tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8464347698967686742024-02-03T12:05:11.126+13:00Tongabunga!Welcome to Tongabunga! Here I will share my experience as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Kingdom of Tonga.Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15065778674514215524noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846434769896768674.post-9003995669946993802010-09-09T14:20:00.002+13:002010-09-09T14:24:21.414+13:00Group 76 packing list<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal">Hey group 76!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We're all excited for your arrival here in Tonga!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Here is my suggested packing list for you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>You won’t be able to bring everything but not much is available here and shipping to the other side of the world is expensive so don’t skimp.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Volunteers who return home to visit for the holidays have been known to come back with over 100 pounds of baggage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It will be worth it!</p><p class="MsoNormal">Enjoy your flight over and I'll see you in Ha'apai!</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">The list:</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Bring you computer for movies and a hard drive to exchange movies with other volunteers –very common here</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Good books -covered so they last longer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>There are many books in the offices here but bring a few that you really want to read or haven’t had the time for.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>A good sharp chef knife is priceless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Never lend it out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Ever!</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Measuring cups and spoons –not available here</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>A medium non-stick frying pan</p> <p class="MsoNormal">A headlamp -It is very dark here at night and it will serve as your bikes headlight at night</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Snorkel gear –used fins can be found here but buy a quality mask</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Rechargeable batteries and a charger –the batteries here are low quality and there is no means of disposal</p> <p class="MsoNormal">A backpack that you would travel around Europe in -it makes travel from island to island or weekend trips much easier</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Camping towels are nice to travel with</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Several pairs of sunglasses, </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Light sleeping bag, tent, and sleeping pad if you want to camp -a cheap way to relax on the weekend</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Unlocked cell phone if you have it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>If not, buy a TCC (Tongan Communications Corporation) cell phone and a Digicel phone number/sim card when you get here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>TCC sells unlocked phones which means you can use a TCC or Digicel phone card in them and you can bring them on a trip and simply buy a sim card if you go to New Zealand or anywhere else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Do not buy the Coral model phone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It is the cheapest one and many volunteers buy it and hate it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>While in country I suggest using the Digicel network –they are more reliable and cheaper.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">A good pair of flip-flops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They will be your main article of footwear for the next two years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Chaco brand makes some awesome pairs and they give Peace Corps 50% off.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Water shoes if you still have room in your bag.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">One pair of sneakers for running, feeling what it is like to wear a pair of shoes again, etc.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Dry bags</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Sewing kit</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Pictures of your Mommy</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Earplugs!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Barns don’t exist here and your neighbors cow, chicken, pig or drunken uncle may like to make noise all night and into the early morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>You will eventually get over it but for training, they are a must.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">iPod or music player</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Portable speakers<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>-I brought this pair and they have done well in the climate here and put out some good sound.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They go to the beach, camping, bike rides and I use them in my house and classroom often.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">http://www.amazon.com/iHome-iHM77-Rechargeable-Speakers-Purple/dp/B002BTSQS6/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1283992786&sr=8-6</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Leatherman multi-tool</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Alarm clock</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Rain jacket</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Hammock –Great for camping on to put up in your house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>REI sells a few with mosquito nets.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Fishing equipment if you want to fish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Some supplies can be found here.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">One good suggestion I’ve heard here is to bring something you want to learn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Like the guitar or if you want to learn a new language bring resources for that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Same if you want to study for the GRE.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Guitars are available here but the strings are cheap so bring some from home.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Medical</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Peace Corps supplies all medical supplies and I mean everything so don’t waste room on that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They even provide bug repellent and sunscreen so forget about packing that.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Clothing</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Some of the girls from my group have posted packing lists for the girls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Here is a good one at </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Faliciapeacecorps.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F09%2Fwelcome-packing-suggestions-for-group.html&h=62a30">http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Faliciapeacecorps.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F09%2Fwelcome-packing-suggestions-for-group.html&h=62a30</a></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It seems like longs skirts are in style here for the women.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Guys:</p> <p class="MsoNormal">For school or work, you will need shirts with a collar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Short-sleeved buttoned downs are the best, as the polo style is considered more casual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Bring two nice long sleeved buttons down for church –black and white will work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>If someone dies you will have to wear black for several days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Make sure you have both a short sleeved and long sleeved black buttoned down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>One tie will do.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">A few pairs of cargo shorts are nice for going around town.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">A few pairs of gym shorts to wear under you man-skirts</p> <p class="MsoNormal">A few under armour non-cotton shirts are great to wear around when you are not working.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Bathing suits –the water is awesome!!!</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Sheets</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Sporting equipment if you have room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Baseball, Frisbee, football, etc.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Gifts for your home stay family –perfumes, candles, calendars, or something from your hometown.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Spices if you have room –they can be mailed later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Don’t bring anything salt based, the humidity will make it stick together.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Camera</p> <p class="MsoNormal">That’s all I can think of for now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>E-mail me at Todd828@gmail if you have any questions.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">P.s. Air New Zealand offers unlimited alcohol on it's international flights. Just saying...</p> <!--EndFragment-->Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15065778674514215524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846434769896768674.post-19751622563231303142010-04-22T14:38:00.001+13:002010-04-22T14:40:33.723+13:00Delicious food!<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal">Yummmm is all I can think as I sit in my staff room day dreaming about the delicious Tongan meal I made last night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It was a simple meal it but has become one of my favorites here in Tonga since it is so easy to prepare, inexpensive and delicious.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">What is this meal you wonder and where can I find the recipe??<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It’s fish boiled in coconut milk with root crop and you can find an Americanized recipe right here!