HA! Expectations are for people who eat dates to stay regular. Just kidding. But really, don't bother trying to imagine what the next two years of your life will be like- you won't get close. I'll tell you a bit about what the last two years of my life has been like, but your experience will be very different, you can count on it.
First of all, congratulations on recieving your invitations and completing the fakahela (tiresome) application process! When group 75 came last year, I learned many of them had studied up on Tonga and found their way to my blog. So I thought I'd give you guys a quick welcome.
Right about now, if you're anything like I was, you probably are up at night with visions of white sand beaches and palm trees sashaying through your head. As you can tell from my pictures and those of other volunteers, those things are not in short supply.
As you know you'll be coming in as part of the TECEP (Tonga Expanded Community Education Project) program, which means, in some form or another, you will be an educator. Before you panic, realize that that can take many different forms. We have volunteers here teaching computer skills and assessing technological needs, running libraries, working with businesses, and teaching in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. Ideally you will be placed in a site that utilizes your skills and training. That said, be prepared for that NOT to be the case, as it does not always happen.
Every volunteer does something different, and there is no "standard" job description. Your primary assignment and schedule will be something you and your counterpart work out together, usually the week before school begins. Some volunteers are overloaded with classes, this was not the case for me. I found myself having to create work to keep me busy which included developing a library, a remedial reading program and teaching night school classes to high school students. It's been said before, but I'll say it again, this experience will be what you make of it. For many volunteers sitting in yous house watching movies all day IS an option (albeit not a very fulfilling one).
Here's a brief overview of what I did yesterday:
I was awakened at 7 by the students on their way to school (which officially starts at 8:30, but class six is preparing for big exams next month). My house, and many volunteer houses, is located on the schoolyard. I teach four classes from 8:30-12:30 every day, but my schedule had to be scrapped because the island nurse came by to give the kids H1N1 shots. We improvised, being flexible and improvising is very important to staying sane here, when school schedules are constantly changed and interrupted by teacher absences, tsunami warnings, inexplicable half days, and holidays you weren't aware existed.
After school, I revised my lessons for the week due to the vaccination interruption, cooked lunch (you WILL cook), checked to see if my neighbors' house was open so I could use the internet (it wasn't) and spent the afternoon reading. It was a cold rainy day, so no chance to get out for a swim or to the beach.
After school let out I opened the library for the kids to come in and play cards, read, color, do homework, and generally hang out. Normally I would have had night school with class six in the evening, followed by night school with the high school girls, but there was a special youth program in the main village on the island which I headed to with the rest of the village youth. Each village performed some traditional (and a few not so traditional) dances, songs, and skits. The day before I had asked a boy in the village what time I should go to 'Ohonua to watch the performances. He told me to go when I finished school at 12:30. Luckily, I've been here long enough to know better. I waited for the message that the event was actually beginning then headed out. It was 5:30. The program was terrific, a lot of fun, and most of the island showed up to watch.
After the program finished I walked home with the youth from my village and called it a night.
When I started my service two years ago, my school was fully staffed with three teachers and myself. At the beginning of this school year we were down to two, having lost the class 3/4 teacher to marriage. Tight, but manageable. A few months into the school year the principal, who doubled as the class 1/2 teacher, fell sick and left school. There is not such thing as substitute teachers here, so that left the class 5/6 teacher and I to cover the school. Unfortunately the only thing I could effectively teach was English as all the other subjects need to be taught in Tongan and my language was not yet god enough to teach science, math, and Tongan history in Tonga. After a mere week we knew that we couldn't go on like that, and pleaded the ministry to send backup, which thankfully, they did. We had someone from the ministry helping out for a few months before finally receiving a trained, permanent replacement teacher. This is not uncommon, many volunteers face similar difficulties in their primary assignments. The importance of being flexible and maintaining a sense of humor cannot be overemphasized.
I don't want to get too much into what you should and shouldn't pack, other volunteers seem to have covered that pretty thoroughly. But I disagree with some of them when they say, "PACK AS MUCH AS YOU CAN!!!!!!!!!!!" Look, you're not coming to a deserted island (most likely, haha), people live here, and you will be living among those people and, in theory, in a similar manner to which they live. You can find everything you need here. I was well under the packing weight limit, and guess what? I made it work. You will too, and I think you'll find it's not so bad.
Okay, just one more note- computers. Just about every volunteer has one. I came here and spent my first year without one, then when my Mom came to visit she brought me my laptop. Computers are a great way to pass the time, you can watch a movie, obsess over you spider solitaire win percentage (48% on medium difficulty, longest win streak=7. Challengers welcome) and maybe if the island you're on has a guesthouse, connect to wireless internet. That said, I'm really glad I didn't have my computer for the first year. The lack of mind-numbing distractions forced me to go out and socialize more, and also gave me the opportunity to spend time on more productive things- I learned guitar, read like a fiend, and figured out how to entertain myself without gadgets. I also have to say that now that I have my computer, I'm really glad to have it. I think it's important to have an escape sometimes, a distraction, get away from your thoughts for a couple of hours and remember how different out culture is (as so accurately protrayed by Hollywood). Recently I gave my computer to my neighbors. They had internet set up, but they sent their computer to a different island, so we set up my computer in their house and now it's the village computer, which is fine with me. Once again, I'm finding my time better spent not having a computer at my disposal. On a side note, computers don't often last two years here due to humidity and bugs eating them (yup), so if you are bringing your computer consider a dry bag and one of those bead-y moisture-sucker things.
