My Assignment!!

After a very long and tedious application process I finally received my assignment. =)

I will be leaving Oct 7^th, 2008 for the Kingdom of Tonga!! The program that I will be involved with is Business and Organizational Development (BOD). My job title is Business Educator/Advisor. I will be spending half of my day teaching business classes to the locals and the other half of my day will be getting involved with projects in the business community.

I will not know where I will be living and what type of resources will be available to me until after my pre-service training. For the 3 month pre-service training I will be on the main island, Nuku’alofa. I will go through an intensive 10 week language program and learn everything I need to know about my objectives.

As I know more information, about where I am going to be located for my service and exactly what I am going to be doing, I will keep you updated! Until then here is some information about Tonga: Enjoy!!

The Kingdom of Tonga is in the South Pacific Ocean comprising of 169 islands, 36 of them inhabited, stretching over a distance of about 500 miles in a north-south line, population about 100,000. The islands lie East of Fiji and are about one-third of the way from New Zealand to Hawaii.

Tonga is the only surviving monarchy among the island nations of the Pacific Ocean, as well as being the only island nation never to have been formally colonized. The islands are also known as the Friendly Islands because of the friendly reception accorded to Captain Cook on his first visit in 1773.

The language spoken is Tongan. Tongan is a member of the Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language. It consists of 16 letters, 5 vowels and 11 consonants. It is also spoken in American Samoa, Australia, Canada, Fiji, New Zealand, Niue, the USA and Vanuatu.

The climate is basically subtropical with a distinct warm period (December-April), during which the temperatures rise above 90 °F, and a cooler period (May-November), with temperatures rarely rising above 80 °F.

Tonga's big attractions are its amazing tropical coral reefs and the yearly visit from the humpback whales. During the months of July through November the humpback whales come to Tonga to mate and birth. Snorkeling and/or scuba-diving are great ways to experience these attractions up close and personal.

The sun rises on the Kingdom of Tonga before anywhere else in the world. The 169 islands of Tonga sit at the very beginning of the International Date Line, the most eastern point you can travel before going into yesterday. Tonga is 20 hours ahead of California (easier to figure, the next day 4 hours earlier) and 17 hours ahead of New York.