</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Ika lolo’i mo me’akai / Succulent fish in coconut milk with potatoes </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><u>Ingredients</u> –1 serving, but easily doubled or quadrupled</p> <p class="MsoNormal">1.5 cans of coconut milk –found at an Asian market, specialty store, or Whole Foods.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">½ pound fresh fish –preferably light white fish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>For authenticity, it should be a salt-water fish, no salmon allowed!</p> <p class="MsoNormal">1 cup of potatoes cut into one-inch chunks (if you don’t have yams, taro, or manioke)</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><u>Directions</u></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Boil the potatoes until they are nice and soft and set aside.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Bring the coconut milk to a boil in a saucepan and reduce until your desired consistency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I like it similar to curry or soup.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Once the coconut milk is at the desired consistency, add chunks of fish cut into bite size pieces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Let the fish cook in the boiling coconut milk for 5-10 min or until the fish is flaky when you pull it with a fork.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Serve in a bowl with the potatoes in the soup or on the side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Add salt as desired.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The dish can also be served with toast to dip in the coconut milk.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Enjoy!</p> <!--EndFragment-->Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15065778674514215524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846434769896768674.post-29252009091510370122010-03-01T15:43:00.000+13:002010-03-01T15:44:24.995+13:00Weekend vacation and a tsunami<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal">This past weekend I traveled with John and Juleigh one island over to the island of Kauvai to visit Blair and enjoy some rest and relaxation on a sparsely inhabited island.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Kauai is only a forty-minute boat ride away but is significantly less developed from my island of Lifuka.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Only about two hundred people live in Kauvai and probably only sixty or so in Blair’s town of Ha’ano.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The only people who hold formal job positions are the priests and the teachers and everyone else works in the house or fishing and farming subsistently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The pace of life is slow and the people live without many of the luxuries I have on Lifuka such as running water and twenty-four hour electricity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The water pump broke several months ago in Kauvai so there is no running water and the electricity is only turned on from seven at night until two in the morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>There are only a few tiny shops the size of newspaper stands and only sell a dozen products.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>There is no shop or market to buy groceries so Blair often received fafanga (cooked meals) from her community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Living without so many amenities may sound tough but Blair also gets to benefit from living in such a small and isolated community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The people are very friendly and care for her like she is family and hardly anyone speaks English so her language skills are very good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Sometimes I get jealous of how much more immersed she is and how far away she is from other Palangi’s (people not from Tonga).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Then I hop in my shower, buy some groceries, post a blog, grab an ice-cold coke from my refrigerator, and have an English conversation with an American friend forget about it.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We arrived to Kauvai on Friday night with a ton of supplies, we knew that we had to pack everything we wanted to eat or we would be stuck asking the community to feed us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The first night we planned a huge meal of chicken and vegetable curry and when we were about ten minutes away from completing the meal all of Blair’s gas burners went out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We could not understand what was going on at first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We checked the gas line and tried to light the burners again but had no luck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We quickly realized that nothing was wrong with the stove but we were out of gas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Being out of gas on an outer island is tough news.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>There was nowhere to buy gas on Blair’s island and the only gas shop to fill up is on my island (by gas shop I mean the general area where gas is occasionally sold by a man who is occasionally there).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Filling her gas canister was not happening anytime soon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Even if she could get her gas canister filled, there is a new law since the Princess Ashika sank that gas is not allowed on boats except tanker boats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>No tanker boats visit her island so I am not quite sure how she is going to get a new canister, swim?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Luckily, our meal was close enough to being complete and the chicken had already been thoroughly boiled so we were able to eat but we knew that the rest of the weekend we would have to cook fake-Tonga style (faka means like or the way of so the Tongan way) over an open fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We had eggs and pancakes planned for the next mornings and spaghetti with red sauce that we had to make from scratch the next night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We were going to have to learn how to cook over an open fire quickly.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">After almost dying from smoke inhalation and burning my eyes out with coconut shell smoke I got the fire started and we were able to cook almost like we were cooking over a regular stove.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Over the next few days, we successfully made all the meals we planned and some awesome spaghetti sauce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We even made a vegetable curry with coconut milk that we laboriously made from scratch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>A future blog will have to show how to make coconut milk.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">When we were not cooking faka-Tonga we enjoyed a beach side resort whose New Zealand owner had gotten into a disagreement with the town noble and had his visa pulled on a short trip back home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The resort was in construction at the time so it remains about eight-percent complete and a great place for PCV’s to relax without paying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>As is typical with most resorts in Tonga, the resort was located on one of the most scenic beaches in the kingdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We lounged at the resort all day reading, swimming on the coral reef, eating, and taking naps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>A major activity throughout the kingdom on Saturdays is to malolo pe or doing nothing and just relaxing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We certainly embraced the culture and made sure to malolo pe all day long.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">After a day of malolo pe the world must have known we needed some excitement so it gladly obliged early Sunday morning around two-thirty am.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I was sleeping in my tent enjoying the cool breeze of the ocean and the sound of the waves splashing on the coral reefs just twenty feet away when I was awoken by Blair, “Umm Todd and Juleigh, sorry to wake you but, the Peace Corps just called and there has been a large earthquake in Chile and there is a tsunami heading for the entire Pacific region.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We don’t expect it for until around eight in the morning so just go back to bed and we’ll go to higher ground at seven.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The news about the looming tsunami was exactly what I needed so get a restful night of sleep while staying in a tent just twenty feet from the sea on an island a quarter mile wide with a maximum elevation of forty feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Good thing I brought my life jacket.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We woke up much earlier than I ever wanted to on Sunday morning and prepared however we could for the looming disaster.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We only had basic information and had no idea how sizeable the tsunami would be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>In training they told us that if you island is small enough in the event of a tsunami you should actually climb a coconut tree as high as you can with you life jacket on and tie yourself to it to avoid being swept out to sea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Legend in the Peace Corps community here is that several years back a volunteer on a remote island became a little mentally unstable and climbed a coconut tree with his satellite phone, dog and life jacket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Supposedly, he called his family hysterically crying and remained in the tree hours with his community coaxing him to come down from the bottom of the tree.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We did not want to look like him so we just got all of our emergency supplies together and climbed to the highest point of the island on the opposite side of the island that the tsunami was supposed to hit which happened to be the noble’s cemetery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We remained there for several hours listening to the Tongan radio station and waiting for updates from the Peace Corps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>All of the Tongans went about their normal Sunday routine of going to church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We must have looked silly to the Tongans as they passed the only four Americans on the island hanging out in the cemetery with our life jackets on.