PICTURES!! YAY!!!!

I wanted to post more pictures but it takes a while to get them loaded. Hope you all enjoy!! I will try to post some more of my fellow PC volunteers...and is their anything else you guys would like to see??





Keitahi Beach. This is one of the other beaches by my village. It is almost like a view from Lost. =)

Samiu, my 15 year old host brother, jumping!! We have so much fun at the beach. And the children love to look at my pictures when we get back home, especially pictures like this one! =)

Here is part of my Tongan family! The parents on the sides, the twins, Leseili and 'Anunciai, Sina and her children. This was after church...the children did a performance so everyone was dressed up. =)
The twins graduated from high school...they invited me to attend their ball. So here I am in the traditional Tongan dress they has made for me.
Siousi...my 2 year old host brother...modeling at the beach. (the rock in the background is the one I fell from.)

Here is Siousi sleeping in the back of the truck we take on Sundays to the beach.

Leseili, 'Aunuciai, Setita, and Tu'i in the background. You can tell they are a fun family! =)

This is at the special complimentary dinner/performance we had down at the beach in our town. This is a traditional Tongan dance, she is wearing coconut oil so that you can stick money to her. =)


This was our welcoming feast...and this is only half of the food!! And the food for only for 8 of us!


Leseili and Mapo getting mangos on our way down to 'Eneio beach. =)


Tu'anekivale!!! This is the main road in my town I live all the way and the end. I am standing in about the middle of town taking the picture. This was a few minutes before I helped the older man who gave me my Tongan name. =)

'umu....here is a the 'umu that they cooked the root crop in and the coconut tree leaves basket (to the left) they put it in to carry.

MY OWN PARADISE!!!

I am really enjoying myself here in Tu’anekivale. I live near some beautiful beaches and I am like a celebrity here. Whenever I am walking down the street to school the kids always call out, from places you didn’t even know of, Hina! Hina! Hina! When I walk home from school for lunch, it is also the primary school lunch time, and the kids come down the hill running to me. The boys I give high fives and the girls I just give hugs to. They are all so cute, they get a little shy and then head home. I always walk home with my little homestay sister, either holding her hand or riding on my shoulder. Whenever I get home from school I love playing with the kids in my house. I have kids that are there just hanging out or actually live here from the age of 20 to 1. The young kids here don’t really play with the adults so I think they really love it. I pick them up, hang them upside down, chase them, tickle them…and it goes on for hours. It is funny to watch the kids because they always look at you with this big grin hoping they will be the next kid I pick up.

After playing with the kids for a while I either go kaukautahi (swim in the ocean), go for a jog with another PC volunteer or head to the basketball courts. Other PC volunteers are usually there and our two language teachers too. The games are really fun and it is a good workout. Oh, I should mention that they really don’t know what basketball is here. They have something called neti polo (net ball) that is the closest thing. The ball, court lines, rules and hoop are all a little different but we just use the neti polo ball and play basketball. =) After basketball or jogging it is time to come home cuz it is getting dark. I come home play with the children some more, take a shower, eat dinner (every so often they will actually let me help make the dinner), do homework/study, and hang out with the family. Who could ask for a better schedule!! Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I also go to the dance practices and my oldest host sister, Leseili age 20, likes to pull me up with them because it is the song about Hina. =) So I am learning a Tonga dance, it is a lot of hand movements and you don't really move your feet but you have to keep your knees bent a little bit. I think the whole town enjoys watching me make a fool of myself trying to keep up with moves. These kids have been around these dances their whole lives so they really don't teach you the moves. I just have to watch someone else and just kind of pick up on it. It is a lot of fun though! =D

Today we had coconut survival skills training. Which consisted of watching my language teacher climb a coconut tree (without any shoes of course), open a coconut with a machete, husk a coconut, and start a fire without a flame. It was really cool to watch but not like I would be able to do all of that if I was ever stranded on an island.

I have not really run into any major challenges, yet…I know they will come. I have not really gotten sick either. My stomach at times is a little upset…but I am sure that has nothing to do with the food preparation cleanliness. I do miss seeing/talking with my friends and family but how excited everyone is to see me here and talk with me helps keep my mind busy, Thankfully!!

