"Tonga is like a perpetual screensaver" -Regina

Sepi and I on our way to schoolMe getting ready to take the plunge...
Our boat
Getting ready to head out on the boat


I officially found out Saturday that I will be spending the next two years on a small island South of Tongatapu called 'Eua in a village of 162 people. I will be teaching English to Classes 3,4,5, and 6, which for all I know may be one big class put together. I don't know much about 'Eua, except that the temperature tends to be a little cooler because it's further South and it is supposed to be the most beautiful island in Tonga! I hear that there are not many beaches (although I think my village is right on a few) but it is covered in rainforest and has amazing hiking all over the island. It is also supposed to be pretty conducive to camping and other various outdoor adventure, which sounds up my alley. I'm pretty thrilled about it. I think I will have electricity, although running water is still up in the air. I will swear in with the Peace Corps December 17th and head to 'Eua shortly after that.

Saturday turned out to be quite the eventful day; after finding out our site placements, we loaded in a boat and headed out for a day trip which had been canceled the week before due to strong winds. Spirits were high after finding out our site placements and everyone was excited to hang out together after being separated into our villages for five weeks. The first stop we made was at this cave where you had to swim through an underwater tunnel to reach it. Of course I had to be the first one to try it (along with a guy named Scott) , and I didn't realize, but I timed it pretty poorly and went while water was coming out of the tunnel. I was swimming against the current for what seemed like forever, and when you're down there its so dark that you can't tell when you're actually in the cave so you don't know if when you come up you're going to hit air or if the water is still to the top of the tunnel. Oh, and the other factor? It was close to high tide. Needless to say, it was a little scary, and also needless to say, I made it. Only a few of us actually went in the cave, but once you made it inside it was incredible. It was the size of maybe a movie theater, and water would come in and crash against the back wall and the entire cave would get so misty you couldn't see your hand in front of you. Then, seconds later it would clear up and you could see clear across the cave no problem. It felt like the cave was breathing and we were in its stomach, it was a highlight of the trip.

After that we went to another cave that was much more accessible. In fact, the boat drove right into the mouth of this cave. It was also pretty neat, we were able to climb the walls and jump off these stalagmites (or are they stalactites? The ones that grow up.) So that was neat. We spent some time there then moved on to this beach with a small resort on it. We spent the rest of the day playing frisbee on the beach, snorkeling, and drinking a cold beer at the resort. I know, I know, this Peace Corps stuff sounds really tough, right? Haha. It was a pretty amazing day.

Last Friday I had a day that I feel really epitomizes my experience here in Tonga so far. We had just topped off the busiest, most stressful week ever with a language test that I was sure I had bombed (I actually found out today that I didn't do too bad at all) and so a few of us from my village decided to try to walk into town. (About an hour and a half walk) Less than five minutes out of our village, a flatbed truck pulled over and the driver leaned out the window and asked "Alu ki fe?" (Where are you going?) We told him in our broken Tongan the we were heading into town, and he told us to hop in the back. As we climbed in the back we realized there was a hole in the bed of the truck absolutely big enough to fall through. But it was behind the back axel, so if we fell through we wouldn't be run over also. We steered clear of the hole and found a place to sit among the people already in the back of the truck and made it safely to town.

Once there we all decided we definitely needed some ice cream, so we went down to the one place we know sells ice cream. She was standing outside of her falekaloa (shop) locking it up, but when she saw us coming she asked what we wanted. We must have sounded pretty desperate, because she opened everything up and got us all neopolitan ice cream cones. Ice cream has never tasted so good. Then I had to run by the bank to pick up my debit card that was waiting there for me. As we were walking up to the bank, we saw that they too were locking up for the evening (it was 4:10 pm) I started running because the next day was our boat trip and I needed my debit card to pull some money out for that. The bank lady saw me running, and she had to think about it for a second, but she opened up for me and let me get my debit card and some money. I just thought of how many times I have gone somewhere in California ten minutes BEFORE its supposed to close and caught someone locking up and refusing to consider even the smallest request.