Well, this certainly turned into a long welcome note. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me, here is my e-mail:
tanielasoni@gmail.com
I look forward to meeting you guys, enjoy your last month of..well, everything
-Senifa
P.S. Don't let the crab video scare you too much- I'm a big baby when it comes to those kind of things. And I don't know any other volunteer who has found crabs in their house.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Turtle soup, anyone?
First off, let me say, I have tried, several times, to upload the subsequent mid-night crab escapade videos with no success. I have resolved to try once more, but not today. I haven't the time nor the patience today.
But I figured I should give everyone a little update anyway, let you all know what I've been up to these last few weeks.
First of all, I've been spending a lot of time at the beach. My school schedule gives me midday off, and since it's warming up I've been getting out a lot. I'm also getting restless/claustrophobic and have been wandering the island a lot. I'm becoming more and more aware of how little time I have left on this beautiful little untouched, playground-of-an-island, and I'm trying to enjoy the good parts while I can. The beach I usually go to is about 40 minutes away, and on the way I stop to pick oranges or guava to enjoy on the sand. I see whales every single time I go there. Normally I pretty much have the beach to myself, but the most recent outing I found myself sharing the beach with a group of 12 or 15 palangis (tourists, westerners). Annoying. They strolled by, barely managing to say hi to me, the stripped down to their bathing suits and sprawled out with their magazines and what looked to be the latest Candace Bushnell novel. Not ten minutes after they had settled in a huge whale jumped, nearly clearing the water, right outside the rocks. Not one of them noticed. For a half hour this whale breached, jumped, spy-hopped, spouted, and swam on it's side with one fin in the air. He was clearly begging for attention, and not getting any from these tourists. I sat and shared the experience with a young Tongan schoolboy and together we marveled at the sight. I briefly entertained the idea of walking over and alerting them to the beautiful scene in front of them, but it just didn't seem right to interrupt them. I can only hope that they go home and tell their friends, "Eh, the beaches were okay- nothing special."
Walking back from the beach I came across a group of Tongans sitting in the middle of the road drinking green coconuts. They invited me to join them, which I did happily, having left my water bottle at home. Coming back into the schoolyard the kids raced to greet me. It's pretty gratifying that after being here nearly two years they still run to greet me. Gosh, I hadn't seen them in nearly three hours. They wanted to show me the work they had done in the garden. I've assigned volunteer students to "garden duty" every day (except Sunday, of course) so that the garden doesn't completely go to shit when I leave. As it turns out, they are much better gardeners than I am, which really, at this point, should come as no surprise. Anyway, the boys on garden duty took it upon themselves to spruce up the garden a bit by making a limestone rock path around the edges. It was beautiful. They told me that next week they're going to do the outside of the garden. I'm always amazed at the lengths that these kids will go to to please me, I'm not sure what I did to deserve it, but I certainly appreciate it.
Another afternoon I got to the beach and took a climb out on the rocks to assess the swimmability of the ocean that day. I observed in the short distance a guy on a dugout, outrigger canoe and two more guys in the water spearfishing. The man waved at me and I waved back and watched him bobbing up and down in the waves for a bit. The next time I looked up he was waving something rather large in the air, trying to get my attention. I couldn't tell quite what it was, but he was clearly excited about his catch and I threw my arms in the air to share in his triumph. An hour or so later he and his buddies paddled in and I got to see their prize close up: a leathery sea turtle, maybe two feet in length. As it turns out, I knew these guys, or rather they knew me, and we got to talking about how they were going to prepare the turtle. Soup, naturally. The fisherman met his three-year old son on the beach, who, of course, wanted to carry the turtle. They walked off down the beach together, side-by-side, with the young boy struggling to keep up with a turtle nearly as big and he was in his arms.
My Close of Service conference is next week, and I suppose that's when the fact that this is all coming to an end will really start to sink in. So far my emotions are mixed...to put it mildly. I'm thinking about the fact that I haven't locked my door in nine months, and a few weeks ago I slept over at another volunteers house and came home to find my door wide open...and nothing touched inside (My door doesn't latch very well, has a tendency to swing open). When I'm hungry I can walk into the bush behind the school, and depending on the season, eat my fill of guava, papaya, oranges, mangoes or bananas. Teaching here is, I think, about as fun and rewarding as it gets. In fact, I'm pretty certain I'll never be able to enjoy teaching anywhere else again. Hopefully I'll never have to find out. I think every post I lament about how incredible the kids here are, but just in case it's not clear to everyone, I'll say it again...these kids are phenomenal. Two weeks ago I was called out of my house by one of my neighbors returning from the bush. He wanted to give me a giant bushel of bananas.
