We had a huge crowd. 200+ The food was good. The decorations were cute. The music was good except it was waaaay too loud. The YSAs had fun. We had an ice breaker with questions they had to ask each other which ended with the questions "If I asked you out would you go?" Not very subtle, Scott. We also played musical chairs and had a dance contest with prizes. The prizes were--get this--regular Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. They are so expensive here and the kids love American Candy bars. They fought to win them. In fact, I thought we were going to have a problem when they played musical chairs, but the gentlemen in the last two guys finally came forth. These Fijian kids dance with everyone. Everyone dances. Girls ask; boys ask. Girls dance alone if they want; boys dance alone. It was fun to watch. Every senior missionary couple came and some even danced. What a great night.
We spent the morning driving around buying the food at cheap factory outlets. The van was full of YSAs. We bought them lunch and brought the fish and chips home to eat; each meal cost us a whopping $2.50f ($1.50 US) for two big pieces of fish and more chips than anyone would want. The the YSAs left to go decorate the cultural hall. The decorations reminded me of the dances we use to have back, back when I was a teenager.
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| Decorations and beautiful YSAs Notice the newspaper on the windows. They put it up so everyone would have to come into the dance instead of standing outside and watching. It worked. |
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| Final Social Dance. Sister Jackson in the foreground. |
I spent the first hour of the dance helping Vasemaca (vaw seh maw thaw) get her dress (which I drove clear to Cunningham Road to pick up only to find it had already arrived at the dance), get showered which she did at our flat, and get her to the dance. Brother Wells loaned me his car and Sister Wells accompanied me on our travels. Fun.
Half way through the dance I realized I did not have a camera. Dumb. I started to walk to the flat when I realized I did not have the umbrella. Because getting it meant going into the dance, finding Scott to get the car keys, getting the umbrella out of the car, returning the keys to Scott and then walking home, I decided I would be fine without it. Sure. I got home, got the camera and by the time I was walking out of the flat it was pouring. I decided to sit it out, but after 15 minutes and no let up, I threw on my little rain jacket and ran for it. By the time I got to the church which is less than half a block, I was soaked. It was worth it, because I got great pictures.
Oh, one fun thing that happened today. Elenoa had to go home while we were out buying food. Of course we took all six YSAs with us. When she got out, I suggested we have a contest to see who could guess how long she would be gone. Right away her brother, Timoci (teem o thee) said it would be ten minutes. Everyone guessed around that. By the time I got a guess all the good times were gone, so I picked the second to the longest time. So we began to watch the clock. By the time she was standing across the road from the van ten minutes has passed, the kids who had times left were screaming for her to cross, but she could not. There was a long line of steady traffic. Everyone moaned when their time passed. I watched the clock and as usual it looked like Scott was going to win. He always wins the "guess how long" game. I started yelling, "Don't cross, Elenoa. Don't cross." Just as the minute hand moved from 17 which was Scott's time to 18 which was mine, Elenoa put her hand on the door handle. I had won!!!! I gave Elenoa fifty cents which was the big prize. It was so fun to watch them.
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| The theme for the dance. |
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| Oni (with back to us) Me dancing with Vasemaca in her new dress. |
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