Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Wednesday
Brita, my fitness partner, and I taught 3 exercise classes yesterday. First we taught a huge class of kindergarten children, then a group of older women in Yoladro and women in Nakorokura. The women in Nakorokura are very excited about our exercise classes and I love going to teach them. There are about 10-15 women in their group that come to our lessons and they are just wonderful people.
We decided that in the future we won't schedule 3 exercise classes in one day :)

Living Conditions
I have been living with 13 other volunteers in a house that has 3 bedrooms, 1 toilet, 1 shower, a small fridge, and 2 sitting rooms. The only real chair we have is a hospital chair and we also have 4 little chairs that you would find at kindergarten. I can't wait to sit in a couch! Luckily we have all gotten along very well and it hasn't been a problem sharing the one shower and toilet between all of us. I am so grateful for washing machines. While living here I wash my laundry by hand and it takes quite a while. For transportation I ride the bus and I actually like it. I love looking out the windows at the beautiful countryside while riding the bus and occasionally making conversation with the locals.

4 comments:

Rowse House said...

I can't believe how much you actually get to teach. It sounds like they really like the exercises like we do so much in the US. It must be so fun to be introducing something that could really benefit their health and their whole lives. Keep up the good work!!!

Phillip said...

Crazy living conditions. Makes you grateful for all that's available in the USA, huh. What specifically do you teach during exercise classes? Sounds interesting.

Sherry said...

In the exercise class we start off by teaching the importance of exercise and the benefits of doing it. We also teach how exercising helps prevent diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, colon cancer and osteoporosis. Then after teaching that we teach a mini aerobics class to get their heart rate going, work their muscles and make sure they stretch too. A lot of the aerobics is very simple though, it was almost shocking to me how much less they are able to do than people in America. I do have to say though that the Fijians are muscle strong. When we go back a second time we add more onto our routine and try to get them to set up exercising groups. We are also trying to find at least one person in each group who can be the leader and be in charge of teaching aerobics like we do and we will train that person.
If they complete an exercise log that we have shown them, which consists of exercising for 30 minutes 3 times a week for 4 weeks, then we will award them a certificate. Our hopes in doing this is that it will motivate them and get them into the habit of exercising. Unfortunately I won't be here to see any of the accomplish that.

Kevin/Superman! said...

well... i'll log that away :P (name that movie) hehehe. wow. i love the living conditions, maybe i'll have something like that on my mission!!! i'm sure you are really enjoying it there but i cant wait until you back!! luv ya!