Friday, July 18, 2008

The end and a new beginning.

It's almost time to leave my host village and move to my site. Tomorrow at church I am giving a speech on our behalf to the entire congregation/village. In Fijian. Yeah I definitely wrote that all down and I'll be reading it. It's a 2 page speech and I've been practicing for a couple days now. I might be able to deliver it with some ease. I just hope the jokes come off ok. But it doesn't take much to get Fijians to laugh so I'm feeling pretty confident. After church, we are having a feast in the community hall! Monday is my language exam. Wish me luck. And then Tuesday night is our last night in the village. I'm a little sad, but I'm ready to move on and get to work in my site village.

This week I got lots of letters, packages, and phone calls from home. Amazing. Candy, clothes, words of encouragement, news, tide-to-go pens (I'm not sure about this one, but it make me laugh and I know I'll use it), pictures and love. Thanks everyone.

I've been packing and wondering how all my stuff will fit into the one suitcase I brought. Mom, you know how full it was when I came! Now I have new outfits from the village, clothes from the second hand stores here (I'll forever be drawn to gently-used bargains), fabric for more clothes or curtains or tablecloths, trinkets for my new house (once it's finally built) and then other miscellaneous items I've picked up along the way. I have my organizational skills primed and I am ready for the challenge.

The big news of the week is one of the other trainees adopted a puppy! He's so cute. His name is Sergeant Bones. The Sarge part is for Sergeant Shriver, the man who started PC. And we added Bones because he is super skinny. Yet rambunctious. He's been coming to language class with us, but he got in trouble because he peed on the mat twice in one day! I'll try and put up a pic of him soon. He's white with a big brown spot on his back, and resembles a scruffy Jack Russell terrier. Bones has definitely been a highlight of this week and hopefully he'll be with us for the next couple of years.

1 comment:

Gabby Girl said...

How hard was it to learn Fijian? For a year I lived in China, and regardless of how hard I tried, I never really learned how to speak Chinese properly. Too many freaking dialects.