Sarah has been and avid traveler from the start! She has been traveling to Mexico with her family since she was in Kindergarten. When the decision came to choose a focus for her college education, the choice was simple: Spanish! 
One of the few native Coloradoans known to exist, Mark is returning for his fourth year with Global Works. Mark earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Northern Colorado and his Master’s degree in counseling from Colorado State University. 
Jen grew up in the “Apple Capital of the World,” also known as Wenatchee, WA, but has lived in a variety of cities from L.A. to Minneapolis and finally feels at home in Boulder, CO. Truth be told you’d probably find her in South Africa or Vietnam if she could drop everything to travel and do service work.
Originally from the Bay Area, Adam is a sportsman, educator, and world traveler by nature. Adam enjoys an active and healthy lifestyle that includes ample bike riding, spontaneous adventures, and any competitive sport that he can finagle his way into. Adam has been substitute teaching in the Bay Area for the past year and most recently in New Orleans where he will begin teaching full time in the fall of 2010. Welcome Global Works travelers, parents and friends. We are excited to share with you trip updates from around the world. As our main office receives updates from the trips we will update the page as we receive news from the field.
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Greetings from your (rather awesome) Fiji leaders! We are super excited to welcome all of you to 4 weeks of a life changing trip that will guarantee fun, adventure, community service, new friends and lasting memories. As your collective leaders you will find that we’ve traveled around the globe, experienced many diverse cultures, worked with tons students and will always embrace new adventures. We plan to bring this awesome energy and experience and are very excited to share it with you!
Here are just a few things we’re looking forward to…
- Seeing the world through your eyes!
- Sharing the joy of fun, laughter and enriching conversations with you.
- Watching as you grow and evolve as you experience a new culture.
- Supporting you as you as you challenge yourself outside of familiar comfort zones.
- Scuba diving for the first time!
- Making lifelong friends with the Mountain Village community and family members.
- Watching you develop new lifelong friendships with your fellow peers.
We hope you are just as excited as your team of leaders and we look forward to meeting all of you!
Travel safely (and pack lightly!)
Cheers,
Fiji Leaders
Adam, Jen, Sarah and Mark.
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Update #1: Bula from FIJI!
Travel Day June 25th:
Today was full of meeting Global Workers from New York, Colorado, Boston, and California. Also, we met people on the New Zealand Fiji trip. After an 11 hour flight,which included watching the Justin Bieber “Never Say Never” movie, we were more than ready to set foot on Fijian soil. The weather was not what we expected. It was cloudy, but the bus ride to VoliVoli was still entertaining and fun. The ride was bumpy and rainy, but there was beyond gorgeous site seeing with small towns, villages, and natives on our way to Voli Voli. Our first destination!
First day ( Voli Voli ):
Arriving at Voli Voli at around 10 in the morning on june 27th we were pumped to be out of the airplane and off of the bus. We found out who our roomies were and soaked in the views from our rooms. After eating our first lunch in Fiji, we had to ice breakers with the team. Playing the name game, asking questions and getting to know each other. We then had some fun playing volleyball along the beach with the Fijian dive team in the POURING rain - after the game, we were soaked with wet clothes and we all charged the pool and jumped in. Following our escapades in the pool, we had an amazing dinner and the first night of sleep after travel was welcomed with open arms, full stomachs and many laughs.
Snorkel day:
Today we woke up refreshed and energized! We started with laying on the beach and pool side along with collecting amazing sea shells! We ate lunch and then snorkeled the coral reefs at Nananu-I-Ra island. The boat ride to the island was a magnificent way to see the islands in another way! The warm ocean water and colorful reef was mesmerizing. We saw neon fish and our leader, Jen saw a small reef shark.
Tomorrow we head into RakiRaki town to buy our sulus and we will meet up with our Cultural Ambassador, Kali. He will be with us during our two-week stay in the village. I can’t wait for our homestay in Nananu village to begin on Thursday!
Peace,
GW Fiji
Update #2:
BULA!!!!
