Jeff Liu

Yesterday, the second to last day at the worksite and the wonderful village we now call home, we once again proved to be a resilient team determined to finish what we set out to do. People were laboring, people were sweating and people were laughing. Just like any other day here.

I myself spent the good half of the day assisting the tremendous dental team we have operating in the village for no charge. The faces of those in pain, those scared and those nervous stepped off the bus with a fright of the “guy with metal things about to poke at your teeth”. To their surprise, we welcomed all with a happy smile of healthy teeth and more importantly, a healthy intention. To help. It was the first time I was thrusted into a situation where I was the person standing beside the patient at a dental…chair…thing (shows how much experience I have) rather than sitting on that very dental…chair…thing. The rewards came immeidately. All of them were so gracious and thankful of the help we were giving them. It was hard to see them leave, although knowing they were all better  made me feel just that little much more appreciative of the services we often take for granted. Even if is the simple trip we take to a hospital, dentist or orthodontist.

Sitting here looking around on the last work day, many things come to mind. Only to be washed away with loads of positivity for my and their future to come. Children are running around, the structure being used already, makes us feel just that much more ecstatic about finishing this shelter. Heck, we’ve got a party tomorrow as well, to celebrate the closing of our journey here in Wavuwavu (hence Closing Ceremony the name). To me, it’s ot a closing but rather another openning. To bring us out of our very own shelter, and to give a future for those around. “Off to work!” says some bosy  leaders around me (sadly not any of the teachers either), so off I go indeed,

Take care everyone, happiness and smiles all around. Until next time…Carpe Diem!

The second day was one for the history books. Actually, it doesn’t belong in any book. Only in my heart, mind and soul.

It was a wonderfully sculpted day with sprinkles of positives and positives. Yes, no negatives. A hike up the most beautiful view I think I will ever witness and be a part of, was nothing short of being spectacular. Smelling the ocean breeze from afar, feeling the long grass beneath me graze upon the sides of my legs. Struggling to get higher. This moment was one that lifted my spirits after a morning of mixed emotions. It’s not every day, or every year, or every lifetime that I would be able to witness the sacrifice of a goat, and seemingly gaining a wider perspective (a global one at that) on just where the food on your, and my plate comes from. Nothing short of reflective.

Coming down from the hike, certain thoughts came to mind. About the next day ahead, and about the next years ahead. What I should put as a priority in my life, and the people that make it what it is. A jolly old man at this moment is beside my shoulder sharing his enthusiasm about the project with me. Not some computer, not some television. But a living person, with a heart of gold. Just like all the Fijians I’ve come to call family these short 2 days.

This family of mine has faith. Faith that I witnessed on my second day here in the land of smiles and cheers. Arriving at a service, their love and care for each of themselves and us immediately struck me as nothing short of mind-blowing. Nothing short of being Fijian. The short stay ended with some questions for myself, in finding out for myself what exactly faith is composed of. A question only to be brought up, and not solved. It’s just not meant to be I guess. Things fall into place when they should. The Fijian way.

Sitting here on the only intact bench left, the others being used for the structure we’re building, I’m beginning to feel the fatigue. The third out of five days. The tired feeling of digging a giant hole the size of 6 feet by 5 feet. Spent a “hole” two days on that one. I know you’re laughing. The breathless feeling of working till sweat drenches us, water fills us, and questions be brought up and answered. Makes us, sitting here, a truly happy camper. We are merely living a window in the life of a Fijian here at Wavuwavu, and I can honestly think and feel that this place has led me to another. A place of peace. Love. Care. And complete tranquility.

Back to work. Another hole to dig. More connections to make. 2 more full days ahead of this promising experience. Until then, Carpe Diem!

(Miss you all back home! Keep reading everyone! You are all no less a part of our motivation and dedication.)