On the other hand, it's time for me to move on. If I don't leave soon, my neighbors dog might kill me. For some reason this dog and I have never had a problem with each other until now. But all of the sudden we have major beef. I can't walk into their yard without getting attacked, and I've narrowly escaped getting bitten several times by pretending I have rocks in my hands that I am about to launch at this dog. Recently I've taken to carrying a log through the yard to protect myself, which the dogs' owners insist is the reason the dog is attacking me. My attempts to explain that the dog attacked me before I started carrying the log, and that the log was a result of the attacks are futile. But there's no way I will walk through that yard unprotected, and their yard is unaviodable. I think it's because the dog just realized I'm white. Seriously, he hasn't taken issue with anyone else in the village.
My clothes are all moldy and shapeless, I'm tired of sleeping in a hammock, and this island is starting to feel smaller by the day. I'm over being the focus of village gossip, finding weird stuff on my bathroom floor, and stumbling through living within a culture that holds central values and beliefs that I don't necessarily share. It's my time. I will be replaced my a fresh, new, ideally petless volunteer in my village.
I will leave you with a hint about the thrilling conclusion to the crab chonicles:
But I figured I should give everyone a little update anyway, let you all know what I've been up to these last few weeks.
First of all, I've been spending a lot of time at the beach. My school schedule gives me midday off, and since it's warming up I've been getting out a lot. I'm also getting restless/claustrophobic and have been wandering the island a lot. I'm becoming more and more aware of how little time I have left on this beautiful little untouched, playground-of-an-island, and I'm trying to enjoy the good parts while I can. The beach I usually go to is about 40 minutes away, and on the way I stop to pick oranges or guava to enjoy on the sand. I see whales every single time I go there. Normally I pretty much have the beach to myself, but the most recent outing I found myself sharing the beach with a group of 12 or 15 palangis (tourists, westerners). Annoying. They strolled by, barely managing to say hi to me, the stripped down to their bathing suits and sprawled out with their magazines and what looked to be the latest Candace Bushnell novel. Not ten minutes after they had settled in a huge whale jumped, nearly clearing the water, right outside the rocks. Not one of them noticed. For a half hour this whale breached, jumped, spy-hopped, spouted, and swam on it's side with one fin in the air. He was clearly begging for attention, and not getting any from these tourists. I sat and shared the experience with a young Tongan schoolboy and together we marveled at the sight. I briefly entertained the idea of walking over and alerting them to the beautiful scene in front of them, but it just didn't seem right to interrupt them. I can only hope that they go home and tell their friends, "Eh, the beaches were okay- nothing special."
Walking back from the beach I came across a group of Tongans sitting in the middle of the road drinking green coconuts. They invited me to join them, which I did happily, having left my water bottle at home. Coming back into the schoolyard the kids raced to greet me. It's pretty gratifying that after being here nearly two years they still run to greet me. Gosh, I hadn't seen them in nearly three hours. They wanted to show me the work they had done in the garden. I've assigned volunteer students to "garden duty" every day (except Sunday, of course) so that the garden doesn't completely go to shit when I leave. As it turns out, they are much better gardeners than I am, which really, at this point, should come as no surprise. Anyway, the boys on garden duty took it upon themselves to spruce up the garden a bit by making a limestone rock path around the edges. It was beautiful. They told me that next week they're going to do the outside of the garden. I'm always amazed at the lengths that these kids will go to to please me, I'm not sure what I did to deserve it, but I certainly appreciate it.
Another afternoon I got to the beach and took a climb out on the rocks to assess the swimmability of the ocean that day. I observed in the short distance a guy on a dugout, outrigger canoe and two more guys in the water spearfishing. The man waved at me and I waved back and watched him bobbing up and down in the waves for a bit. The next time I looked up he was waving something rather large in the air, trying to get my attention. I couldn't tell quite what it was, but he was clearly excited about his catch and I threw my arms in the air to share in his triumph. An hour or so later he and his buddies paddled in and I got to see their prize close up: a leathery sea turtle, maybe two feet in length. As it turns out, I knew these guys, or rather they knew me, and we got to talking about how they were going to prepare the turtle. Soup, naturally. The fisherman met his three-year old son on the beach, who, of course, wanted to carry the turtle. They walked off down the beach together, side-by-side, with the young boy struggling to keep up with a turtle nearly as big and he was in his arms.