We spent a few more hours in town, and by the time we all got back together and ready to go it was getting late and we were quickly losing daylight. As we started walking the first vehicle that passed us pulled over and asked us where we were headed. We told the couple the name of our village, and they said they weren't heading there, but they could take us to where the road parted and they were heading the opposite direction. We happily accepted; that would take us about halfway home. We piled into a minivan this time, the wife got out and opened the sliding door by sticking her hand through the window and banging on the door while jerking on the outside handle. We piled into a minivan that had one bench seat leaning up against one side of the van. I ended up sitting on the metal wheel well, leaning my hand against the back hatch door. Soon after we started moving I realized that the back hatch door didn't latch and leaning against it was a little treacherous. As we were driving we started talking to the couple and told them we were new Peace Corps volunteers (in Tonga the word for volunteer is either Pisi Koa for peace corps or ngaue ofa, meaning work of love.) Pretty soon the wife was slicing up a watermelon in the front seat and passes us back a huge chunk of juicy watermelon with a butcher knife sticking out of it. We drove along the pot-hole filled Tongan road cutting off hunks of watermelon that were delectable. As we got to the pace where the road parts, the couple called back that they wanted to take us all the way to our village, it was their way of ngaue ofa. They took us all the way back to our bus stop, where the wife got out, banged the door open and thanked us for riding with them and wished us God Bless.

This afternoon was so typical of our experience with Tongan people, we all kind of looked at each other and said, "Well, it doesn't get much more Tongan than that." Peace Corps has been in Tonga for forty years, and it is easy to tell how well-represented we've been by previous Peace Corps Volunteers. Everyone here has had some experience with a Peace Corps Volunteer, whether they were taught by one or had one as a homestay brother or sister or just had one in their village, and their experiences have been overwhelmingly positive. This means we get treated exceptionally well, but also that we are responsible for carrying on that tradition. I can't wait.

Well, I'd love to hear updates from everyone, I hope all is well. If anyone wants to write me or send me anything, that would be so awesome and so appreciated. My address here is:

Jennifer Danielson
PO Box 147
Nuku'alofa
Kingdom of Tonga
South Pacific

Ideas of what to send include, but are not limited to: letters and updates! pictures! Crystal Light single serving drink packets, Quaker oatmeal On the Go bars, magazines, stickers (I found out that Tongan student will do just about anything for a sticker), or anything else you can think of. Thank you!!!

View from the water

Husking a coconut
Tongan guy explaining what the facial expressions and carvings symbolize
Tongan version of school drinking fountain: All the students use the same cup wihch they dip inot the bucket of water to drink.Everyone jumped into the water when it was announced that Obama would be our next president

Jumping off the rocks at the beach
Coconut survival Training: Saskia shaving the coconut "meat" to make cocnut milk, a staple ingredient in many Tongan dishes
Basket-weaving from palm leaves. This took my language teacher Ofa about ten minutes.
Opening the cocnut with a machete
Some of our boys trying to climb the palm trees
Tongan boy on his way back from the bush with root crop and a little puppy
puffer-fish!
Beach Day!
Saskia and a local girl


My sister Sepi snorkeling for the first time!


Tongan boys playing in the sand


Locals making Tiki dolls to be sent to and sold in Hawaii














Tongan pencil sharpening. It's a miracle they all still have their fingers






Dancing at our Kalapu




Right: Serving kava as a tou'a

A quick update

Well, We just finished watching the presidential elections from a yacht-ee establishment in town. I, along with about 90% of my fellow PCV's, am thrilled.

It has come to my attention that I may not have been completely clear in my last blog; I do get to go to the dances at the Mormon church because my homestay family attends the Mormon church and since being here I have gone with them. Religion is a huge part of the Tongan culture, and Sundays are reserved for going to church and resting. Sepi and I were hungry last Sunday, so we walked to my language teachers house and asked if we could pick some mangoes. Unfortunately, we were informed that you are not allowed to pick mangoes on Sunday. So she went inside and got us mangoes that she had picked the day before to stock up for Sunday. My Sunday's are spent reading a lot, walking with the other PCV's (we're not really supposed to, but we can't stand laying around all day), and studying. They tend to be pretty dull days. Once we are given our placements, we won't have to go to church every Sunday, but most volunteers do and I probably will because that is such a huge part of the culture and the entire village comes every week, so it is a good time to meet people and make connections.


