back on the grind

What they often leave out in talking about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is that shit happens along the way. Or maybe I just have selective hearing. It's been a while since I've written an entry because my house was broken into and I was robbed- two separate occasions. Cleaning up the mess wasnt easy...

All of that hullabaloo only took about a week so I will begin with the week after:

Working with outreach programs often allows you to attend really fun functions. Last week I went to two days of the U19 South Pacific National Rugby tournament. Teams came from Tahiti, Tonga, PNG, Vanuatu, Samoa, and the wonderful Fiji. Even though we played on our own turf, we lost by one point to the strong Tongan boys. Sad.


Boys from the PNG team


watching Vanuatu vs. PNG

The outreach involved distributing material between games and doing an assessment on the basic knowledge of HIV. The survey is a lot like a test- the idea being the the most misunderstood information will be better highlighted in future IEC material, or at least thats what I would do with it.

Funny story. I was in the post office sending a letter and what do I see? A guy wearing a Cornell tshirt. Now, with all of the second hand shops I thought it was just a funny coincidence that the shirt made its way all the way to Fiji, but since a kaivalagi (white person) was wearing it I thought I'd take my chances and ask. Turned out that John (the kaivalagi wearing the shirt) went to Cornell and after graduating in 2007 decided that he and his friend Keith (a collage mate) would buy a sail boat and sail around until they didnt want to anymore- that was almost two years ago. With them was the first time I've spent any extended period with Americans that weren't volunteers.



Loud Americans on boats


wigs were involved...



playing on expensive things- like boats that cost more than houses

The weekend crept up on me because I spent most of the time drinking with sailors. Saturday was a big day for the office. We were hosting an HIV and sports rally and tournament. It was called 'Walk in the West.' We were collaborating with STOP (the same organization that was doing outreach at the U19 rugby tournament).



After rallying the streets of downtown Lautoka it was time for the games to begin. Two sports; volleyball and soccer. I joined the soccer crowd... and we kicked ass because of me! Semi finals and we're down two points, the games are short (6 minutes a half) and we're clearly going to lose. But no, i came in like a cherry picking wonder woman to save the day- two consecutive goals with my mean right foot- tied, into overtime and we score- we made it. That right, into the finals for the Lautoka Hospital team. I'm kind of a big deal, so start sending in requests for autographs now if you want any chance of getting one.


Sweaty after the soccer games

Anyway, work is still fun and Fiji is still beautiful. I have started to attend medical rounds at the Lautoka Hospital with the Fiji School of Medicine medical students. It gives me a chance to get out of the office when things are slow and still makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something, even though I'm not really doing my job. Yesterday I spent the day in Radiology learning about different bones (broken and normal) and how to tell if fluid is leaking into someones lungs, among other things. Rounds are actually really fun and I learn a lot.

Thats all for now. More to report later.