Bula!

Bula my friends!!

I hope you are all well, and so sorry that its taken me a while to start this month off.

A lot has happened since we all said our see you laters in December 2012... I moved back to Fiji and was keen to transition out of the private sector. I finally made the transition in about March of 2013 and began working for a short time for the University of the South Pacific (USP). Below is a picture from my farewell party, it was very emotional as I had been there for over 2 years.. My boss wasn't in Fiji at the time, but my colleagues managed to get him to Skype in as a surprise :)

USP has 12 regional campuses in the Pacific and the work that I was involved with was mainly coordinating graduate research at the main campus in Fiji and throughout the regional campuses. Shortly after beginning work at USP, I was offered a contract to go back to Hawai'i and work for the Pacific Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) Program, so made the most of the time I had with USP. I spent almost 5 months there, and the final event we organized was the 12th Pacific Science Inter-Congress. A large-scale international conference with over 700 people attending and only 5 core people (including me!) supporting logistics! One awesome thing about my time at USP, I went to NZ for a week long workshop and met up with Rangi!!

Once the conference was over, I jumped on a plane for a one week holiday in Samoa before starting work again in Hawai'i... ;) Starting over in Hawai'i without all of you knocking on my door at Hale Manoa was hard when I first started out... My first office visitor was Dina! It took me about a month to find a suitable (and affordable!) apartment but once I did, I felt much more settled..

My work has been awesome! I really enjoy working with my core team and I really like the work that they do to support Pacific Island communities in the face of climate change. As you all know, it's something very dear to me and so the passion and drive was there from day one. From then until now, I've been home twice, to Samoa twice, and saw the White House in D.C. once, coordinated one large national event for the state of Hawai'i, and had my dreams come true by attending the annual Pacific Risk Management 'Ohana (PRiMO) Conference in March this year ;) As a professional, this experience has been one of the best I've had and I'm so grateful for the opportunity!!

Well, as my contract with the East-West Center comes to an end in December, I have news for all of those who haven't already heard... I'm getting married! Richard and I got engaged recently in Samoa when I was there for the Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) Conference.. He proposed in front of the Hokulea (see pic below, hehe)..

I am moving to Samoa at the end of this year, and we've just set a date for May 23rd, 2015! It's right around the corner and I am kind of having panic attacks but just trying to relax as much as I can.. If any of you have any advice for planning a wedding, I welcome it! I am off to London tomorrow for my cousin's wedding, I'm a Bridesmaid, so I guess I will get a little taste of what it takes to plan a wedding!

Regrettably, this may be my only post for the month of September, but just know that I do miss you all very much, I think about you all, and I sincerely hope that you are all doing well. If any of you are ever in my area of the world, you'll always have a place to stay with me :)

Love, Rach xo