Follow the Journey

Bula friends and family! Here’s an update on what we’ve been doing for the past few days; it involves some Kava ceremonies, super awesome volunteer work, cute kids, friendly families, waking up to animal sounds every morning and singing the Beatles, “Let it Be” in church-just to name a few. There’s been a heck of a lot of rain too. Also, it is hot, hot, hot! Sorry, we know you’re jelly for those of you living in the cooler part of the U.S. I would say we are making a lot of progress in this village of Nananu. Me, Lexi, and Kailey finished painting a new welcome sign for the village. It is beautiful. The other part of the group; Jeff, Maddie, Brenden, Andrew, Tom, and Emma, have been working outside doing some cement mixing for sturdy sidewalkss. We have fun doing work and often play thinking games like “I’m going camping and I’m bringing..” We are also pumped about playing ninja, a hand slapping game.
Also, for church they asked us to sing a song. We chose “Let it Be” which went very well. According to some of the villagers we sang like angels. Ahh so nice! The people here are incredibly friendly and welcoming. When we first arrived we were immediately considered members of their families. There will also be a wedding this Thursday, which we will be attending. Andrew and Brenden will be in it. I can’t imagine any American wedding where the families would allow 11 people they never knew before to accompany.
Yesterday was my personal favorite day. We went to the primary scvhool and did several ativitiess with the kids like arts and crafts, played music and sang, and the rest of us played outdoor games like group tag and duck duck goose. Man those kids have a lot of energy and they run so fast! Afterwards we worked and then a lot of us swam in the river. We had a blast with the kids there. Some of them were even jumping from the trees into the river. Talk about daredevils! haha. We’ve also had a few Kava ceremonies. Kava is a root mixed with water. It tastes kind of like dirt…lol. I don’t exactly know the significance behind it but stay tuned because we’ll find that out. Lexi made a rhyme about Kava. It goes, “Carpe in the village, ya you Fijians know if you ain’t drinkin’ Kava then get yo’ stuff and go” (edited version). Just so you guys know we won’t have internet access for a week (March 7th). That’s all for now! Modeh! (Goodbye)