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We knew that the earthquake was one of the biggest in recent memory and that the last devastating tsunami to hit Tonga was in the 1960’s and had come from an earthquake in Chile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We should have been scared of what was to come but just like in the cyclone two weeks ago, we all just wanted to see what it would be like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Kind of strange when the island you are on is so small.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>After hours of waiting, we got an all-clear call from the Peace Corps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The wave had only been about a foot and a half and had caused no damage throughout the kingdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Tahiti and the Marshall Island had a big wave but somehow Tonga was missed.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">So natural disaster number three check!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I slept through a big earthquake in training, got my house flooded in a cyclone two weeks ago, and got sunburn waiting out a tsunami.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I cannot wait to see what the next two years brings us.</p> <!--EndFragment-->Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15065778674514215524noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846434769896768674.post-629724792077934662010-02-21T15:36:00.002+13:002010-02-21T15:45:33.419+13:00Juleighs cyclone post<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px; color: rgb(136, 136, 136); "><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 1.2em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-left: 0px; ">Last week we were hit by a huge cyclone here in Ha'apai. After a week of cleaning I've finally got my house back together. I've read a few of my friends blog accounts of the storm and think Juleigh has a great play by play account of what happened during the storm so I've included it below. I hope you enjoy and if you want more of her blog you can find it here: http://juleigh.wordpress.com/</p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 1.2em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-left: 0px; ">More blogs written by me coming soon.</p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 1.2em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 1.2em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-left: 0px; ">During training, Peace Corps does a good job at preparing us for the worst possible situations we may face as volunteers. One of the things we go over again and again is the “Emergency Action Plan” (EAP). The four stages of the EAP are stand fast (stay at your site, no traveling), consolidate (bring everyone in your island group to the consolidation point), evacuate (leave your island) and all clear (you are free to go home). While we all studied and understood what each of these stages meant, we were told that consolidation rarely happens (hasn’t happened here since 2006). When we heard that a cyclone was on its way, not in my wildest dreams did I expect what later ensued.</p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 1.2em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-left: 0px; ">SATURDAY, 2/13<br />3:00pm Call comes from Todd (our emergency coordinator); all Ha’apai PCV’s are to report to our consolidation point.<br />At this point, none of us on Ha’apai had ever had to consolidate before. We were told by the Safety and Security Coordinator at the Peace Corps office that the cyclone was a category 3, headed straight for Tonga and that it would be hitting very early morning on Sunday. It was a bright and sunny Saturday, you wouldn’t know by looking at the sky that a cyclone was coming.<br />5:00pm All 10 volunteers are accounted for at Todd’s.</p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 1.2em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-left: 0px; ">I had grabbed enough clothes for 3 days, my computer and hard drive (knowing there would be lots of time for movies), Into Thin Air, bible, journal, toiletries, some snacks from my latest package, some candles and my lantern, 3 bottles of water and I loaded my phone up with credit. Everyone’s spirits were high; Blair and Sarah had made it in from the outer islands. I had put all of my things into a cab with the other’s stuff and walked over to Todd’s while talking to Caitlin. I also had a skype date scheduled with Mary and her kids. I was actually more worried about missing that date than getting ready for the cyclone! (I did get to have that skype date with the internet at Todd’s!) The internet was working for a few hours; we lost it at around8:30pm.<br />We ate dinner and went to bed. All of this time, we were receiving phone calls from our office in Nuku’alofa with updates. The storm was very slow moving. We had expected it early Sunday morning. We had sleeping bags, mats and air mattresses strewn about the house. Sleeping was just fine on Saturday night.<a href="http://juleigh.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/dscf0689.jpg" style="color: rgb(138, 180, 89); text-decoration: none; "><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-52" src="http://juleigh.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/dscf0689.jpg?w=300&h=225" alt="" width="300" height="225" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; " /></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 1.2em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-left: 0px; ">SUNDAY, 2/14</p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 1.2em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-left: 0px; ">10:00am Storm proofing and reorganizing begins.<br />We are all waiting patiently for the storm. Having never been in a cyclone, none of us knew exactly what to expect. We had heard that it was a category 3-4 storm, with winds from 150-200 MPH. Our cell service was still working so I was keeping up with the volunteers in Vava’u. The storm would hit them first, coming from the North East. It was actually still sunny at this point in both Vava’u and Ha’apai, this made it hard to brace for the worst. It would drizzle off and on, but for the most part, it was clear.<br />2:00pm Lunch time<br />It wouldn’t be my blog if I didn’t tell you about the food! Alyssa made us cilantro burgers with homemade buns and french fries! Ifo! Still no cyclone. PC is calling, telling us it will now be here at 6pm.<br />4:00pm Taping windows and tarp goes up<a href="http://juleigh.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/dscf0707.jpg" style="color: rgb(138, 180, 89); text-decoration: none; "><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-53" src="http://juleigh.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/dscf0707.jpg?w=300&h=225" alt="" width="300" height="225" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; " /></a><br />We decide that since there are so many window panes (opportunities for water to come in), we will use the cardboard from some boxes to seal the windows. We get a call saying that this is a strong category 4 storm. We also put the tarp up over the main windows in Todd’s living room. We put it inside thinking that if it’s outside, it will be ripped off. It takes us some time to figure it out, but it gets up. Windows all over the house are layered with cardboard and shut. Koichi joins us (JICA volunteer).<br />5:00pm Dr. Who, West Wing and Law & Order SVU viewings (no cyclone)<br />6:00pm No Cyclone<br />9:00pm Dinner (eggplant parm) & no cyclone<br />10:00pm Electricity goes out (so does running water)<br />11:30pm “Twister” viewing (very apropos) and……No Cyclone!<br />1:00am All are in bed.<br />It was not easy to sleep. We had been told by PC that it would come early morning on Monday at this point. They continued to call us throughout the night. The wind had picked up and the bushes were hitting the side of the house in the room I was in. The wind whipped across the house and it was so hot because all of our windows were closed, it was a rough night.<br />4:00am PC calls, Cyclone Rene has hit neighboring island Vava’u</p><p style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 1.2em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-left: 0px; ">Todd takes the call from Peace Corps; we now know the cyclone is close. We stay in bed until around 6am and then put the finishing touches on the house. (Oatmeal and hazelnut coffee for breakfast…I even drank it black!)<br />6:00am Koichi wakes up soaking wet<br />It has begun.<br />9:00am All mats/bag/belongings cleared out of living room<br />The rain is now coming into the house because of the windows and high winds. We decided to move all of our things into Todd’s bedroom to keep everything dry (“dry” nothing is ever completely dry in Tonga).<br />10:00am Tarp needs to be fixed<br />The tarp is brining too much water into the house and it’s filling the front room up. John does a good job trying to rig it so that we can funnel the water into buckets. It works for a little while but the water is coming in too fast. We have buckets, mops, dust pans and brooms to get the water out. We open the front door and are now trying to get the water out as fast as we can. Grant is against the bedroom wall protecting that seal (so that we don’t get water in that room). Everyone is pitching in, just trying to get the water out.<a href="http://juleigh.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/dscf0756.jpg" style="color: rgb(138, 180, 89); text-decoration: none; "><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-54" src="http://juleigh.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/dscf0756.jpg?w=225&h=300" alt="" width="225" height="300" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; " /></a><br />10:10am Table placed in front of the door<br />We notice that the front door is not going to stay closed. We put the table in front of it in case it blows open. At this point we are on the floor in the living room trying to get as much water up as possible.<br />10:30am Cardboard in the bedroom<br />We are afraid that our “dry room” is going to be compromised. We set up tarps and add cardboard and duct tape to the windows.<br />10:50am Bottom of front door rips off<br />This is now pretty serious, the guys to a great job taking the door off, getting the kitchen door and putting that on the front door. Note: at this critical juncture, Villiami walks over from down the street (I work with him at the govs office) just to see what we are doing. We are smiling, but the winds are VERY strong. He chatted for a while as the guys were putting the door up. We just thought it was funny that he wasn’t at HIS house doing the same things we were<a href="http://juleigh.