A WEEK OF ADVENTURES

Sunday, October 26, 2006

Well to start off where I left off…the complimentary dinner was great!! They had some really good food…and more like American food too. =) After eating they planned a performance for us. It was really cute. It was some of the local children performing traditional Tongan dances. They did such a great job and they all looked so cute in their outfits. I have some pics…I will try to post them. At the restaurant they also had a bar. It was the first time since we got here to actually have a chance to have a more typical American social activity where it was okay to drink. We had such a great time. It is interesting how welcoming and loving these people are. We are not even going to be helping their community; we are just here for training. But I guess they know what kind of work PC does and they know that we will be helping their people, whether it is their village for not.

On Sunday I got to experience a typical Sunday of event. After a 3 hour Mormon Church service, which I couldn’t even understand since it was all done in Tonga, we packed up all the food, that some of the family cooked while we were at church, and headed for the beach. My family wanted to show me Vava’u so we drove around almost the whole island just taking in the amazing paradise perfect views. We arrived at one of the well known palangi beaches (they call it that because it is one of the more beautiful beaches that all the tourists like to visit) and had our ‘umu in the back of the truck and then went swimming. There was about 16 of us…now I am sure you are asking yourself how can 16 people fit in one truck. Well, when I say truck you should be thinking more of like a small 18-wheeler ish type of truck. It is a work truck with a cap and the back is a low sided flat bed. Everyone just hopes in the back of the truck and we go…women, children, babies, elders…everyone rides back there. Well not everyone…PC does not allow us to ride in the back for insurance purposes. =X So the palangi has to ride up front.

After we were done eating and swimming we moved onto another beach. One that was a lot closer to our village. This beach is also beautiful and had some cool coral rock formations that everyone was climbing. So after talking some pics I put the camera down and headed out to climb to the top of the rock. And this is where the story begins. =) There is a shorter rock and you first have to climb onto and then climb into the next really big one. If you are familiar with coral it is very sharp and has lots of holes, well at least this one did. To even get to the rock you have to walk out into the ocean a little ways, so you are already wet when you get there and of course I had shoes on (well if you would like to call flip flops shoes) so just start thinking what might have happened. Everyone else in my host family was climbing it so easily, no shoes, like it was nothing. Well between being wet, having shoes on (bare feel would not have been any better), and not really experience at this thing……of course……..I FELL!! OUCH!!! I had it and then I slipped, fell into the first smaller rock and then fell into the ocean. =X As I was falling the thought went through my head “oh shit, I hope I don’t get hurt really bad.” When I came to the surface for air, nothing really hurt and of course my host family is freaking out. They were saying “Sai pe, sai pe??”…which mean ‘okay, okay??’ After a few minutes my family found all the places I was bleeding. I had cuts on my leg, arm, back, fingers, and not until I was out of the water walking back to the truck did I realize that there was a big cut and some missing skin on my big toe, left foot. All the other injuries were just minor cuts and plenty of bruises the next morning, but the cut on my toe looked pretty bad (keep in mind that I just wrote ‘looked’). When we got back to the house and we could better look at the toe, my host family wanted to take me to the hospital. It did not really hurt bad enough for me to think that I needed to go and I think they were just worried about me. I took a shower, bandaged everything else up and convinced them to take me to the PC language trainer’s house in our village first to talk with them…they have a medical kit and the hospitals are not that good anyways. When I got there they had more supplies so I could clean the cut correctly and bandaged it up. The next day I was a little sore all over and walking to class (my house and class are on opposite ends of the village, about ½ mile) was not fun since I could not put any pressure on my toe. A week later, all my wounds have healed very nicely, I did a really good job of keeping everything cleaned and bandaged since I knew how dirty everything is with flies everywhere. I can walk normal now, but the cut on my toe is still sensitive…I lost a lot of layers of skin. All in all I am very thankful that nothing worse happened to me…I am sure the cut on my toe will leave a scar…a story to share. =) (I hope none of you are freaked out (Mom)…it really wasn’t as bad as it sounds. I promise you!)

