A True Tongan Adventure

On Friday we received a package with a state of the art filet knife sent to us by my Dad (of course there were a bunch of snickers bars in this as well, which Ryan counted... then gave me my portion, then made a plan of when he would eat each of his.) This knife perfectly foreshadowed our adventure to come.

Ryan and I awoke Saturday morning, had a leisurely morning of coffee and chores, and then sat down to make a plan for the day. We decided to go see if we could find the path to the lake that is close to our village. We had enjoyed an amazing swim in this lake a few weeks prior when we came to stay with Nora (another PCV) for our attachment. We thought this would be a fun way to get some exercise and cool off. 

We started down a dirt path that looked well traveled through the uta. The uta is the bush here in Tonga. This is a combination of tropical jungle and wild farmland and is where the men clear paths and farm kava, vanilla beans, and root crops. Here is a picture of the Uta that surrounds our village.

 

                                                                                       

After walking for a long while down the path, we realized it did not in fact lead to the lake. Just as we turned around to head back home, some of the local boys from the village ran from the bush to join us. They told us they heard our voices and came to eva (walk) with us. They then asked if we wanted to go with them to the lake. Ryan and I grinned in pleasure. Success! Just what we wanted.

After a really cool walk through a what we thought was a beautiful dirt road in the uta (it was actually pure, matted down, cow poop), we arrived at the lake. This part of the lake was vastly different than what we had experienced before.  It was VERY dirty and not much for swimming. Disappointed, Ryan and I asked the boys if it was time to return. They looked at us and told us "Ikai... taimi eva i he ano!" (Time to eva on the lake)  Ryan and I looked at each other with worried expressions.... no way was I going in that water. A few seconds later, the boys had pulled out the roughest looking canoes I have ever seen out from under a tree. They looked at us and said..get in!  We looked at each other, shrugged, and thought.. why not? It looks like we were going to stay close to shore. Here is the lake... it is Tonga's largest freshwater lake. Sidenote: this "freshwater" lake is still pretty salty. But, here in Tonga, it is classified as freshwater.

                                                                                 

We got in the boats and the boys pushed off. Only then did we realize there were no oars. We asked the boys how we were going to paddle and they happily told us we would use our hands. Riiiight.  So away we go!  The boys had a little trouble steering the boat with our weight, so two jumped in to pull the boat. The bottom of the lake was like quicksand... I have never seen anything like it. The water was soon pitch black with the debris the boys kicked up from the bottom. Swimming was really wading through waist deep mud. I quickly abandoned my happy hopes of a cooling off dip.

After a period of 30 minutes we arrived at a fishnet that was strung out in the water. Ryan and I gleefully looked at each other... we were fishing! We had totally wanted to learn to do this, so we were happy for the opportunity. Having grown up with a father and uncle who are avid fishermen and hunters, I was confident I would be able to participate with the boys and show them I was up to the task. 20 minutes later, I was sitting in the boat, trying to keep my feet out of the filth that had accrued in the bottom, warily watching my husband bailing water from his boat and wondering what in God's name we were doing in the middle of the lake with some of the most resourceful 11 year olds I had ever seen. Needless to say, fishing in America is a bit different from fishing in Tonga.

Here is what fishing in Tonga looks like:

Jump out of boat to get fish caught in net. Laugh when the palangi screams in horror because the boat almost capsizes. When you find a fish in the net, to detangle you put the WHOLE HEAD OF THE FISH in your mouth. Yep, that's right.... clamp teeth behind gills and hold on tight. This leaves two hands free to manipulate and work the net. Once fish is free, toss it as hard as you can into the boat. Laugh again when the palangis scream because you accidentally hit them when they weren't looking. New lesson... always LOOK at the person throwing the fish. The person in the boat has the task of trying to bail out the incoming water from the boat, cleaning some of the really old looking fish right away, and stringing the other fish. This was Ryan and my job. One boy showed us how to clean the fish. Bite off head with teeth.... rip skin with teeth, take a quick bite if you are really hungry. Here is how Ryan and I managed our task:  duck when fish was thrown our way, let it flop in the bottom of the boat, put feet up on sides, continue to tell boys how amazing at fishing they are in hopes they will take you back to shore. Oh yeah, and keep bailing water.

After about an hour of this one boy pointed at us and told his friend..."Palangi kulokula taimi ni!" (The palangis are red now!) True statement. They quickly finished emptying the lines and told Ryan and I to paddle us back to shore.  We singlehandedly had to paddle our boats while the boys had a heated argument about who would take what fish.It started to rain heavily, and the amount of water our boats were taking on became rather alarming. The boys didn't seem to be bothered by this.  But, we made it safely to shore, and the boys proudly asked if we wanted a picture of them. The great thing is this will provide their families with Sunday lunch after Church. So...who wants to come visit and do some fishing?   

