"Time Out" in Fiji: July 7

I was so excited to sleep in this morning, but there truly is no rest for the wicked. We were up at 6 again, because Scott had phone calls to the US to make, and I had this blog to catch up on. We worked until 9 when we met the other senior couples except the Jacksons who were again teaching Planning for Success for a trip to a resort outside Suva for a swim in the ocean.

Senior Missionaries
Left to right
The Whiteheads (ITEP), The Whitings (nurse/finance), Us, The Barfusses (office)

I hate salt water!! Hate swimming with a passion, so I thought about staying and working, but decided at the last minute that other missionaries are not allowed to leave their companions, and I needed to get away for a few hours.

We are at a resort called The Pearl. I am writing this on my iPad while the others are swimming in rough waves. There is a stiff wind. I find that I am cold. I have had to move into the protection of the resort walls. The drive down was beautiful; green hills, quaint homes of all colors, palm trees, cattle grazing along the unfenced road, clean, with the ever-present bus shacks and the bumpy roads. The resort has a pool, but of course Scott would rather swim in the ocean. As I sit here looking out across the ocean there is a huge island, Beq (pronounced beng) which is shaped like Antelope Island in the great Salt Lake. It is about the same distance away from land, but it is very green. Four boats have come into the river that runs alongside the resort; two lovely, white, large cruiser type boats filled with palogis (palogies are anyone foreign), and two blue, small, old boats filled with what looks to be Fijians. I am told that The Begians are the only Fijian who are supposed to do the fire walk. I am going to get out there before we are finished here. We will eat lunch here and then head back to Suva. I have a lesson to give next Wednesday and it is going to better than the last one.

The Pearl Resort

Lunch at the Pearl

Going and coming from Suva we saw this mountain. I ask what it was called. The answer was "The Thumb." Well duh.

The Thumb
A huge landmark one can see from Suva.

I find that cemeteries and burial rituals in every country are different. I it all most interesting. We passed this cemetery on the way to The Pearl and stopped on the way back for these pictures. Because of the rain here, no one is buried beneath ground. Also the more decorated the above ground crypts are, the more loved the deceased one is supposed to be.