Tour II - going to work

My bure is right near the dining area, so I just have time to grab some tea, or I mix up a cafe mocha (my own recipe of instant coffee, cocoa, sugar) or a cup of Shalini's chai (which is a little too sweet for me on its own, so I usually just add a splash to my tea. Bryan, you would love it. She's going to teach me to make it, don't worry.) and grab a bowl of cereal...

Staff bures near the dining area

Kitchen window

Main dining deck

...before heading straight to the office, to gear up for allowances. In the week before students were here, I enjoyed having a swim in the early morning or doing some yoga on the deck.

But now that students have arrived, mornings are my (VERY) busy time, so I have more time to chill after lunch instead. There's something about walking 100 feet to the office (still in your pajamas, on a tropical island...) that makes a busy morning not feel like a problem.

With my tea or coffee and some breakfast, I head toward the office, which is in the lodge, the main building at the base.

Common area in the Eco Lodge

Common area in the Eco Lodge

Nice view, eh?

The office:

My desk

Yoshneel, my office mate

The office is where I mostly live at least until lunch time (except when I need an internet connection and have to take my hotspot upstairs to get a decent signal). In the mornings, before students leave for activities, they have the opportunity to come to me and withdraw money from their allowance accounts, so they have Fijian dollars to spend on snacks, souvenirs, extra activities, and such. This week (a light week) we have around 45 students staying at the base, and probably at least half of them come to me each morning to get some money.  Tomorrow, a new group of students arrive, and we'll have a total of 70.

Each group leaves for daily activities between 8-9am, so I have lots of money to process during that time. Different groups' daily schedules are listed on a white board outside the office.

Once they leave, I have to make sure all the cash balances out, and then I do things like place lunch orders, arrange staff schedules, communicate to the management office in town about who has signed up for various optional activities, who has been not feeling well, etc.

After all the students and most of the staff leave for the day's activities, it's a quiet place. Local staff are here during the day, working in the kitchen, fixing up the facilities, doing housekeeping stuff. (I'll introduce you to some of them in future posts. They're amazing.) All the time, whether the student groups are here or not, there is a very relaxed vibe (even when things are crazy busy), and an incredibly inviting, comfortable home away from home.