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/dscf0739.jpg" style="color: rgb(138, 180, 89); text-decoration: none; "><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-55" src="http://juleigh.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/dscf0739.jpg?w=225&h=300" alt="" width="225" height="300" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; " /></a>.<br />11:00am New tarp strategy and give up on the kitchen<br />Too much water is coming into the house. We decide to take the tarp outside. People are on top of other people’s shoulders to get the tarp nailed above the windows. I couldn’t take a picture of this because the winds were so strong and the water was still flowing into the house. Also, the living room was filling so quickly that we decided to give up on the kitchen and let the water come in.<a href="http://juleigh.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/dscf0760.jpg" style="color: rgb(138, 180, 89); text-decoration: none; "><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-56" src="http://juleigh.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/dscf0760.jpg?w=300&h=225" alt="" width="300" height="225" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; " /></a><br />11:15am Rain stops, eye of the storm?<br />While putting our second tarp outside, the rain stops and the winds die down. We are unsure if this is the eye of the storm or just a break. We have been told that it’s only a break. We are all so tired from bailing water, we all need a rest. We take a few minutes then try to get the remaining water out of the living room. We go back into the kitchen and bail all of the water from there, sweep the hall ways and secure the tarps and add mats to the outside side windows.<br />12:00pm Is this the end?<br />Cell phone service is back up. I text the volunteers in Vava’u, they say it should be over. PC calls and says that’s only round one, round two is on its way.<a href="http://juleigh.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/dscf0750.jpg" style="color: rgb(138, 180, 89); text-decoration: none; "><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-57" title="DSCF0750" src="http://juleigh.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/dscf0750.jpg?w=300&h=225" alt="" width="300" height="225" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; " /></a><br />1:00pm Round 2?<br />Winds pick up but rain stays away. We are exhausted and soaking wet. Water bubbles start to form on the ceiling.<a href="http://juleigh.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/dscf0751.jpg" style="color: rgb(138, 180, 89); text-decoration: none; "><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-58" src="http://juleigh.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/dscf0751.jpg?w=300&h=225" alt="" width="300" height="225" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; " /></a><br />3:00pm Cyclone is over<br />The wind is still strong, we don’t have electricity or running water, but the cyclone seems to have passed us.<br />The rest of the night, we continue to mop and clean. The house is musty but most of the water is out. We eat dinner and retire to separate rooms to relax and debrief the day. Peace Corps says to hang in there through one more night. We are ready to be done with this thing. One more night together.<br />TUESDAY 2/16<br />6am Todd gets the “All Clear” call<br />We are released to go home. But, the house is still in shambles. We take everything outside, sweep, mop and scrub almost every inch of the house. We get home around 1. Remember that each of us has our own homes to clean now.<br />The nuns were so kind to put boards on my windows and towels on my floors. I had very little water come into my rooms, no damage done. I still don’t have electricity or running water, probably won’t have it until Thursday. Our office was also a disaster. We spent the rest of the afternoon pulling carpet out of there. It’s been a very long few days. I will say though, I was impressed by almost every single person in our group of 10. We all pitched in and got it done. In the end, I think we had a successful first cyclone experience. But I am glad it’s over and I am glad to be sleeping in my own bed.</p></span>Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15065778674514215524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846434769896768674.post-28484109386255414312010-02-16T20:52:00.002+13:002010-02-16T21:13:19.451+13:00Cyclone ReneI'm too exhausted to write much but I just want to update everyone quickly. On Saturday we were warned of a looming cyclone headed directly for the islands of Tonga. All of the volunteers in Ha'apai were told to consolidate to my house since it is at the highest elevation and is the strongest structure of any of the volunteer houses. Nine volunteers quickly came over with a ton of supplies to weather the storm, which ended up being a category 4 cyclone out of 5, 5 causing catastrophic damage. The storm lined up and hit us with its full force of 143 mile per hour winds and kept all ten of us confined to my house for 63 hours without running water or electricity. My house stood up well to the storm other than my front door which was ripped off and sent across my yard. Since the storm we have started a short recovery process and have gone around to each others houses and our office to begin cleaning up. The damage to our houses and around town is minimal. Only a few power lines and trees are down and several poor quality houses fell down. At this point it sounds like nobody was seriously injured. Over the course of 63 hours a ton happened and I have some great stories, pictures and a movie to show in the next few days. More info in about 3 days, the amount I will probably sleep after I publish this blog.Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15065778674514215524noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846434769896768674.post-52309281060372549422010-02-06T16:49:00.001+13:002010-02-06T17:04:16.322+13:00New Pictures!!It was finally cool enough to take a bunch of pictures around town so I snapped a bunch of pics and wrote a lot of captions to give a little tour of Pangai. Enjoy!<div><br /></div><div>http://picasaweb.google.com/Todd828/FirstDayOfSchoolAndSomeShotsAroundPangai?pli=1#</div>Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15065778674514215524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846434769896768674.post-60820320374093809962010-02-06T16:44:00.000+13:002010-02-06T16:46:23.009+13:00Learning how to teach<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">I just finished my third week of teaching and I cannot describe how relieved I am to be done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Teaching is tough!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Before the semester begun, I discussed with my counterpart, Tok’a how I would like to begin teaching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We noted that I had no teaching experience and had never observed a Tongan classroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We decided that it would be best for me to observe classes for the first three to four weeks and then begin co-teaching with another teacher in the classroom once I felt comfortable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I would continue teaching more and more and eventually I would be given my own classes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">The Peace Corps has a specific approach to development and does not want volunteers teaching alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This ensures that volunteers are not taking away a local jobs and it allows volunteers to learn from local teachers and vise-versa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The reality here in Tonga is that there is simply not enough money to fund the schools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Schools have almost no money for maintenance or supplies and almost all of the funds go to paying teacher salaries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The schools can only afford so many teachers and most schools are left needing more teachers than they have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>My school requested four additional teachers to help cover all of the classes but they know that their requests fall on deaf ears and the education budget simply makes it in impossible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Most of the teachers here teach five out of six periods a day and some even teach all six several days a week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It is a demanding schedule and as a volunteer hoping to start projects outside of the classroom, it was a schedule I was not interested in joining.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">The first day of school came and went three weeks ago and I was given four classes to teach, all different and all requiring a new lesson plan everyday, not exactly what I talked about with my counterpart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The next few days were daunting for me, especially during the first week since the daily schedules were only posted minutes before the school day started.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Not only was I teaching for the first time ever but I had no idea which classes I would be teaching each day or how long the periods would be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Some days my classes were twenty minutes and others were fifty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I asked the teachers what was going on with the schedule but I could never get a straight answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Sometimes they would tell me they did not know the schedule and other times they told me that we would have twenty-minute periods and we would end up having fifty-minute classes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I suspect that there was not a schedule at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>After the first few days of that, I decided to make rolling lesson plans and planned large sections of material so I would never run out.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Some of my classes went well and in others, I fell flat on my face and my lessons bombed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Prior to figuring it out in the classroom, I had no idea what level my students were at.