My Close of Service conference is next week, and I suppose that's when the fact that this is all coming to an end will really start to sink in. So far my emotions are mixed...to put it mildly. I'm thinking about the fact that I haven't locked my door in nine months, and a few weeks ago I slept over at another volunteers house and came home to find my door wide open...and nothing touched inside (My door doesn't latch very well, has a tendency to swing open). When I'm hungry I can walk into the bush behind the school, and depending on the season, eat my fill of guava, papaya, oranges, mangoes or bananas. Teaching here is, I think, about as fun and rewarding as it gets. In fact, I'm pretty certain I'll never be able to enjoy teaching anywhere else again. Hopefully I'll never have to find out. I think every post I lament about how incredible the kids here are, but just in case it's not clear to everyone, I'll say it again...these kids are phenomenal. Two weeks ago I was called out of my house by one of my neighbors returning from the bush. He wanted to give me a giant bushel of bananas.
On the other hand, it's time for me to move on. If I don't leave soon, my neighbors dog might kill me. For some reason this dog and I have never had a problem with each other until now. But all of the sudden we have major beef. I can't walk into their yard without getting attacked, and I've narrowly escaped getting bitten several times by pretending I have rocks in my hands that I am about to launch at this dog. Recently I've taken to carrying a log through the yard to protect myself, which the dogs' owners insist is the reason the dog is attacking me. My attempts to explain that the dog attacked me before I started carrying the log, and that the log was a result of the attacks are futile. But there's no way I will walk through that yard unprotected, and their yard is unaviodable. I think it's because the dog just realized I'm white. Seriously, he hasn't taken issue with anyone else in the village.
My clothes are all moldy and shapeless, I'm tired of sleeping in a hammock, and this island is starting to feel smaller by the day. I'm over being the focus of village gossip, finding weird stuff on my bathroom floor, and stumbling through living within a culture that holds central values and beliefs that I don't necessarily share. It's my time. I will be replaced my a fresh, new, ideally petless volunteer in my village.
I will leave you with a hint about the thrilling conclusion to the crab chonicles:
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Whale season!
compost bin
Helping me turn soil to plant a garden
Reading :)
Reading The Cat in the Hat for the first time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Clever boys- retrieving darts
Well, I'm coming into my final four months here and last week I decided to plant a vegetable garden with my students, and I have to say I'm really kicking myself for not doing this my first four months here. I also built a compost box and taught my students a lesson on composting, and they're really into that which is fun. My rat tally (# of rats killed in my house) has, in the last few months, ballooned to 30, which is gross, but also kind of exciting, I've developed quite the killer's instinct. In other news, I have decided to spend the rest of my time here sleeping in my hammock after being stung in the face by a centipede as I was falling asleep last week. That marks the third time I've been stung by a centipede, every time in my bed. So I'm done with that. And I feel justified for not sleeping in my bed the first ten months here.
Building my compost box was interesting- I set out to do it on my own after I finished my classes one day, knowing by now that as soon as someone spotted me with a hammer in my hand one or more of the village boys would come running to save me from myself. I found some scrap wood at the school and was allowed to use it and I scrounged up a hammer and saw. I salvaged nails from my decrepit fence and got to work. I tried to be conspicuous about my activity, but nevertheless, within five minutes my neighbor showed up to take over and do it for me. When I refused to hand over the hammer he asked why. I told him I could do it myself, and he said, "Yeah...but it'll be so much faster if I just do it." It was very clear that he thought I was crazy and inevitably going to injure myself, but he let me do it (looking away most of the time), helping me here and there to hold boards together as I nailed them. I ended up making a nice box too, I'm quite proud of it.
After school the kids came to see what I was up to and to help. I asked them to clear the dry palm leaves out of the walls of the faleTonga to put the garden in there. This happened to be a job I wasn't looking forward to because I was afraid of the bugs and creatures that may be lurking in and under the leaves. The boys came up with a genius solution, five of them stood in a line shoulder to shoulder and kicked all the leaves out in one fell swoop. Once again they impressed me with their problem solving and teamwork, which is really just a way of life here. Then the boys set about fixing some of the posts of the fale, and once again, I was amazed at their proficiency with building and using whatever they can find to work with. Every one of those boys can swing a hammer and work a machete. And of course, as always, I am impressed with their eagerness to help with anything. Together we took about an hour and cleaned out the fale and turned all the soil inside.
A few days later I had found seeds and a few of the kids and I planted squash, tomatoes, two kinds of peppers, lettuce, eggplant, peas, and some mystery seeds that were unlabeled- so we're all excited to see what'll come of those. By Friday the seeds were sprouting! They should be ready to harvest right about the time I leave, but I figure it will be great for the next volunteer at my site to come in and have fresh vegetables right in their yard.
The library is so great, last weekend a few of my girls and I recycled some plastic soda bottles and tin cans and filled them with sand and painted them to make bookends. We got a huge shipment of books in two weeks ago which the kids were so excited about. I want to say thanks to the following people for making that happen and being involved or making donations:
-Fairbanks Literacy Council
-Terri Lovell
-Jessica and Aaron Danielson
-Gary Tyndall
-Jan Menaker and the Lathrop H.S. staff
- Greg and Carol Clark
-Grandma and Grandpa Clark
-Jay and Bridget Clark
-Lynn and Frank Faulkner
-Gulliver's Bookstore
-Dave and Jeanette Bauer
-Tammy Burrow
We finally received a new teacher at the school which is a huge relief, now we are only one short (out of three). He is really young and energetic and seems like a great teacher, so that should make these last few months a bit less stressful!
