well guys, where do i start?! this is james writing my first postcard from wonderful fiji! last weekend we went to the second largest island of the 300 in fiji to coach loads of schools over there various sports. after a 12 hour boat journey for which only the sensible few went first class (own bed!) we arrived and tried to find a 'taxi' to get to the school we were staying in. after a bumpy ride in the back of a toyota pick up (they do this all the time on this island, jump in the back of any pick up driving by! is very nice on a hot day!) we got to savusavu secondary school at 5am only to be met be mrs fisher's 12 year old hyperactive kid named junior. we were all sleeping in the home economics classroom so there were ovens and kitchen utensils everywhere. we did a lot of coaching in the various schools, many of which had never played hockey before, the biggest challenge perhaps convincing the boys that hosckey was not just a girls sport! one of the schools there, st bedes, was right next to the ocean and there playing fields overlooked the most amazing bay you've seen with completely blue water and everything, so good was it in fact that we went swimming in the sea a number of times. our savusavu trip also included a weekend to the village where mrs fisher (the principal of savusavu secondary) came from. again we stayed in the local school and did some coaching, however, there was no hockey as we were coaching the adults from the village who only wanted to play rugby! saturday night involved going to the shaving ceremony of david, mrs f's son. it was all very hyped up but great fun and the spread of food at the ceremony was amazing! after this we went on to a kava drinking session with all the people from the village. kava tastes like a puddle but makes your tongue numb and you very tired! unlike alcohol though, the more often you drink it the less tolerance you have to its effects so as the locals were dropping like flies after about 2 hours, however, myself, tim, roondog and the other james kept going with it until the small hours of the morning where we were also absolutely shattered and ready to sleep on the concrete floor! on sundays in fiji nothing really happens, so we didnt do anything, literally! it was perhaps the most chillaxed day ever! the following wednesday we came back to suva to get back into the 'real' coaching of the local schools around here. however, it didnt last long and we were soon off again. on friday morning we woke up (just and about an hour late) and started the journey to beachcomber island. a 4 hour bus ride and an hour long boat trip we got to the island which has to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. it looks very much like the island in the picture next to this postcard only a litlle bit bigger! a little backgroud for some of you now, is you have never heard of beachcomber it is perhaps the party place in fiji. the island is one resort with a restaurant, bar, watersports place and accommodation, one of the dorms has 120 beds! everything is included in the price apart from drinks. we arrived on friday afternoon and immediately hit the beach, then the restaurant, then the bar, all dressed in sulus and bula shirts (the traditional dress of fiji, basically a sarong and a hawaiian shirt!). the following day was crazy golf, wakeboarding for james and i, a snorkelling trip, then the beach again! that night we went out again, mr timothy shell in a bright pink shirt and grass skirt, was quite a sight! we came home on sunday afternoon back to suva and the cool 30 or so degree temperatures! All in all a great weekend and many wild memories! the next two weeks we have coaching clinics for the local kids during the day as it is their easter holidays from school (dont ask, very strange, fiji time!) anyways, enjoy yourself at home and good luck with any upcoming exams! james