Another day in paradise! At the start of this morning I awoke from dreamland by that rude alarm. Maybe I’ll pretend that I am lost in island time…..or maybe I’ll get up. Opting for the latter, I took a nice warm shower. Thank goodness because there is a chill to the air this morning --- a welcome change from the ceaseless sweating I have been experiencing. After getting dressed I made my way down to the Vaka lounge and I see Tai’s van. I think to myself “Oh no, she means business today”. To my lovely surprise Tai has decorated the lounge with happy little hats, balloons, Snickers bars all around and a special note for each one of us. What a lovely gift from her to make our morning special on this Thanksgiving Day 2007. Elaine and I don our happy hats and start on our breakfast as we get to watch everyone’s reactions as they arrive to find their surprise. We spent our breakfast time talking about our Thanksgiving traditions and what we would be doing in those alternate lives of ours so far away from here and now. Here, in Rarotonga, in the Vaka lounge, there is much to be thankful for already.
I listen to some tunes on my way to school, singing and enjoying myself, thankful for the beautiful weather we have been blessed with today. Another surprise greets me when I get to school. We are all going down to see the Vaka carvings. It is so much fun to ride on the bus with the kids. It is an adventure in itself. The giggles, the singing, the outright laughter at the bus driver for slamming on the breaks. It is worth the trip for the bus ride alone. We arrive in the town centre and enjoyed seeing the progress of the canoes. They are starting to reveal marvelous detail now. The kids got their lesson about the vakas in Maori and one of the teachers was nice enough to translate. To answer the burning question we have had…. they use mango tree and mahogany for the vakas….just FYI. We all sat for a little lunch and watched some of the paddlers finish strong. The kids cheered them on as they crossed the finish line. It definitely looked like hard work.
Back to school, back to school. Just in time for the lunch break. Good timing! I got a suggestion from Sarah to break up the monotony a bit and try a little group reading session of sorts. So we all gathered in the new library and talked about the importance of reading and showed them on the atlas how far we’ve come to read with them. Truly it has been my greatest pleasure and I thanked them as well. After that we went on a little nature walk where they were really teaching us about the trees and fruits and the uses for the different plants. Who’s teaching whom here? We headed back to the library and had our reading group where I started to read to them “A New York State of Mind”. So we all located NY on the map and I read the book and they took over. It was a nice change and I appreciate the suggestion from Sarah. I think they had fun and I know I did.
Fast forward. Home – to town – to the pharmacy for some anti nausea medicine for Denise and I for tomorrow – back home – nap – shower – meet the group for our trip to the Food Festival. Good deal, I’m hungry. We all enjoyed the festivities for the evening. Linda’s ice cream in a pineapple was my favourite. No, maybe the kabob. OK, we’re heading out. We thought we lost Connie. We were thinking she may have given in to her succulent side and found herself a man. There’s that island fever again.
Back home again – all members accounted for. As if that weren’t enough there was still more. Debbie slaved away in the kitchen to make us a special pumpkin/coconut dessert. She even grew the pumpkin. If that’s not love I don’t know what is.
So, as Thanksgiving Day 2007 comes to a close, I will go off to sleep thinking about the many many things I have to be thankful for. Friendship, love, community, a good laugh, children, music, crazy bus drivers, good food (specially leftover pumpkin pie/cake), sunshine, rain, this trip, this island, memories, and tomorrow for another opportunity to do it again.

Teresa

Thought for the Day:
We give thanks for the abundance of our lives and the bounteous nature of our earth. We celebrate the love and joy experienced through community and service.