Old Dali

                March 2. Waking in China at 7:30 has its advantages. I was able to watch the sunrise from my window. It was gorgeous to see the sun’s silhouette crawling up the peak of a distant mountain. When it reached the top, it seemed to pause for a few seconds in a triumphant stance. We didn’t need to get up at any particular time today, but I was wide awake and ready for another adventure, which I had become accustomed to last month. I walked out of the room and was surprised to see Anna on the balcony with 3 cups of green tea. She offered one to me with her motherly smile and brought one in for David, but set it by his bed. She exited the room and started giving me details about what not to do in China. For instance, you’re not supposed to touch someone’s head. It’s considered extremely rude. Don’t put your chopsticks into your bowl as you set them down. Always put them across the edges. Lastly, never accuse someone of staring at you because it is perfectly normal to stare at a foreigner here. She didn’t need to tell me this last rule, but I humored her all the same.

                After I had talked with Anna some more about China, David had finally woken up. He was in a good mood and ready for a meal, as I was. 10am was checkout time here, and we doubted that we could make it back after breakfast in time. We checked out and put our belongings into Anna’s room (who would be staying another night), but I took my backpack. I’m not taking any chances here when there is plenty of thieving.

                Old Dali is a beautiful city with plenty of activities to do during down time. There are massage parlors, horseback riding, hiking, and Taekwondo lessons. I wanted to do them all today, but Anna had different plans for us. We were shown the city and how to get to specific landmarks in case we ever got lost or separated. She also showed us where to buy snacks and any supplies we might need. I could tell she was doing it out of her good nature, but it was slightly unnecessary. I wondered if she was accustomed to high school students and my beliefs were confirmed as she told me she usually led the summer high school Rustic Pathways programs.

                During this tour of the city, we picked up some dumplings along the way for breakfast. They were delicious and came in 2 varieties. One was skinny and longer, more like the dumplings seen in America. The other was fatter and much doughier. Anna showed us how to make the perfect sauce for dumplings, with 1/8 soy sauce, 7/8 vinegar, and a dash of chilies. I could have eaten them until I burst. I began to wonder how healthy they were and voiced my concern to Anna. She told me that the ingredients were locally harvested and grown so it would be much better than any Chinese food bought in the States. On that note, I ate them greedily.

                We walked around town a bit more and saw many stray dogs and puppies. It was sad, but they seemed well fed. At noon we had to meet up with Erik, Leung, and Christen for lunch so we stayed in town and explored it thoroughly. I was excited to see Christen and to have someone close on this trip.

                Café de Jack was the meeting place, and it was a western style food restaurant. We met the rest of our group and I was right in believing that my spirits would rise at the sight of my cousin. She was perfect for this situation. Someone I could talk too freely, but not someone who would latch onto me like a lifeline. She handled the situation perfectly. David introduced himself and everyone started talking to her about themselves. Immediately, I could see that she would be a great fit for this trip.

                I ordered a burger because I missed the taste and scent of American beef. Yet, I was slightly disappointed. Something of the Chinese food lingered upon the burger’s taste and scent and the fries were soft and undercooked. I tried to enjoy the meal, but it was difficult. After lunch, we went back to the hotel to pick up our luggage. From there we took a taxi to Dali University. Oddly enough we didn’t go through the main entrance, but through a side street. We wound our way up to the top of the hill overlooking the University. The campus is enormous, with many modern buildings and dorms. There is little grass around the roads, but when we came to the place where we will be staying, we were awed to see miles of tea gardens stretched out before us.

                The dorm rooms that we are staying at for the first 3 nights are very comfortable looking, much more so than the previous hotels at least. The beds are slightly more comfortable and the surrounding decorations are beautifully native to the culture here. We have all stretched out on our beds and are relaxing before we set out for dinner. Hopefully it will be better than lunch.