A few weeks ago another volunteer and I organized the second annual 'Eua beach cleanup, and in keeping with tradition, we planned it two days in advance. We partnered with a local guesthouse, Hideaway Resort, and gather youth from across the island to spend the day picking up the road and beach. After the cleanup we had a barbecue in my schoolyard. It was a success, a lot of fun was had by all.
Maybe the most exciting news from Tonga lately has been the reappearance of the whales! I saw my first of the season about a month ago from the ferry boat, and have seen quite a few since walking along the road by the water. This month is when whale traffic is supposed to get especially heavy, so I'm looking forward to doing a bit of whale watching and maybe even swimming with the whales again this year!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
The forgotten island
The island I live on is not-so-affectionately known in Tonga as "the forgotten island" because, well, it tends to get left out a lot when people are talking about the islands. Guidebooks routinely leave it out, even the Tongan government seems to occasionally "forget" about 'Eua. It doesn't seem to bother 'Euanis (?) however, for the most part they seem to like being left alone. Tonga is pretty off the beaten South Pacific track, and 'Eua is off the beaten track, even for Tonga. We don't get a ton of tourists out here, but the ones that do come are always stunned by the untouched natural beauty of the place. Recently there was an article about Tonga in the Air New Zealand in-flight magazine, and the guy that wrote the article made it out to 'Eua and ended up writing nearly the entire article just about 'Eua which we all thought was pretty cool.
Flying into 'Eua you can see one road running nearly the length of the island, flanked by scattered villages and cultivated bush plots, and the rest is just...green.
We're on winter break here, and I got to spend the last two days showing a volunteer from a different island group and a few of her buddies around the island a bit. The first day we went on a trek to the North end of the island. We started out in a towering pine forest, then got spit out on a bluff that drops 200 feet to a secluded beach cove. We walked along the cliff for twenty minutes then found the "whale tail" tree trunk that indicated it was time to scale over the edge of the cliff and get down to the beach. There was a small opening between two huge chunks of limestone which we passed through, then began our descent. On the way down there were sections in which we had to scale down rock faces holding onto a rope, climb through caves, and scramble over tree trunks. It was a blast. Right as we got to the bottom we passed through a huge cave with stalagmites, stalactites, and other cave-y stuff. The beach was another treasure altogether; we were the only ones there and enjoyed hopping along the rocks, exploring the tide pools, and, well, just being on a deserted beach in the middle of the South Pacific.
The next day we set off on another trek, this one taking us along the East coast of the island. Our first stop was a giant banyan tree, which was pretty impressive from ground level, but then we climbed down into a cave below the tree which was stunning. To get out we climbed the roots of the tree back to ground level. Really fun stuff. We then set off uphill for about a half an hour, climbing to the ridge that runs all along the East coast of 'Eua. Once up on the ridge we walked along the trail, which had gotten pretty torn up during the previous hurricane season. We climbed over, under, and sometimes even through fallen trees. I was pretty impressed with the group, they had a great attitude and loved the adventure of it. We came to a hole in the ground. We went in. the hole was a small cave that led to another hole that we dropped down into and found ourselves in a cave on the face of a cliff, overlooking the protected rainforest and ocean. All we could do was laugh, incredulous at the beauty, and say, "Man, life is good." We pulled ourselves out and got back on the trail where, before too long we came across a wooden platform that again looked over the East coast of the island, the rainforest, and the Pacific. Again, just an incredible view. We watched the acrobatic birds playing in the drafts above the canopy far below us. Our last stop of the day was another lookout, not too different from the first lookout, equally as breathtaking. The trek back we again had to wade through thick underbrush and many, many fallen trees, but nothing could dampen our spirits and we tightrope walking on the fallen tree trunks and navigating the especially tricky obstacles.
Both of these hikes were ones I had been on many, many times before, but taking new visitors out to see them for the first time always reminds me of how very special they are. I literally get giddy when I get to show new people these places, and I'm not exactly a giddy person. And it's always rewarding when they enjoy the adventure and appreciate how special this island is. It really is like a giant, natural, outdoor playground.
Speaking of special islands: Lost. They are in Tonga, they have to be. They were traveling from Australia to LA, turned around to land in Fiji, got off course and ended up west of Fiji: Tonga. I haven't seen much of the show, but from what I have seen, the scenery looks very similar to 'Eua. So I'm just expecting that one of these days, on one of these hikes I will run into a polar bear.
After lamenting (again) about how wonderful this island is, I should say that I have made the decision not to extend for a third year here. There were a lot of factors that went into the decision, but what it came down to is that, come December, it will be time for me to move on. But I still have five months until then!
