Tuesday morning – 4:00 a.m. I’m awakened by the beautiful sounds of Cook Islands nature. Birds are chirping, the ocean surf is rolling in, there’s a lovely breeze through my front window, and that rooster is determined to get me out of bed. I’ve decided to call him Damian as he definitely has some of the devil in him. Yes Damian – I’m getting up.
Breakfast at 7:00 after which Lilia read her entertaining journal and Judy gave the thought for the day. Now the adventure finally begins.
Tai and Debbie delivered some to their projects at various places around the island while Teresa, Linda and I headed out on our pushbikes for Takitumu School. Ana and her son Frances greeted us. She is a wonderful woman with endless energy, excitement and enthusiasm, which surely rubs off on her students. Susan headed to the library to start some cataloguing. As the school staff were still working on our schedules, Teresa and I started our day numbering the new books for the reading program. Boxes and boxes and boxes of books. We chuckled to ourselves over some of the interesting titles………
The Adventures of Diaper Baby
Tales from the Great White North (which may or may not be about Canada ??)and our favourite………
Kiss, Kiss, Yuck, Yuck
At the 10:00 break the staff prepared a nice lunch for us – sandwiches, tuna, cheese, tomatoes, pawpaw and bananas. We won’t need to take a lunch tomorrow. How sweet is that? It was fun to watch the children on their break playing soccer and cricket. There were even cheerleaders in the far corner. They all brushed their teeth and headed back to class at the sound of the drum.
With the schedule finalized, we started right in on the reading program. The 9 and 10 year olds are just adorable, polite and shy at first, but come right out of their shells with just a few words of encouragement. Of the 11 children on my roster, 4 forgot their folders and 1 brought his brothers by mistake. No problem, we just grab another book in their reading level.
These children are no different than back home. Some require help sounding words, some with comprehension and some are excellent readers if you can just keep them focused. All of them enjoy discussion and really seem to appreciate the one on one attention. Their smiles prove it.
We finished up for the day and Linda and I hopped our bikes and headed for town and a bit of shopping. We checked out the Vaka carving event and enjoyed the best cup of coffee ever at Mac’s.
Everyone met back at the Vaka Lounge at 5’ish to go to our dance lesson at the National Auditorium. What a great outing. We joined in with the dancers with our pareus tied relatively neatly in place. It was great fun.
Back to KiiKii for dinner and some very lively discussions about our days. I think the consensus is that this will be a very enjoyable and personally rewarding trip. Some headed to Club Raro for more cultural experience. Some are back in their rooms and I will work on my journal til the wee hours while my tummy rumbles and tumbles and gurgles. For me, this is not a good night for the water to be off.

p.s. We all hope Connie feels better tomorrow.

Elaine

Thought for the day:
“Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death.” Auntie Mame