Week 2: Nadi Teaching and Hidden Markets

COUNTRY: Fiji
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Teaching
WRITTEN BY: Issy Steadman

Week two and our unibreak was fully underway, our daily routine involved waking up to the playful laughter of our host brothers, sharing breakfast with them before school, jumping on the jam packed Nadi bus and arriving to school around 8:30.

We became even more involved in the classroom this week, for Michaela this meant working with individual students on their reading, writing and maths to help them reach the term goals set by their teachers. For Isabelle this meant individually working with a specific group of students and focusing on time telling.

We have both developed close working relationships with the teachers at Nadi Special school whom have been giving us an insight into the challenges they are faced with and creative ways to deal with the lack of resources.

We have also been working closely with two professors from Norway who are funding a number of projects at the special school and educating the teachers on how to best deal with the special needs of our students. After two weeks at the school the students have come to trust us to take care of them and assist them in their learning. Wednesday night meant the anticipated state of origin game and it was great to watch it with our host family who were split between Queensland and NSW, but luckily the Queenslanders took home a victory to the dismay of our host dad.

The week flew buy and we found ourselves really knowing the ins and outs of Nadi town finding hidden handicraft markets, visiting local temples and of course spending an afternoon or two unwinding at Smugglers Cove. Unfortunately, our second week was a little bit slow as we had a minor run in with some tap water at one of the local resorts.
However, this was not to deter us as we had a busy weekend to get ready for. The weekend involved us making our way down through the towns of Lautoka and Sigatoka to the Coral Coast and to Michealas second cousins resort, Matanivusi, an Eco surf resort. We were given a true taste of the coral coast weather which involved showers and cool winds all weekend.
However, this did not stop us from spending hours each day snorkeling on the coral reefs and attempting to catch some of the waves the coral coast is known for.
In the crystal clear water we found all types of coral and fish but unfortunately none of the bigger sea creatures, hopefully we will find some before leaving Fiji though. Our weekend was full of ping pong games, spa sessions, relaxing massages, walks along the beach and walks up to the peak of the mountain to check out the beautiful view spanning the coast.

We also got to experience some more Cava ceremonies at the resort along with some traditional music with Michaela committing herself to the drum for the night. Sunday meant time to head home and after a two hour drive through the greenery of western Fiji, we were back to the dry surroundings of Nadi town and ready to tackle our third week at the Nadi Special school.