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Currently we, all the trainees, are back at the guest house in Nuku’alofa. We are here for our last and final part of training before becoming volunteers and heading out to our villages. Over the next couple days we have lots of final interviews and tests on all the material we have been learning for the past two months or so…everything from language to medical and safety. On Wednesday we will be having our Swearing in Ceremony, where we become official volunteers. Yay!! Finally!! It is actually going to be a big deal here in Tonga. The Prime Minister is going to be there along with some other really important international officials…but not the King. =) The rest of our time will be filled with shopping for items and food for our houses. Those of us on outer islands are really going to be living up the palangi food choices and vegetables here in the big happening city of Nuku’alofa. On Saturday the 20th all the new Ha’apai volunteers will be leaving the big city. I will be taking a vakapuna (airplane) to Pangai (the main city in Ha’apai) then a vaka (boat) for about 2-3 hours to Ha’afeva, then a smaller vaka for about an hour to my final destination and my new home for two years – Tungua! =D
Not sure when I will be able to get to the internet, maybe about once a month, but I will just continue writing down my experiences on my laptop and posting them later. Please keep me in your prayers as I travel and get adjusted to my new home. I will be keeping everyone in my prayers as the holiday season is here and everyone traveling.
Contact infomation:
Monica Hamilton, PCV
Peace Corps
PO Box 147
Nuku’alofa, Tonga
SOUTH PACIFIC
I know a few of you have my number…but I actually had to change the service to the one that works on outer islands better. My number now is… 011 (country code) – 676 (area code) – 46-898 (my number). I would love to hear from all of you, I know it is a little expensive to call. =( If you are having trouble you can call my Mom, Jove, or Mel (I don’t think they would mind helping out).
Monday, December 15, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Lotu, To’a, Puke,…
Sunday, December 14, 2008 @10 pm
As we get off the plane all the other trainees were there and the PC staff with vans to take us to the next village we will be staying in for two weeks. We all load up into the vans and hit the road while exchanging our unique and amazing adventures we had during our attachments. We arrive at a church hall where there our next host families are waiting. We all take a seat in the hall, PC trainees on one side and the host families on the other. All of exchange smiles across the room anticipating which people will become a part of our lives for the next two weeks. The names are announced and the families meet their new short addition to the family. As quickly as we arrived, we get transported into our new host family’s car and head onto our new homes. I hop into the van with an older husband, Kai, and wife, Toa. Kai is the minister at the local church, so my new home is right next to the church. (I am really excited it is not a Mormon family!) The typical small talk of Tonga is exchanged of how old are you, if you are married, where you are from, and how many kids are in your family. Once all of that is discussed it is timi malolo (time to rest), they show me my room and give me some time to settle in a little before it is time to ‘eva (wonder around – or better put in this case: go explore the new village).
My two week experience can be summed up into three activities (apart from trainings and language all day of course): Lotu, To’a and Puke – Church, serving Kava, and Sick. Living with a minister and his wife it is obvious that I would be going to church a lot. I knew that I did not have to attend all the masses but I wanted to. Well I did not go to the 6am masses but all the other ones during the week and the 10am and 4pm on Sunday you could find me. The husband and wife were really nice and understanding when I chose to do something else. They knew that I am Catholic and really appreciated that I participated so much in their church. The church participates in a lot of the traditional Tongan events…including KAVA. (If you don’t remember what Kava is: a drink that relaxes your body that is make for the root of a plant). The kava culture in the church is of many different types. Only the men drink it…they can drink it in a formal setting before and/or after church called ‘fai kava,’ in the evening to raise money called ‘kalapu,’ and the last is in the evenings also called ‘fai kava’ but it is just known which ones are formal. You can find a kava circle somewhere every night of the week and they usually last until 3am or even 6am or later. Where I come into this picture of kava…only single women are able to serve the kava while the men make passes at her. It is kind of like a bar scene but there is only one girl and about 20 men all giving her attention…but they give the palangi women even more attention. Depending on the type of kava event plays a big part of how much the men really hit on the to’a, the single women serving the kava. Having my host Dad be the minister he would usually ask me to to’a whenever they would have a formal fai kava or a kalapu and of course viewing it as a great language, cultural and social opportunity I would always say yes to him. Of course, I also just found it hard to say no to this sweet little old minister. On a side note, just because the men keep the kava going until early in the morning does not mean that the to’a stays that late. I would usually head home between 12am and 1am.
