Saturday, July 28, 2012

After morning prayer and breakfast, Cayla and I washed our clothes and hung them on the line behind the house.  Saturday is a relaxing day in Fanualama (“place of peace” - the name of the residences of diocesan staff).  Bishop Chris gave Patrick, a student in my English class, a new soccer ball to bring over the house for me.  It got a lot of use today.  I was playing outside the house and it was a magnet for adorable children.  Cayla and I have a new buddy, Chrisma.  She played with us all morning and was our shadow for the rest of the day.  Chrisma is a beautiful, energetic girl and I’m so happy to have a new friend. 

Cayla and I got a ride from Bishop Chris into town to the Telecom so we could get internet access.  Luckily he passed us again on the road on our return trip so we hopped in the truck.  We munched on Sr. Loretta’s pancakes (different from our version at home but still delicious) and bananas for lunch.  Cayla, Chrisma, and I walked to the game and our team won 3-1!  Spectators were in the shade but the field was directly in the sun.  I give all the players so much credit for surviving the stifling heat.  

Back at home we fell asleep reading in the hammocks hung underneath the house.  I’m actually living in a dream world.  We woke up to Bishop Chris shouting for us to get in the truck for a car wash.  In the Solomons, getting a car wash means cramming a ton of kids in the vehicle, driving it into the river, then cleaning it off with buckets and brushes.  It was quite the event and everyone wanted to come.  Half of the soccer team, Cayla, Chrisma, and I piled into the pickup and drove to the Fiu River.  The water was refreshing as we got to work on the muddy truck.  After the work was complete, we got to swim around and have some fun.  I joined the boys jumping off the bridge into the river.  You had to climb up rock/mud stairs to get to the bridge.  I had a few helping hands to keep my balance as we climbed on the railing, held hands, then jumped into the crystal clear river.  It was an accomplishment to do all this while making sure my skirt didn’t fly up as we flew through the air and plunged in.  It was so much fun, and I volunteered to wash the car everyday but to no avail.  I jumped off a few more times, convinced Cayla to do it, and got to know the boys a little bit.  I swam around with Chrisma for a little while and she worked on blowing bubbles and kicking.  After cooling off we squeezed into the truck and came home.  

Cayla and I went for a jog to the clinic where she will be working on Monday.  It was only a few miles, but we were sweating like crazy when we finished.  The heat and humidity make it difficult to do much activity.  We cleaned up for evening prayer and dinner.  It was the final evening of the music workshop that has been running all week.  After a feast with the whole group, members of the workshop gave thank you speeches and gifts.  We sang a few songs all together.  The young men and women participating in the workshop are incredibly talented musicians.  Their voices, song writing skills, and guitar abilities are outstanding.  I was happy to have gifted singers surrounding me to drone out my very out of tune vocals.