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I tried to give them initial assessments but even those were tough as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It is tough to get Tongan students to talk and when they do talk many of them talk softly and I cannot quite understand their English accents yet and sometimes they just cannot understand what I am asking for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>My first few classes were all over the place, some were too hard, and others were too simple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I changed things around and after a few tries I actually had a bunch of good lessons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">As soon as I saw my schedule with many more classes than I had initially discussed I went to my counterpart Tok’a and had a discussion with him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He told me not to worry and that the schedule had to be worked out and eventually I would have fewer classes to teach and more time to observe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I worked through three weeks with four lessons and stayed up late every night trying to figure out how I could explain my lessons to the students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It is difficult to compare and contrast a free market economy to a planned economy to students who live on an island with little economy at all to speak of.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">I kept talking to Tok’a and other teachers about my schedule and asked when I could get one of my classes taken away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They kept says yes, yes, yes, we’ll take one away, but nothing ever happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>After almost three weeks of teaching four classes, I decided that something actually had to happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I need more time at night to study Tongan and to spend meeting and talking with the other teachers and my community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It is often the Tongan way to wait for tomorrow to fix something and when tomorrow comes you make a deal to do it the next day and so on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Enough was enough so I laid out all the reasons why I needed to drop one class and made it clear that I was not a replacement teacher, my deputy principle listened and actually took away a class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It was magic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I went in this morning and I only had to teach two classes which gave me time to observe two other classes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It was exactly what I needed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I learned a ton from simply observing two classes today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">During our first assembly on the first day of school the principal implements a new rule that all classes and all conversation on the school compound would have to now be completely in English.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It is a great goal since the school I am at aims to be college preparatory and the regional exam to get into university and all university classes in the region are in English.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The only problem is that the kids do not have a good enough working knowledge of English to do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>At first, I did not realize that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I have been teaching all of my classes in English and have only talked to the kids in English.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>As a native English speaker, I figured that I would be a great example for them to listen to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>After observing two classes, today I quickly realized my mistake and learned that I will have to teach bilingually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Getting that one class dropped gave me enough extra time to observe other classes and realize some things I need to change and even better, I can now act on what I need to change and begin studying more Tongan so I can teach bilingually more effectively.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>So, that is a short wrap up of my teaching experience so far.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>More next week.</p> <!--EndFragment-->Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15065778674514215524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846434769896768674.post-54252475181424926292010-01-28T14:36:00.000+13:002010-01-28T15:34:34.985+13:00The ups and downs of Peace Corps service<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal">During training we were told that we would experience a never-ending circle of emotions during our service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We were told that one day we would feel absolutely in love with the culture of our country, the posh beach side location of our house, our fulfilling jobs, the wonderful students we get to work with daily, yada yada yada.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>On other days we might feel nonchalant about our positions and just go through the motions of our jobs, feeling comfortable where we were and just going through another day at the office. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And other days we would be thinking, “WHY THE HELL AM I IN THIS CRAZY COUNTRY????????<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>PLEASE GET ME ON THE NEXT PLANE BACK TO CORNER CAFÉ’S, CHINESE FOOD AND WARM SHOWERS.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Well today was just one of those days where I felt all three of those emotions.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I woke up this morning excited and confident about my lesson plans and ready to breeze through the planned twenty-minute classes scheduled for the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>My goal was to get to know my students a little bit better, learn a few new names and get a general idea of their skill level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>So I did that for the first twenty minutes of my first period economics class but when twenty minutes was up the class did not end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I stalled for five minutes and made the kids write a little about what they knew about economics and told them they would have to turn it in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>After the finished the assignment the bell still had not rung.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I thought to myself, “What’s going on here?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I know this class has already gone well past the allotted time.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But there was nothing I could do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I had twenty-five kids looking at me wondering what to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>So I had them share their answers and when the bell had not rung still I cracked open the text book and just expanded my lesson plan on the spot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The class ended up running for forty minutes, almost a full class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>When the bell finally rang I went up to another teacher and asked them what was going on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They let me know that we were actually doing full forty-minute periods all day!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I quickly scrambled to think of new ideas to expand my lessons for the next three classes I had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I quickly thought to myself, “you know as a volunteer you can just leave service anytime with a simple call to Tongatapu and then you’ll be on an airplane in less that seventy-two hours and headed back to the land of plenty with all you can eat sushi buffets and schedules that actually run on time.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Luckily those thoughts quickly fled my mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I ran back to my house and picked up some more resources and figured out what I could do for each of my classes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I expanded some sections of my lesson plan and brought out my Dr. Seuss book and read the story of the Lorax to my next class and introduced environmentalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The rest of the day went by rather smoothly and I ended the day content with new confidence in myself to figure out what to do when things do not go as planned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The rest of the day was actually kind of fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">After school I went over to a fellow volunteers house for a joint meal and commiseration session.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We discussed teaching and the sad fact that the only cargo boat coming to our island might not be coming back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Everyone seemed to have similar teaching stories to mine, it is just the reality of teaching and of teaching in Tonga so it seems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>There is no other way to deal with what we are experiencing than laughing about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>So that is what we did.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I ended the night talking to a volunteer who is in her third year in the Peace Corps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>She already completed two years in Benin and now is doing one more year here in Tonga.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I learned all about what it was like to do a third year and how to go about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It sounded like an awesome opportunity to explore another country for just another year and if I can get through the ups and downs of Tonga I might be interested.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And there I was, excited about Peace Corps again and contemplating signing up for a third year in a different country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I had officially done the Peace Corps circle of emotions in less than twelve hours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Get me out of here!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O wait I actually like what I’m doing here and how do I sign up for more?????</p> <!