The rest of my week has been pretty uneventful after Sunday’s events. =) Just language and business training during the day, playing with the kids in the evening, eating dinner, doing language homework and watching movies. I have watched so many movies…they watch the really cheesy American movies over and over again. My language is getting better…I just keep working on trying to communicate with the few words I know and filling in the rest with hand gestures. It is really funny when the 6 year old is correcting me when I say something wrong. =) I guess you have to learn some way!

On Friday, I attended a high school ball for my twin host sisters. They are graduating from high school next week. The ball is not what you have pictured when you think of the work ‘ball.’ It wasn’t like anything that we have back in the states but I would describe it as a mix between a dance (however, all of your family is watching, all the lights are on and they don’t dance how we do) and an informal presentation of the graduates. Everyone gets really dressed up, the graduates where wearing ball gowns and suites. I didn’t have anything even close to being that formal so they went and bought some fabric and had a traditional dress made for me. It was really nice of them…cuz know I have something formal to wear other places. =) Graduating is a very big deal here in Tonga, for a couple of reasons. First, not everyone gets to go to high school. At grade 6 they have to take an exam and if they score high enough they will attend high school. High school is done primarily in English so that is another challenge for a lot of Tongans. After high school there are not that many job opportunities so most of the graduates will either move overseas (New Zealand, Australia, or America) or get married and start a family.

Saturday morning we had a funeral to attend. All the PC trainees attended wearing all black to show our respect and brought flowers for the family. Going to the funeral served two purposes: to experience what happens at a Tongan funeral and to show our support…one of our Trainer’s uncles was the one who passes away. It was a good experience to be able to have while in training so if we had any questions we could just ask one of the trainers. When we got there, there was about 5 full grown big pigs hanging form the tree, some where already cooked and some were waiting to be cooked. Funerals are not just a one day thing here in Tonga. The men were all helping with cooking the animals and the women arranged themselves right outside the house of the deceased and were singing songs. After we went into the house and presented our flowers we were fed. Of course, everything in Tonga is done around food. The difference is that the family of the deceased (not the immediate family members) are the ones serving the food. We only spend about an hour there and then we were taken back to our villages.

The rest of Saturday was a day of rest for me, kind of felt a little sick so slept most of the day and night. Sunday was the typical routine of church and an ‘umu at the beach. This time there were 24 of us who went to the beach and there are no injuries to report. =)

HINA

Within 5 hours of getting off the plane and meeting my host family….I received my Tongan name. Hina! =D (he-na)

My host mom, Sali, and I went for a walk down the street to a store on the side of the road. On our way back to the house an older man was walking with a wheel barrel full of mangos that he had just colleted from the trees. He offered us one….and when he let go of the wheel barrel it fell over and all of the mangos went everywhere. Me being me….I ran over and helped pick them up…not thinking twice about it. The whole time my host mom and him were talking in Tonga…me not being able to understand expect for the word palangi, which means white person. A little later the older gentleman came by the house and gave me the Tongan name Hina. I come to find out that he is the chief of the village. The name Hina is a very proud name to have. Hina is one of the female heroines in their stories. She provides protection for the village if anything is trying to hurt or kill them….or something like that. It is a little hard to totally understand when the stories are told in very broken English. I was later told that she was the most beautiful women in the village. I keep getting told that I should be very proud to have been given such a name. I love the name is sounds really pretty and I am very thankful to be given such a cherished name by the village. It is a little weird answering to a different name than your own after 24 years. But I really enjoy that I was given such a name! =)

The homestay experience has been amazing. The village is full of so much culture and hospitality. Palangis are treated very well and Peace Corps Palangis even more so. They feed us first and eat after…to show respect. I keep trying to get everyone to eat together but I don’t think it will really work. They always want you to eat a lot. Fewww…..so much food at every meal…I never finish anything and to them I don’t really eat. The islands are very poor. Almost 50% of the income for the island is sent here from family in America. So you can imagine what type of the living conditions there are. Most of the people in my village, Tu’anekivale, do have electricity and running water with showers…may not be inside though.

