I moved to the east coast of Viti Levu in Fiji to the capital city of Suva. Really rather a small city but as the country has less than a million people over 333 islands it's hardly surprising. So I donated my time to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies as a Marketing Advisor and learnt buckets about the humanitarian and development world.
The office was a lovely wood floor affair with 5 local staff and about 6 international staff from Finnish to Kiwi. I stayed at a "hotel" as backpacker lodges are not really the done thing since no one really heads to Suva and it rains all the bloody time anyway. But it was definitely a budget budget hotel - no aircon, fans automatically off during the day, no laundry facilities apart from a sink and a tv lounge of joy where you couldn't eat, drink, smoke or be in any way merry inside it!
The first few days were definitely a bit on the lonesome side, but one of my colleagues took me under her wing and I got to housesit for her as well as get out and about a bit for openings, dance performances and the like which was nice to meet people and actually DO something!! After that, Latin Fitness classes were the order of the day, right up my street and met several other volunteer types there and out of the Suva rain came a social life and some Suva grooving. Traps and O'Reillys bar/clubs were the place to be and relatively safe even though I still stood out a bit like a sore thumb! But it was all very civilised - usually dinner and a few drinks first with a group of friends and for those that fancied it onwards for some dancing and more drinks. All things considered the hassle wasn't too bad and most nights of Suva groovin' were pretty good fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment