Fiji25 Dionnah Blog 19

 








Dionnah Blog Draft

The days have all blended together while the time flies by. We all know that time is ticking so we have a million thoughts on how we want to spend what time we have left. I’ve been planning a fishing trip with my whole family, all 12 of us. I can already see the huge crabs the size of my head being held up by my momo or the whole family laughing after someone rocks the boat too much. With all the excitement building up we fill the community hall like busy bees.

Today we continued painting the school but this time we got to paint the ceilings and inside of the dining hall. If you looked around at any moment during this time people were talking and laughing while also jumping up and down to get the border of the ceiling if they were short. This activity gave us a chance to get to know new people through our painting because it didn’t matter who you were with, it matters if you could paint and get the job done. I got the chance to have a discussion on the life of a realtor and a little about jobs on wall street. This discussion was like fireworks with new topics or ideas exploding into the sky and coming and going just as fast. We still have the finishing touches to do tomorrow but everyone is still ready to pick up our paintbrushes again.

Later I got the chance to make lunch for everyone with Emre, Chloe and all our families. We all moved around the crowded kitchen helping in the small ways we can, whether that’s cutting the tiny pineapple here or putting saranwrap around our freshly cooked food. The steam puffed up the wrap and made a heat bubble. The top was so hot it could act like a hot air balloon and fly us up the mountain. The best part was making the soursop juice that Sophia especially loves. This time it looked like an orangish pink sunset because of the papaya sprinkled in.

In class we were joined by Atu and Alessi who are local community members who have welcomed us into their families. They came to enlighten us on Fiji Pine a huge company here in Fiji. As the class fidgeted, we learned how they plant pine trees in a nursery or how wide they grow. We were flooded with information of how Fiji pine has interacted with Nanuku and I believe it sparked the interest of many people in our group including me. Our many questions were targeted on how it affected the community here in the village and Fiji in general and how the environment is affected.

As we end the day, we all hurry to the community center for an earlier dinner than usual because of an official rugby meeting after which we are all excited to eavesdrop on. Each day is filled with a new joke or newfound friend.

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