Good Lord. It feels amazing to be in town today. I stayed in the village for just over 2 weeks without leaving. I think that's a new record. I thought I was gonna crack after the first week but I found peace with my whole situation.
There is talk of finishing my house soon. My village got cement from somewhere to make footpaths and I was told they would use some of it to make my bathroom/kitchen. I'll believe it when I see it, but it was nice of them to say. Work is coming along too. This past week and next week has been/will be spent gathering information to write multiple grant proposals and letters to organizations for funds for several different projects.
I met this American kid this past week. I was layin around reading on Wednesday afternoon when I heard the very distinct accent of a tourist. Found this 20 year old kid from California standing by the river in my village. He came over and introduced himself to me and the first thing I said was "what the hell are you doing here"..not in a mean way but more of disbelief of what I was seeing. He had come to the village with some missionaries or something like that, dont know exactly. Anyhow, he kept coming around the rest of the week and it was nice to talk to someone while in the depths of isolation.
I recently got a Peace Corps newspaper type deal in my mailbox. They take submissions from volunteers in the field so I'll be sending them stuff to print all the time..I hope they have a sense of humor and will publish some of my articles.
Hmm..yeah, I dunno. Keep on keepin on.

Know what I could go for? A mandolin and a guitar. In a perfect world I'd have a banjo player, a bassist and my clone here to drink whiskey with and play mountain music. Alas, i'm just a lonely guitar picker without a guitar to pick.
Today i'm going to kana vakalevu and go back to the village when i'm full. My lantern got broked so I switched to candles...I like it better, more of a moody kind of feel to the whole bure situation.
Ash is coming for real in December...I can't even believe it. I bet she cries when she gets off the plane, i'm puttin money on it. Any takers?

Ha-roh. Been sometime since I updated you on my deal. Not much has really changed since I first moved into my village. Projects keep being talked about and nothing ever gets done. My house is still without a bathroom and cooking area. However, my cat Bigsby did return to me after being lost for more than 2 weeks. Little scamp. He was carried off by a rogue band of little snot faced kids and he was too little to find his way back across the village. But now he has returned, he's getting big and strong and he is the champion at eating crickets and other crunchy bugs. I wish his breath wasn't so bad, but he's such a cuddler I just try to ignore it. I'm sure he says the same thing about my breath anyway.

All the volunteers gathered in Nadi for about a week of workshops and stuff in the beginning of October. Not much to say about that except it was a blast and I can't wait for Mid-Service Training. I had my first visitor right after I left Nadi. We had some good moments but it was definitely not the right time for a guest and I feel like it ruined a friendship. C'est la vie, right?

My experience in the village seems to be getting more unbearable on the bad days and really really good on others. The extremes I feel there surprise me and I can't imagine living like this for 21 more months. I have to change something. I'll have to find out what that is first. I could go for some more mail and news from home, thats for sure. People keep asking me what I want or need. I'll take a letter with encouraging words, thank you very much. (and a little cash).

Talked to Ashley yesterday and it seems like she is really coming to visit in 2 months. That is very exciting news. Something to look forward too. Hopefully I win some kind of lottery before she comes so we can have a good time.

Yeah, so uhh... I don't know. Weird times here. However I feel more inspired than ever to start writing my first novel. Wish I had a laptop...

I hope everything is cool back there.

Oh yeah, I'm Broke.