As for the kalapu, it was overall successful, with a few minor incidents on my part. Within the first ten minutes, in true fashion, I dropped the serving spoon into the bucket of kava and had to fish it out. We can pretty much only stand up once during the ceremony (4-hour!), and when I did I proceeded to kick over a can that the men were putting their cigarette butts and ashes in, as well as extra kava. I made a mess. To top off the night, we were praying and I opened my eyes and saw my baby sister try to sit in a chair on the ground, which almost tipped over, and I started laughing. Haha, after the prayer the guy next to me asked why I was laughing during prayer, and I tried to explain, but he didn't find it as funny as I did. But, I did get asked to come back and tou-a for another kalapu this coming up weekend. Also, we raised 335 pa'anga for the elementary school in our village.

On Friday this week we have an ocean survival course, so that's something I'm really looking forward to. In addition, on Saturday some of the current volunteers planned a boat trip for us on a local whale-watching boat. We will spend the day on the boat, stopping to do some snorkeling and hang out on a beach. All of the current volunteers we have met are so nice and caring; they are willing to answer all of our questions (and there are a lot!) and most importantly, they really seem to love Tonga, which is encouraging. Yesterday we all had class together and the current volunteers cams and handed out "care packages" because they know how good it feels to get a care package. They had sudoku, the funnies from a New York newspaper, candy, and personal notes. It was super nice.

I'm still working on being able to put some pictures up, the internet is very slow here in Tonga, and I always end up being in a big rush to catch a bus! Hopefully soon though. Hope all is well with everyone! OH and a special good luck to Jeffrey and the rest of the Lathrop swim team at State this weekend!

And the beat goes on...

Okay, the dance. Nothing like any dance I've ever been to in America. The dances are held at the Mormon church on the basketball court around back. People who are not a member of the Mormon church aren't allowed to come into the dance, but they sit outside the fence and watch; the whole village turns out for a dance, whether they're allowed to come in or not. The basketball court is enclosed by a few rows of folding chairs, and between each song everyone clears the dance floor and finds a chair to sit in. Now to the good stuff. When a guy asks you to dance, he'll walk over to where you're sitting, stand in front of you and nod his head. Then he'll turn and walk out onto the dance floor. When you dance with him, you stand a good two feet apart, and he won't look at you. There is no eye contact, and it's way too loud to try to talk. When you dance, you just kind of rock back and forth, there is never any hip action going on at all. As soon as the song ends he thanks you and you both go back to your seats, where inevitably another guy will come and nod his head to dance with you. OH! The best part? Most of the music played is American hip-hop. Completely vulgar stuff, some of it. I'm not sure they quite understand the meaning behind some of the music they play... It was a lot of fun though, and I'm sure I'll be going to quite a few more dances while I'm here.

My homestay sister Sepi has acquired a taste for some of the music on my iPod as well. Her favorites? Shakira, Gloria Estefan, and My Chemical Romance. Very ecclectic, I love it. I am not allowed to walk alone here, so whenever I walk anywhere, she usually goes with me. This has turned out to be really great for me, because whenever anyone calls out to me or stops to talk to me on the street in Tongan, she stands next to me and feeds me all my lines in a whisper. Haha, I usually have no idea what she's telling me to say, but I'm beginning to figure out that she's very protective and doesn't like boys talking to me, so I'm not sure I've always been too friendly with the boys around here. But I always smile, and they usually laugh. Tongans love to laugh, and they are always joking, so if you laugh with them you're pretty much okay in their book.

It's funny for me to think about how much I've changed already in the past three weeks. Not fundamentally, just my perceptions and habits. One of my great pleasures here in Tonga is a cold shower in the middle of the afternoon. Back in the states, I probably wouldn't even consider taking a cold shower; if we didn't have hot water, I'd wait until we did to take a shower. I haven't taken a hot shower since I got here. I get really happy when I hear a lizard chirp in my room at night, because that means I don't have to worry about the other bugs that night. When I come to town, I usually stop at the store and buy an Otter Pop for 15 cents, and that pretty much makes me really happy for the entire day. Yesterday I used a little more conditioner than usual, and I thought to myself, "Whoa, I'm splurging!...Wait, did I really just think that? Yeah, I did." Also, something I would never do in America: I often have to pick bugs out of my food before I eat it. It's pretty unavoidable. On that note, I was really sick for the first time since being here last week. It was a stomach thing, and it only lasted 24 hours, but it was not pleasant.

