One last week

Well, Ryan and I finished our last full week in our village. I can’t even believe I just wrote that. Last full week. I don’t think it has really hit Ryan and I yet that we actually have to leave this home soon. I don’t think it will really hit us until we take that last ride out of our village.

After having our big good-bye ceremony, we were a little worried about how we would fill time this week. This turned out to be a non-issue. This week was actually one of our busiest weeks to date. Here are some pictures of what we have been up to.

Breast Cancer awareness day at school:

Students were able to dress out of uniform in pink if they brought $2 dollars to school. All proceeds went for breast cancer treatment in Tonga.

Started the morning off with a cricket match.

Ryan says Le'o went to the 'Cassie Kloberdanz' school of in-game focus.

The school.

My girls!

House Clean-Up:

The committee that is in charge of preparing for the new volunteer came to the house to clean up the outside. They brought 20 or more so people and started working at 6:00 a.m. sharp. When they were done, we all sat together, sang, prayed, and ate cake for breakfast.

The boys cleaning up the water tank for the new Peace Corps...if only there was water in the damn thing!

Helping or hurting Siteli? :)

Malama Honua:

These two old style Polynesian canoes are sailing around the world from Hawaii to raise awareness about environmental issues and showcase Polynesian traditions on the open seas. Our school was one of several who were invited to go interact with the crew and see the boats at the wharf in town.

Class 6 with Tevita.

Tevita trying on a life jacket.

This is how they go to the bathroom on a Polynesian boat. Maleta tries it out! 

One of the boats.

Doing a science experiement on plankton. Very cool.

Flags they have collected from around the world.

Reason 100 we love the Big Dog: while the other principals hemmed and hawed and waited for the kids, Tevita got right in there and made a boat and participated in all the activities.

Me, Toutai and Tukuafu showing off our skills!

Raising the sail!

See you all soon!

Lowering the sail!

Tevita pulling the sail.

The Big Dog found some friends.

Celestial navigation is not an easy thing to learn about in a foreign language!

One boat is all in the old style while the other has tons of gizmos to help the environment. Siope very much wanted a picture taken with said gizmos!

Martin, a Hawaiian man from the crew teaching the kids!

Family Boat Ride:

One of our neighbor families surprised us one afternoon by coming to the house to ask us to go for a boat ride with them. This was so special as we have a really strong relationship with the kids. They are by far our favorites. We had a wonderful afternoon touring some of the neighboring villages and islands. The kids had such pride of all the things their dad had taught them about the boat, the sea, the islands, and fishing. They literally talked our ear off for two hours straight sharing all these things. An afternoon that will live forever in our memory.

Visiting the caves.

Loa was ready for the picture!

Oh my poor sunburned lips! That's okay, I was ready for Loa this time!

Kaloni, our ship captain.

Oh Ine!

Ry and the gang.

Tita with their kiddos. Kaloni was still anchoring the boat so I stepped in!

Oh these two make quite the pair. Long story short. Ine feels very strongly that he should get to ride Lucky like a horse. Lucky feels differently, hence the other side of the fence :)

Ry and I also had our last day of school this week. The older kids helped us clean up and organize the library. Then, Taniela told them they could spend some time reading books and relaxing with us. While we were reading, one of our kids found this book:

A story about a puppy named Lucky and his 'boy'. Pretty sure I saw Ry shed a tear when he read this one...

They LOVED that they found this book. They listened silently as the book was read aloud by one of the students. Then, they put this book in a special place to read to the new Peace Corps and tell them the story about our dog Lucky. After that, we had a team meeting with Tevita and Taniela. We helped them make the schedule for the new Peace Corps and they asked us to give them a few lessons on things they wanted to know about the computer. We then showed them where we had put all the materials we were leaving for them and that was it. The end of two years of the most special teaching we have ever done (even Ry thinks so).