Although we have only been here for three days it seems as though we have known each other for forever. So far it’s been an amazing experience and we have had a ton of fun from the snorkeling to the future promise of a fabulous time with our home stay family. The other day we went snorkeling at a beautiful reef that was about a fifteen minute boat ride away. Once we arrived at the reef we looked over the edge to see the crystal clear water of Fiji. The water was as clear as glass and you could see everything from above. Everyone on the trip, even those who have never snorkeled before, hopped in. There were many interesting fish and many blue star-fish that none of us had ever seen before; one of the leaders even saw a reef shark.
Today we went into a small little market/town, which to Fijians was modern and high tech, but to us it was small and shabby, which made it fun and interesting. Here we walked around and ate delicious Fijian food such as a variation of chow main (lamb, chicken or vegetable) chow main, chop suey or curry. All of it was delicious but at the very end we all saw this tiny green pepper that was a little bit bigger then your finger nail. One person took a bite of half a pepper and later we all took a bite of one. It was nothing like all of us had thought it would be. It was definitely the most spicy thing I have ever eaten. We started sweating, crying, and then due to the spiciness, our tongues and even our ears started to heart. It was extremely funny and seeing everyone’s emotions was definitely worth all that we endured. After that we got sulu’s which are pieces of cloth that are wrapped around our bodies on Sundays. We also just walked around the town which was in a small square formation. After we had seen it all we hopped back on a bus and as we were leaving we saw a bunch of small Fijian kids that were so cute and they all wanted to give us high fives. What an amazing day it was!
Tomorrow and for the next two and a half weeks we will be staying in a host family’s house in a small village. We hope to become family to them and to just make their lives a little bit better. We will be doing community service such as building a community center and helping children learn English and geography. We are all very excited for the journey to come, enjoying each day as it comes with new adventures. By Taryn Samet
Update #3:
NANANU VILLAGE: Day 1-2
Dear Readers,
Hi. Yesterday we arrived at Nananu (The village we are staying at… I hope I included enough “Na’s”) We were greeted by the entire village in a ceremony called “Sevusevu”. They sang to us (Fijians have voice like angels) and they gave us kava to drink, a very popular beverage made from the root of the kava plant. That was my first experience with kava. I am now a veteran consumer and see why Fijians love it so much. Let’s just say it has relaxing effects.
Today we started our community service. We mixed cement for the community center and planted flowers for a garden. While the Fijians believed it was “cool” I was drowning in a pool of sweat and we are now all very sore. It was worth it though because we all felt accomplished after a hard days work (and we rewarded ourselves with kava). The people are extremely nice and the homes are interesting. My family has 3 trillion members yet they still provided me with a room to myself. We have working shower and a flushing toilet!!!! (I put the exclamation points to express my gratitude) All around the village animals run free and make a lot of noise (Cows, chickens, roosters, dogs, goats and frogs) I would have love this had it not been for a cow that stuck it’s face in my window in the middle of the night and mooed with it’s eye staring into mine. But hey, I’ll learn to live with it.
Sincerely,
Matthew Fastman
P.S. If you are not my parents and you are wondering about your specific child, he/she is doing great!
Day 3
Bula!
Today instead of working on a service project, we woke up, ate breakfast and got ready for hike. After covering ourselves with sunscreen and bug repellant, the group set off for a hiking adventure in the grassy mountains surrounding the village. As our hike progressed, everyone got very sweaty due to humidity and minimal cloud cover. We stopped in the shade of the tropical trees to drink water and rest along the way. Once we reached our final destination it was worth it. It was a waterfall that many local people believe to be the source of the Fiji Water spring. The water was cold and clear and as soon as we got there everyone hopped right in, including our Fijian guides. Then it was time to head back but we stopped to enjoy some coconuts from a grove a trees on the side of the trail. When we got back to the village lunch was ready but we were all so tired we could barely enjoy it properly. After lunch, we had free time till tea time and after tea time we all hung out till dinner. In all it was a very day!
Emily Adams
Day 4
Mai Navaka Yandua? Can I come into your house?