--EndFragment-->Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15065778674514215524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846434769896768674.post-78582639459268319012010-01-27T15:26:00.002+13:002010-01-27T16:28:50.186+13:00The Pulupaki is Osi<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family: Georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I just received an e-mail from the country director here informing all of the volunteers that the only large boat servicing the islands of Tonga other than Tongatapu has been deemed unsafe and unseaworthy. A year ago there were two boats, the Princess Ashika and the Pulupaki. The Princess Ashika was used until it sank and ended up killing over a hundred Tongans. After the Princess Ashika sank there was a massive review of what happened with the boat to look into why it was still in service. The hearings showed massive amounts of negligence in the ministry of transportation down to the captain of the boat and many of the crew members. The captain was even asked if he knew if the boat was going to sink and replied, "Yes, I thought it was going to sink every time I got on it." He still did nothing and let many of his passengers die. After the Ashika sank the Pulupaki had to carry all of the cargo that the Ashika was to carry. Many people knew that this was dangerous as well and the crew often did not follow many international marine laws such as providing life jackets or giving a safety briefing before each trip. After hearing about the negligence in the case of the Ashika and what I knew about the Pulupaki I decided never to get on the ship. I am happy that the boat is now out of service but now we have a huge problem.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family: Georgia; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family: Georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Few goods are made on many of the islands here in Tonga. My island only produces a few root crops and exports little. We are almost completely dependent on outside imports. With the Pulupaki out of service we will soon run out of basic food items like sugar and flour. Even the chicken, eggs and canned goods are imported here. If the Pulupaki is not replaced soon it appears that everyone on my island will have to survive off of root crops, fish and the animals native to the island. Nobody knows where a new boat will come from and Tonga cannot afford a new one. The Japanese are building and donating a boat for Tonga but it is not expected to be finished until January of next year. It looks like my diet is about to change tremendously. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family: Georgia; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family: Georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The other sad part about losing the Pulupaki is that the Peace Corps will no longer be able to support five volunteers here is Ha'apai. The Pulupaki was their only means of getting to their islands so they are all being pulled from their schools and will have to find new sites. Two of the volunteers have only spent three weeks at their sites so far but the three others have already been there for over a year. It is devastating for them to have to leave their sites and start all over again at new schools and in new communities. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family: Georgia; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I am a little worried about what will happen to the rest of us in Ha'apai. Will all of my basic supplies have to be flown in? We are expecting some serious inflation here; will I still be able to live here within my living allowance? There are a lot of tough questions to be answered. I have already spent my entire monthly allowance stocking up on food items here. As soon as I receive my money from next month I am planning on spending it on as many canned items and food that come on the boat as possible.</span></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15065778674514215524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846434769896768674.post-65510852762524531772010-01-26T13:11:00.002+13:002010-01-26T14:11:20.937+13:00First days of school<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;font-family:Georgia;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia">Today was the first real day of class here, sort of, if you can call it that. We started off school last week with planning week with most of the teachers. Several of the teachers were not around yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The only boat traveling to my island is currently stuck in Tonga for a repair and for a legal review. There is only rumor about the Pulupaki at this point but it appears that it is not up to safety standards and will not be moving in the near future. This is really sad for me because my washing machine that I got as a Hanukah present is supposed to be on it, but I've digressed. So several teachers did not show up for school planning week because they were stuck in Tongatapu and a few others did not show up because...umm actually I don't know why. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;font-family:Georgia;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;font-family:Georgia;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia">I often get bogged down here when I compare things here to the way they are in America but I have realized that I cannot do that because the two are simply different and will never match up to each other. But if one were to compare planning week in Tonga to planning week in America, one could say rather little was accomplished. We came up with a mission statement and a vision for the year and covered a few policies, the key one being annual leave. I believe last year teachers got twenty-eight days off during the school year. Yes, that is twenty-eight days other than school breaks or holidays to simply take off for any reason and usually without prior notice. This year some of the teachers were a little sad to hear that they now only had twenty anytime vacation days a year. It is also important to note here that there are not enough teachers to teach all of the classes already so when a teacher takes off there is nobody to replace them and no substitute so the class simply sits there. After planning week we got ready for the kids to come on Monday, well I'm not sure if ready is the right word for it, but we made sure that we knew that in fact the kids would be coming to the school compound on Monday.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;font-family:Georgia;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;font-family:Georgia;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia">So yesterday Monday came and the kids came as well. School is a little different here. School does not exactly start on the first scheduled day of school like in America, it is more like a rolling start or soft opening. The kids were each instructed to bring in some supplies since funding is a big issue here and the school cannot afford many basic supplies. The kids each brought in a large mat that we often use to sit on here, a broom and a roll of toilet paper. During a short assembly we collected the items and the teachers were all introduced. I loved getting to sit in front of all of the children on their first day of school. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;font-family:Georgia;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;font-family:Georgia;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia">The youngest kids were very cute and I could tell how excited and nervous they were to start high school. There is no middle school here just primary school and then high school. The youngest kids here are just twelve years old and the high school is in the big city on the island. There is no school bus here and the kids have to hitchhike to get to school and it can take up to an hour for the furthest away students. It is definitely an intimidating journey for the younger students. So after the assembly we went to our homeroom classes. I am sharing a homeroom class with another teacher named Tupou and the class is filled with the youngest students. Each grade is called a form here. The youngest are called form 1 and the oldest are form 6 and the rest fill in between. Tupou is an amazing English teacher and the head of the English department here. She'll be helping me a lot with my classes and lesson plans and has a gazillion ideas for secondary projects to do with me. After homeroom yesterday we just let the kids go and got ready for the next day, sort of. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;font-family:Georgia;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;font-family:Georgia;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia">When I asked the deputy principal yesterday what I would be teaching he still did not know and he told me not to worry about it. I just went with the flow and tried to not let myself stress out about going into the first real day of school without an idea of which classes I would be teaching or lesson plans. I wrote down a few ideas for introductory activities but there was not much else I could do. This morning when I came to school the schedule was up. I had four different classes. I would be teaching form 1 English -my homeroom students, form 4 English that my homestay brother Amoni is in, form 4 economics and form 4 accounting. So I got my classes and that meant it was now time to teach. It felt exactly like my first day of high school. Where do I go? Wait, what am I teaching? I thought I was supposed to be teaching that class with another teacher, what is going on? I did not know quite what to do so I just figured out where my classes were, walked in and introduced myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I am somewhat confident my students understood me. I had the students all sign in and introduce themselves to the class and then I took pictures of my students so I can memorize all their names. Maybe I'll be able to actually pronounce their names later in the term. With almost no planning or foreknowledge of my classes I somehow got through them and it was not even that bad. As I type this blog I am waiting on the curriculum handouts so I can get an idea of what I am supposed to teach the students and what they already know. At the very least I will be able to make a lesson plan for tomorrow. So that's school so far. I've got some great projects planned with the school which I hope to tell you all about next update.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;font-family:Georgia;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;font-family:Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia">I also just heard in that the only boat that comes to Ha’apai, the Pulupaki is being sent to Fiji for repairs. After seeing the boat I am surprised it still floats so it could be stuck in Fiji for sometime. Almost nothing is produced here so it is a little scary not having the only boat that restocks this island currently out of service. I did a major restocking a few days ago in case this happened but it looks like I might have to go out and get some more basic supplies like sugar and flour just in case.