The family that I am staying with is GREAT. They have five children (age 12, 8, 6, 2, and 1). Also living in the house is the husband’s parents, his younger twin sisters(age 20), and two of their cousins(age 15 and 14). It is really a full house but everyone is really nice. They speak English, so it helps with getting to understand the Tongan language. They will say something in Tongan, say it in English and then repeat it in Tonga. =)

They actually let me help with things around the house too. Part of the culture is that you are a guest so you should not do anything. I am really insistent that I tokoni (help) and they try to show me what they are doing or let me help with a little part. I have washed my own clothes by hand, helped prepare some food, and play with the kids a lot. The family I am staying with is Mormon. They took me to a Mormon dance on Thursday night and I will also join them for Sunday service. It is interesting to observe their religion in their culture. The dance was very fun. The mom and older daughters kept teasing me about finding a Tongan moa (boyfriend) at the dance. At the dance they play popular rap music from America that has been blended with a Tongan/island twist. I don’t think they really know what the words are to the songs from America because I don’t think they would be playing them at a Mormon dance if they did know. The dancing is fun too. It is like a middle school dance back in America. When you dance with someone you dance about three feet away from them, don’t really have eye contact and you really just move side to side with the music. You don’t really show off your dance moves or really get into feeling the music.

Last night, Friday night, I got invited by one of the other PC homestay daughter’s to go tou‘a at a kalapu. Kalapu is a kava circle but the main purpose is it is a fundraiser. Men are still only allowed to participate in the kava circle, they each pay $5 pa’anga (which about be about $2.5 American dollars). Tou’a is a single female who sits in front of the kava bowl and serves it to the men. A few of the PC men came to drink and me and another single PC girl in my village went to tou’a. It was fun to experience. I am sure it will be more fun when we understand more of the language and can communicate with them better. Kava circle’s are an interesting tradition because it is a bunch of men who sit around for hours drinking kava and just talking. When I say for hours I mean hours. The kalapu started last night about 8pm and lasted until about 3am. The two other girls who were tou’a and I only stayed until about 11pm. Kava is not like alcohol…it has more of a high/stoned feeling and it is only in your body not your head…so you can still think clearly. Women are not allowed to drink the kava except at their wedding.

This morning, Saturday, I woke up and headed into town with some of my host family and some other PC people. We took the bus from our village at 7:45am and it comes back to the village at 11am. The main purpose people go into town is to go to the markets and get food. The other PC people and I just walked around to see the area and get some more skirts…men and women. I am not sure if I mentioned it in an earlier post but the men here have to wear a tupenu (wrap skirts) when you are in a formal/professional setting. It has been funny watching the men learn how to sit on the ground cross legged with a tupenu on. They always seem to flash us….good thing most of them wear shorts underneath.

Tonight the PC trainees in my town have been invited to a dinner at the restaurant that is located on the beach. The restaurant is only open for the cruise boats when they come in, but the owner wanted to offer us a special complimentary dinner. That will be at 7pm tonight. After coming back from town, the rest of my day has been filled with writing this blog post and sleeping. =) A true Tongan thing to do…sleep during the day.

***Disclaimer***

The views, opinions, and comments made on this page are not that of the Peace Corps; only my personally experiences.

**PC told us that if we have a blog we need to put that some where on our page for legal purposes. =X

HOT SHOWER!!

Monday, October 13, 2003

We got to experience a typical Tongan Sunday. On Sunday’s you do not do any work. Typical schedule of a Sunday is as follows….wake up and go to church, have a HUGE lunch/BBQ, the rest of the day is reserved for sleeping and doing nothing. You are not allowed to do work, exercise/swim, laundry, nothing. Just enjoy the holy day. It was really nice. They allowed us to make a choice to go to three different churches. I chose to go to the Catholic Church. It was really nice. Their singing was AMAZING. It was like a Christmas morning service…..but that was their everyday singing. Music and singing seems to be a very big part of their culture. After church we were taken to the director’s house for a traditional Sunday ‘umu. There was a small pig that was roasted, in the ‘umu there were root crops and some kind of salted meat cooked in taro leaves, tons of fish dishes, sweet & sour chicken, bread (they have amazing bread here), and lots of fresh watermelon. All in all you are expected to eat A LOT and then eat some more. The rest of my day was filled with getting my bags ready for our home stay trip up to Vava’u, studying the language (which you should not do on a Sunday), and getting to know my roommate better. She is a really nice girl from Alaska. (Art and Mel à we now have a place to stay when we go up there to see the Northern Lights. =D )

