Fiji. It's just paradise. It really is straw huts, outdoor showers, sandy floors, blue/green water like you see in pictures, fly nets over the beds, amazing food with Fijians playing music in the background, beach volleyball, hiking, finding coconuts-cracking them open- eating/drinking what's inside, cave excursions, all on lots of little volcanic islands scattered in the ocean. Some islands are maybe 3 miles wide; some islands (like that last one we stayed on) could fit inside the area of a high school running track. I'll say it's not perfect, but it's paradise. I mean you'd have to love a remote summer camp atmosphere to think it's paradise. Sometimes there are no showers, sometimes you have to do weird dances, sometimes you have to lay in a hammock for hours. To me though, that's paradise.

Below: The Boys

Fiji: White Korovu/ Whitesandy Beach Resorts

Coming home soon. Will be bouncing back from Orlando to Jax getting things organized and it looks as though I'll be in Jax from January to the summer. My international job prospects did not produce much fruit but I'm always looking for opportunities.

If you can send me your phone number via e-mail to esten5@yahoo.com - I'll catch up with you when I get back. My phone was stolen a while back.

Our last night in Fiji really capped off the trip. The night was winding down, after midnight, and about 15 people pulled up chairs together on the beach of this tiny island (you can run around the whole circumference in one and a half minutes!) talking about our trips. Fiji seems to be a final destination for most travelers and we went around the circle- everyone talking about why this had been the best trip of our lives, why they had left home, what this time had meant to them, and having not much of an idea what's next.

At some point in your life, whoever is reading this, I hope you decide to leave. Leave wherever it is that is home, and go. Go to Aisa, go to Africa, road trip around the US; put yourself in a situation that will allow you to see how others live. Go for as long as you can, a week in Italy, or 6 months in Europe. Learn how others work and play, raise families and go to church, cook their meat and what they put eggs on. Listen to how others outside the US talk about your homeland. Listen to how others talk about their own. Hike unfamilair terrain. Listen to the rhythms of traditional music. See stars at night you have never seen. Lose all your things, find what you are looking for. Watch other sports. Find out why Kiwis bicker with Oz but like each other maybe more than the Pomes.

My story is not like anyone else's. You have to find your own trip maybe- but go. At some point before it's too late go! Suggested Reading: Through Painted Deserts (Miller), Ecclesiastes (Solomon)