Sadie and Mike reporting from the front lines in Rakiraki, Fiji! We have been up to a lot since our last blog post in Nadi. We headed to the village of Nananu last Sunday and have been showered with love and affection from the local villagers. We have also been hard at work, building stairs and pathways from homes to the main road. Unfortunately, since arriving in Nananu, illness has begun to creep into the group, with everybody developing some form of sickness (excluding Mike, Dylan and Allison; your welcome DAD!) Every night has been a blast, between spending quality time with our families, dance parties, and lots of sleep, with all of us falling asleep at the late hour of 9PM. Our mothers have dressed us from head to toe in local fijian styles, and we must say, we look GOOOOOD! The group is doing splendidly, getting along like we have known each other for years. Two days ago, we all attended a mass at the church in the village, the service was beautiful and after we all shook hands with every villager. Throughout the week, both the guys and the girls have been learning a traditional Fijian dance, the Meke. After days of practice, we had a dress rehearsal for the chief and the rest of the village. The guys did better than the girls of course (seeing that the guys just sit on their bums and move their hands), but a good time was had by all. Today was the real thing, though, performing for the city council of Rakiraki, at a fundraiser at the ground-breaking of the soon to be build Women’s Center. Everybody got dressed up in full costumes and looked FABULOUS!!! In the next few days, we will go to the Fiji Water Plant, to the beach, hike to a waterfall slide, then a last hurrah with our families and the villagers on Saturday. Then we head back to Nadi for a day before starting our month in NEW ZEALAND! So excited for everything to come, especially a change in cuisine, but shhhh, don’t tell the villagers of Nananu that. More to come in the next few days from Connie and Liz, till then, loving and missing all of you. And of course, BULA BULA BULA rocking everywhere.