Today, Monday, has just been filled with more language and business development learning. We understand a little more of what we are going to be doing….but not much better. Tomorrow we are leaving for the island of Vava’u, but we do not have to take the boat anymore! They told us the reason is that…..the boat is not running. Welcome to island life…nothing seems to be that reliable. =) So we get to take a plane, but most likely we are going to be taking the boat back. So we just get to postpone the 30 hour boat ride. When we get to the island of Vava’u we are going to be spending the day with our host family all day. It will be really nice to be able to experience the culture at a more personal level. We have not had that much interaction with the culture since we are not living with a family and the Peace Corps staff that are Tongans are more American while we are around and in training. I am really looking forward to being able to learn the language and understanding the culture a lot more. The first step into being able to have a successful service is to learn the language.

Navy Water Training!!

I have arrived in Tonga!!! =D

It is AMAZING here!! The views are so amazing. I have taken a few pictures but they do no justice to how beautiful it is in person. It still had not really hit me that I am living on a tropical island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

I sit here Saturday night to write to you what has happened since I have arrived. We took a plane to the Samoa Islands, dropped off the Samoa Volunteers and had a layover there for about an hour and a half. The flight was weird….It was still dark outside (we arrived at 5am) and you could not see a thing. Nothing….no lights, clouds, nothing…..but the plane is going down for a landing and then just before we touch down you see some lights from the island. I got a bloody nose while waiting in the terminal. Fun experience, since it would not stop bleeding for a long time. I think I was in the bathroom most of the layover. The air on the plane was really dry, I think. When I came out of the bathroom the sun started to come up and you could really start to see outside of the Samoa Airport. It was beautiful. We got back on the plane to go to Tonga….so excited that we would be arriving in the daylight so we could see the amazing views of the island and coral reefs from up in the sky. I got some great pictures that I will have to post….the polarizer on my lens really made some cool effects with the reflection of the sun off the ocean.

We arrive and the current Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV) were there to greet us and lei us with hand made leis. They really were beautiful and smelled really nice. The next part of our day was traveling to the guest house we will be staying in until Monday (remember we are a day ahead of you). The guest house is kind of like a co-op. We have separate rooms that we share with someone. Some of us have a bathroom in their room and some have to share with a couple of rooms. My room had a private bathroom. And there is a kitchen area that we can use. None of us have really bought food to cook. We have just been going out. But in the Tongan culture they really like to make sure their guests are fed well so the PC office has really done a great job of providing us with food. We are staying in the town of Nuku’alofa, which is on the Tongatapu Islands. Nuku’alofa is the capital of Tonga so it is a lot more developed then some of the other islands will be.

After we dropped off our luggage in our rooms and had a few logistics explained to us about the week we went over the PC Director’s house and participated in a traditional kava ceremony. The ceremony consists of everyone sitting in, what is called a kava circle. Some what circle shaped and the Director, or the highest ranked person, sits at the top and at the bottom is where the kava is make. Kava is a root that is crushed, the powder is then mixed with water and strained to get any particles out. Then your name is called out and you have to clap and a single woman will come give you a cup to drink from and you need to down all that is in the cup. Typically women do not participate in the kava ceremony and only single women can deliver the kava to the men. When that was done they had some food for us to eat; nothing too out of the ordinary yet.

In the mornings the roosters at the guest house and around town wake us up around 5 am along with the church bells every morning. Our first day of training was just filled with a lot of logistic information, setting up local bank accounts, and I got myself a cell phone. If you would like the number then just e-mail me and I will give it to you….I just don’t want to post it on here. =) It is free for me to receive calls but I think it is quite expensive for you to call Tonga.

