Flying home

It seems surreal to me, somehow, that I'm writing this last blog entry on the plane home to Sydney. After a month in Fiji, two months in the islands, I'm more conflicted than I expected to be about this simple fact. It's true that I miss my own family, and though Chanukah isn't an important holiday on the Jewish calendar, it's one that we always like to spend together. So in that, I'm glad to be going home for it. But it's also true that I'm going to miss Fiji. I'm going to miss the incredible people I've met and their hospitality, and I'm definitely going to miss the food. I'm even going to miss the Fiji Arts Council. I've had such a fantastic experience on this trip, my 'Pacific experience', and an experience that would have been completely impossible without the aid of the course.

There might, admittedly, be some aspects that I won't miss – also part of the experience. I may not miss the weather too much, easy enough in an Australian summer. I won't miss those occasional feelings of complete 'alienness', the best way I can think of putting it. They were always to be expected – in fact, I think I'd be more worried if I didn't have them – but I think they were buffered by the Arts Council, by the people and by the Arts Council office itself. It became a familiar space, and so sometimes, it became easy to forget where I was, or that I was foreign to it (and it, likewise, foreign to me). The Christmas party we attended brought that home for me. When I was told 'Christmas party' it was impossible to prevent the immediate imagining I had of a Western version of that event. I forgot, somehow, about kava ceremonies and so it was a bit of a surprise to walk into the kava ceremony portion of the party. Maybe that moment attests to the fact that I was feeling at home in Fiji; maybe it's only indicative of that 'alien' feeling. It might have even been a bit of both, which would actually feel like a pretty accurate summary of what Fiji felt like for me in general. Either way, this has been an incredible trip, and an invaluable learning experience. Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year, everyone.