</span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15065778674514215524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846434769896768674.post-37557197441366212222009-12-29T14:30:00.000+13:002009-12-29T14:31:30.034+13:00Update<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal">A lot has happened since my last post but I’ll try to update everyone with what I have been up to recently and try to update a little more frequently in the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I also have new pictures which you can check out here:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">http://picasaweb.google.com/Todd828/PCAlbum2</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Since My last update I finished training!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Wo Wo!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Finally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Training was really intense and I lived out of a small suitcase and ate whatever type of local food was given to me for two months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>After training we had a short swearing in ceremony at a local high school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The location had been moved from a beach resort because there was a cyclone headed right for us around that time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>At the ceremony all 26 trainees swore in as official volunteers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Typically about ten percent of trainees drop out during training for various reasons but my whole entire group made it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We are only the second training group in the history of Peace Corps Tonga to do so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>After swearing in we had a wonderful meal at a nice Italian restaurant in town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>For many of us it was the last chance we would have to eat at a nice restaurant for a very long time –on my island there are only two restaurants, both of which are only okay and way out of my price range.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The dinner also served as a great way for all of us to spend a little more time together before heading out all over the island chain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>As a group we spent a lot of time together doing all sorts of training, relaxing and decompressing the seemingly crazy cultural traditions that we came across daily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We had become a support network for each other and made fast friends and soon we would be heading far away from each other and probably only see each other a few more times during our Peace Corps service.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">After saying our goodbyes we headed to the airport and hopped on a plane to our island chain, Ha’apai, which everyone should know is simply the best island chain in all of Tonga and has the most beautiful beaches, biggest fish, best high schools, teachers and volunteers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Just thought you should know that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>On the plane there were just five of us, John, Juleigh, Blair, Alyssa and myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>All of us live only be a few blocks away from each other, except for Blair who is an hour boat ride away in Ha’ano and will come in to see us often.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Hopefully.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We are joining Brett and Kate, a married couple who live one block away from me and write a much better blog found at http://asleson.blogspot.com/.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Brett and I have been spear fishing a bunch together already and one of these days we might actually catch some fish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They live next to a JICA volunteer named Koiechi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>JICA is the Japanese version of the Peace Corps and is modeled off of the US Peace Corps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Koiechi and I have talked a lot about making sushi out of the fish we catch here, I just need to figure out how to catch a few of them first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We will also be joined by a third year volunteer named Grant who is currently on vacation seeing his family back in Colorado.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Ten days after moving in it was Christmas here so the whole group of eight of us made plans to travel to the next island over which is called U’oleva and is completely uninhabited except for a few small resorts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We stayed a Serenity Beach Resort that certainly lived up to its name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>A nice American woman named Patty runs the resort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>She imported about a dozen or so fales from Bali and had them constructed on the island.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>You can see some pictures of them on my picture site.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The fales were made of rich wood and were absolutely beautiful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We spent three days and two nights snorkeling on the coral reefs in front of the resort, lying on the beach, kayaking, napping and making and eating delicious large meals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>After eating whatever was in front of me in training and studying language and Peace Corps policy for hours on end it was amazing to have some time to relax and eat the foods I wanted to eat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The first night we had pasta with red sauce –made from scratch!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Past sauce isn’t sold here so that is kind of how it goes here if you want to make something that isn’t sold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The next night we prepared a turkey dinner with many sides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We already have plans to go back to the island and camp out soon.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Since our wonderful Christmas vacation I’ve been about as busy as you can be on a tropical island as a school teacher when school in out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I’ve spent my time trying to meet people in the community and setting up my house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I’ve met a few of the elders at church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I accidentally sat in the choir section last week at church and a choir member handed me his music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Even though I can’t read Tongan musical notation, sing and am Jewish it ended up scoring me big points in the community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The whole church thought that I had joined the choir and was actually singing for the whole service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>During most of the service I didn’t even realize it, I thought I had just sat up front.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I did think it was peculiar that I was standing up and sitting down so much, but it wasn’t until mid way through the service that I was told I was in the choir section.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I guess I’m part of the choir now.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Yesterday I biked across the island to the village of Faleloa where I had done my home stay and lived for two months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The purpose of my trip was to pick up my dog Amigo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I was picked up on the road about halfway there by my home stay father and was informed that my dog had not made it through my time off the island.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Poor Amigo had been run over my home stay father on Christmas Eve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>My home stay father told me that he had thrown the dog in the ocean for burial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>At least that is the story he gave me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Sometimes Tongans eat dogs here, especially puppies and my dog was getting pretty fat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>When I left my dog to go back to the capital I knew that there was a chance that I would not see her again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I was still pretty upset and wonder why they couldn’t have taken a little better care of my puppy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But, I guess this is Tonga.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Next blog update when I catch some fish.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Toki sio!</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Todd</p> <!--EndFragment-->Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15065778674514215524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846434769896768674.post-10516168056796613132009-12-08T10:59:00.001+13:002009-12-08T11:01:08.878+13:00Pictures!Hey Everyone,<div><br /></div><div>I finally got my computer and some reliable internet and have spent the past few hours uploading some pictures. You can check them out at my photo site here:</div><div><br /></div><div>http://picasaweb.google.com/Todd828/PeaceCorpsTraining#</div>Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15065778674514215524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846434769896768674.post-46385976293532833922009-11-24T10:47:00.000+13:002009-11-24T10:50:17.929+13:00I wrote the following letter to my friend Andrew and after re-reading it I decided that I might as well share it with everyone. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!