phew...

So Here I Am....
As my dear friend reminded me recently... "where ever I go - there I am"
I have been greatly surprised by the level of culture shock I have experienced returning to australia this time. Before I left Fiji I joked about it, I anticipated it in a "be prepared for the worst" sort of not-really-real sort of a way. I mean after all, its not that long really since I was here last. And its not like I was living in a remote african village... Its not like I haven' t seen a car for two years or anything...
However the shock to my system from being here has stunned me.
Its been like being beaten with a rubber bat... not excruciating or bone crushing...but decidedly uncomfortable. When I have visited for holidays it has felt very different... this time I have opened my eyes wider I suppose... like landing on a different planet and looking around - trying to position myself in this new world. I look around and people are odd... ok so I have been hanging out in Newtown...so that is a reality not a perception... but people walk hunched over, they dress in colourless clothes, they don't make eye contact, and they frown ... people are so serious! I know in Fiji I complained that people lacked initiative and were too much about having a good time... but really - in Newtown most people really look like they need a few bowls of kava and some bula fabric.
In Fiji people say Hi (BULA!), they smile for no reason, they clap each other on the back and laugh with open mouths, heads thrown back and bellies swollen with joy. In Sydney people scurry... heads down.... and I am struck by the sense of "busyness"... of people who are so seriously intent on being busy, on filling their days, filling their heads... (as opposed to Fiji where people are mainly interested in filling their bellies!) People seem to work so hard at being busy! And I sit, in cafes, and I watch... and I see the same people walking past over and over again. Sometimes they are not the same people they just look alike, but sometimes they are literally the same people... walking up and down the same street...walking with purpose, with busyness...but where are they going ?? What is the purpose of all the busyness? What are they achieving? And in that moment the city collapses into one big network where everyone is working so hard to support each others busyness... and nothing is produced but activity. The filling of time... distraction...
and on that note... I'm off for some more distraction... :-)

Hello Australia!

Doing our bit from the shores of paradise....

My future in Australia hangs in the balance.... bring on the election.... :-)

So Long and Thanks for all the Fish...

leaving one lot of bright lights for another...

How lovely that Lautoka turned out its finest to farewell me on my last night :-) I sit on my bed... contemplating the reality of the fact that my cupboard is finally bare... of course unlike Mother Hubbard my inner stores are brimming to overflowing. And outside the fireworks (its Diwali of course) fill the sky, cracking and popping melodiously at times, riotously at others... and the lights flame brightly for a moment and fade away, reminding me that this is indeed the nature of life... Just as my time here as been spectacular and vivid... so too it passes into memories so quickly. Oddly I feel little... a vague sense of reminiscence, a slight tantalising sense of excitement about my mum's chocolate cake that awaits me on home shores, a tickly feeling of happiness at my dearest ones becoming nearest once again... but over-all a quiet sense of well-being, of the rightness of this next step, of moving forward. Let the carpets of life unravel before me :-)....
See you all very soon!

Seeing things my way :-)

As my days slip softly through the hour glass... I store moments in my mind... mental pictures that will be brought out in quiet moments, or when someone says "so what was Fiji like?"....
Perhaps you will sense a theme in the sights before my eyes over the last few days! This week Fe and I resort hopped our way to relaxation and saturated ourselves with luxurious surroundings... Ah Fiji... after the people - these are some of the views I will miss most :-)

The end of an era...

So its all over... including the singing :-)
With many tears and much gratuitous praise of Rhianon the Super-fabulous... I have been farewelled to within an inch of my life :-) (As well as being plied with wonderful gifts - joy!)
My farewell lunch - the official one as opposed to all of the other last morning teas and last tutorials and last days etc - was a humbling and incredible experience as 28 wonderful people stood up one by one and each told me exactly what they think of me and what I have done for them. To see grown men and women sobbing, tears rolling down and dripping off their chins onto the table, all for the sake of saying good-bye to lil ol' me was an awe inspiring experience that I will never forget.
After all of the emotion we all needed a stiff drink... and much merriment was had indeed. For the first time in 20 months I actually got to put aside my "teacher" boundaries and just hang with the gang - and it was a hoot! These kids know how to party! NOW I find out :-)
Ah well... back to the land of family and friends.... good bye life changing job, good bye fabulously friendly and now so familar faces, good bye resort life ...
HELLO HOME! SEE YOU SOON!

New Faces...

So its really happening - it is really all coming to an end...
And here are the lovely fresh faces of the new era in Pacific Counselling and Social Services. I suspect the trainees (not to mention my boss) were a wee bit scared of Polly - the up-dated, dread-locked, tattooed "cool" version of me... but her warmth and capacity for beer has won them over :-) And despite being a funky melbourne chick, polly did survive the farm experience well...but seemed somewhat happier with my afternoon's orientation agenda - the resort pools of course :-)









And Tiffany - well, if anyone can organise Fiji she can... she is a 26 year old single mum and already knows exactly how to do and find everything she wants, and who to talk to to get it! On one of her first days I called her to check if she needed help finding her way into town, only to find she was not only in town but enjoying a quick pedicure!
Sadly her piano did not fit in the shipping containers she brought with her... but everything else did :-) I am sure that as her adventures unfold (neatly) her friends will be as green with envy as her Goooorgeous son in his new Dinosaur outfit :-)

Feels like such a shame to be leaving just when the road-show has hit town, but... life moves on and so shall I. :-)