2 hospitals in 4 days. story. of. my. life.

bula!

i am back on the mainland in fiji, about to head to my second hospital in 4 days. gooood times.

fiji has been decent so far. the weather is pretty gorgeous and we have a lovely island pretty much all to ourselves. the food in incredible, the view is unbeatable, and the people are fun. it's been pretty interesting to see the group dynamics, as there are people from all walks of life are on this trip. i'm sure you can imagine though that there is definitely drama, as we're on an island that you can walk the perimeter of in about 12 minutes and it's super hot all the time, and people are always low on sleep. add in some bounty rum, and you've got a great show, as i learned saturday night.

one of the highlights of the trip so far has been the fact that we got to meet the future king of fiji! we were personally invited to his island to drink kava (ground pepper roots i think?... it's a narcotic, so your body goes numb after a couple sips. very interesting and quite disgusting tasting, but you can't really say no to the king) and hang with his team. we all dressed up in traditional fijian clothing... the guys were in what were essentially skirts and the girls were in these super unflattering hawaiian print floor length dresses.

the past week on the island has been spent studying, studying, and studying. we've had a bunch of tests on benthic lifeforms and inverts, along with tests on fish ids. everyone is a little stressed, so we'll be glad once the testing is over and we can really start everything.

i, on the other hand, have yet to do much of anything. my ear started hurting as soon as we got to the island, and 3 dives into the week, i went completely deaf in my right ear. the next day, howard (the head of the program) took me on an hour long boat ride to levuka, the nearest semi-large island. it was quite an experience. the "nurses" couldn't figure out how to assemble the little flashlight thing that looks into your ear. and then they realized they didn't have batteries, so howard had to run to the store. there were no doctors in the hospital and 2 of them refused to come in. they tried to prescribe me meds over the phone without a single person looking in my ear. then howard called the doctors and started namedropping and they hustled right in. the female doctor came in wearing a tshirt with a giant wine glass screenprinted onto the front, camo sweatpants and flip flops. after finally figuring out how to piece together the flashlight thingy, they gave me some meds and sent me home. they were going to send me home with ear drops as well, but they couldn't remember where they were kept. good times.

the next day, my other ear started hurting and going deaf.

now i am back in suva, heading to a private hospital. here's hoping they figure it out, as i haven't even been allowed to go swimming or snorkeling. it's a bit depressing watching everyone get kitted up to go diving every morning in the bright turquoise water filled with sharks, turtles, jellies, stingrays and tons of cool fish.

not sure when i'll have internet again, or if i will before i get home. pray my ears heal super fast so i can get back in the water!!