<br /><br />Things are going pretty well over here. Training has been intense. Since I have been here I have had more than four hours of language training everyday and the trainers have kept us busy with culture seminars and policy meetings six days a week. We are all happy that there is only about ten days of training left. This week I have been teaching in the classroom and have been feeling out the Tongan students. They only seem to memorize information and spit it out here. Few Tongans can actually use or explain what they are learning and creativity is minimal, but I guess that is what I'm here to work on. The country is amazing overall. You should check out the island I'm on on google maps. I'll be living on the island of Lifuka on Ha'apai. I'll never bee more than a quarter mile away from a beautiful beach and the island is protected by beautiful coral reef filled with fish of all colors swimming around. When I'm not studying the language or preparing my lesson plans I can go out to the beach and just relax or go snorkeling. The culture is pretty sweet here. People work with their families in the uta -Tongan farms that are usually just a short ride from their homes.. They grow crops that are easy to care for and food is plentiful. A big part of the culture here is feasting and usually involves many pigs roasted on open fires. They also make a ton of other delicious food here. It is the end of the school year here and I have already been invited to four feasts this week. Yesterday I was just sitting on the beach looking out at a sunset over a beautiful blue ocean with a silver reflection and I had a moment of realization. I realized that when many people are stressed out or in trouble they think of their happy place, an imaginary place that is calm and serene, like a beautiful beach in the middle of nowhere. Well, that is exactly where I am and will be living and working for the next two years. Things couldn't be much better. <br /><br />Happy Thanksgiving!!!<br /><br />ToddToddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15065778674514215524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846434769896768674.post-78408767884156567062009-11-20T10:06:00.003+13:002009-11-20T11:07:18.687+13:00Finally an updateHey Everyone,<br /><br />Sorry for the delay on updates. Training has been pretty intense lately and I have not been able to find the time to find a ride into town to use the internet. This will all change though around Christmas when I move to site. Right now I am typing on a computer at Ha'apai High School, the school I will be working in for the next two years. There is a good size computer lab here with about seven computers and a 56k connection. My house is about fifty feet away and there might even have wireless. It may not sound ideal to you from America, but over here it is amazing. It is funny what begins to amaze you when you are on a small island in the middle of the Pacific.<br /><br />In other news, this week was my first week of teaching. It is the end of the school year here in Tonga and all of the students have already taken their final exams but there is still class. It looks like the only students attending are the students assigned to our classes. I started teaching yesterday and it was a whole lot different than I expected. Most of my activities required pens and paper. Not to much to expect as a teacher, right? Well, as I started my first activity, which was a writing activity, my students told me that they did not have any pens or paper. Half of my lesson plan was suddenly out the window. I jumped to the end of my lesson and looked at my future lesson plans for ideas. The rest of the class went smoothly. I got them to tell me a little bit about themselves and I taught them how to make a brain storming diagram. As I ended the class I told them all to bring pens and paper for today. Today I actually got them to make a brain storm diagram, write a story from it and identify the parts of speech in their stories. I was impressed with kids. They know a lot and work hard. I'm thinking that teaching here will be a great experience.<br /><br />I will be teaching all next week here at Ha'apai so that means blog updates!!! Maybe even pictures.Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15065778674514215524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846434769896768674.post-83505306450475261742009-10-24T12:23:00.002+13:002009-10-24T13:03:09.100+13:00Site placement!Ahhhhh the internet, how I've missed you. Today is Saturday in Tonga which means it is my only chance to hitch hike into Pangai, the big town in Ha'apai and try to use the painfully slow internet. Since the last time I've been here I found out that the Phillies are going to the World Series again!! So awesome! As well as where I will be working for the next two years. <br /><br />This morning I found out that I will be working as an economics and accounting teacher at Ha'apai high school here in Pangai. It is a new school and gets the best students in Ha'apai. Three of my homestay siblings go to school there and from looking at their work and watching them study I can tell that I will have motivated and intelligent students. Outside of academics I should be able to start a secondary project as an after school teacher or possibly a sports coach.<br /><br />One of the current volunteers, Grant has been telling me all about my housing and what there is to do in Ha'apai. I will be living on the schools campus in teacher housing. My house sounds pretty big with a good size living room, a large bed room and a complete kitchen. The most exciting part is that I'll have running hot water!!!! Which is a real luxury in Tonga and means I will smell a lot nicer here. In my spare time I will be able to take advantage of everything Ha'apai has to offer. Grant will be teaching me and the other volunteers staying in Ha'apai how to make spear fishing rigs and how to use them. I'll also be able to snorkel on the many coral reefs and scuba dive once I become certified. The other great aspect of my post is that I will be in the biggest town on my island. This means I will be close to the only restaurant on the entire island and close to the seven other volunteers placed here in Ha'apai. I can't wait! If you have a chance, send me an email at todd828@gmail.com. I am very out of touch with the news and America and would love to hear about what everyone is up to when I check my internet next week.<br /><br />ToddToddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15065778674514215524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846434769896768674.post-34767072636888921872009-10-17T10:49:00.002+13:002009-10-17T11:08:22.233+13:00Homestay FamilyThe Peace Corps must have know that I was an only child when they placed me with a homestay with thirteen children. I met my homestay family just a few short days ago but already we are getting along very well. I have two homestay parents, Isiah and Honey and ten of their thirteen children still live in their house. Their ages range from three to twenty-two. Even with all of the other children around the house Honey and Isiah still treat me like their own child and prepare breakfast lunch and dinner for me. I have heard some horror stories from other volunteers about what there families have served. Some have told about fried butter sandwiches three times a day and others have been surviving off of speghetti sandwiches. My family has been serving me all kinds of delicacies and I've already had lobster tail four times. And who said the Peace Corps was so tough?<br /><br />The last few days I have been a little sick here with a mild chest cold. I ended up missing one event, a beach clean up led by Aussies. The event was attended by over 3000 Tongans and was a big success cleaning up the trash here, which seems to be left everywhere or burnt. My homestay family attended the event. When my homestay mother saw me at home after the even she told me that she had been looking for me at the event and that we she heard that I was home sick she said that she felt sick too because of me.<br /><br />The internet here is very slow and is a 30 min car ride away from my house but I'll try to post again soon. Photos will be coming when I have faster internet. Hope all is well with everyone reading this and in America!Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15065778674514215524noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846434769896768674.post-77263110546321313642009-10-12T08:37:00.002+13:002009-10-12T08:55:08.232+13:003rd attemptThis is my third attempt at making a blog post. The internet here is as slow as island life. I have already typed up two blog posts that were deleted when I went to post them. But anyway...<br /><br />Tonga thus far has been pretty amazing. Tongan's are friendly and go out of their way to make us happy and most importantly, extremely full. Every meal here seems to be a feast. Yesterday was Sunday and we had our first church experience. It was tough to follow since it was all in Tongan but I read the first 22 chapters of Genesis to keep myself busy. After church we had a feast that put American Thanksgiving to shame. Complete with a full roasted pig over an open fire -which I helped turn, multiple fish dishes, yams, other Tongan specialties and ice cream. Sundays are pretty amazing here. You are only allowed to do three things; go to church, feast and sleep. I did all there.<br /><br />During the week most of our time has been spent training. We have been introduced to most of the Tongan staff, who number about twenty and have gone over a ton of Peace Corps policies. In traditional Tongan fashion, our training is broken up by lost of eating. An hour or so before and after lunch we have "tea time" which includes a table that is completely covered with all sorts of baked goods and fresh fruit. It is amazing, but I hope I don't leave Tongan double the size I came in.<br /><br />In a few hours we will be leaving the capital island of Tongatapu to head to Ha'apai for the next eight weeks or so. In Ha'apai we will all do a home stay with local families and begin intensive language training. Ha'apai is one of the more remote islands in Tonga. There is only one internet cafe and one working computer at the Peace Corps office. This will probably be my last post for the next two months or so but if I have a chance I will certainly post again. I hope this post actually works!Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15065778674514215524noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846434769896768674.post-56913545057562130652009-10-07T02:11:00.002+13:002009-10-07T02:20:05.554+13:00It's OfficialI guess this is all really going to happen now. Last night I signed all of my official Peace Corps papers and was given my first travel allowance. Today will be filled with meetings and ice breaks from about 10 am until when we get on the airplane tonight at 11 pm. The next three months of training should be busy and challenging, but I think we're all ready for it. My group is composed of a bunch of really interesting people representing almost every state in the country, and even another Eagles fan. Just a short update for now. The next update will be when I'm in Tonga!!!! and have some pictures.Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15065778674514215524noreply@blogger.com0