Flying into 'Eua you can see one road running nearly the length of the island, flanked by scattered villages and cultivated bush plots, and the rest is just...green.
We're on winter break here, and I got to spend the last two days showing a volunteer from a different island group and a few of her buddies around the island a bit. The first day we went on a trek to the North end of the island. We started out in a towering pine forest, then got spit out on a bluff that drops 200 feet to a secluded beach cove. We walked along the cliff for twenty minutes then found the "whale tail" tree trunk that indicated it was time to scale over the edge of the cliff and get down to the beach. There was a small opening between two huge chunks of limestone which we passed through, then began our descent. On the way down there were sections in which we had to scale down rock faces holding onto a rope, climb through caves, and scramble over tree trunks. It was a blast. Right as we got to the bottom we passed through a huge cave with stalagmites, stalactites, and other cave-y stuff. The beach was another treasure altogether; we were the only ones there and enjoyed hopping along the rocks, exploring the tide pools, and, well, just being on a deserted beach in the middle of the South Pacific.
The next day we set off on another trek, this one taking us along the East coast of the island. Our first stop was a giant banyan tree, which was pretty impressive from ground level, but then we climbed down into a cave below the tree which was stunning. To get out we climbed the roots of the tree back to ground level. Really fun stuff. We then set off uphill for about a half an hour, climbing to the ridge that runs all along the East coast of 'Eua. Once up on the ridge we walked along the trail, which had gotten pretty torn up during the previous hurricane season. We climbed over, under, and sometimes even through fallen trees. I was pretty impressed with the group, they had a great attitude and loved the adventure of it. We came to a hole in the ground. We went in. the hole was a small cave that led to another hole that we dropped down into and found ourselves in a cave on the face of a cliff, overlooking the protected rainforest and ocean. All we could do was laugh, incredulous at the beauty, and say, "Man, life is good." We pulled ourselves out and got back on the trail where, before too long we came across a wooden platform that again looked over the East coast of the island, the rainforest, and the Pacific. Again, just an incredible view. We watched the acrobatic birds playing in the drafts above the canopy far below us. Our last stop of the day was another lookout, not too different from the first lookout, equally as breathtaking. The trek back we again had to wade through thick underbrush and many, many fallen trees, but nothing could dampen our spirits and we tightrope walking on the fallen tree trunks and navigating the especially tricky obstacles.
Both of these hikes were ones I had been on many, many times before, but taking new visitors out to see them for the first time always reminds me of how very special they are. I literally get giddy when I get to show new people these places, and I'm not exactly a giddy person. And it's always rewarding when they enjoy the adventure and appreciate how special this island is. It really is like a giant, natural, outdoor playground.
Speaking of special islands: Lost. They are in Tonga, they have to be. They were traveling from Australia to LA, turned around to land in Fiji, got off course and ended up west of Fiji: Tonga. I haven't seen much of the show, but from what I have seen, the scenery looks very similar to 'Eua. So I'm just expecting that one of these days, on one of these hikes I will run into a polar bear.
After lamenting (again) about how wonderful this island is, I should say that I have made the decision not to extend for a third year here. There were a lot of factors that went into the decision, but what it came down to is that, come December, it will be time for me to move on. But I still have five months until then!
Sunday, June 13, 2010
80 minutes of live world cup soccer!
"But why only 80 minutes?" You might ask. Well, let me tell you. We were watching illegally in the first place- it started at 7:30 am Sunday morning here, and Sunday sabbath is strictly adhered to in Tonga* Across the street from my village there is an agricultural college which has a handful of students from Vanuatu. Apparently soccer is very popular in Vanuatu, and these guys scrounged up a little television and hooked up digital cable for a month just to watch the World Cup (awesome, right?). The one downside is that the games are shown at 12:30, 3:30, and 7:30...AM! But the World Cup only comes around once every four years...So a few other volunteers and I were up early Sunday morning to catch the USA-ENG game thinking it would finish just in time to get ready and get to church on time. The guy in charge of the TV was a little reluctant to let us watch in the first place, given that it was Sunday, and once the first church bells started ringing at 9, he told us it was time to turn it off. Church didn't actually start for another 55 minutes, there was 10 minutes left in the game and the score was tied 1-1. It was pretty painful, but we pulled the plug on the TV and went to get ready for church.
I woke up this morning with about 12 cockroaches in my sink, so, not knowing what else to do, I just turned the water on full-blast. Then I thought, "Hey! It's like I'm water boarding them! How very American of me! Maybe I'll fit in when I go home after all!" So that was really comforting for about two minutes until I actually thought about it.
I walked across the island to my favourite beach yesterday, and every single person I passed along the way knew my name. Pretty cool, except when they all know you skipped afternoon church to walk to the beach and you went to painstaking lengths to get out of your village without being spotted.
I'm listening to Tongan radio right now and this song just came on that goes:
"LA International Airport!
LA International Airport!" Over and over.
