10 Things I Didn't Do in the Last Year:
Drive a car
Go surfing
Ride a bike
Play football
Eat a tangerine, spinach, broccoli, nachos, good pizza, or deli meat
Play a video game
Wear a jacket
Use WiFi on my computer
See snow
Take a hot shower*
10 Things I Did in the Last Year:
Jumped off waterfalls
Drank too much kava
Went diving with bull sharks
Learned how to properly husk and open a coconut with a machete
Was the guest of honor at a wedding where I knew no one
Ate turtle
Learned how to play rugby
Learned 2 new languages**
Had people try to engage me to their daughter
Met the president of Fiji
Additionally, there are the things I've done that have accomplished things in the Peace Corps sense. I'm not going to discuss the goals of Peace Corps service here, but if you're not familiar with them I discuss them up there ^, under the 'About' tab. At this point I don't really actively think about the cross-cultural exchange that happens, but its a constant and pervasive aspect of my life here. Just today, I had to explain what 'noon' means, because they don't use the term here. The things I've done with the Ministry of Fisheries are more measurable but much less numerous than the cultural interactions I've had. Since I've been at my office, we've substantially improved office organization, started surveying and mapping all of the field projects my office is working on, and started working on the plans to build an aquaculture hatchery for my island. The other things like the help I've given people with writing letters, applications, and reports, and the time I have spent becoming friends with the people in my office are less tangible but I think will have more of an impact on their lives, not to mention my own. Though I guess that remains to be seen. And thus began year 2.
*Ok, I've taken a couple. I can count all of them on my fingers and toes though...
**Kind of
ps- I added a new album of photos. Here's the link, it's also up there ^ under the 'Photos' tab.
Good morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Fiji? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Fiji in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia,39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez
Looks like you got it!
Deletehttp://cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com/2012/08/aerograme-from-fiji.html