Saturday, January 31, 2009

My daily walk(most days)

This is the start of my almost daily walk. The first picture is our guard shack and gate which is just outside of our apartment. We have an opener for the gate so the guard does not have to be awake. Usually leave the apartment at about 6:45 am-yes, both of us- and we hope that the sun is shining. Most days are pretty good and I've only been soaked 3 times-considering we get 134 inches of rain per year here in Suva. We come thru the gate and turn right going up the hill. The street in Prince's Rd and is one of the 2 busiest in Suva. The temple is only about a











block from the apt. and looks great early in the morning. The statue of Moroni was replaced in January as the old one had weathered and was more white than gold. The Fijians here believe that it is solid gold and that someone has gone up there and taken off one of the feet(both are there but the angle from the street only let's you see one).









Mom is showing one of the interesting trees and next along the walk is the new US Embassy going up. We have the Australian, Indian, Malasian embassies on the same street. Next is a cellphone(called mobile phone) booth with a picture that Mom likes. You can reup your prepaid cellphone charges at the booth.










This is Singh's grocery with the gas station. Very convenient and close to the house. I stop here for a paper nearly every day.






This is Bel Air flats-this is the only vehicle I've ever seen there. It's a clean, nice looking place but no guard. Wouldn't live there.






This is a typical house. Usually have 2 stories with parking underneath and normally have an extra apartment or 2 for rent. They mow the grass with a weedeater and normally have a lot of flora. Air conditioning is pretty optional and most might only have a unit in the bedroom like our apartment.









All very green and palm and coconut trees everywhere.









This is a consulate but no signs so we don't know what it is.








Local Baptist church. There are 323 registered churches in Fiji. Methodist is the main religion with Hindu close behind.



































This is the point where Mom usually turns around and heads back. I continue up to the village and then to the police post. This is still all uphill and when it's hot-it can be fun.






Kids at the bus stop awaiting the school bus. Notice the uniforms. Each school has a different uniform. Parents have to pay fees for each child and also buy notebooks for each subject along with pencils, etc. Can really be difficult for a lot of families.





Car infront of a family house. Most Fijians do not have a car and do not dream of having one. They take the bus or taxi if the can afford it- and do a lot of walking.







This is the village cemetery. You can see cloth on one of the plots. They keep the site decorated for 100 days and then remove the decorations. Each village has their own cemetery if they have enough land. This is on the hillside behind the main bus stop.





Village view on the opposite side of the street.
















This is on the way back after I have turned around and more kids waiting to go to school.







If you look hard, you can see the bay in the background. There are water views on both sides of the street as we walk.








These are stairs leading down to several houses. Kind of dark-but all this area is very hilly and most of the houses have steep back yards.

































I don't know how good this would be-This is about $1.60 in US currency. Not everything is this cheap. Haircuts are $2.00 US, but Mom's hair runs about 17 times that amount. In other words, I get 1 haircut a month for my entire mission and it = 1 time at the hair salon. Go figure!






This is looking to the west and you can see a lot of water, mountains and steep hillsides.









This is Singh's grocery on the way back- I go in and they just about have my paper ready every day.








This is the current temple patron housing. It will hold about 30 people jammed in and is not really too nice. The new patron housing on the temple compound will hold 70 and will be much nicer.










Our favorite fish and chips place. Never tried the burgers but the fish is fresh.





North view of the temple nearing the apartment. The temple is the nicest looking building in all of Fiji. Sits on a hill and cannot be missed. The rest of the complex is to the left of the temple in this picture.

The 2 reasons I walk on this road are 1) sidewalk all the way and 2) no dogs- so I don't have to carry a "big"stick.



Back to where we live. Will move out on Feb. 20th and move into another apartment on a temporary basis for 10 days or so until we can move into the temple missionary apartments. It's been a long wait but we'll be in the new apartment for the last 4 months of our mission.




































Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Our 1st ever adult-only vacation





























Blake and I had an absolute blast in Vegas. At about a 5 hour drive, you can't beat the air fare. We stayed at the beautiful Venetian, which we highly recommend (something to consider as rates are great right now). I had been to Vegas a bunch as kid and as a rebellious high-schooler, and I was pleasantly surprised at the new, cleaner Vegas. Laugh if you will, but our goal was to have an exciting fine dining experience, and that was certainly achieved. We hit the restaurants of our favorite Food Network chefs (Emeril Lagasse's Delmonico and Table 10, Mario Batali's Carnevino, and Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill). Words can't describe the food, so I won't make an attempt, but suffice it to say that we were in heaven. We hit a couple shows: Blue Man Group and Jersey Boys, both of which were exciting. We had tickets in the first few rows and center of both, so it was a great experience. All shows and restaurants were in our hotel (with the exception of 1 in Caesar's Palace), so technically we didn't have to even leave the delightful confines of our hotel, but we did venture out a couple times. Again, the Venetian was beautiful and contained anything you could possibly desire in regards to shopping, food, and entertainment. It was also pretty fun watching drunken fools throw quarters in the trash I MEAN slot machines. Thanks to my thoughtful husband for treating me like a princess. Love you all. We so enjoy reading your contributions to the blog.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Emma the Model

Emma in her Zulu
This is Emma Posing!

Full Body Shot of our little model


Emma loves playing the Piano..


She thinks it's the coolest thing..

Emma was having a blast walking around in her
heels..
Cookie thank you soo much for making
this Zulu for Emma, I truly Love it!







Happy Birthday Blake

Classic Blake Face!

Happy Birthday Blake!




A little Brotherly Love..