On Monday, I moved into my new house with my new family. My host parents are quite awesome- she is a real estate agent, and my host dad is retired from the Fijian army, and they have 6 kids and 4 grandkids. They are the type of people who love having everyone over to visit, and will never turn anyone away. I have my own bedroom and bathroom in the back of this very large home. Mom always cooks and won't let me touch anything in the kitchen, though she is very busy with real estate business all of the time. Dad stays at home, but may have to go to the Middle East for work (he works for a US company) at the end of the month. It is a little weird calling them mom and dad, but they insist. Sorry real mom and dad- I'm not ditching you, I guess I just have two families for a few months! One of my host sisters has a 3-month old baby who also lives with us.
Life is quite comfortable at their home. Everyone likes to spend time in the living room, watching tv, drinking tea, or just talking. I really don't know where our house is yet in relation to the rest of the city, but some of us are going to go explore later today and find out where we all live. This family also just purchased a 280 acre plot of land west of Suva about 45 minutes, which they are selling in 1 acre plots, minus 80 acres for their own new home. Their new home sits on top of a mountain, equipped with pools, horses, etc. I guess the real estate business is doing well! Let's just say that I will never see the amount of money in my lifetime that it will take to buy this place. Host mom said that we get to go there on weekends and ride horses and play in the ocean. It is also kind of cool that some of our host families are friends. Some of the dads are army buddies, and other moms are just best friends. It is still a little awkward, but they are very welcoming.
This weekend will be awesome. We are going to the town of Levuka to spend some time at the resort and to take a tour of the town. Levuka was the old capital of Fiji in colonial times, and is actually on a different island. That means boat!!!!!!! We will be staying in the royal hotel, and we have lots of free time to hang out in the pool and just relax. People are good at relaxing here, because it is so hot all of the time.
I am starting to miss the US, as it has been almost three weeks since I left home. Just little things like having a hot shower, being comfortable in my surroundings, and seeing friends and family are starting to eat at me a bit. I'm glad that we have a cool group to hang out with, or it would get pretty sad at times. Its good to have good friends around. So, send me emails or messages and let me know how things are going! Grad school stuff is beginning to be annoying as well- the University of Hawaii won't respond to me, after they asked me for interview times. I know they want to interview me, but it is just a little discouraging that they won't respond. I hope it all works out!!
Moce (goodbye!)
Austin,
ReplyDeleteCindy gave us your blog address today. So we had fun reading all your entries. Sound like you are getting along just fine. Sounds like you have a big house full of family. Must feel like your at home. Maybe a little. Hope your doing fine and keep us updated.
LOL Karen and Maynard