Today, Saturday was our Navy Water Training day. Sounds scary, but it was actually a lot of fun!! I guess since we are living on an island they have to make sure we know how to swim and tread water. We had to jump off the side of a navy ship, swim 50 meters, tow somebody for 50 meters, and then do all of those same things with out a life vest on, and then hold our hands above our heads and tread water for 2 minutes, and then get into a little motor boat from in the water, and then jump out and swim about 25 meters, and then swim in a line of 6 people for about 30 meters…..no more and then, finally!! It was quite a workout. I have not spent the much time in the water in such a long time. Oh, and little fact about our bathing suites…..in Tonga women cannot wear the same types as back in America. We have to wear shorts and shirts, men also have to wear shirts. The whole training/assessment took about 3 hours. After that we had the rest of the day to ourselves, except that is started to rain so there was not much to do since we do not have cars and walking around there are not too many sidewalks so everything is muddy on the sides of the roads. We still walked around anyways and got soaking wet. Hopefully all of clothes will dry…between the rain and the everyday humidity who knows? The rest of the night was spent hanging out back at the guest house with everyone. A few of the guys went and bought some kava powder and made their own kava. So we all just hung out in the common area drinking, studying the language, talking, and just socializing. Kava does not really have that big of an effect on you. When you first drink it it kind of makes your mouth a little numb. But that goes away pretty quickly. When you have a lot of cups of kava you really start feeling the effects, like 8-9 cups. And feeling it is just like a really relaxed feeling…not the same feeling as alcohol at all. I have only had about 2 cups so I personally cannot really explain how it feels.

Tomorrow is Sunday and on Sundays in Tonga you go to church in the morning and then have a BBQ. That is it….NO work is to done on Sundays. Not even working out or swimming. We will all attend a service tomorrow and then after we will go to the PC Director’s house and have a traditional BBQ with a whole pig that has been cooked in a ’umu; which is like an underground oven. Should be exciting!! Monday evening we will be heading up to the island of Vava’u where we each will be staying with a different family for about 6 weeks and getting intense language course as well as training for our jobs. We were originally going to take a boat to the island, which we were told would be about 22 hours…but really it is 30 hours. But the boat is not running so we will be flying….we might have to take the boat back to Nuku’alofa.

Oh my goodness….I wrote so much. =) I do not always have easy access to the internet and there are no wireless internet spots. I will continue to write updates on computer every couple of days and then just post them when I get to the internet. Pictures will be soon to follow….hopefully! =D

On My Way To Tonga!! =)

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Malo e lelei!! (Hello!!)

I meant to up-date the blog before I left but…..things got busy, as I am sure you can imagine. =)

I started off my Tongan adventure with having an AMAZING going away party. It was great!! It’s interesting…..you spend so much time with the important people in your life but you never REALLY say all the things that are in your heart. I have received so many amazing words of love, appreciation, and support. It all really touched my heart and made it that much harder to leave being surrounded by so many people who love me. Thankfully I have received some amazing inspirational/motivational gifts to remind me of all the support and love I have been blessed with.

As I was saying “good bye/see you soon” to some of my family and friends I realized that it is a lot harder to watch someone leave than to be the person leaving. The person leaving has something to focus their attention on rather than to think about all the loved ones they are going to be leaving. That is the ONLY thing that has saved me from having a harder time leaving. My loved ones are so supportive of my decision to join the Peace Corps and I am truly thankful for that!! But not until I watched everyone have such a hard time watching me leave, did I realize how much of an impact your own personal goals in life can have such a big impact on your loved ones lives as well. I always knew this, but to watch it happen is a whole different level of realization and appreciation for the love and support.

My trip started the night before I was leaving with having a few minor luggage weight/size challenges….in the end it all worked out, left a few things at home and only cost me an extra $30 for over weight bags (I was very thankful that it was not more expensive). When I arrived in LA, I met the other 23 Tonga volunteers I would be serving with and the 13 Samoan volunteers we would be flying with. We attended some pretty standard meetings about what to expect when we arrive at our post. For lunch Jove and Nati came to the hotel to have an amazing lunch together. Nati stayed to visit and stuck around to make sure I got to security okay. (Thanks Nati!!) Now I sit writing this up-date in the terminal waiting for my flight. The Peace Corps (PC) had us arrive at the airport at 6pm and out flight does not leave until 11:15…..so needless to say we have way to much time to think and miss our loved ones.

Once I arrive in Tonga we will be welcomed by the current volunteers. We will stay on the capital/main island Nuku’alofa for about a week. Then we will be shipped….by boat…..a 22 hour boat ride (brought a lot of Dramamine!!)……to another island for about 6 weeks or so. Then we will come back to the main island for another few weeks and then finally be done with training and find out where we will be staying for the rest of our service around the middle of December.