Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Since we got here this has been pretty much our routine. We wake up about 5:30!!! This is probably a continuation from the MTC. I have managed to sleep in to 6:00 once! The first thing I do is start laundry. The machine is so slow to fill that it takes about a hour. Then I fix breakfast. Toast, eggs for Ralph today. The eggs are not refrigerated when we buy them, so I,m nervous to try them. Some nuts and cereal for me. The milk is suspicious too. So I have not tried that. Then I get in the shower which is scary!! Today a large bug was already in there, usually just a lot of ants. The ants I,m used to. They have been everywhere. And when I read sitting on our bed, the bedroom is the coolest part of the flat because it has a small air conditioner in the wall, the ants crawl on me. I don,t like this but can tolerate it. By the time I,m done in the shower the laundry is ready to hang or flip in dryer. We get dressed and head out. So far we come to the church offices. But we actually now have an office downtown in an old building that used to be the offices. It is next to the first chapel built in Fiji. It kind of looks like an old army barracks. Each office has a small air conditioner. They are in the process of making some changes so I don,t know where we will be. I do know that we are going to a different island to a small town Savusavu. The couple that is there have let us know what they are leaving. Everyone says it is hotter. I don,t know how it can get hotter. I,m pretty soaked after dressing in the morning. And remain wet and sticky thru out the day. The ants are crawling on me as I write this. Lunch is just pretty much grabbing something. Everyone has been very helpful and nice. And yesterday we got a truck!! A hilux by Toyota. It is brand new and very nice. We have a back seat and a black cover stretched over the bed. It looks like a little tent. The church doesn't buy red vehicles but this was all that was available. And the Chinese consider it good luck, which has made me happy. We will need good luck to drive around. The roads are narrow with a ditch one side, no shoulder. The taxi drivers are crazy and drive fast!! And pedestrians have no mercy. They will run over you. Also huge buses full of people,lots of people hanging out the open windows. The is the only transportation here. Taxi or bus. No one has cars. I think I have already told about the driving. Wrong side and wrong side steering wheel and gear shift. Last nite as we left we wanted to drive around and get used to the truck. We got lost and it took is a long time to find our way home. Of course we have no cell phone yet. The houses we went by had no car, no phone and looked like no electricity. We hated to ask for directions because we can,t understand what they say. But we finally fond our way home. I will end here for today. I have been keeping a journal of all our adventures in Fiji. It is beautiful here and everything is green. Love to you all mom and dad xoxox