Another Sunday with Good Food and Good People

I may not throw in a lot of detail on this post. It is currently 11pm where I am, and I am just beginning the writing portion. Been a full day, as I had hoped :-) I should go to bed soon, though. Gotta wake up to the mountain out my window in the morning one more time. 

Real quick here is a group photo from our hike yesterday. All of us except Nina standing next to the National Park sign. Family vacation picture ;-)

Picked up before 8am by our principal to head to the baccalaureate service at Kanana Fou church in Tafuna. Huge church, and pretty nice. The graduates all sat at the front, sang many hymns, a few readings were read, and a sermon was delivered. A little English throughout, but mostly in Samoan. A nice little service, though. It was cool to be a part of a Samoan service, and see all the graduates together.

Afterward I tried to snag as many of my seniors as possible to wish them good luck and get some hugs. This is Cheryl. She is af riend of some of my students, came on one field trip with me, and messaged me the night before hoping I was coming to baccalaureate.

This is Carmel. Another friend of some of my students that joined for two field trips.

This is Jeff. He had messaged me a few days before saying he would have to give me a big hug at baccalaureate as I wouldn't be at the commencement ceremony. Handled. He has been saying the sweetest things. He's a good kid.

Headed over to the Tasi and Louisa's house for my final toona'i (Sunday family lunch). So much good food, great company, and got to see almost everyone. Stayed there all afternoon until it was time for evening church.

Here is some lovely papaya with Isa's cute little forks.

Here is my artsy shot of the set table shortly before we indulged in lunch.

Gotta love some family lunch. Good thing we don't eat like this every Sunday ;-) I still held my portions pretty well.

I convinced everyone to take a nice group photo.

Of course we had to take a fun one, too.

Spent a lot of time just sitting and chatting with my Samoan family - good friends.

I was all about trying to capture the essence of the home of my Samoan family. Here is a common sight in Samoan homes, a bunch of slippers (flip-flops) near the door.

I ate some extra payaya, as I'm not sure when I will have access to some again. I will miss it a bit.

Lolo washing dishes in the warm kitchen.

A Samoan closet full of custom and brightly colored puletasis.

It was Cousin Nina's birthday, and her reaction to the cake Adah made was hilarious. Why does her face look like that?

Check out what they wrote on the cake.

Pretty good cake. Chocolate cake with a peanut butter frosting. Many taste testers came back out of the kitchen talking up the frosting. They had good reason, to. Never had that before, and it was yummy. One piece enough for me. :-)

Here's some of us girls enjoying the birthday cake.

We had a little birthday present for Nina and some thank you gifts for others in the family. Can't thank them enough for everything. They will always be my Samoan family.

Auntie Tai also showed us how to husk a coconut - extra layer around the coconut itself. I've cracked open the coconut but never husked the coconut first.

Auntie Tai then dropped me off at church after saying my good-byes. Will see some of them again Monday as they are going to help me take my bag to the airport in the morning and then drop me off for my departure Monday night.

Here is my good friend Lilian. Almost every Sunday I would help her count up the offering. She is the church treasurer.

After the church service where Pastor Jim from Savai'i preached, as he is in transit heading to the States for a while, we had some refreshments the ladies had brought in.  Pastor Jim is on the same flight as me. A little fellowship time and time for farewells. They all said some kind things, and I have been thankful for them welcoming me into their church family this year.

Delicious lemon bars.

Mini pies and cinnamon rolls.

The youth all help set up the the little buffet.

As I handed Miss Heidi a thank you card and gift for her family for being so welcoming, friends to me, and having us over for the umu, she hands me a bag with some gifts for me. During the refreshments I thanked Lilian for being such a good friend to me this year, and she thanked me for inviting her out for lunches as she really doesn't hang out with anyone outside of work. She spoke to her mom, came back, and told me they were going to come to the airport to see me off Monday night. Aw. She further explained how that's a Samoan thing, not really something you see in the States. In the States we usually do the farewell thing at someone's house first, and then just get dropped off the airport by a few, but here the whole family more or less will go see someone off.

Here are my gifts from my good friends the Uele's.

I got my suitcase to shut! Only checking the one bag, then have a backpack and my purse as a carry-on. Time for bed and a few things on Monday. Nothing too big planned for Monday. Should be pretty chill until it's time to head to the airport. Flying out Monday night out of Pago Pago and should be landing in Omaha Wednesday afternoon. It's starting to hit me that I'm leaving, but just living each day. Have a great week everyone!