Ta'ahine Motu (Island Girl)

There are always random things that happen that actually are not that random to the Tongans, just to the only palangi (white person) on the island. Here are some pictures of those random events and some pictures of just island life.

As I walked outside of my house on my way to go to work at the primary school I see this beautiful rainbow over my neighbor’s house. This is actually the house of my Tongan family.

One day Viliami, my neighbor’s son, came over to my house from the bush with a coconut leaf weaved basket and asked me if he could cook something in my oven. So, naturally I ask, What? He opens up the basket and it is a small dead pig. Pigs stay in the village area because if they get into the bush area they will eat the root crops (the yams, taro, potatoes, etc.). So if a pig gets into the bush it automatically becomes property of the bush and if anyone catches it they can kill it and eat it. This is a mutually unspoken rule by everyone. So Pila (short for Viliami, don’t ask my how) Sinilau (my dog) and a couple other dogs from Pila’s house caught the pig. As I walked back into my kitchen, after giving him permission to cook the pig in my oven, I see this and just had to get a picture of it to share. Not something you ever expect to see happening in your kitchen.

Fai Fo!! Doing Laundry!! Tongans do their laundry outside but I just don’t like everyone watching me wash my dirty clothes. Apparently it is quite an amazing thing to watch a palangi wash their clothes by hand. And I wanted to share with you a little of how my house looks.

Here is my vegetable garden in the bush. The only way to be able to have vegetables on a more regular basis, and some vegetables that Tongans have never heard of. From the front of the picture moving back: lettuce, tomatoes, onions, squash, zucchini, broccoli, and more zucchini.

Fonu (sea turtle) Some men came back from fishing one morning with this huge sea turtle. It is one of the biggest turtles I have seen yet. The Tongans tell me that they have been bigger but only once. Yes, we ate it, but in Tonga it is not illegal.

The church that I attend has a 5am service every Sunday, Monday and Friday (not that I attend that service). One day their generator broke and they started asking to use my kerosene lantern to be able to have their service. Well the last time I was in Tongatapu I bought the church their own lantern. So during the next Sunday 10am service they had me come to the front and hold the lantern while it was blessed. But during all of this they never took it out of the box. When I took the lantern to the minister’s house, of course I gave it to him in the box. He opened it up and looked at it but never took it out, I did not really think too much about it at the time, and than put it in his office until Sunday for it to be blessed. When I walked into church that Sunday, I was very surprised to see that the lantern was still in the box and it was sitting on the front table. If I would have known they were not going to take it out of the box I would not have given it to them in the box.

If you remember in the picture I posted of the view I have from my house there was a boat upside down by the tree. Well the church that it belongs to got new materials, moved the boat to the church and rebuilt it. Here is the village moving the rebuilt boat back to the ocean.

One evening sitting outside of my house I heard some kittens crying. I followed the crying to three little new born kittens who’s eyes were not yet open, very cute. All that night and the next morning they were still crying. The mom had never returned and over the night a dog or a pig had eaten two of the kittens. So feeling bad I tried to help the third and last of the new born kittens but despite my attempts at trying to keep it alive it was not successful. Then one day my neighbor, Pila, came over with a kitten hanging from his shirt. Since he saw my trying to care for the little kitten he thought that I really wanted a new cat so he brought me one from his sister’s house. Not being able to tell him that I really didn’t want a cat, I accepted his gift. He decided to name it Cilantro…one time I returned from Tonga with some fresh cilantro I found at the market and made fresh salsa. So now I have a new little kitten that is a pain in the butt. It is the typical kitten, curious, nothing phases it, playful and always getting into trouble.