We have made it to New Zealand safe and sound!
Our last few days in New Caledonia were busy and wonderful. On Wednesday we had another afterschool program that was messy but a lot of fun. On Thursday we helped out with a Womens appreciation night for some very hardworking New Caledonian women. They graciously let us apply yogurt facials that we concocted ourselves to their faces, and scandalously bright nail polish to their fingers and toes. We celebrated our womanhood by telling stories, eating massive amounts of pizza and chips, and watching The Devil Wears Prada in french. It was delightful. Angela and I busily tried to fit in as much as we could before leaving la Nouvelle Caledonie. We visited the cathedral and parks one last time, said goodbye to some friends we had made in the market and on the street, went to the aquarium and a musuem, ate our last ham baguettes, and spent time with our lovely church members.
On friday we were planning on holding a Family Fun night. We prepared to teach them some games like pictionary, scattegories, and charades and saw it as our chance to give back to this community that has so generoulsy loved and cared for us over the past few weeks. We shared short (tearful) speeches about how much they meant to us and how we loved and would miss them. Just as we thought we were sharing with them, they unbelievably shared with us. One by one, members of the congregation in the tahitian tradition of saying Bon Voyage brought shells up and draped them around our necks, kissing us on the cheeks for one last time. Angela and I could not contain our emotion as they layered us with shells, pearls, sarongs, shirts, dresses, and bags to remember them by. We wish we could have given them more in return, but they will always be remembered and loved in our hearts. We both feel truly blessed to have had this experience with such truly beautiful people.
Now we are in New Zealand! While very grateful to speak English with everyone we meet, we also have fallen in love with the warm and friendly nature of the people, the landscape, and the food. It is cold outside (it is there winter here!) But we have a warm and cozy cottage (complete with electric blankets) and a warm and cozy family to live with. Howard and Pam are absolutely wonderful and we are enjoying there company immensely. We are filling our short time in New Zealand up with seeing some of the sites of Auckland, visiting different church members, scrubbing down the sanctuary, helping to clean up the campgrounds, going to a meet and greet party, preparing some creative sunday school materials, and writing an article for their newsletter. We are also learning a lot about Maori culture, and picking up some colloquial sayings:
It is cold enough to freeze the balls off of a brass monkey
pinched-steal
shouting at us-paying for us
good on ya-very well done
blimey-goodness me
winter woolies- warm coats
Each person we have met here has been so friendly, warm, and accepting and Angela and I absolutey love it here just as we have loved every other place we have been priviliged enough to visit!
Tootles.
-Brittany and Angela
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