During this second home stay I also got really sick! =( I still don’t know what it was from: food, a bug, weather, etc… Last Sunday afternoon I really did not feel that great so I went to take a nap around 3pm and almost slept the entire night. The only reason I didn’t was because, well besides a phone call from Mom, I had a really high fever. I was sweating but had the chills so I was curled up in a blanket and I had a pounding headache. And to make things better my stomach was really mad at me. I just tired to rest and sleep the rest of the night and see if I was okay to make it to school the next morning. In the morning not feeling really normal but okay I toughed it out and went. When I got home I went straight to bed and did not move from there all night. I had another even worse fever, chills and headache. My host Mom was so worried about me. She took really good care of me. She made sure I took my pills every 4 hours, gave me wet washcloths, and tired to feed me but my stomach just would not have been able to handle it. Tuesday I decided that I would just stay home from training and language classes to rest. It helped a lot! The fever has not come back but my stomach is still not back to normal. But I think that is just part of traveling to a different country.
Saying good-bye to this host family was just as hard as the first one even though we only spend two weeks with them. It is amazing how much someone can really have an impact in your life in such a short period of time. As I was saying good-bye to my host Mom she told me that her husband never had any daughters and she can tell that he really views me as his daughter and that it is really hard for him to let me go. And I noticed it too saying good-bye to him, his eyes really spoke wonders. He knows who the minister is in Tungua so he wrote a letter for him to watch over me and keep me safe. I am really going to miss him and his wife!!
As we get off the plane all the other trainees were there and the PC staff with vans to take us to the next village we will be staying in for two weeks. We all load up into the vans and hit the road while exchanging our unique and amazing adventures we had during our attachments. We arrive at a church hall where there our next host families are waiting. We all take a seat in the hall, PC trainees on one side and the host families on the other. All of exchange smiles across the room anticipating which people will become a part of our lives for the next two weeks. The names are announced and the families meet their new short addition to the family. As quickly as we arrived, we get transported into our new host family’s car and head onto our new homes. I hop into the van with an older husband, Kai, and wife, Toa. Kai is the minister at the local church, so my new home is right next to the church. (I am really excited it is not a Mormon family!) The typical small talk of Tonga is exchanged of how old are you, if you are married, where you are from, and how many kids are in your family. Once all of that is discussed it is timi malolo (time to rest), they show me my room and give me some time to settle in a little before it is time to ‘eva (wonder around – or better put in this case: go explore the new village).
My two week experience can be summed up into three activities (apart from trainings and language all day of course): Lotu, To’a and Puke – Church, serving Kava, and Sick. Living with a minister and his wife it is obvious that I would be going to church a lot. I knew that I did not have to attend all the masses but I wanted to. Well I did not go to the 6am masses but all the other ones during the week and the 10am and 4pm on Sunday you could find me. The husband and wife were really nice and understanding when I chose to do something else. They knew that I am Catholic and really appreciated that I participated so much in their church. The church participates in a lot of the traditional Tongan events…including KAVA. (If you don’t remember what Kava is: a drink that relaxes your body that is make for the root of a plant). The kava culture in the church is of many different types. Only the men drink it…they can drink it in a formal setting before and/or after church called ‘fai kava,’ in the evening to raise money called ‘kalapu,’ and the last is in the evenings also called ‘fai kava’ but it is just known which ones are formal. You can find a kava circle somewhere every night of the week and they usually last until 3am or even 6am or later. Where I come into this picture of kava…only single women are able to serve the kava while the men make passes at her. It is kind of like a bar scene but there is only one girl and about 20 men all giving her attention…but they give the palangi women even more attention. Depending on the type of kava event plays a big part of how much the men really hit on the to’a, the single women serving the kava. Having my host Dad be the minister he would usually ask me to to’a whenever they would have a formal fai kava or a kalapu and of course viewing it as a great language, cultural and social opportunity I would always say yes to him. Of course, I also just found it hard to say no to this sweet little old minister. On a side note, just because the men keep the kava going until early in the morning does not mean that the to’a stays that late. I would usually head home between 12am and 1am.
During this second home stay I also got really sick! =( I still don’t know what it was from: food, a bug, weather, etc… Last Sunday afternoon I really did not feel that great so I went to take a nap around 3pm and almost slept the entire night. The only reason I didn’t was because, well besides a phone call from Mom, I had a really high fever. I was sweating but had the chills so I was curled up in a blanket and I had a pounding headache. And to make things better my stomach was really mad at me. I just tired to rest and sleep the rest of the night and see if I was okay to make it to school the next morning. In the morning not feeling really normal but okay I toughed it out and went. When I got home I went straight to bed and did not move from there all night. I had another even worse fever, chills and headache. My host Mom was so worried about me. She took really good care of me. She made sure I took my pills every 4 hours, gave me wet washcloths, and tired to feed me but my stomach just would not have been able to handle it. Tuesday I decided that I would just stay home from training and language classes to rest. It helped a lot! The fever has not come back but my stomach is still not back to normal. But I think that is just part of traveling to a different country.
