Thursday June 8, 2006
By Jodie Ferguson

Another exciting adventure with Bring It Promotions was about to start.  With twenty-one people coming from various states and schools, we were eager to play volleyball and tour Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia.  Arrive first to LAX from Birmingham, Alabama came Erin and Maggie with their mothers Marsha and Kathy.  On Wednesday, they toured various places such as Malibu, Los Angeles, and Hollywood to pass the time before the 1130 pm departure for Nadi, Fiji.  Sarah and I also arrived the night of the 7th  from Atlanta and got a hotel for the night to rest up for the upcoming tour.  Luckily, we were able to meet up with the girls from Alabama and spend the day at the Santa Monica Pier before heading to the airport.  Soon we were joined by Megan from Atlanta, Tori from Jacksonville and Chris from Los Angeles.  The list of people continued to roll in: Kim and Kelly from Jacksonville, Nikki from Virginia, and Meghan, Kamryn, Caitlin, Taelor, Mariah, Chelsea, and Stacy along with the other coach and my Fiji roommate, Kirstin. After everyone was finished checking in, checking luggage, meeting one another, getting food, and going through security, we waited at the gate for about an hour before boarding. To our surprise, we were riding on a double decker 767 aircraft. Although not many of us were able to sit next to anyone from the tour, we were making friends with other passengers and hoping to sleep. The plane departed at 11:30pm Pacific Time, and the trip to the South Pacific began. The ten hour plane ride consisted of two meals, neither of which was extremely appetizing but sufficient. Most people tried to sleep; however, good rest is hard to come by in a middle seat. We were entertained by our own personal tvs with movies and music. I personally sat next to a Irishman on a world tour with two friends and a surfer from California who is going to Fiji to participate in a competition. I also had time to finish making ankle bracelets for each of the tour members.
Arriving early in Nadi, Fiji at 5:00am on Saturday, June 10, we made sure to count our twenty-one people to realize that we almost left a bag of volleyball gear on the plane…no names mentioned CJ and Tory. J First came the line through customs before baggage claim and the bag security checkpoint before being greeted by our Fijian tour guide, Dan, from Southern World Tours with gorgeous shell necklaces. Kamryn and Chelsea said that we had been through a total of seven lines in the two airports combined at this point. Too many! Looking dreary from the long journey and confused with the variation in time zones, we were sleep deprived. We skipped over the International Date Line and skipped Friday as well. Little did we know how long this Saturday was going to be.

Saturday June 10, 2006

After converting American dollars to Fijian dollars at the airport, we were ready to explore Fiji. We left the Nadi airport around 6:45am on a 45 passenger bus with Dan, a.k.a. The Man a.k.a the local legend. Before the four hour bus ride to Suva, we stopped at a local McDonnell's to satisfy our hunger for the time being. After stuffing our faces, we once again got on the bus to listen to Dan on the loud speaker informing us about the island. Many of the girls slept and missed Dan’s stories about the history of Fiji as a nation, local customs, and even a fascinating story about cannibalism in which he explained how a foreign missionary by the name of Reverend Thomas Baker accidentally touched the head of a Fijian Chief (the head is sacred to Fijians) and was promptly eaten by natives, leather boots and all.  Small shreds of the original leather boots can be found in a local museum   Most importantly, we learned several important words: BULA is the greeting for hello, how do you do, bless you, and can be used at anytime of the day; VINAKA means thank you; and MOCE (ce pronounced as th) means goodbye. However, we must not forget to do as the Fijians do and work on Fijian time which is a much slower pace than what we are used to in the states.

Also as described in the pre-tour emails, Coach Kirstin gave each of the girls a quiz on the quick facts of Fiji which many of the girls passed. The bonus question: What is the name of the skirts that the Fijian men wear? Answer: Sulu. We made two quick stops: one at a local shop to purchase souvenirs and look around at the scenery, and the other at The Pearl, the resort where we would be spending our second day on tour, to purchase festival tickets for tonight. Soon after we stopped at the Capricorn Apartment Hotel in Suva in which we would be spending our first three nights of our tour.

The hotel was welcoming, the staff was very kind – all of the kids got their luggage and went to their assigned rooms. We were gong to rest for an hour or so before eating and going on to the gym for our first match! Only one team was scheduled to play, however after some of us had already showered, CJ informed us of a change that both teams had to play. Yikes! Boycott! We dressed and left for the gym, and we were entertained to say the least on the way: our rides were two, low riding, custom painted and strangely upholstered VW mini vans – holy 1971! We packed ten people in one and eleven in the other. Off we went with the music blaring and Megan singing until Dan started teasing  her.  Of course she ignored him and sang louder.

After an adventurous (scary) ride to the gym were greeted by the Fijian Volleyball Delegation President along with some ambassadors. Introductions were made, and we took the court. Our younger team Kamryn, Mariah, and Chelsea were assisted by Meghan, Stacy, Taelor, and Megan. The match was slow and scrappy. Even though we put up a good fight, we were worn out by the traveling and time change (16 hours ahead). The scores were 14-25, 25-27, and 16-25 a loss for the USA against the Fijian U21 National team. Next, the Men’s U21 National and Men’s National team scrimmages where BIP’s own Chris Mortimer got to play. He actually placed much better than any of us, so he can be proud. After that match, our older team played, and, wow, it is hard to describe. Kirstin and I coached. The girls listened, fought hard, but fell short once again. We lost to the Women’s Fijian Nation team 18-25, 20-25, and 21-25.

The gym we played in was amazing and one of the nicest that BIP has had the pleasure of competing in on any tour. The competition courts are well lit with high ceilings and the winds were able to come in through vented windows and doors.  It also housed some very loud birds which proceeded to squawk endlessly mid way through the match. It was built in 2002 as a donation by the Chinese to the Fijian delegation for the Oceanic games.

After our rough beginnings on the court, we showered and headed for the local track and field stadium for an outdoor music festival which we were told would be great. However, none of us knew any of the music or artists. Being worn out from our travels, we decided to leave after an hour by taxi in two groups. The first group got lost on the way back to the hotel three times, but not long after 11:00pm everyone was asleep and ready to prepare for our next adventurous day in Fiji.