A very first.

I have experienced a lot of firsts here in Hawaii. However, this first I am not so very happy about. I have lost my voice. I am straining to talk to people and it is only making it worse. I have never lost my voice before. If you know me, you know I'm a talker too and it is VERY hard to sit and not talk. I have pretty much tried to trap myself in my room so I have no one to talk to. It isn't working though because I just tell my friends to come and see me in my room. Anyways, I went to the doctor yesterday and he said I just have a common cold and that my vocal chords are just strained from coughing so much. I was told to take a cough supressant and expectorant and that I would be fine in a couple of weeks. This makes me sad because I am supposed to sing in the Fiji Day celebration at the PCC on Sunday but I doubt that I'm going to be able to. I ask you all to pray for me!! I would really appreciate it because I have been working so hard for this all semester. Thanks!

Also, another first, I rode my bike to work. It is actually the first time I've ridden it somewhere (besides the parking lot). It was interesting. I just kept pedaling and praying that I wouldn't tip over or get my feet caught in the pedals. I was super scared but with practice I'll be able to ride it everywhere.

Polynesian Cultural Center

This past week I have been sick but on Saturday I ventured out of my room and went to the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC) with one of my friends. We were lucky and one of my friends that works there gave us her discount so we could get in for really cheap. I love the PCC. It is so much fun. My friend and I didn't see much except for Fiji village. We are both friends with all of the Fijians and Erica is from Fiji herself. We got there and Vika asked me to videotape her dancing in the canoe show. The only catch was that she didn't have a videotape for the camera she got from school. So, while Erica watched the "culural presentation" in the Fiji village I was running all over PCC trying to find a shop that sold the tape she needed. I finally found it and I went to the canoe show and did a wonderful job videotaping (in my opinion). After that, we all hung out at the Fiji village. I bought some poi balls which the New Zealanders use and everyone was trying to "teach" me how to use them. They were all joking that Fiji was turning into New Zealand. After that I went to the "cultural presentaion" where my friends were dancing a new fan dance from Fiji. I have a video of it and I'll post it later because I'm not using my computer. I then went on a bilibili (or bili squared ;) ) raft ride. It was fun. My friend was pushing us around and he kept threatening to jump off. The canoe tour guide told everyone I was his hostage. I was really surprised by the bilibili because it is really small and I was afraid that I would sink it but my friend said it would take a lot more than me to sink it. Then it was time for us to leave. I was kind of sad that we didn't get to see other villages but we were having so much fun at the Fiji village that we never left.

Later that night, my friends Erica and Tina went with me to the night show called "Horizions" It showcases all of the countries represented in the PCC. It was amazing. My friends kept laughing at me because I was just sitting there in awe. I loved it. Let's just say that if you come to Hawaii and you do not see the show you are crazy. It was fun too because a lot of my friends dance in the night show and we were picking them out. I cheered really loud which was a bad idea because I was already losing my voice. Overall though, it was a great day.

Sunday turned out to be a not so good day. I was awake in the middle of the night because my throat was on fire and swollen. I took some medicine hoping it would calm it down a bit but it really didn't. I finally fell asleep around 5:45AM. For those of you who are not members, it was General Conference weekend which is when the leaders of the LDS church speak to us. It happens every six months and there are two sessions on Saturday and two on Sunday. Anyways, needless to say, I missed both Saturday and Sunday so I'm going to have to make it up. I've made a vow that I will try to watch one session each night this week but we'll see how that goes because I have two group projects due this week. I will however get them watched or read. I'll post pictures and video from Saturday later!

Pretty Moments

So I have been having some good moments here at BYUH. I call them my pretty moments. A couple of weeks ago was the Fiji Club gospel forum and we were all asked to dress in traditional Fijian attire. My friends were very gracious and they gave me a sulu. Here is a picture of me in my sulu:
It is basically a wrap skirt. They traditionally wear it under shorter skirts or dresses but they sometimes wear them by themselves--which is what I did. I felt like their Barbie doll because they chose my outfit and then told me how to do my hair. I even put make-up on!! It was really fun and I felt pretty for once. After the forum, my friend Vika and I took some pictures and here is one:
She is hilarious! Right after this one she looked at me and said,"Why are you wearing those glasses? Take them off! People want to see your pretty eyes in the picture!" I was laughing so hard. It's not exactly what she said that was funny but it's her accent and how she said it that made it funny. Then, we started making faces and playing with the camera and she took this very controversial picture:
I posted it as a profile picture and one of my friends asked, "What's up with your profile picture? That 's not the Jenn I know!" Apparently it was a very scandalous shot. Who knew I had it in me?

Last weekend I went to the Samoan club dance with my friends and my friend Erica and I took an hour each getting ready to go. We did our hair, our make-up, EVERYTHING! Then, we decided to stop at the Fiji Club pool party on the way to say hello. Well, when we got there, we decided that we would rather go swimming than dancing. So, we ran back to our dorm rooms and put on our swim suits and went back and went swimming. We did all that work for 5 minutes. Here is a picture of us after we got all ready:
Here is a picture o us when we actually made it to the dance:
I personally think we look better after swimming than before. That's just my opinion though. The dance was fun and I danced forever. I feel super comfortable dancing here because there are so many girls my size who are "shaking what their mama's gave them." I feel so blessed to be here.

I just want to say that I am doing well and still loving every moment of being here. I love Hawaii and all it has to offer. I never regret the decision I made to come here. I hope you are all doing well! Moce! (Pronounced Moe-They...It's Fijian for bye)