Post-Fiji funk

I'm not in a funk because I'm back.  I admit, returning this year was the best feeling ever.  Better than in previous years because of the emotional stress leading up to our trip this year.  As a school community we were all spent.  Life threw us a reminder of it's fragility that made everyone reevaluate what is important.  I was not ready to leave my family for a week.  I was afraid to leave them for a week.

In hindsight, though, I think it was good that this week long trip came at the time that it did.  We needed to switch gears.  We needed a change in place.  As we returned to school this week, it was evident we were all in different stages of healing this week that felt better than before we left.

Amelia, Ella's tickle friend.

No, I'm not in a funk because of all of that.  I'm struggling to get my head back into Hong Kong mode. Island life does that to you, I guess.  It's part of its charm and part of its challenge.

Always singing.  This is perhaps my favorite part of Fiji.

On one hand, living carefree and totally unaware of the stress of deadlines or of time passing for that matter, is really quite therapeutic.  We make kids surrender their phones, which means we do, too. I never really knew what the time was all week, and the awareness of the outside world (or the cyclone that threatened the South Pacific) faded away. On the other hand, island living can become redundant.  You begin to get a sense that you need to be able to get things done.  Efficiently.

The Coral Coast railway, out of service for the last four years since their last cyclone.

Being back for a week now, I realize how quickly the pace of life moves here.  It seemed like the week in Fiji moved at a snail's pace, yet here we are now in Hong Kong and the week has zipped by, full of activities and events.

The local beach.

But I'm struggling.  How did I do it all before?  Take for example the fact that writing this post has taken me nearly a full week!  I've got a backlog of things to do and I'm bloody exhausted!

Bear with me.  I'll adjust.  I always do.

My host, and my friend Nate with her daughter Frances.

 And, as always, I'm so thankful for the Fiji family that I get to visit every year and the experience they share with me.

I have knownVasiti (with the scarf on her head) and her family (her mother Mere, waving) since I started traveling to Fiji eight years ago.

Right now, I'm missing their smiles, the warmth of their friendship and the music.  Oh, the music.