Bula!

It is my nod to "Fiji Time" that my contribution to the OCW is so tardy. Actually, I started getting really excited about the prospects of a reunion this summer or sometime in the near future, so I thought I might contribute to Eric's attempt to keep us all on the same page of each other's lives and get some feedback on times and places for a ten year rendezvous.

I just finished reading everyone's stories and it sounds like we've all been down similar paths as of late, namely graduate school and children. I managed to finish my graduate work, find a post doc position, and defend my thesis three weeks before Lily was born in late Oct 2002. During this time, Paul and I also bought a house in Birmingham, AL where we started our new jobs at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in January 2003. Despite Alabama's backwards tendencies towards education, UAB is actually a top notch research institution, and we both have enjoyed working here a great deal. And Birmingham is a really nice town with a lot going on for families. We live in a gayborhood close to downtown, probably the only liberal spot in the whole city, so we're settling in quite nicely.

I did research for about a year after Lily was born, but then decided to cut back my hours this year and take a part-time research position in Paul's lab so that I could spend more time with Lily. Its been such a wonderful opportunity to switch my work week around to a two day work week, and a five day "weekend" (not really time "off" when you're following a toddler around), and I highly recommend it! Lily and I are having a great time exploring the city and going to the park and meeting new people. She's a darling little girl, and it's been such a treat to watch her develop into a curious, independent little person. As you can see, she has inherited her father's head of curls, so it will always be easy to locate her in a crowd of people (hopefully, she won't decide to grow a tail....)

Birmingham has a great RPCV group, for which I am now the group's communications chair, a position that involves putting out a newsletter twice a year. I haven't even started the first edition yet, but I'm sure I'll find out how much work it entails. I think they sucker the new members into the tough jobs....Carolyn Waterman lives north of us about two hours away, and we've made the trek up to Florence to visit her in her beautiful mansion that is furnished like a museum with her and Dan's collection of arts and crafts from all over the world. We don't see her too often because she stays so busy with her B and B.

We were part of a Peace Corps reunion with Fiji 74 at Alex Feltus' house in Athens, GA in late October 2003. Peter Hoffman, DJ, Mike and Divia, and Mike from Switzerland were all there for the weekend long grog session with their families. Steve Yeager even flew in from Boulder, CO for the event. Of course since it was on Feltus' territory, things did get a little out of control. No nakedness, but someone landed in the grog bowl at one point and time, an event which would have been a serious blunder in the islands and probably would have required Sova or someone to bring out a whale's tooth to set things right again. We had such a good time at this reunion, Steve, and Paul and I vowed that Fiji 76 needed to get one going. Anyways, I'm willing to help organize such an event. Just let me know what your interest level is and suggest some times and places.

Paul and I are doing well down here. Paul is working pretty hard, trying to get famous and doing a good job at it. We are really enjoying being parents and taking care of our new home and still trying to sneak in a few opportunities to travel. This year, we are expecting to go to Nashville, Seattle, Boston and Boulder, so if you have time for us we'd love to see you. Know that we love to have visitors and that there is an extra bed waiting for you in Birmingham.

Loloma levu, Laura, Paul and Lily