I entertained the idea of outlining a typical day in Tonga for me, but as I thought about it, I realized that there really isn't a typical day, each one has been pretty unique. We usually start each day with language class, where we all meet (there are five of us in my language group) in a little open-air shelter down by the water. This lasts until about noon. Usually at ten or ten thirty, we take a tea break where we drink tea and eat mangos that we pick from the mango tree in the yard. The afternoon is filled with some type of training, either culture, safety, health, or technical. Sometimes we travel to another village for this training, usually taking a vehicle or bus that operates on a little cultural phenomena they have here called Taime Tonga, or Tonga Time. All that really means is that if it is supposed to come at 1:15, you can usually expect it between 1:00 and 2:15.

Yesterday afternoon we had a special training session called "coconut survival." We all headed out to the bush and learned how to husk coconuts to drink their milk and eat the meat, start a fire without matches, and weave baskets from coconut leaves. Some of the guys attempted to climb the coconut trees, without much luck. Then a little Tongan boy (he was seven years old) scrambled up the tree like it was nothing, holding a machete in his mouth. Pretty soon he was hacking away at the tree and coconuts were falling out of the sky. Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures soon, it was a pretty neat day.

Tonight should be another exciting and new night. My village is having a kalapu, which is a kava fundraiser that we are putting on to benefit the local elementary school. I will be tou'a-ing, which means I will be serving the kava to the men. (Traditionally women aren't a part of kava drinking except to serve the kava) As a tou'a, I will be responisble for making sure everyone's cup is full, as well as fending off unwanted attention from guys on a mild narcotic in a language I don't understand. One of our language teachers will be performing a traditional Tongan dance, which entails dressing up in traditional dance attire (one of the few times it is appropriate to show your shoulders in this culture; although still not your knees) and drenching your legs and shoulders in coconut oil. As you dance, people will come up and slap money onto you, which sticks because of all the cocnut oil. Tradition goes that if the money sticks to your legs, you are a virgin. Draw your own conclusions...Anyway, it should be a very interesting night, and I will hopefully be able to post some pictures of it next time I come to town!

The adventure continues...

I have officially been in Tonga two weeks now! It does feel like much longer, still. Our days are filled with training, and our nights with our homestay families and talking to everyone in the village. I feel like we are famous here; as we walk down the street, I hear "Senifa!" (my Tongan name; they don't have "j's" or "r's" in the Tongan alphabet) and "Palangi" (white person) constantly. Everyone says hello, and I think I've met the entire villiage after being here only a week. We were even invited to a dance tonight! It's at the mormon church, and I hear not much like a dance you might attend in the states. I'll let you know how it goes.

I went to the beach with a few other PCV"s (Peace Corps Volunteers) last weekend for the first time and it was incredible. The water was perfect, and it was about waist-deep for 150 yards out from shore, which provided for some excellent snorkeling. Within the first ten minutes I probably saw more fish than I ever saw diving in California for two years. The colors of the fish were incredible, and the setting couldn't be beat. We stayed out for hours and kept discovering new things. It was hard to leave, but it is only a 20-minute walk from our villiage, so we plan on going back this weekend also. The Tongan people don't go to the beach for fun or just to hang out, and most cannot swim. It blows my mind...

As part of our training we had our first school site visit yesterday. I went to school with my sister, Sepi, which was only a ten-minute walk. As school started, we realized that her teacher hadn't shown up to school that day. (Apparantly this is very common in Tongan schools, and also accepted.) Usually when that happens, the next-door teacher just hops back and forth and teaches both classes for the day. Well, we were there that day, so some of us took over the class. It was Class 4, they were all eight and nine years old, so not too far off what I was teaching last year (in age, I mean). I ended up teaching them English parts of speech. It went well, but it is very different from schools in America. At one point after recess, a few boys were goofing off, so I asked one to move across the room. I don't think he exactly understood me, because he went across the room and took out a stick and handed it to me, apparantly for me to hit him with. I didn't. Corporal punishment is a common practice in Tongan schools, but you may only use one ruler or three coconut sticks at a time. Sort of a rule of thumb if you will. Resources in Tongan school are also very limited, there are no textbooks, handouts, art supplies, and the books in the classroom library are mostly photocopied. This was my first visit to a school, so I'll keep everyone updated on the situation as I visit more schools and when I get placed in the school I will be teaching at for the next two years.