A Foreigner

March 1. I awoke stiff necked, bleary eyed, and troubled this morning. It was strange to wake up knowing only one person near me. I showered for what felt like the first time in a week. It brought a new feeling of warmth and comfort to my body and I felt a little better as I waited for Leung and David to wake up. I sat down on the uncushioned sofa with a groan and watched TV to take my mind off my discomfort. There are 50 channels in Kunming and over half feature a military program. The rest are either soap operas or plays that seem slightly silly to watch, from the eyes of a foreigner that is. The only channel I felt some relation to was the one playing Spongebob Squarepants in Chinese, which took no less enjoyment out of the show.

                When Leung and David finally awoke, I greeted them only halfheartedly. After they were ready to leave, we headed downstairs for breakfast. We walked down at 8am and the concierge told us we didn’t need to check out until 11am, so we had some time to kill. Striding out the door, Leung, David, and I entered the morning world of China. There were masses of people going this way and that. Some were conversing with shop merchants; others were working outside their perspective shops, and the rest rushed furiously to begin their day jobs. Leung knew the city surprisingly well and led us through many back alleys and side streets where we came to a small, but friendly American café. He explained that we would have plenty of time for Chinese breakfast later on and that we should enjoy some bacon while we can. I ordered eggs, bacon, potatoes, a bagel, and chai tea. It was all delicious and brought even more life back in me than the shower had.

                After breakfast we walked slightly in the direction of the hotel, but zigzagged through many streets with makeshift shops. We learned to bargain from Leung and he taught us the best way to communicate with the shop owners. The world has one universal language: numbers. He handed us both a pen and paper and told us to bargain whatever item we wanted down to a quarter of the price. Since I had forgotten my sleeping bag in the Hong Kong airport (the first item I have lost all month) I entered an outdoors shop. The owner rushed towards me and asked what I would like (or at least I guessed he asked that). I pointed to the smallest sleeping bag I could find and asked for the price. His asking price was 100 yen (roughly $17 US). I wrote down half that on my pad. He seemed to consider for a moment then nodded. I took out my money and faked to show I only had 25 yen. I showed him the money and he shook his head in disgust. In response, I turned and walked straight out the door. He yelled me back furiously and snatched the money out of my hand, while at the same time shoving the sleeping bag angrily into my hands. Grinning to myself, I walked away with Leung and David.

                We spent the rest of our time peering into several shops, while rarely buying anything because we would feel terrible if we asked for more money on our first day in China. I came back to the hotel feeling happier then when I had left. I had one idea formed in my mind: “China might not be so bad after all.” So we packed our things together and walked out the door. We looked ridiculous as we walked down the streets, with our backpacks on the front of our bodies and David and I staring suspiciously at anyone who passed too close to us. The bus stop to Dali was a 45 minute walk, but we decided to take cabs instead. Even cab prices can be bargained in China. Leung passed up several expensive cabs (taking much longer than 45 minutes), but then came to a completely ordinary car, parked on the side of the road, and asked for a ride. They bargained a price and Leung agreed. Perplexed, I threw my luggage into the trunk and slid into the car. Only when I asked did Leung tell me that some people are private taxi drivers who sit on the curb all day looking for fares.

                So we came to the bus stop and were immediately greeted by Anna, the Rustic Pathways China director. You could instantly sense her good nature and her innocent demeanor gave her a motherly aura. She hugged us both, waving our handshakes away. Leung caught us off guard as he said goodbye to us and we shouted why he had to leave. I had grown accustomed to his presence, even in the past day. His bouncy attitude and constant smile were infectious. He said not to worry, however. That he would see us within 2 days because he needed to pick up Christen and Erik. Relieved, I started to feel hunger pangs again. We bought local Chinese snacks for the bus ride while Anna bought our bus tickets. The snacks were exotic and I was willing to try most, except for chicken feet and packaged eels. We bought vanilla tootsie rolls, fake Oreos, crackers, bread, and corn chips. We met up with Anna and she looked over our snacks with an approving gaze. Then we walked through the ticket barrier and security machine.