Saying good-bye to this host family was just as hard as the first one even though we only spend two weeks with them. It is amazing how much someone can really have an impact in your life in such a short period of time. As I was saying good-bye to my host Mom she told me that her husband never had any daughters and she can tell that he really views me as his daughter and that it is really hard for him to let me go. And I noticed it too saying good-bye to him, his eyes really spoke wonders. He knows who the minister is in Tungua so he wrote a letter for him to watch over me and keep me safe. I am really going to miss him and his wife!!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Ha’ano and Thanksgiving
For the week of attachment I will be staying with a current volunteer named Grant. He lives on an outer island named Ha’ano in the Ha’apai group; so it will be very similar to what Tungua might be like. He is only one year into his service. Also staying at his house will be Melanie and Eric, the kick ass married couple. That is the only reason that a single girl would be able to stay at a single male’s house. It is very culturally inappropriate for the single volunteers to have someone of the opposite sex be an overnight guest. But I guess since there is a married couple with us it is a little better.
As we get off the airplane the current volunteers are waiting there to take us to our new homes for the next week. We start off by all eight of us pilling into a taxi van with all of our luggage (how we all fit….I still will never know), dropping four of the volunteers off in Pangai where they will be staying for the week with a different volunteer. The rest of us staying with Grant continued on to the meat store (which was a little shack in someone’s yard off the side of a road) to get some moa (chicken) for the week, than on to the PC office to pick up his three Tongan friends who drove the boat into Pangai and also get some food from a little store in the same building. Once we are done shopping for our food for the week we headed over to a neighboring village where we drove to a wharf and loaded up into a small little fishing boat; in the boat was Grant, his three friends, Melanie, Eric, me, all of our luggage and of course our food. The boat ride was about an hour. It was really interesting to experience since that is about the size of the boat that I will have to take over to Ha’afava. If you put your hand on the outside of the boat and reached down about 5 or 6 inches you could touch the water. While we were heading over to Ha’ano it started to sprinkle on us…no worries about our stuff because it was covered, it was just us who got wet. =)
Grant’s and his village are great!! His village is a little smaller than mine, he has about 34 house holds but there are also about 3 or 4 other villages on the island, so the island itself is larger. He also has running water and electricity from 7pm to 2am. The day to day experiences that we had with Grant were priceless. Just to be able to see a current volunteer in his community really taught us a lot. Grant is a school teacher so the job will be a little different though. Grant also showed us some really important skills that we need to use while living on an outer island. Everything from cooking delicious meals with little supplies (not sure I mentioned that Ha’apai does not get any veggies from about December to about March/April), fishing, eating raw fish right out of the ocean (oh man…I have a really great story about that), gutting and scaling fish, husking a coconut, making coconut milk, starting a fire using coconuts to cook dinner with, to understanding how to be accepted in a Tongan culture and community without sacrificing your own culture and views. All in all it was a really great experience and I also made some good friends there that I will go back and visit.
The story about eating raw fish right out of the ocean…as those of you who really know me, I don’t eat raw fish! I don’t like the smell, the texture, and of course the whole mental thing about it being raw does not help. We were all swimming at the wharf one day after school with the children in the village and this man from the village comes up to Grant and just hands him this raw fish. The man had just been cleaning out the nets they have placed a little further down the beach. Grant tells one of the kids to go get a knife. Meanwhile, Eric, Melanie and I are getting out of the water curious to know what we are going to do with the fish…some what knowing that he is going to have us eat it, but still hoping that he might have something else planned. The kid returns with a knife and Grant guts the fish, scales it and puts three slits on each side of the fish. He then takes a bite out of the meat that is now showing and hand it off to Eric. Eric takes a bite, has a hard time ripping a piece off but finally gets it and his consensuses is that the raw fish is ifo (delicious). Grant then bites off another chunk of raw fish meat and hands it to me, while I give him a really nasty look I take the raw fish. Not wanting to go anywhere near this raw fish but at the same time taking the piece knowing that I should at least try it because this is a very common way that fish is eaten on an outer island. And since I will be on what is considered an even further outer island than Grant’s, I figured there is no better time than the present to give it a try. I go ahead and bite off a little piece from the chunk that I was given, try and forget exactly what I am eating and just taste it. My consensuses…..It is not that bad…I actually kind of like it and I finish eating the chunk in my hand. Melanie tried a little piece too but did not really like it. It was really crazy to think back on the event and know that I…I of all people just ate a fish that was just alive and swimming just a few short minutes before. Definitely an experience to write home about! ;-) **with all of these new and unbelievable experiences that saying has a whole new meaning!!
