This just in ...

Countdown until Fiji: 14 days. What does this mean exactly? It means ...

• 14 more hot showers
• 14 more days of constant internets and gmail/facebook chatting
  
• 14 more days of reliable electricity and water
• 14 more days of flushing toilets
• 14 more days of actually trying to care how my hair looks
• 14 more days of watching trashy television
  
• 14 more days of clean underwear
• 14 more days of no kava in my body
• 14 more days of any kind of weather below 80 degrees and humidity below 80%
• 14 more days of wearing pants
• 14 more days of junk food
  

The packing list has almost completely been covered, there are a few things missing that I will pick up from Great Outdoor Provisions in the coming weeks I bet. I've been stocking up on cotton undies - which I am told wear out pretty quickly when I am washing them on an ACTUAL washboard ... not my abs, but the real metal kind. Also have my leatherman ready to fix anything and ... of course ... travel Scrabble. I wonder how many people I will be able to teach in Fiji to play Scrabble. According to my research, the Fijian alphabet is similar to ours, but letters like F, H, P, X, and Z are rarely used - so much for those high scoring letters! I found a clip of someone reading a phrase in Fijian and it is here: http://www.omniglot.com/soundfiles/udhr/udhr_fijian.mp3. You have my permission to be very amazed when I have the ability to say all that without laughing, spitting, or blowing raspberries everytime I mess up. For those who are curious, he is saying: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Oh yeah ... I'm deep.

As far as communication goes while I am away, I will have a cell phone - I KNOW! Bet you didn't expect to hear that. I obviously don't have that number yet, but I will also have Skype on my laptop but I don't expect easy internet access. I think calls and texts to me will be free (for me) and as soon as I figure out the cheapest way for you to call I will post it. You can search for me on Skype using my email address (julana.r.miller@gmail.com). Also - you can send mail! I know ... step back into the early 90s why don't you, that's what you are thinking. Well, snail mail can be fun! My address for training is:

Juliana R Miller, PCV
Peace Corps/Fiji
Private Mail Bag
Suva, Fiji Islands
South Pacific

I am going to have an amazon.com wishlist of books since I predict having free reading time while I am there. I promise to be good with communication, but I can't make any promises on the Fijian mail services. I have also been told that packages be sent in padded envelopes not boxes as often as possible because boxes get opened more often.

2 weeks to go and counting ....