The station was just as packed as the city had been. People still wore flu masks, while some led sheep and caged chickens around. So it seems understandable why some people would wear masks. The security checkpoint was a joke. The metal detector didn’t work (I know because I had my phone, my belt, and my camera on my person when I walked through) and the security officer didn’t even bother looking at the screen for the x-ray machine while our bags were passing through. In fact, I doubt there was even anything on the screen. We piled onto the bus, but it wasn’t crowded. I was able to stretch out in the back and before I knew it, I fell fast asleep.

I was awoken by the bus as it came to a screeching halt directly in front of the hotel we were staying at tonight. It was called Sam’s Hotel in old Dali and was surprisingly rustic, yet comfortable. Sam, who knew very good English, welcomed us with 3 steaming cups of green tea as we dragged our luggage into reception. The warm liquid felt welcome after a long bus ride and was unsurprisingly bitter. When I asked for sugar, Sam just laughed at me and strode away to get our keys. He was nice enough to see that we were not in the mood for any talking. Even though we had done almost nothing today, we were drained from the travels. He said he would order noodles for us and have them sent up to our rooms. We thanked him graciously and lugged our baggage upstairs.

The room resembled much of our previous night’s room. The shower was slightly moldy and there was no shower curtain. The beds were as stiff as ever and the TV had not one American friendly channel. I talked with David for the rest of the night and we stopped for a while to eat our noodles, which were good enough to make up for the room. David fell asleep mid conversation and I cracked one of the first genuine smiles since I had left New Zealand. It was time for me to go to sleep as well and with that, I crawled into bed and tried to make an adequately comfortable mattress. I didn’t succeed however, and fell asleep grimacing.

Feeling

February 28. Ben, Jade, Erik, David, and I were the only ones on the bus. As I looked around, I felt that half of me was missing. Not wanting to talk to anyone, I plugged in my headphones and stared out the window. Looking back, it seems unreal. I said “see you later” to Jade and Ben (who was staying another 2 weeks in Fiji). I don’t remember much of getting to the plane after that. Whether from exhaustion or depression, I couldn’t tell. Maybe it was a combination of both.

My first flight was to Hong Kong and the plane was packed accordingly. I felt more foreign than any other time and knew this next month would be nothing but that feeling. Even in Fiji there were people who spoke English and shared most of our customs. I was thrown into a dizzying culture shock. I stumbled over to my seat. When I sat down, the person next to me (who was of Asian descent) stared at me. He didn’t stop staring for at least 5 minutes. I wanted to confront him. I wasn’t in the mood. Then I remembered something that Erik had said about their customs. “Staring isn’t offensive in China and because you’re a foreigner, you’ll get it a lot.” I bit back my retort and stared resolutely ahead of me. I just put in my headphones and closed my eyes. I felt an overwhelming sense of exhaustion, and the grief was nearly as bad. Not wanting to feel anything, I fell asleep.

I woke up when someone poked me asking if I wanted lunch. I refused the food, although I hadn’t eaten anything in about 12 hours. I don’t think my stomach could have handled it. The person next to me had left his seat and had joined his friends who were watching the inflight movie. I stretched out, with my back against the window. I reflected on the past month. I didn’t think about what we had done, I didn’t want to relive anything of February, but I thought about how it affected me.

In high school I was slightly self-conscious and didn’t fit the day to day life. The continued monotony was draining me of who I was. I was never me during those years. I was always trying to please people’s opinions of me. Now I am myself. For one of the first times I feel completely comfortable in my shoes. My confidence surpasses even my fears, because I haven’t felt any fear since I jumped the Nevis. It’s not a cocky confidence, but one that I can use to make the best of the moments around me and make the most of the time I have. I was sometimes afraid to be criticized for some actions that I did, while I was at home that is. Now I know that those who criticize you aren’t worth a single glance. I was glad to be mature, immature, or just whatever whenever I wanted. I also know how I’m a stubborn guy, sticking to what I believe is right, and how sometimes I have to work hard at some things, whether it’s jumping off the Nevis or being thrown into a group of 11 strangers, but I know that it’s even harder to make me give up. I’ve also realized that family is one of the most important aspects of life. Whether it’s the family you develop within the span of a month or the family you have back home, they’re all vital. My brother is someone who I used to take for granted and get in constant fights with, but now, more than anyone, I wish he was here to experience all this with me, not only as my brother, but as a best friend.