For Thanksgiving Peace Corps provides a turkey for each island group and all the volunteers and trainees on that island group get together and try to make a traditional dinner with the available supplies. Since everyone else on Ha’apai where already on the main island it was just us on Ha’ano who needed to find a boat to take up into Pangai. Grant informed us, that like most of the other parts of Tonga, everything runs on island time and we should pack and get everything ready the night before because we don’t know exactly when the boat will be leaving. It could be 6am or 10am, just whenever people feel like leaving. So in the morning we wake up at 6am all packed and ready to go, talk with some of the locals to see who is going and when they might be leaving. After a while of talking with different people in the village we find out that no one is going into Pangai do to the shortage of fuel for the boats. So needless to say, we get to spend one more day on the beautiful island of Ha’ano. All of us are really fine with the change on plans and make the most of the day. For dinner we ended up sharing a really nice simple ika mo e moa (fish and chicken) dinner with just the 5 of us: Grant, one of his really good Tongan friends, Eric, Melanie, and myself. Even though we were stranded on a beautiful tropical island, we all really enjoyed ourselves and had plenty of things to be thankful for.
We were able to find a boat going into Pangai the next day, caught our flight back to Tongatapu and headed onto our second home stay and the final leg of our training schedule.
As we get off the airplane the current volunteers are waiting there to take us to our new homes for the next week. We start off by all eight of us pilling into a taxi van with all of our luggage (how we all fit….I still will never know), dropping four of the volunteers off in Pangai where they will be staying for the week with a different volunteer. The rest of us staying with Grant continued on to the meat store (which was a little shack in someone’s yard off the side of a road) to get some moa (chicken) for the week, than on to the PC office to pick up his three Tongan friends who drove the boat into Pangai and also get some food from a little store in the same building. Once we are done shopping for our food for the week we headed over to a neighboring village where we drove to a wharf and loaded up into a small little fishing boat; in the boat was Grant, his three friends, Melanie, Eric, me, all of our luggage and of course our food. The boat ride was about an hour. It was really interesting to experience since that is about the size of the boat that I will have to take over to Ha’afava. If you put your hand on the outside of the boat and reached down about 5 or 6 inches you could touch the water. While we were heading over to Ha’ano it started to sprinkle on us…no worries about our stuff because it was covered, it was just us who got wet. =)
Grant’s and his village are great!! His village is a little smaller than mine, he has about 34 house holds but there are also about 3 or 4 other villages on the island, so the island itself is larger. He also has running water and electricity from 7pm to 2am. The day to day experiences that we had with Grant were priceless. Just to be able to see a current volunteer in his community really taught us a lot. Grant is a school teacher so the job will be a little different though. Grant also showed us some really important skills that we need to use while living on an outer island. Everything from cooking delicious meals with little supplies (not sure I mentioned that Ha’apai does not get any veggies from about December to about March/April), fishing, eating raw fish right out of the ocean (oh man…I have a really great story about that), gutting and scaling fish, husking a coconut, making coconut milk, starting a fire using coconuts to cook dinner with, to understanding how to be accepted in a Tongan culture and community without sacrificing your own culture and views. All in all it was a really great experience and I also made some good friends there that I will go back and visit.
The story about eating raw fish right out of the ocean…as those of you who really know me, I don’t eat raw fish! I don’t like the smell, the texture, and of course the whole mental thing about it being raw does not help. We were all swimming at the wharf one day after school with the children in the village and this man from the village comes up to Grant and just hands him this raw fish. The man had just been cleaning out the nets they have placed a little further down the beach. Grant tells one of the kids to go get a knife. Meanwhile, Eric, Melanie and I are getting out of the water curious to know what we are going to do with the fish…some what knowing that he is going to have us eat it, but still hoping that he might have something else planned. The kid returns with a knife and Grant guts the fish, scales it and puts three slits on each side of the fish. He then takes a bite out of the meat that is now showing and hand it off to Eric. Eric takes a bite, has a hard time ripping a piece off but finally gets it and his consensuses is that the raw fish is ifo (delicious). Grant then bites off another chunk of raw fish meat and hands it to me, while I give him a really nasty look I take the raw fish. Not wanting to go anywhere near this raw fish but at the same time taking the piece knowing that I should at least try it because this is a very common way that fish is eaten on an outer island. And since I will be on what is considered an even further outer island than Grant’s, I figured there is no better time than the present to give it a try. I go ahead and bite off a little piece from the chunk that I was given, try and forget exactly what I am eating and just taste it. My consensuses…..It is not that bad…I actually kind of like it and I finish eating the chunk in my hand. Melanie tried a little piece too but did not really like it. It was really crazy to think back on the event and know that I…I of all people just ate a fish that was just alive and swimming just a few short minutes before. Definitely an experience to write home about! ;-) **with all of these new and unbelievable experiences that saying has a whole new meaning!!
