Bula friends!
For the past 2 weeks, we’ve been at a homestay in a small village called Nananu. We took a couple of buses from Nadi and were welcomed into the village (after we put on our sulus) by the community in an opening ceremony. We all really loved our naus and magus (moms and dads) and became really close with our families. Our community service project was building concrete pathways throughout the village. We spent our free time fishing, swimming in waterfalls, visiting the Fiji water factory, and hiking. Some of the village festivities included nightly dance parties and a cookout by the river. On Sunday we attended a Methodist church service (and some of us attended Mass as well) and sang Fijian hymns while dressed up in our church clothes. We spent a day at a beach resort in Raki Raki where we enjoyed beautiful waters and banana splits. Our last day in the village was a family day where most of us helped cook and rested up for the all-night dance party that the village threw for us before we left.
Brusch luckily doesn’t have rabies after being bitten by a dog without ears that was new to the village. Fun fact- there has never been a reported case of rabies in Fiji. Nina has been expanding her food horizons by trying a bunch of new things- like prawns, fish, and curry, to name a few. Kyle has been taking his “balls to the wall” mentality to the next level by doing things such as cliff-diving, going barefoot hiking, and eating prawns straight out of the water. Alex, our captain for the second week, has been bonding with her family and members of the village (especially Fili and Billy) by playing volleyball every afternoon with them. Dimitrios impressed the villagers with his breakdancing at the nightly dance parties. Laura has been a kid-magnet for all the village children and spent most of her free time playing with them. Faf loved the village despite the fact that there is a significant lack of meat in their diet, but found comfort in the group’s numerous discussions about American foods (which we all miss dearly). He and Dimitrios bought a goat with their family and slaughtered it for the meal on their family day. They said it was delicious. Michelle made a lot of bracelets for everybody in her family and just finished a particularly sick one with like 50 strings. She also got the chance to ride on a horse. Also- TODAY IS HER 18TH BIRTHDAY! Happy birthday Michelle!!!! We had birthday cake with breakfast this morning before we left Nananu and got to sing happy birthday to her right at midnight in the middle of the dance party. Nick has been playing guitar for everybody and one night was even awarded baby powder in his hair/face and a sulu for his performance. It’s a Fijian tradition for when they are entertained, and it was entertaining for the rest of the group to watch. Catherine and Greg find it awkward to blog about themselves in the 3rd person, but are doing great.
Moce!
-Catherine and Greg (/George)
