACIFIC           08JUN LOS ANGELES CA NADI           1130P   510A
FJ 811              TUESDAY INTL           NADI INTL              10JUN
Q ECONOMY                   RESERVATION CONFIRMED

 
AIR PACIFIC           24AUG NADI           LOS ANGELES CA 1020P   140P
FJ 810              TUESDAY NADI INTL      INTL
Q ECONOMY                   RESERVATION CONFIRMED

Long flight. Totally worth it already.

24.7%

Just enough to buy my flight! :)

22.7%

21.7%

This is happening, people.

20.06%

Yay!

Mr. Duplain

My friend Devon Duplain served his mission in Fiji. We went out to dinner tonight to discuss the details/traditions/foods/etc. of Fiji.
Here are some things I learned:
Never touch their heads.
Always take your shoes off when entering a house.
Don't be loud; they are a quiet people.
And, the CRAZIEST one (though the touching of heads I thought was oddly interesting) is that you should not compliment people on things. Devon told me that one of two things will happen when you do that: they will either just give you the item or want to trade. He said that he lost so many shirts on his mission by telling someone he liked their shirt. The Fijian people are apparently in the culture of believing that all things are communal. I may or may not be a very territorial person so this might be a struggle for me.

25 days and praying that the funds will come in.

The missionaries are doing...missionary work?
ps. 14.8%

13.8%

Keep the donations coming!!!

Ever last dollar helps!

11.8%

That's how much money I have actually put towards the trip. That means I have 88.2%  left. I'm not nervous, donations are coming in from all around. Thanks so so much to everyone that has helped me so far!

My friend Jessica went last summer and is telling me all sorts of things that are getting me really excited! One of those, however, is not the fact that we have to wear skirts or dresses the whole time. She told me that the people of Fiji are reserved and modest so even when I'm building homes or doing gardening, I need to have a relatively long skirt on...yay?!

She also told me that the people in Fiji are so nice that I'll fall in love with them instantly. I hope so!
My friend Skyler is there already and has informed me that we don't have warm water. Ha ha, this summer is going to be an adventure indeed!
But I'm SO EXCITED!!!

Let's do this.

 Hello family and friends!
First of all, thanks so so much to those who have donated!!! I will compile a list and put it on tomorrow. If you want to be on that list (and help me not to clean out my bank account to go volunteer out of the country), feel free to donate! Just go to the website and click on "Donate" and put my name in the subject line. Easy peasy.

 I will be keeping this blog updated on my journey to the South Pacific, so be sure to check often!
My little sister Makenzie will no longer be able to make it which is very sad. Upon this revelation, knowing that I would be going to this strange place by myself and not having the funds to do so, I had a small but certain breakdown today. However, I want to do this. I'm going to do this.

As soon as I know how much money I have raised and what more I need, I'll post. So, keep checking! Also, when I get to the beautiful islands of Fiji, I will be posting pictures. So you can live vicariously through me. :)

What exactly am I going for, you ask? Good question...

"In 2010, our teams will return to Fiji for the second year, to live in a rural village and initiate development projects. There is a high level of poverty in Fiji which has become more desperate after recent natural disasters. Potential projects include: disaster relief, organic gardens, food drying, orphanages, business mentoring, microcredit, public health, HIV/AIDS awareness, and construction."

Soon I will have pictures that I took and not just looked up from Google images. So soon yet not soon enough.