For Thanksgiving Peace Corps provides a turkey for each island group and all the volunteers and trainees on that island group get together and try to make a traditional dinner with the available supplies. Since everyone else on Ha’apai where already on the main island it was just us on Ha’ano who needed to find a boat to take up into Pangai. Grant informed us, that like most of the other parts of Tonga, everything runs on island time and we should pack and get everything ready the night before because we don’t know exactly when the boat will be leaving. It could be 6am or 10am, just whenever people feel like leaving. So in the morning we wake up at 6am all packed and ready to go, talk with some of the locals to see who is going and when they might be leaving. After a while of talking with different people in the village we find out that no one is going into Pangai do to the shortage of fuel for the boats. So needless to say, we get to spend one more day on the beautiful island of Ha’ano. All of us are really fine with the change on plans and make the most of the day. For dinner we ended up sharing a really nice simple ika mo e moa (fish and chicken) dinner with just the 5 of us: Grant, one of his really good Tongan friends, Eric, Melanie, and myself. Even though we were stranded on a beautiful tropical island, we all really enjoyed ourselves and had plenty of things to be thankful for.
We were able to find a boat going into Pangai the next day, caught our flight back to Tongatapu and headed onto our second home stay and the final leg of our training schedule.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Feasts, Packing and Good-Byes....Oh My!!
Sunday, November 23, 2008 @ 3pm
We had to say good bye to one of our fellow trainees. For curtain reasons one of the trainees in Tu’anekivale is being sent home. It is a very sad time for all of us to see him go…but things always happen for a reason. He really had a great impact on his fellow trainees here in Tu’anekivale as well as his host family. The night before we were going to take him to the airport, his family planned a really big feast for him. (Thankfully no pigs were killed for him!) And of course it being a Tongan event…there were thank you speeches given not only by us (the fellow trainees), but also our language teacher, his host father, and his host sister. His host sister delivered such a touching speech that I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house. The broken English accent added a little emotional touch. It is really amazing how much of an impact you can have on someone else’s life in such a short period of time.
Just a few short days later it was time for the rest of us to head onto the next leg of our training. We will be spending one week with a current volunteer to get a better idea of the day to day life a volunteer. As much as I am excited to go see what it is going to be like on an outer island, I know it is going to be hard to say good bye to my host family. The night before I leave the family holds a ‘family meeting’ for them to all say thank you to me and good buy. It was also an opportunity for me to express my thanks and appreciation for all they have done for me. Just picture…about 22 people sitting in a circle on the floor of a living room all focusing their attention on one key person. It was a little overwhelming with the language barrier to really understand what they where trying to express to me. I could understand a few words here and their but their body language and tone of voice really helped me feel the emotions they were trying to share with me. It was really a totally unique experience of just an overwhelmingly strong circle understand of love that was able to break through a language barrier. Once everyone who wanted to speak was done, including me, Sione said a lotu (prayer) and then of course…it was time to eat, but what we ate was the most unique part. We had ice cream (which is a really really big treat!) and we ate it with….BREAD!! Yes, that is right we ate our ice cream with bread. It was actually good…it was chocolate ice cream and it was a little melted so you just use the bread to soak up the melted ice cream. You should all at least try it! =) The rest of the night was filled with just everyone staying at home together and watching movies. It was a really nice last night with the family.
The next day was filled with me trying to get everything to fit back into my suit case plus all the new things I got since I was at the home stay (everything did end up fitting…thankfully!!), taking family pictures and lots of pictures of the kids, and saying good bye to everyone in the village. It was somewhat of a really depressing day! When it came time for us to leave for the airport we first headed to town to go pick up the twins and Mapo and than headed to the airport with a car full of people and all of my belongings. When it was time to go into the boarding area was really hard. Saying good bye to so many people and the emotions that they all showed did not make it any easier. Once I was done giving everyone a hug everyone started coming around to give me a second hug…needless to say I was the last one to go into the boarding area. As we walked out to the plane, my family yelled from the gate on the side of the airport building “Bye Hina!!” “’Ofa atu (love to you)” over and over again. It is a memory I will never forget!!