We are in Fiji, 1,000,000,000 miles away and having an awesome time. (Holla at cha Mom and Dad). Our brains are fried like a Fijian plantain at tea time after having spent two and a half hours sweating buckets in a non-air-conditioned church service. Although it was entirely in Fijian, we could understand the occasional Jesu Christo. Like our dear friend Matt already explained, the Fijians have voices like angels – they can harmonize in a way that the talented musical group Boyz II Men would be jealous of. Sundays are rest days so after changing out of our wonderful Sunday’s best (traditional Fiji clothing, lent to us by our Naus and Mongus, our Fijian Moms and Dads) we devoted our time to our new friends and our Fijian families. We started a game of cards, only to be joined by a parade of Fijian children who were fascinated by Emma’s ginger locks and Carlie’s baseball sized blister from yesterday’s hike. Emma shared her Model Magic with her brothers and sisters who proved to be transfixed by sheer magic that is modeling clay. Despite our ridiculously fun adventures we are missing you all at home, either in Colorado, California, New York, or Massachusetts!
Mode (Goodbye) For Now,
Carlie Rowlett and Emma Maltby
Photos:
Update #4:
Scuba Day: Today our Global Works group traveled back to Voli Voli for a day of scuba diving. Like most people on the trip, it was my first time to dive and I was beyond excited. Shortly after arriving we met our three scuba diving leaders- two Fijians and one Australian. They would be the ones who would soon take us out on our boat and then down to explore the coral reefs. The Fijians were beyond friendly, just like all of the others in Nananu Village, and they made me feel very safe and calm. We began with a practice dive in a pool as our instructor took us step by step through the various methods and hand signals of diving. After the practice dive I was feeling very confident and even more excited than ever to jump on the boat and head out to sea. The group had a quick lunch (a much needed break from Fijian food) then made way to the beach. As we were sailing towards our destination, I looked over the changing colors of the ocean water- from dark blue to patches of bright turquoise- I imagined how amazing it is going to be once I’m swimming in it. My imagination wasn’t far off. As soon as I splashed into the water. I noticed two things, 1. The water was incredibly warm and 2. This is actually happening!. The group was divided into three smaller subgroups and mine was the first to head down. I could not believe all of the things I saw. The reef was filled with bright colors and fish darting about of every color and pattern ever imaginable. I remember one of my favorite views was a school of “zebra fish” as I call them due to their black and white stripes that were swimming about in a huge orange tree-like piece of coral. Unfortunately I did not have my camera, but I don’t think it’s ever possible to forget the things I saw. In addition, I witnessed countless blue starfish, little yellow fish, and a seemingly endless colossal of mountainous coral. One creature I thought was especially cool was a large clam and when I swam down to touch it, it immediately shut its mouth along with all of the neighboring ones too. The excursion was amazing to say the least and when my group arrived on the surface, I had no idea that it had lasted 45 minutes. After all of our gear was removed and I was catching some rays on the top of the boat I decided without a doubt I would become a certified diver when I returned home.
Nananu Village Life: Some say, “There is no place like home”. Before I entered into Nananu village I believed that as well. Within the first second of stepping off the bus the village gathered together and presented us with a native song welcoming us into their families. Looking around at my peers, not one of them wasn’t smiling from ear to ear. I shook everyone’s hand, heard all the villagers names, and was given a gorgeous handmade flower necklace placed on me by my homestay mother followed by a big kiss on the cheek and a heartwarming smile, all within the first hour. It’s an amazing sensation to go from feeling like a tourist to suddenly becoming a part of this blissfully different culture. When I awake in the morning, I put on my Sulu and step onto the front steps, almost instantly the village kids come scattering from different home’s to hold my hand and carry my things to breakfast, as I walk down the path, my arms full of little kids, I hear “Yadra (Good Morning) Elise! How did you sleep?” from almost every villager that happens to walk by me. By the time I reach breakfast my mood has been transformed from sleepy and groggy to happy and grateful to be able to become a part of Nananu village. Few people in this world will ever have this amazing opportunity to be surrounded by such warmth. When I sit down with my Fijian friends, although some know little English, there is an endless amount of curiosity about our lives back home. When I describe the way that we live, with all the technology, the houses and cell phones, they are blown away. But what they don’t understand is that I would give up every single one of those things to become a permanent resident here, because what I have learned is that material things will never in a million years make me as happy as this small village has. When I exit this village, there will be tears, but I know that this will not be the last time that I will be here, because I have truly found my second home. Vinaka (Thank-you) Nananu, you will never be forgotten. Elise Capodilupo
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