The fruit here is hands-down the best fruit I've ever had. I eat fresh pineapple and bananas every day, as well as papaya, mango, and watermelon. I was never a big fan of bananas back in the states, but here they are small and delicious. The pineapple is so sweet, it's undescribable. Beyond the fruit though, I've had kind of a hard time finding thigs I like to eat. There's a lot of canned fish (mackeral) and canned beef...I tend to stick to eggs and toast for a lot of meals.

Well, I should be getting to a computer once every week or so, so hopefully more updates soon. I hope everyone will let me know what they are up to also, I would love to hear updates from America!

Departure, arrival, first week in Tonga

Okay, I know it took a little time, I meant to set this up before I got to Tonga, but life got a little hectic in the days and week before I left, so I apologize to all of you who have been wondering whatever happened to me...I made it to Tonga!

Before I left I was lucky enough to travel around Alaska a bunch, blueberry picking in Denali National Park, kayaking the Kenai River, going 4-wheeling with my brother (who, I'm pretty sure, tried to kill us both) and rockclimbing in a little piece of heaven called Cooper Landing. I also got to help coach the Lathrop High School swim team, so if any of you are reading this, tell everyone hi, and good luck at regionals and state!

I have been in Tonga a little over a week, but we have been so busy and learned so much that it seems as though I have been here a month! The culture is very unique and the people are amazing. I have never met more genuine, kind people in my life. They are extremely family and community oriented, and not at all interesting in accumulating THINGS which to me makes this culture so refreshingly different from America. They find joy not in possessions, but rather in each other, in the personal relationships and bonds they form, and in helping each other.

We spent almost a week in the capital of Tonga, Nuku'alofa, where we were greeted out first day with a pig roast and a traditional kava ceremony. Kava is a traditional tongan drink made from the root of the kava plant. It tastes like dirty water, not bad, but not particularly strong one way or the other. You don't get drunk off of it, but it is a mild narcotic. It numbs your mouth a little and makes you relaxed...we didn't have enough of it to notice anything. We spent the week training pretty intensively in safety, health, culture and the language. On the third day we had our water safety training, which involved jumping off a navy ship and swimming around in a small bay. It was awesome; the water felt great, and I felt in my element for the first time since being here. On Monday we were supposed to take a 25-30 hour boat ride to Vava'u, but the boats were both broken down, so we got very lucky and hopped on a 45-minute plane ride instead. This is where we will be spending the next six weeks, living with host families and getting intensive language training. The language is completely phonetic, so once you understand the sounds all the letters make, it is pretty easy to learn. My favorite word so far is Oiaue! (Oy-ya-way: an expression of grief, excitement, or concern) It's pretty fun to say, and you can say it for just about any situation.

My host family consists of my "mom" Kaloni, my sisters Sepi (9 yrs old) and Nani (1.5 yrs old) and my brother Tevita (30?). The are kind and open, and have been wonderful about including me in their family and helping me with the Tongan language. I especially enjoy hanging out with Sepi. The first day I was there, she taught me how to juggle, (or at least she tried to teach me, we're still working on it. She's really good!) I brought out a deck of cards, and she proceeded to beat me handily in everything we played, especially memory! She is a very bright girl. I taught her how to play speed, and I'm sure she will be beating me at that soon as well. I was thinking it was going to be six weeks full of juggling and playing cards when, after dinner that night, Sepi busted out a gamecube! We played Need for Speed Underground (she beat me at that), then she came out with NFL Blitz. I was thinking that this was a game I finally might win since I love football and they don't even have football in Tonga. Well, she beat me at that too. It wasn't even close. Oiaue. Alas, a good time was had by all.

So far things have been going great, I love the new culture and people and am excited to continue to learn the language! I hope this finds everyone well back home!