Coming out of my reverie I saw that the next meal had started. I hadn’t realized how long I had been sitting there. Maybe I had even fallen asleep. I was slightly hungrier and wearily took my food. I don’t usually eat the airplane food, but it felt good to feel something other than pressure in my stomach.

About an hour later, the plane had landed. We had about 3 hours until our flight to Kunming so I Skyped my family back home, wanting to feel some connection to someone I knew. It made the next 3 hours a bit easier. David and Erik were with me, but out of all the people on the last trip I had gotten to know them the least. Then the flight to Kunming was upon me and it was just David and I (Erik couldn’t get a flight until the next day).

A tidal wave of realization hit me as I was walking with David. It was just us 2 now. I did have my cousin coming in the next 2 days, but I couldn’t even fathom that fact until I actually saw her. I laughed falsely at any jokes he threw out, but inside I was far from laughing. I didn’t say much during the flight or through customs. I think David knew what was going through my head and I think much of the same thing was going through his. He didn’t talk about much, except joke occasionally, and I was grateful for it. After customs we set our stuff down and sat for a long time, waiting for our pickup.

 Finally, Leung came to pick us up. He was a welcome change to the atmosphere. Leung is a 26 year old, small, Cambodian man. He has a great attitude to life and rarely stops smiling. He knows 5 languages (French, Cambodian, Chinese, English, and Cantonese) and is a master of Kong Fu. He led us out apologizing furiously for being late, telling us how much traffic there had been. We got out to the street, and not until then did I realize that it was nighttime. It took about an hour to grab a taxi outside the airport. None of us were aggressive enough to step in front of a person who had stolen the taxi we had just waved down. When we finally got one, we drove 2 hours to the hotel. The city was so chaotic. Mopeds zipped wherever they wanted, car lanes were strictly disregarded, and people ran across the street without warning. I was surprised to see plenty of locals driving brand new Bentleys and Mercedes. From all that I had learned about a communist country, there should be an even distribution of wealth, but that clearly did not exist here. The language barrier was another huge shock. Everything was in Mandarin, and, to me, that looked as welcome as graffiti.

 In the dead of night, we arrived at the hotel and checked in. Without elevators, we climbed 6 flights of stairs with our luggage and came to the room. I threw my luggage down and launched myself into the bed. Bad idea. The Chinese like hard, stiff beds that resemble the comfort of a wooden floor. The crash shook the room and smashed my chest with plenty of force. In order to make for a more comforting sleep, I took as many blankets as I could find and made a makeshift mattress. David didn’t seem to care about the bed and fell asleep immediately. After I was thoroughly satisfied with my bedding, I lay down and slept peacefully.

Sorry about the delay in all the posts. It was hard to find time to blog in the last few days when all I wanted to do was spend time with my group. Here in China, there is internet everywhere, but I wasn’t able to blog until I bought a VPN in order to access my blog sight, which is blocked here. Thanks for the patience. Look out tomorrow morning, because I will be fully up to date by then.

The End of the Beginning

February 27. I didn’t even realize it was the last day until Erik had mentioned it. I wish he hadn’t. I became subdued when I remembered that this month must come to an end. Yet again, I had to fight the gloom and make the most of this last day. Most of the group woke up much later than usual, most not even caring weather it was breakfast or not. Some people were in random hammocks and others were in different beds, while the rest had either been led to their beds or had miraculously found their own way. Nobody really cared what we did today, so most of us packed our things, checked out of the room, and laid on the beach while we waited for the boat to bring us back. Personally, I read in the shade of a palm tree, still exhausted from the night before, and laughed with everyone else about last night.  A few people went kayaking, but since I had drained my cash and didn’t feel up to ANY physical activity, I didn’t join them.