We had to say good bye to one of our fellow trainees. For curtain reasons one of the trainees in Tu’anekivale is being sent home. It is a very sad time for all of us to see him go…but things always happen for a reason. He really had a great impact on his fellow trainees here in Tu’anekivale as well as his host family. The night before we were going to take him to the airport, his family planned a really big feast for him. (Thankfully no pigs were killed for him!) And of course it being a Tongan event…there were thank you speeches given not only by us (the fellow trainees), but also our language teacher, his host father, and his host sister. His host sister delivered such a touching speech that I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house. The broken English accent added a little emotional touch. It is really amazing how much of an impact you can have on someone else’s life in such a short period of time.
Just a few short days later it was time for the rest of us to head onto the next leg of our training. We will be spending one week with a current volunteer to get a better idea of the day to day life a volunteer. As much as I am excited to go see what it is going to be like on an outer island, I know it is going to be hard to say good bye to my host family. The night before I leave the family holds a ‘family meeting’ for them to all say thank you to me and good buy. It was also an opportunity for me to express my thanks and appreciation for all they have done for me. Just picture…about 22 people sitting in a circle on the floor of a living room all focusing their attention on one key person. It was a little overwhelming with the language barrier to really understand what they where trying to express to me. I could understand a few words here and their but their body language and tone of voice really helped me feel the emotions they were trying to share with me. It was really a totally unique experience of just an overwhelmingly strong circle understand of love that was able to break through a language barrier. Once everyone who wanted to speak was done, including me, Sione said a lotu (prayer) and then of course…it was time to eat, but what we ate was the most unique part. We had ice cream (which is a really really big treat!) and we ate it with….BREAD!! Yes, that is right we ate our ice cream with bread. It was actually good…it was chocolate ice cream and it was a little melted so you just use the bread to soak up the melted ice cream. You should all at least try it! =) The rest of the night was filled with just everyone staying at home together and watching movies. It was a really nice last night with the family.
The next day was filled with me trying to get everything to fit back into my suit case plus all the new things I got since I was at the home stay (everything did end up fitting…thankfully!!), taking family pictures and lots of pictures of the kids, and saying good bye to everyone in the village. It was somewhat of a really depressing day! When it came time for us to leave for the airport we first headed to town to go pick up the twins and Mapo and than headed to the airport with a car full of people and all of my belongings. When it was time to go into the boarding area was really hard. Saying good bye to so many people and the emotions that they all showed did not make it any easier. Once I was done giving everyone a hug everyone started coming around to give me a second hug…needless to say I was the last one to go into the boarding area. As we walked out to the plane, my family yelled from the gate on the side of the airport building “Bye Hina!!” “’Ofa atu (love to you)” over and over again. It is a memory I will never forget!!
Friday, November 14, 2008
Site Assignment Day
Today we found out where we are going to spend the next two years of our lives!! =)
My assignment will be in Tungua. It is a small village in the Ha’apai Island Group. It is the only village on the entire island. Now when I say the entire island…the island is only about 1 mile by a little less than 1 mile. =) I am being sent to one of the farthest most islands of any current volunteer or any of the other trainees. The village has a population of about 230 and has about 42 households. I will be working primarily with the youth group to help build the businesses that they currently have. (Side note…in Tonga when they use the word youth it has a different meaning. Youth is considered anyone who is out of school and is not married.) I will also be working with the fisherman, the weavers, and the school. What it sounds like is that they want me to help with everything. I am really excited to have such a variety of jobs that I can help with. I am most excited about the rich cultural experience I will have living on an outer outer island. I will have access to the internet when I go into the main city Pangai in the Peace Corps office. However, I hear it is really slow…but it will be free. To get into Pangai I have to take a small boat to a town called Ha’afeva (where their will be a married couple stationed) and then change to a little bit bigger boat for about a 3 or 4 hour boat ride into Pangai, so I will not be going into town all that often…maybe once a month for food shopping and catching up with you guys!! =)
I am told that my house used to be a clinic...which means that there is not a clinic in our village anymore. ;) I guess it is somewhat of a big house and very close to the matatahi (beach – literally: face of the ocean). YAY!! I will have to take pictures of my house and my view to share with you all. I do not know if I have running water or electricity for certain yet. I am fairly certain that I will not have running water, so that means bucket baths for the next two years! =) And as for electricity I might just have it at night, which is perfectly fine for me since you don’t really need it during the day. I am sure my view of the ocean will make up for everything!!
