Iaorana Tatou!!!
Contacting - "The Tahitian Way"
I had another fantastic week here so buckle up! So this week we did a lot of contacting, and boy, it was a joyride. People here are too nice to chase you away or like send their dogs after you, but we did have a couple interesting experiences. Sidenote: Contacting here is unlike anywhere else I'm pretty sure. You just walk up to their gate and yell "Iaorana" or "coucou" at them until someone comes out. Normally we just get the usual "I don't have time," response which kinda ticks me off. I might have muttered under my breath "You don't have time for Jesus?" and then realized that wasn't very Christlike. Anyway, we were contacting this week and I kid you not some lady came outside, but she came out holding her broom like a weapon. I thought she was going to come after us for a minute, but she stayed in her doorway. I'm glad because I don't think we could have taken her. ;)
Another time we were on our way to contact a reference with a member and decided to say hi to some random guys on the side of the road. Half an hour later we're still listening to this guy tell us why the Sabbath should be on Saturday, but the President of the U.S. the President of France and the Pope all got together and decided that anyone who didn't worship on Sunday would get their heads cut off. I think the two of us got 10 words max in on that conversation, but it's whatever.
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| A Mental Health Moment! |
Hiking Raiatea and a Rare Flower
Anyway, that was this week, but boy howdy was this P-day fabulous. I should stop going on hikes that are detrimental to my physical and mental health, but those are the hikes here. Our brothers (the Elders) from Tahaa were able to come which was super awesome! The boat ride is super cheap I guess, so we might be going over there soon... Stay tuned. Anyway, the hike was super tough but worth it.
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| Lindsay's Picture She Took Calling It "The Severed Hand Flower" |
We hiked up the mountain to see a super rare flower with some super awesome legends about it. I guess legend has it that some Princess went up this mountain and somehow got her hand cut off and died. From where her hand fell grew a beautiful flower (that has 5 petals that I guess looks like a hand) and if you pick a flower the whole plant dies. Anyway, I guess if you see this flower it means you have "arrived" to Raiatea, so we finally did that. Also, it only grows on this mountain at that altitude, so needless to say its super rare.
(From TheTelegraph: The Tiare Flower - Found Only on Mt. Temehana on Raiatea
From wikipedia: Apetahia raiateensis, a rare flower found only on Raiatea in French Polynesia. Edward Creutz published a paper on it in 1966. The New York Botanical Garden Journal will send us a scanned copy of his article about this rare flower "as soon as [they] find it." We want to know... Does the whole plant really die if the flower is picked?)
We also had a blast learning the Haka (A separate post has information about the Haka) with our tour guide, and enjoying the scenery! This hike was legit like 6 hours long and I might have died a little bit inside because it was intense, but the weather was merciful and we did not die. (Her family is glad she "did not die". She didn't write until 9:30pm Colorado time...5:30pm her time; we figure if she is late in writing she is on a 6-hour deep, tropical hike, "almost" dying!)
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| "A Bomb Selfie at the Top" |
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| "Writing my name on the Rock of Names...Finally made it to Raiatea!" |
We also had a blast learning the Haka (A separate post has information about the Haka) with our tour guide, and enjoying the scenery! This hike was legit like 6 hours long and I might have died a little bit inside because it was intense, but the weather was merciful and we did not die. (Her family is glad she "did not die". She didn't write until 9:30pm Colorado time...5:30pm her time; we figure if she is late in writing she is on a 6-hour deep, tropical hike, "almost" dying!)
Keep your tongue in😪K
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