Friday.
My last post was written on Friday, but that was before 7a.m. So here goes. Friday was my last day teaching at the Vatuvonu Seventh Day Adventist school, and it was great. I actually felt like I got things done with the third grade, and we had an official welcome/goodbye ceremony during lunch, which the Fijians prepared for us. It was so nice to see how much they gave us, when we were clearly not the ones in need of food. I have to admit, the chicken and chicken curry were fantastic. I fully expected to get some kind of parasite from eating it, but it was definitely -definitely- the right choice. I think. Unless I die in the next week or so. Whatever. I write rather cynically about this despite how touching it was because I'm being eaten alive by mosquitoes as I sit here. But this is a laundry list and the internets aren't real, so ask me about it in an email or on the phone or something. Yeah.
Saturday.
Woke up, ate breakfast, went back to Vatuvonu for the Seventh Day Adventist church service. Once again, Siwa translated for me (and Matt this time). This service was special because the Vatuvonu church and the Buca (pronounced "Butha" as in "bootha") church had a combined service, and there were baptisms afterward. I love baptisms, and the Fijian ones were no exceptions. But they were much, much, much more somber. No clapping or cheering or anything. I guess a gospel choir did sing as the baptismees (yes, that's a word. Okay, maybe not.) waded into the ocean, but it was much different from the American baptisms I have witnessed. Either way, I really enjoyed seeing people make public professions of faith, even if I couldn't understand what they said.
After that (and a dog fight that interrupted the baptism ceremony), we packed our things and headed to Taveuni for some natural water slides. Which, as you can probably guess, were awesome. Nothing says fun like the risk of broken limbs and bruises from sliding down something rocky. But really, I had a blast, and I made some Fijian friends. Which, for those of you who don't know, was a big step for me. I normally don't introduce myself to strangers and try to get to know them, but I tried it, and it was great. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have known that it was okay to slide down the much larger waterfall at the top despite how dangerous it looked. Good things come to those who do stupid things. I think that's how the saying goes. But I digress. After the water slides and only a few minor (and one major [don't worry, that one was already bad from the volcano hike]) bruises, we headed to Rainbow Reef to spend the night.
Rainbow Reef was beautiful and relaxing, which was nice after such a loaded week. There were lots of good conversations and group bonding times, as well as a few individual conversations that were fantastic. And I got to sleep in a hammock on the beach. In Fiji. Ridiculous.
Sunday.
Woke up, sat around at Rainbow Reef. Once again, fantastic. Then, some volleyball and football and back to Natuvu. Almost puked on the boat ride, but made it back safely, and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening just relaxing with friends here, listening to the rain. Oh, and I got to have meat in 5 of my last 8 meals. I feel great. Except now I'm being eaten by bugs.
Tomorrow is basically going to be packing and goodbyes, as far as I know, but it should be good. Just about ready to be home. For those of you who have been in contact with me, I will not be checking my email until I get back to the states. Then, I hope to make a post about all I've learned here. God is so good. Goodbye.
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