I'm back in Nadi now, and packed and ready to fly to LA :) The sun finally came out for the second part of my stay, but has gone away again now.

I spent the first four days of my trip on a tour around the main island, and we visited a local high school and had a kava ceremony in a village with the chief. The school was interesting - it's really small and the 18 year olds that showed us around seemed really young compared to the 18 year old gap year students we had with us on our tour. It was raining and the pupils were all shivering, but I was really warm. Funny. The students sang to us which was lovely - they sang a traditional Fijian farewell song in harmony and I loved it. We were expected to sing something in return, and our Fijian guide requested Old MacDonald Had a Farm, which got all the students clapping and cheering. Funny.

Kava tastes like sour iced tea (or as our driver put it, wet cement). It's mank and you have to down the whole bowful. Yack. It's what the Fijians drink socially, and they give it to babies to make them go to sleep, but every time they finish drinking it they pull a right face, and no one seems to like it much. The ceremony was interesting - we had to follow certain customs and after the initial ceremony the men on our tour stayed to drink more and tell stories while the women sat and weaved bangles.

I really enjoyed the tour, but was happy to spend the second half of my week on a little island. I stayed on South Sea Island, which is TINY and you can walk around it in about 4 minutes; something I've always wanted to do. I also went diving again, which was excellent, and did plenty of snorkelling (and FINALLY saw a sting ray). The weather cleared up and it was incredibely beautiful, and I had a lot of fun just sitting in a hammock :)

This evening I fly to LA, and I arrive there this afternoon. I have ALWAYS wanted to do this and I feel like Doctor Who.