                The boat came at 3pm, yet I, at least, was hoping for it to have crashed on the way. The trip back to the eco lodge went by in a blur. I don’t remember much. I mainly talked in order to get my mind off of the rapidly approaching next day. As we pulled into the eco lodge, I wondered vaguely where the day had gone.

                The eco lodge overlooks a soccer field, where a game was being played when we arrived. Brian, Steren, Ben, Andrew, Claire, Olivia, and I joined in on the game. I hadn’t played a game of soccer since freshman year of high school, yet I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. All the Fijian players were as well built as any Fijian and their skill at soccer matched their physique. Brian and Claire were assigned to one team, while the rest of us were assigned to the other. Then the game started… if you could call it a real game of soccer. There was little coordination between sides and Fijian players often expectantly switched sides. I still don’t understand the reasoning behind it, but it effectively made the game confusing. I played midfield, or at least I would say I did, because players frequently switched not only sides, but positions. The locals kicked the ball with deliberate force in any direction, thus I took a few punts to the chest, though not as many as Andrew. He took around 5, but never faltered in his game. The only thing I can compare him to is a brick wall. Everybody played to their best efforts and I have to give some props to Steren, who played goalie. I’m not sure if he played soccer in high school, but he was a fearless keeper. I don’t know who won and I don’t think I cared, but it was exactly what I needed to raise my spirits.

                We had dinner afterwards. It was nothing special, yet it was no less delicious. Oro and the others at the eco lodge provided us with a goodbye kava ceremony. I couldn’t be rude and not take a last bowl of kava. So I grit my teeth and drank down my last bowl of dirt water, hopefully forever. The rest of the night was spent talking, and most of us talked late into the night. Claire didn’t have to leave the next day, but the day after. Understandably she didn’t want to wake up at 5am to say goodbye to those of us who were leaving at that time. I said “see you later” and hugged quickly. It’s a lot easier to say “see you later” than it is to say “goodbye.” The rest of us didn’t get to sleep until 3am. I only got an hour of sleep before being woken up by Erik. At that moment I hated everything about him.

                I quickly threw everything together and said “see you later” to Steren and Andrew who were still half asleep. I put my stuff on the bus in a hazy state, still exhausted from almost no sleep. Ariana, Brian, and Olivia got up to see us off and I had to put on another false smile. Oro and the rest of the staff were up as well and I said my farewells to them. I think I’ll miss Oro the most out of the house staff. Good thing I got his Facebook. And then all too soon, I was off.

Relax and Party

February 26. None of us were ready to wake early this morning. Most of us were tired from the events of last night, but breakfast was at 8am. Although they call this place Beach Comber Resort, it isn’t the typical American resort that most would think of. It’s more of a hostel setting, with strangers sleeping in rooms with other strangers and bathrooms being shared. Yet, since our 14 bed room consisted only of our group, we never had to share a bathroom with anyone. The one difference between hostels and this “resort” is that that they make a surprising effort with the food here. It’s all scrumptious. Omelets, pancakes, bacon, sausages, cassava (which Fiji seems very fond of) and fruit were on the breakfast menu today. After we were full to bursting, we were ready to chill on the beach until noon. The beach was too hot for me and a few other guys so we spent our time in the water, throwing the Frisbee and snorkeling just off the break. Being close to the water with a perfect temperature and great climate is causing me to crave some surfing. If only this beach had a decent break, I would never want to leave.

We planned to go catamaran sailing today, but the wind was nonexistent. Most of the fun activities that are advertised here require some wind to have fun with. There’s parasailing, regular sailing, and windsurfing (which I would love to have tried) and they are all incredibly cheap. The only ones left for us were jet skiing or diving. Both were somewhat out of my price range (jet skiing was $280 for an hour and diving was $200 for a two tank dive) so we contented ourselves with some president, the only thing in the world that makes me outwardly display anger, and B.S. After a couple hours of both, I became bored and left for a nap in the shade. Even in the shade the temperature beats down on your body until you are forced to accept defeat and retreat to your bed.