Today was such a great day!! I am really excited about the experience I will get living on an outer island…and to make the experience even better the closest PC volunteers to me is a kick ass married couple. I am sure that I will be hopping over to their island when I need to get away. It is funny how things play out. Within the first week of arriving in Tonga the wife and I really clicked on a lot of levels and we were both hoping that we would be placed really close to each other. =) Look how things just seem to work out…we are going to be seeing a lot of each other. YAY!! After finding out everyone’s sites…we had an amazing day out on a boat. One of the current volunteers set up a boat to take all of the PC volunteers, trainees and some staff members around to some of the different site seeing places around Vava’u. It was so much fun and a great ending to a day that was filled with so much excitement…since everyone was excited about where they got placed. We swam into some really cool caves, went snorkeling (amazing and colorful fish Art…it was like I was looking into your tank), and spent some time on a beach that we had all to ourselves. It was really relaxing and the views were so faka’ofo’ofa (beautiful). On the boat ride home one of the staff members and I climbed up onto the very top of the boat (above where the captain’s cabin is) and just enjoyed the ride home. It was that moment…as the sun was going down reflecting off the water, the beautiful islands and cliffs, the slight breeze in the salty air that I realized…I am so lucky….I was sent to paradise!! =)
My assignment will be in Tungua. It is a small village in the Ha’apai Island Group. It is the only village on the entire island. Now when I say the entire island…the island is only about 1 mile by a little less than 1 mile. =) I am being sent to one of the farthest most islands of any current volunteer or any of the other trainees. The village has a population of about 230 and has about 42 households. I will be working primarily with the youth group to help build the businesses that they currently have. (Side note…in Tonga when they use the word youth it has a different meaning. Youth is considered anyone who is out of school and is not married.) I will also be working with the fisherman, the weavers, and the school. What it sounds like is that they want me to help with everything. I am really excited to have such a variety of jobs that I can help with. I am most excited about the rich cultural experience I will have living on an outer outer island. I will have access to the internet when I go into the main city Pangai in the Peace Corps office. However, I hear it is really slow…but it will be free. To get into Pangai I have to take a small boat to a town called Ha’afeva (where their will be a married couple stationed) and then change to a little bit bigger boat for about a 3 or 4 hour boat ride into Pangai, so I will not be going into town all that often…maybe once a month for food shopping and catching up with you guys!! =)
I am told that my house used to be a clinic...which means that there is not a clinic in our village anymore. ;) I guess it is somewhat of a big house and very close to the matatahi (beach – literally: face of the ocean). YAY!! I will have to take pictures of my house and my view to share with you all. I do not know if I have running water or electricity for certain yet. I am fairly certain that I will not have running water, so that means bucket baths for the next two years! =) And as for electricity I might just have it at night, which is perfectly fine for me since you don’t really need it during the day. I am sure my view of the ocean will make up for everything!!
Today was such a great day!! I am really excited about the experience I will get living on an outer island…and to make the experience even better the closest PC volunteers to me is a kick ass married couple. I am sure that I will be hopping over to their island when I need to get away. It is funny how things play out. Within the first week of arriving in Tonga the wife and I really clicked on a lot of levels and we were both hoping that we would be placed really close to each other. =) Look how things just seem to work out…we are going to be seeing a lot of each other. YAY!! After finding out everyone’s sites…we had an amazing day out on a boat. One of the current volunteers set up a boat to take all of the PC volunteers, trainees and some staff members around to some of the different site seeing places around Vava’u. It was so much fun and a great ending to a day that was filled with so much excitement…since everyone was excited about where they got placed. We swam into some really cool caves, went snorkeling (amazing and colorful fish Art…it was like I was looking into your tank), and spent some time on a beach that we had all to ourselves. It was really relaxing and the views were so faka’ofo’ofa (beautiful). On the boat ride home one of the staff members and I climbed up onto the very top of the boat (above where the captain’s cabin is) and just enjoyed the ride home. It was that moment…as the sun was going down reflecting off the water, the beautiful islands and cliffs, the slight breeze in the salty air that I realized…I am so lucky….I was sent to paradise!! =)
Friday, November 7, 2008
...Only in Tonga!!
Saturday after I came back from being downtown using the internet, Kasi (another volunteer in my village) and I were invited to attend our town’s misionale feast. A misonale is a church function where once a year the families donate money to the church. But they make it a really big event. They call out the families names and say how much they donate. Some families really want to look good so they give a lot more money than what they have, sometimes taking out loans. After all the donations are done they head over to the hall to have a huge feast.
