Gu for lukim iu!

This was the very warm welcome I received after arriving in Oceanside, Long Island Tuesday afternoon to meet with Bishop Chris at his father's house. 'Gu for lukim iu,' Bishop Chris translated, is Pijin for "good to see you" and it was reassuring to finally meet the person behind the countless emails back and forth over these past couple of months! Bishop Chris explained that Pijin is the most common language of the Solomon Islands; English is the third language learned by most people, after their tribal language (impressive since I only have English and a couple years of translating Latin under my belt!). I was excited to learn more phrases and Bishop Chris said I would pick up a little Pijin, though it would be much easier to understand it than actually speak it. 
While it was a convenient time for me to meet with Bishop Chris before I jetted off to the other side of the world, he has returned home for a completely different reason. At the end of the month he will be celebrating 25 years of being ordained and will return to PC to celebrate with a few other alums. I have come to find out that Bishop Chris was actually classmates with Father Shanley while at school and is well acquainted with many of the Dominicans on campus. He was made bishop of the Auki in the Solomon Islands in 2001 and often travels to the surrounding islands to stay connected to the people in the diocese (mode of transportation: a canoe!) 
Having worked with Sister Rose Mary and knowing her extreme organization, Bishop Chris guessed that I had plenty of activities already lined up for the Sydney portion of my trip and told me that the Solomons operated a little differently. My main activities while in Auki will be to live and work with three of the sisters in their day to day pastoral work, including visiting and teaching at the local school and making visits to the hospital and house calls. Life in the Solomons is simple, though from the photos he showed me, the chapel there is beautifully decorated and is open on all sides to allow for the warm weather. (It is tropical there year round, so it will also be a big contrast to the cooler winter climate in Sydney.) I will be arriving in the Solomons on July 26th after my stay in Sydney, although Bishop Chris doesn't return to the islands until a few days later. He will set up accommodations for my arrival and promises that everyone there is extremely welcoming and friendly. I'm looking forward to this generous hospitality, canoe rides, and of course, putting my Pijin practice to the test! 

Once upon a time

there was a student a Providence College who was fortunate enough to receive a Smith Fellowship to travel to Sydney, Australia and the Solomon Islands for the summer. As she began to prepare for her trip, she realized that she wanted to have a way of staying in touch with her friends and family back home and so created a blog to keep a journal of her adventures...

As most of you know, I will be spending seven weeks traveling, volunteering, and exploring in Sydney, Australia, and Auki in the Solomon Islands during July and August! The Smith Fellowships are granted by the Office of Mission and Ministry at PC and allow students to create international programs of study or service based on the Dominican traditions. I am so excited to begin this amazing opportunity and I hope to experience the different cultures both in Sydney and Auki, engage in service projects, and deepen my faith and understanding by living and working alonside the Dominicans this summer.
What will I be doing, you ask? I have received a wonderfully detailed day-by-day itinerary for service opportunities from Sister Rose Mary who I will be working with in Sydney, and it includes various programs like No Interest Loans Scheme, Aboriginal Women Catholic Ministry, Interfaith Dialogue, visiting a few of the Australian universities and meeting with other students and program coordinators. I've also been promised to be guided on a 'bushwalk' while in Australia! The Solomon Islands plan is much less strcutured at this point and I will be meeting with Bishop Chris Cardone while he is in the states in the next few weeks to talk about the details. Many of the members of the diocese of Auki do not speak English so I will most likely be working on teaching English and computer skills and also have the opportunity to work with their youth program.
After putting together this program over the past couple of months, the promise of this upcoming strip still does not seem quite real to me yet, although the shots I've had to get in preparation for leaving have helped! These next few weeks will be spent hunting down a good pair of hiking/water/junglewalking(?!) shoes, as I've been told that my TOMs that are a staple in my waredrobe aren't exactly practical for the weather and terrain of the Solomon Islands. I think I'll also be stocking up on sunscreen and mosquito repellent, unless I can figure out how to fashion a full body bug netting suit...