After an hour of a choppy nap I came back to find the group at the bar. I joined them and found they were recounting the hilarious and embarrassing events of the past month. We spent a good hour before dinner continuously laughing until my throat, stomach, and head were throbbing with pain. It was strange, however, to talk about the past month. It finally made me realize that this trip was coming to an end. I fought back my sadness. I’ll feel that on a later date.

Dinner was the same as last night and happy hour started at 6pm. I watched as the group became wilder with their actions and I was soon forced to act as ridiculous as them. The live band brought out a few fun elimination games tonight. The first dance consisted of Ben, Steren, and I. We had to stop dancing when the music stopped playing. Simple, right? We were eliminated in the first round. With Steren’s infectious upbeat attitude combined with both Ben and Steren’s alcohol influenced actions, I couldn’t stop moving. The second dance comprised of Jade, Andrew, Ben, Brian, Steren, and I. The band would play music and when they stopped playing they would yell out a number. Everybody had to latch onto one another in order to make a group that consisted of that number of people. It was chaos as we shoved and pushed for our partners and, consequentially, there was plenty of face planting and close lining. Surprisingly, I placed third in this competition. It was a fun night, even if it ended in Olivia and I escorting a few people home.

Beach Comber

                February 25. We were all excited to go to Beach Comber Island today. Its diameter is approximately a quarter of a mile, so it’s a tiny island resort. We packed only our backpacks for 2 nights and 3 days. It took about an hour of driving and an hour of boating to get to the island. It was even smaller than I perceived it to be. We pulled up right onto the white beach and jumped from the boat, eager to explore the layout of the beach. The entrance to the resort was 20 feet from the beach and opened into a bar on the left and the dining room on the right. We checked into our room, which thankfully had exactly 14 beds so we didn’t need to share with anyone, and walked over to the notice board to plan out our day’s events. At 2pm there was a free 45 minute snorkel that Caitie, Steran, Andrew, Jade, Ben, and I signed up for and until then we ate lunch in the dining hall. There are 3 free meals a day here and all are buffet style. Consequentially, there was a huge line consisting of all 50 tourists on the island. The meal entailed pita bread, rice, beef curry, pineapple, and cassava (a root that resembled and tasted like a potato). At 2pm we rented masks, snorkels and fins and headed out to the reef with 20 other snorkelers.

                The reef was beautiful with grey, crumbled live rock and an abundance of fire and brain coral. There were many tiny fish with exotic features and colors. Bright blue starfish littered the sea floor and you occasionally caught sight of a moray eel peering curiously at you as you swam by. The reef was about 7 feet from the surface of the water, but after the edge it became somewhere closer to 25 feet. We could swim to the bottom to see stingrays and larger fish, but trying to hold your breath combined with constantly equalizing the pressure made it a cumbersome dive. We collected plenty of unique shells in our allotted time, but all too soon we were called back to the boat to go home.

                By 3pm it was too late to do much except lay on the beach and wait for dinner to start. The surrounding beach is different in certain areas, which surprised me because it’s probably only a half a mile stretch at the most. Some parts are gorgeously clean with white sand and no rocks, but others are filled with live rock, which tries to murder your feet as you stride on them. There is also a distinct smell of seaweed constantly being wafted into our room. It is also dangerously hot as well. I’ve had to reapply sunscreen twice already in the past 4 hours. You glisten with sweat in your first 30 minutes of lying there and you’re drenched after another hour. The beach is not meant for human habitation from 11am-2pm.

                Dinner consisted of fish, cassava, and salad. I have recently taken a liking to the fish here, which is surprisingly because I rarely eat fish at home. Dinner was followed by the Bula and a limbo, which I lost miserably. The nightlife here is fantastic and energetic. It is really hard to find time to blog here because there is no internet and I want to make sure I make the most of the last days I have with this fantastic group. I doubt I’ll be able to post the next few days until I get to China. I want to make the most of time I have with my group. I sincerely apologize for making you all wait on these posts, but for those of you who can spare about 30 minutes to catch up on the last few days, you can be sure of some great days ahead.