Its funny how after hours at an airport. Hours in the plane.
We’re here
It’s quite comical actually, the trip here. Experiences, laughs, and well…lots and lots of tired faces all around. It was a long wait at each stop for us, but nonetheless eventful. YVR was home. After 10 hours at LAX, I can now call it home too. Except for that disgusting refrigerated wrap…
Nadi airport; a wonderful first taste of the nicest people I’ve ever met in the World. The sound of “Bulas” and the smiles behind waves were all such an overwhelming welcome for us. Settling down below our now trademark fan in the Nadi airport, we waited patiently for our next flight.
45 minute flight to Labasa. 45 minutes of sitting in a metal oven, cooking us physically but not taking away our enthusiasm for the events to come.
A nice bus ride followed. A bus ride with an hour full of bumps and holes, once again embraced by welcomes all around, from both sides of the street…(even the seemingly “wrong” side of the road we were on since they drive on the left side).
We pulled up at our hotel for a minor stop. But for a major surprise Shell necklaces all around for us newly crowned Fijians. No words could express or categorize our happiness and pure ecstasy.
We continued down our road from flights, to buses to the wonderful village of Wavuwavu.
People waited. People cheered. We were nothing short of being the most fortunate 28 kids on the face of our loving planet that we’ve discovered around us and in us.
We had a wonderful ceremony with dancing, singing and of course…nothing we could miss: a great meal.
Our whole experience so far can be pretty much summed up by the sudden rain that fell yesterday the first day, as I sit here day 1 of the work week frantically typing my blog. They dealt with it. The rain came, but the smiles kept coming stronger.
Singing. Dancing. Happiness. And nothing but pure joy to have each other.
I feel the same way.
Carpe diem; see you later!

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” – Lin Yutang

It’s difficult enough traveling to a place where your sole motive is to enjoy yourself, from the outside pressures and stress that we exert on ourselves. The up and coming trip to Fiji is absolutely no exception. The motives are so undetermined, even with constant reminding I struggle to grasp onto what it is we are largely trying to achieve, whether for us, or them.

The art of traveling, is not so much the act of doing so, but the subtleties that come along with it. Upon reflection, we see, feel and drench ourselves in these subtleties and realize that the small things are what adds up to the final puzzle of a trip. Lin Yutang claims exactly this, that upon returning to our sanctuary of familiarity, we will soon recognize what it truly felt like to have been away for experiences never to be forgotten, a culture never to be undermined, and people never to be mistreated. Although the “old familiar pillow” sounds negative in the quote, I claim it not to be.

Allow me to say that our pillow (current reality) is still undoubtedly an essential part of our Fijians’ lives, although one could say this trip would be…getting another pillow beside it. Bringing our memories of the trip into our dreams, and our dreams into our future; the experiences gained guiding my life as it comes.

I believe I will learn the most upon coming back, and not during the trip. That is, when I come home and rest on an “old familiar pillow”…

Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all.

Sam Ewing

Labor, the word and it’s meanings, can be interpreted in countless ways. One that stands out in recent discussions recently amongst our class, is the labor of those unfortunate all around the globe, revolving around it’s delicate axis of value on selfish monetary success. This gives us reasons to feel discouraged about our World, and the treatment of people who deserve just as many rights as us placing ourselves in front of technology with shelter and basic (beyond) necessities being met. However, I can choose to approach this topic with a simple mindset: the sorrow felt for those in pain and an understanding of where I am and what can be done to aid, help and assist.

My understanding of their situation is relative to mine, to this point only to be considered a “comparative study” being preformed at a third person view. This will change drastically in the near future, turning into living their reality, and feeling only a fraction o their everyday lives. This being said, my sympathy reaches out to those working manual hard labor for cents a day, dollars a year. At our jobs and occupations here in a developed country, we have the choice to say no, raise our hands in disagreement and last but not least, ask for a raise.

Raise.

We as a group of students, are raising money to allow those in need a chance to raise their voices and hands. We see your raised hands for a better future.

Carpe diem and go colts!