We headed home changed into appropriate wear and walked down to the church. As we were being lead into the hall…we realized they were going to seat up at the front of the room with all the ministers. This is a very great honor. It means that you are a very special guest and should stand up at some point and thank everyone for having you, the food and of course inviting you to sit in the front.
As we sit there in the front of the room listening to one of the ministers speaking (in Tongan of course…so we really don’t know what he is saying), I sit there and take in the atmosphere around me. There is so much food on the table that it has to be stacked on top of each other in about three or four different layers…when I look out into the rest of the room I feel like I am hiding from everyone behind all the food piled up. There was enough food just on the front table to feed a starving nation. There were about 10 pigs on our front table alone, crabs, lobsters, tons of different side dishes, fish, shellfish, fruit, lots of soda, candy and so much more. After the prayer is done, I sit there looking at the matrix of food in front of me not sure where to start, not wanting to cause an avalanche. As I am eating, I realize staring right in front of me is the butt of a roasted pig! =) A whole pig…just for me to eat since there are about 10 pigs on the table and about 10 people (I ate none of it though). Just when you think there is no way that you are even going to make a noticeable dent in the food….they bring the front table more food. Well…ice cream…and of course you have to eat that since it is a really big treat here!! ;-) It comes time for Kasi and I to stand up and show our appreciation for having us at the front table. So…in Tongan we introduce our selves, tell them we work with Pisikoa (the way Tongan’s say Peace Corps), thank them for the food, tell them that we really love our village and the people, say thank you again and sit down. Now, one thing to mention is that in the Tongan culture they are always standing up and saying thank you to everyone and for everything. So when Tongans stand up and talk people don’t really stop what they are doing, they just kind of listen. But when Kasi and I stood a big hush went over the room, everyone stopped, and gave us their undivided attention. Oh great!!...just don’t mess up the pronunciation! =)
The rest of the ministers at the table finished talking, the last one said an ending prayer and it was over; all the people who were outside come rushing inside. The food was divided between all the families in the community, whether they were from that church or not. Within an hour all of the food was gone and the hall was all cleaned up. You wouldn’t even be able to imagine such a giant feast had just taken place such a short time earlier. Amazing!!
We headed home changed into appropriate wear and walked down to the church. As we were being lead into the hall…we realized they were going to seat up at the front of the room with all the ministers. This is a very great honor. It means that you are a very special guest and should stand up at some point and thank everyone for having you, the food and of course inviting you to sit in the front.
As we sit there in the front of the room listening to one of the ministers speaking (in Tongan of course…so we really don’t know what he is saying), I sit there and take in the atmosphere around me. There is so much food on the table that it has to be stacked on top of each other in about three or four different layers…when I look out into the rest of the room I feel like I am hiding from everyone behind all the food piled up. There was enough food just on the front table to feed a starving nation. There were about 10 pigs on our front table alone, crabs, lobsters, tons of different side dishes, fish, shellfish, fruit, lots of soda, candy and so much more. After the prayer is done, I sit there looking at the matrix of food in front of me not sure where to start, not wanting to cause an avalanche. As I am eating, I realize staring right in front of me is the butt of a roasted pig! =) A whole pig…just for me to eat since there are about 10 pigs on the table and about 10 people (I ate none of it though). Just when you think there is no way that you are even going to make a noticeable dent in the food….they bring the front table more food. Well…ice cream…and of course you have to eat that since it is a really big treat here!! ;-) It comes time for Kasi and I to stand up and show our appreciation for having us at the front table. So…in Tongan we introduce our selves, tell them we work with Pisikoa (the way Tongan’s say Peace Corps), thank them for the food, tell them that we really love our village and the people, say thank you again and sit down. Now, one thing to mention is that in the Tongan culture they are always standing up and saying thank you to everyone and for everything. So when Tongans stand up and talk people don’t really stop what they are doing, they just kind of listen. But when Kasi and I stood a big hush went over the room, everyone stopped, and gave us their undivided attention. Oh great!!...just don’t mess up the pronunciation! =)
The rest of the ministers at the table finished talking, the last one said an ending prayer and it was over; all the people who were outside come rushing inside. The food was divided between all the families in the community, whether they were from that church or not. Within an hour all of the food was gone and the hall was all cleaned up. You wouldn’t even be able to imagine such a giant feast had just taken place such a short time earlier. Amazing!!
Friday, October 31, 2008
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.
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.
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