December 7

The get up whistle blew at 5:00 a.m. this morning.

This morning I am found a spider the size of a small salad plate sitting on the little ledge next to the roll of toilet paper.  Since I refused to share the bathroom with it, Scott had to go try to kill it.  The spider

got away.  Needless to say I will not be visiting the bathroom in the dark.

Breakfast was at 5:30 and devotional was at 6:30.  It was a continental breakfast consisting of fruit breads, scones (which they call pancakes), and some dark sweet bread which I thought was delicious.  They also made lemon grass tea which is only good if you have sugar.  We did not have sugar this morning.  Overnight someone had gotten smart and the food was served to us instead of taking what we wanted which insured that there would be enough food for everyone without cooking again.

At our devotional they also read off the names of the members of each group so that the YSAs had to go to the group to which they had originally been assigned.  Good idea.  They were also told that everyone in the group had to be together before anyone in the group could eat which fixed the problem of people showing up for meals two hours late.

This morning each group had four experiences in which they were to participate.  While they were setting off, Scott and I were asked to take some of the leaders into Korovou (45 min) to buy more food for supper.  It was a delightful ride with Suluetta Kama, Sister Deloi, and one sister who was riding with us into Korovou to catch the bus back to Suva.  Korovou is small, but we got what we needed a huge frozen bag (40 lbs) of chicken and one of fish.  While Scott and I were walking along the main road one of our institute YSAs got off the bus from Suva.  His parents had insisted that he stay in Suva for physical fitness testing to become a prison guard.  Had we not been there he would have had to wait for another bus to take him out to Natalie-ra.  A tender mercy.

When we got back, we drove to the furtherest place that the YSAs had to walk for their experiences.  It was a long, long, hilly, hot walk.  We got to the place at noon and four of the ten groups had not been there yet and lunch started at 11:30.  Someone had misjudged the amount of time it would take to do all four experiences.  One experience was to find water in the bush, another was to build a billibilli which is a bamboo raft, and the third one was to make improvements at the local village school which was the one furtherest away.  We stayed at the school until all groups had come.  Scott even went out and picked up two of the groups and brought them to the school.  One trip he had 21 YSAs in the van.

Yard Work at the School

Another Group Doing Yard Work at the School

These activities took so long that the afternoon activities were canceled.  Everyone took a nap.  Scott and Suzanne took a boat out to see the spinning dolphins after their nap.  We then got ready for the dance and dinner.

Dinner was obviously on Fiji time as we did not eat until 8 o'clock.  The dress for the dance was
church dress.  But as you can see, every girls and
many guys just threw on a Sulu which counts as
a skirt.

Suzanne at the Dance

Maggie at the Dance

I knew that sulus were versatile, but had no idea how versatile they really are.  I saw them used as a ground cover for sitting on, in lieu of a necklace, as a blanket to ward off the night chill, as a table cloth, to cover up a swimming suit, as a prop in one of the group presentations, as a curtain, to stay dry in a light rain, and the list goes on and on.  Everyone carries a sulu in their backpack just in case.  I wished several times over the two days we were at camp that I had brought one of mine to camp.  I won't make the mistake again.

BilliBilli Bonfire at the Dance

The dance was interesting.  As no one here has cars,
the DJ came up in a bus on the first day.  He started
the dance and after two or three dances the music
stopped and one group was called upon to do their group
presentation; song, skit, joke, etc.  Then we danced for
a while and had another group performance.  Interesting.

I love Fiji.  Everyone knows that church dances are to end
at midnight.  So-o-o at midnight the DJ announces the end of
the dance.  They have a closing prayer and then so everyone
feels good and no one is disappointed, the DJ says there will
be three or sometimes five more songs.  The dance ended at
12:30.