“Education is a companion which no future can depress, no crime can destroy, no enemy can alienate it and no nepotism can enslave.” – Ropo Oguntimehin

The occurrence of a thought during the holiday season has become much more prevalent. The knowledge that we, living in the home with the warmth of our shelter, are sharing our appreciative festive times with much more material wellness than needed.

As most of us students pass this moment of thought, we realize that our days at school are soon to once again blossom, and begin anew once more. Many of us complain, many of us rejoice about the upcoming experiences to be shared with our friends and peers alike. No matter our reaction, it has occurred to me specifically how lucky we are to even have this choice of emotion. Many of the people in the World today, have no choice of rejoicing or complaining about school, as this is merely a dream for one day in their lives. If they become fortunate enough. This is something we take for granted, and go to each and every day. Learning. Education.

Back onto the train of homework, assignments and due dates that seem too close to not be feared. Oh well…let’s make the most of it, as anything less, would not be respectful of those that aren’t like us.

Happy holidays everyone, happy new year and most of all…time to hit the stretch run hard in light of those who can’t.

Carpe Diem.

“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” – Ryunosuke Satoro

Stereotypes. Radiotypes. CDplayertypes.

None of the above make any sense do they? Okay fine, the first is arguable.

We as individual drops into the ocean of our population, contribute each and everyday to our belief and direct translations of each and every person in our lives, whether for a fraction of a second, or for the rest of our life. These contribute to society’s stereotypes. Not “one’s” stereotypes, but “ours”.

Being a fan and student of the Arts, and specifically Performing Arts, its hard for me to wrap my head around the concept of not stereotyping. Something I believe is done subconsciously in the minds of everyone. Looking at a script for a play, even the name has an effect on me. The first line of the character. The movements of the character. The “stereotype” of the character. Why is this so?

In class we attempted to dissect such a question, but with little success…came many realizations and advancements so to speak. Part of which, is our realization of the belief we put in our media, to portray images, or series of it, that are of a realistic nature. This being said, thus shaping our views on these people. We then translate such ideas, opinions and subconscious knowledge processing into stereotypical characters that we stick onto people we pass by in our lives.

We as individual drops, that make the ocean, make the diversity of marine life (how fitting, for all of us traveling to Bamfield in the matter of hours). We, construct the differences of life forms (everyday habits of our lives), ecosystems (communities) and our personal or “fish”onal preferences.

…there I did it again. Totally. The ocean is only consisted of fish. Good stereotyping.

However, I do not blame myself. We all do it. And we will all continue to do it. The only thing we can do is acknowledge the presence of such behaviour, and try to do our best in not abusing our individuality but using generalized portrayals.

You see a website with journals Because thats all blogs are. I see emotional attachments to words displayed upon a platform that can be shared with a global network.

Are we wrong? No.

Look at the next person you see on the street one day that you haven’t met before, and try to let them create you a new personal image of themself. Rather then your own. Say hello. It starts that simply.

Until next time, Carpe diem and go Colts!

“So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth.” – Baha’u'llah

We as a team stood as one.

We pulled off an amazing feat…with no dry run.

Our cause was true, our hearts were kind

although of our screaming voices, I’m sure some did mind.

The things we learned, the things we gained

Saying good night to it all, was of course a pain.

Seemingly impossible to describe my feelings,

for our goals were shot down, right through the ceiling.

The money we raised was not for us,

but the lessons we learnt must be discussed.

The teachings of our world that we acknowledged that night,

lent a hand to our own belief of whats right.

Appreciation and gratitude to all those that helped,

I say sorry with no voice, I can no longer yell but only yelp.

Shout out to Nash, his cause and his foundation,

for our memories are now of a compilation.

With each high-five in our ending lines at the door that day,

there is only one thing I can say:

Genorosity, gratitude and understanding fills us all,

We as the human society, need to hear the needy, and answer their call.

We.

One step at a time.

One penny at a time.

We.

Thank you to all those who were a part of that wonderful night, its success and all the smiles we had or helped create.

We.