Never heard that one before, but I liked it.
*Just a few examples of illegal activities I've participated in on Sunday:
- Picking fruit from a tree to eat
- Swimming
- Reading a book (and not THE book)
- Playing my ukulele
I'm such a rebel I can hardly stand it
Here are the things you CAN do on Sunday:
-Go to church
-Eat
-Sleep
Here's a quick sampling of a Tongan song. I know it's sideways, I couldn't figure out how to turn it upright. Turning your head to the side works well though.
I woke up this morning with about 12 cockroaches in my sink, so, not knowing what else to do, I just turned the water on full-blast. Then I thought, "Hey! It's like I'm water boarding them! How very American of me! Maybe I'll fit in when I go home after all!" So that was really comforting for about two minutes until I actually thought about it.
I walked across the island to my favourite beach yesterday, and every single person I passed along the way knew my name. Pretty cool, except when they all know you skipped afternoon church to walk to the beach and you went to painstaking lengths to get out of your village without being spotted.
I'm listening to Tongan radio right now and this song just came on that goes:
"LA International Airport!
LA International Airport!" Over and over.
Never heard that one before, but I liked it.
*Just a few examples of illegal activities I've participated in on Sunday:
- Picking fruit from a tree to eat
- Swimming
- Reading a book (and not THE book)
- Playing my ukulele
I'm such a rebel I can hardly stand it
Here are the things you CAN do on Sunday:
-Go to church
-Eat
-Sleep
Here's a quick sampling of a Tongan song. I know it's sideways, I couldn't figure out how to turn it upright. Turning your head to the side works well though.
Friday, June 4, 2010
My kids' opinion of me is WAY too high
I was teaching night school the other evening- a lesson on reading comprehension when we came across a sentence they didn't understand, something along the lines of, "The magic trick was astonishing." There isn't a great Tongan translation of the word "astonish," so I showed them a simple slieght-of-hand magic trick and told them they would be astonished. Unfortunately it kind of backfired on me.
At the beginning of the trick I tolf them I would memorize the order of all the cards in the deck, then when they told me to stop at a certain point as I shuffled through the deck I would be able to tell the the exact card I stopped at without looking because I had "memorized" the entire deck (in about 15 seconds)- astonishing, right?
I performed the trick. They didn't seem very impressed. I showed them again. Certainly not astonished.
I thought about how they could possibly not be impressed with this trick. I thought and thought about it, then...was it possible? Could it be? I asked them if they thought I really memorized the entire deck (in order, in 15 seconds).
"Yes," they replied matter-of-factly, of course I did. And it didn't even surprise them that I could do that. I wasn't sure quite where to go from there.
At the beginning of the trick I tolf them I would memorize the order of all the cards in the deck, then when they told me to stop at a certain point as I shuffled through the deck I would be able to tell the the exact card I stopped at without looking because I had "memorized" the entire deck (in about 15 seconds)- astonishing, right?
I performed the trick. They didn't seem very impressed. I showed them again. Certainly not astonished.
I thought about how they could possibly not be impressed with this trick. I thought and thought about it, then...was it possible? Could it be? I asked them if they thought I really memorized the entire deck (in order, in 15 seconds).
"Yes," they replied matter-of-factly, of course I did. And it didn't even surprise them that I could do that. I wasn't sure quite where to go from there.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
I don't smell very good right now...
chalk dustnight school with class 6
victory!
after-school hangout
decorating :)
It's been brought to my attention recently that I haven't been including "It's Tonga" moments very regularly in my blog these days; a friend mentioned to me that I'm probably just becoming so used to these things happening every day that they don't shock me anymore, which I suppose makes sense. I decided that for all my "It's Tonga" Moments my neighbors and villagers probably have ten "It's Senifa" Moments, where I did something that was utterly incomprehensible to them. Here are a few that I know leave my neighbors dumbfounded, written from their point-of-view, in a round table discussion format:
-"She lives alone...and she seems to like it! We even offered to let our kids sleep in her house and she declined. Furthermore, she goes to bed and wakes up at the same time every day! And she seems to get annoyed when we wake her up in the middle of the night to borrow salt or oil to cook...I just don't get her!"
-"Well, have you seen her walking about in the sun all the time? Can you just imagine? If she keeps on like that her skin will get dark! But she doesn't like to walk in the rain, oh no, as soon as it starts to rain she runs for cover. Doesn't she know that by walking in the rain you not only get to where you are going, you also get a shower and washed clothes?!"
-"What's more- she refuses to hit our kids! I don't know how many times I've told her she should hit my kid, even if he's not misbehaving, but she just smiles and shakes her head! I'll tell you what I did. I even told her how to pinch the kids to maximize pain and minimize a visible bruise, and still! Her classroom must be downright chaotic!"
