Spring in Suva

Life keeps marching on so quickly. I'm down to my last two months in Fiji which seems really hard to believe. Two years really flies by, and I'm looking forward to having a longer time to settle in to my next post (Guayaquil, a 3-year assignment).  This year started out with a visit from Dad and Tammy, during which we spent almost a week at Navini Island in the Mamanuca group. We enjoyed a lot of snorkeling, good food and relaxing together. We really appreciated their coming to visit, especially since the trip is so long and expensive to make.

Alex was gone for almost a month in Feb-March for his job, visiting the U.S. Embassies in the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau, with compulsory overnight stops through Honolulu and Guam. He was able to fit in some good diving along with the work he was doing. A highlight was diving in jellyfish lake, full of golden jellyfish, whose sting is not strong enough to affect humans.

During his trip, I stayed busy in Suva with a few different activities.  I needed to wrap up a few projects at work and draft my personal statement for our annual employee reviews (these are a huge deal in the State Department). I also enjoyed attending the Women in Business Awards Gala; one of my colleagues was a judge for this annual competition in Fiji, in which women are nominated and evaluated on their small business or their managerial roles in bigger companies. This year, our new ambassador was the keynote speaker, and several people from the embassy shared a table and enjoyed ourselves at on of the fanciest occasions that exists in Suva (especially since we don't have a marine ball).

The Hindu holiday Holi fell on March 6 this year, and some of my soccer friends brought colors to our weekly 5-a-side game. It was fun to experience a little bit of this culture, close to what I learned about in Hindi class before coming to Fiji.

I've begun with the many tasks required before a State Department transfer is possible: getting travel orders, looking for a place to stay during training, figuring out which training I can get, deciding what to sell here and what to pack, scheduling pack outs in Suva and DC, and trying to do as many of the things I want to do before leaving Fiji. It seems like just as I'm starting to figure a place out I have to pick up and leave again. Yesterday we took a day trip to Takalana Bay to see the dolphin pods in the Moon Reef and snorkel around the reef. I saw squid for the first time!

Lovo pit at Navini Island Resort

With some co-workers after the traditional farewell ceremony for Ambassador Reed

playing colors on Holi