No More Kava

                February 24. After breakfast today we took a hike into the village where we met the chiefs and had a proper kava ceremony with them. It was a 30 minute walk (in our sarongs) to the village and we had to cross rickety, skinny logs that were makeshift bridges in order to get there. I wasn’t looking forward to a hike today and distracted myself in talking to Olivia.

The high school clique started to fade when we arrived in Queenstown and by now our 2 groups have merged. I have gotten to know Claire, Ariana, and Olivia more than I had and they are all great people. Claire is incredibly confident and is hilarious because of her disregard for what people think of her. Ariana is a down-to-earth girl with a genuine kindness and a dorky, but positively upbeat personality. I have already stated that Olivia is kind, friendly, and a great conversationalist with a slight attitude (which brings a change to the conversation, but never a negative one). Yet, I’ve recently noticed that she is adventurous, relatable, and blunt (she speaks her mind freely and confidently).

                When we finally arrived at the village, we were greeted with enthusiastic “Bulas!” everywhere we walked. The village seemed undeveloped, but pure in its culture. Here, they take nothing for granted. They use every material they can get, which makes their houses look more like squatter-homes. We entered the chief’s home with relief, for it had started to rain during our hike. It was a simple home, but one of the more luxurious ones. It had several couches, mirrors were placed oddly around the room, and there was a curtain that divided part of the room to make a sleeping area. The chiefs were 2 withering, old men who were already sitting in their perspective places for the ceremony. One of the chiefs looked eagerly at us, clearly enjoying our visit, while the other gazed lazily outside, seemingly bored with the events. Before taking our seats around the “Mother Bowl of Kava” we introduced ourselves to the chiefs. They shook our hands, one more energetically than the other, and introduced themselves as we introduced ourselves.

                We sat down and began the ceremony. There wasn’t much difference between the other ceremonies than this one, except the chiefs were served first and were the ones saying “Taki” as we finished our first rounds. The chiefs were relatively quiet throughout the ceremony, only displaying their presence by laughing at a Fijian joke or clapping before someone had drank their kava. The mother bowl was enormous and took several “Taki’s” to finish the kava. I fought back a look of revulsion during my first high tide, but everyone in the group saw right through me and laughed. Then something much worse happened.

                They brought out a bowl roughly the size of a human skull. It replaced the tsunami and was about double its size. Andrew bet me I couldn’t drink a bowl of it. I had to sustain my dignity, for Claire, Olivia, and David had already had one already. I asked for the bowl and Oro’s face broke into a grin. He handed me the bowl and turned to watch (he knew I hated kava). It took about 10 seconds for me to gulp down the entire bowl. It was 10 seconds of repulsion. The bowl was so daunting I had even forgotten to clap and say “Bula!” before I drank, but nobody seemed to mind. Andrew looked impressed, but another ruthless expression crossed his face as he asked me to do another. So, I did another and one more after that because he had bet me again. It was a good thing that the mother bowl was empty at that point, because any more kava and I would have probably thrown up.

                My mouth felt completely numb as I said goodbye to the chiefs, each giving me an approving smile. I walked out while the others teased if I was even able to walk straight. Surprisingly, it was only my mouth that had become numb and even that wore off within minutes. The walk back was enjoyable enough. Most of us just talked about the ceremony.

When we got back to the farm, it was time for a quick lunch and then off to pack our things. I wasn’t reluctant to leave the farm. It was fun, but I was ready for a proper shower and a day without becoming completely dirty. We said our farewells and jumped into the trucks (I made sure I was in the cushioned truck for a change). We stopped for a while in Nadi where I was able to buy souvenirs for home. Then we rolled back to the eco lodge outside Nadi.

We spent the rest of the day in the pool and showers, happy to cool off and get clean. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow, we are going to a beach comber island for our last few days, just as a vacation (not like this entire month hasn’t seemed like a vacation).