-"Get this- one day I saw her talking to one of the boys in the village, then the next day I saw her talking to a DIFFERENT one! Then again, she is an American...." (knowing nods all around)
-"Well here's the kicker then. I walked past her house one Sunday and she was playing music inside...and it wasn't about JESUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (At this I imagine all the women letting out a collective gasp, then shaking their heads in pity)
So with that I will close out the "It's Tonga" Moments section of this blog. It's been a good run, but I realized last week, when a chicken walked through my library and it didn't phase me, that maybe, finally, I'm becoming impervious to the unique eccentricities that Tonga presents me with on a daily basis.
Now for some updates:
While I still hold the reservations about the library that I expressed in my last post, I have to say, having the library running and seeing the kids using it and benefiting from it has been amazing. The kids are not only reading like fiends, they are now checking out books and taking them home to read with their siblings and parents. (Although one boy came to my house at six-thirty this morning because he wanted to return a book and check a different one out- I told him to go home and go back to sleep)
The library has become a popular after school hang out where the kids come to do their homework, play cards, read, or do puzzles. I just want to say that, and I know this is on a purely selfish level, watching them be excited about being in the library and reading and learning has been incredibly fun for me. Last week some of the high school girls completed a complex, spherical puzzle and a few other kids have taken a keen interest in origami. I've also been holding my night study classes in there, which has been nice to get the class six kids out of the classroom a few nights a week. With some (mostly) friendly reminders, the kids have been taking great care of the library and the books. When we first started getting in books and they started reading on their own I had to sit them all down and teach a mini-lesson on how to turn the pages without bending them!
Last week one of Peace Corps' program leaders came out to 'Eua to lead a workshop for school principals interested in receiving a volunteer next year. I was invited to be a part of that meeting and speak about the role of a volunteer in a school and community. It was a great opportunity to let future counterparts know what Peace Corps is about and what they should, and should not, expect from a volunteer. As it turns out, the program manager did a wonderful job explaining the goals of Peace Corps and what we are in Tonga for. She ended the presentation with this quote:
"The only form of assistance which is unending is that which we can provide for ourselves. We in Tonga, must not forget that the progress of this country, be it fast, be it slow, or be it non-existent, depends on us...Any major step in the advancements of the Kingdom...is in the hands of the men and women of our country and it is with them that the ultimate progress depends."
-King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV
June 8, 1967
Golden. Sitting in on this meeting went a long way towards alleviating the worries I have been having about the expectations of volunteers and counterparts not being well-aligned. I think everyone left that meeting with a good idea of what Peace Corps Volunteers are here for and how they should be utilized. It was made clear that we come in with a set of skills, that usually don't include grant-writing, and that we are meant to be capacity-builders and not "thing-getters" (not a word, I know, but the best I could come up with right now).
In other news, I will shortly be saying farewell to my infamous faleTonga (palm-leaf hut). It will be uprooted from its current residency by my house, carried across the school yard, and re-rooted in place of my neighbors' old faleTonga, which got devastated this past cyclone season. (I'm pretty sure he's been sleeping in my classroom since) I hadn't been sleeping in the faleTonga much anyway since it started getting pretty chilly and windy at night. In fact I've been mostly sleeping in my bed, which I'm becoming more comfortable with despite a few frightening spider, rat and molokau incidents.
I guess the biggest thing going on here is that I'm considering extending my service here in Tonga for a third year. I'm confident there's enough work in the library to keep me busy for another year, and I really want to see this project through and not leave it halfway done. As I mentioned earlier in the post, I am (finally) becoming really comfortable here and feeling like I'm integrated into the community and understand the culture well enough to do valuable work. I'm part of something I believe in (Peace Corps) and part of a group of people I feel privileged to be considered a part of. My work here is fulfilling and fun, and yes, challenging at times, but isn't everything that's meaningful sometimes challenging? Teaching here is awesome, the kids are enthusiastic, bright, resourceful, respectful and happy. Oh, and have you seen my pictures? The scenery here's not bad either :) After church Sunday I walked to my favorite beach on the island and spent the afternoon reading a book in the shade of a tree. It was hard for me to justify leaving in that moment.
On the other hand, I know I cannot, nor do I want to, stay here forever. As you can certainly tell from the "It's Senifa" Moments, I have not, nor will I ever, become Tongan. I've learned a lot about myself here, my perceptions about a lot of things have changed, and I've fulfilled my commitment. Maybe it's time to move on. I hear the job market in America is terrific right now (joke!). And I'm certainly not getting any younger (I'm only half-joking about that). My house flooded again last week, worse than it ever has before, so that was a bit frustrating and something I won't miss.
It's a difficult decision, and one that I will have to make soon to meet the application deadline if I want to apply to stay another year! 'Oiaue! (A Tongan expression of grief, excitement, or concern- in this case all three!)
If you're thinking...hey, I'm quickly coming to the end of this post and that title has nothing to do with anything!?! Well, I sat here for ten minutes trying to come up with a good title, and in that time realized that, really, I do stink. Good writers try to appeal to all the senses, right? It was between that and "May." Smell ya later.
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