                                                                                       

First week in our village

Hey everyone, Ryan here. Happy Thanksgiving! Abby and I are definitely missing fall, turkey, football, cold beer, jeans, pie...believe me, the list could go on for days! Our first full week in our village has been great. Its nice to be able to go to work, chat with villagers and be comfortable in our space without the fanfare of a thousand feasts. Doubly great is the fact that villagers continue to funnel freshly-picked pineapple our way everyday, as we have never tasted fresher fruit in our lives!

This week we worked at Abby's school to setup her library, where she will teach. The PCV before Abby did a great job building shelves to make the space more usable, but did not have my wife's organizational skills (which is a bit unfair as Abby's organizational skills are only matched by those of Dr. OCD of West Des Moines, IA). We found the place in torrid condition-crawling with vermin and consisting  of thousands of donated books thrown on the floor. However, using Abby's extensive experience of building libraries and the copious child labor we had at our disposal :), we were able to create an incredibly clean, organized and functional space where Abby will teach from. Look for pictures next week.

Next week we will attend an end of the school year competition and feast with all schools in Vava'u's Western District, which includes both of our schools. After that, we will spend the week working in my school as they close out their school year. Then school will be over for the year as summer break, which is just in the nick of time, as the heat and sun are almost too much to bear.

Without much else happening, I will leave you with a list of our biggest successes and our biggest challenges thus far in our new community.

Challenges

-The down time. Being that it is the end of the school year, the sweltering summer months and the fact that Tongan work days are significantly more lax than in America, the days are long and hot. Its been great to read so much (I just finished "1776" by David McCullough, which was excellent), but we desperately miss reading magazines. If there was ever something we could use sent to us, it would be recent copies of Time, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, National Geographic, Mens Health, Men's Journal and for Abbs-women's health/fitness, fashion magazines, US Weekly and Better Homes & Gardens, etc. (Yup, that was my super subtle way of begging you all to send us magazines.) (Note: These are also a valuable resource in the classroom once we read them, so they will be helping our students too.)

-Getting to town. With the nearly unnavigable dirt roads and no public transportation system, it is hard to get to Vava'u's capital city of Neiafu which is an hour away from us. This is a big problem because Neiafu is the only place for us to shop for anything, including food. Its also the only place with an Internet connection for us to email, check news and upload our blog. However, given that the only high schools on the island are in Neiafu, we've found we can hitch rides with a makeshift bus that takes high school students to town from from our village. Because of this, we have decided that Friday will be our day in Neiafu from here on out, where we can drink good  coffee (read: non-instant), check the Internet, do our week's shopping and see Peace Corps friends. So look for any blog posts or emails from us to come to you in America on Thursdays from now on.

-The heat. Holy crap the heat is unreal!

-Our house. One thing to note is that the Peace Corps is incredibly generous with the settling-in allowance Volunteers receive to furnish their houses at site. Given the fact we got two of these, we were able to purchase expensive amenities like a mini-fridge, a small gas oven and a fan from Nuku'alofa and bring them with us on the barge to Vava'u. What's difficult about this is the fact that the vast majority of Tongan houses are simply one large room spread with tapas mats, where the family sleeps, cooks and lives. For most its a very meager, yet satisfying existence. Abby and I are very aware of this and have made sure to live as simply as possible since we got here. It has made us feel much better and we are saving our pa'anga for journeys to Ha'apai, Eua, New Zealand, Australia and Fiji!

Successes

-Water. While we have one small pipe connected to our house, we only get an average of 3-4 hours of running water a day. Sometimes more, usually less. Abby and I both thought this would be a huge challenge during our service. However, it has actually been a great triumph for us thus far. The cold bucket baths we take have been refreshing, the toilet flushes fine when you pour water down it and we have actually had a ton of fun learning how to reuse water, recycle water and be more efficient with water. Its been one of our greatest joys of living simply.  P.S.~For those of you keeping score at home, this means the dirty food water is definitely the same flushed water during late-night potty runs. Sure as hell beats walking out the front door in your undies to get fresh water!

-Abby's language. While I continue to putter at the low end of the pack, Abby was one of the few PCVs to score an Intermediate-Mid ranking on her language test. She has done a fantastic job interacting with the Tongans in their native tongue and teaching me how to "lea faka-Tonga". Most of her instruction reminds me of a fateful trip to Mexico when I was in high school and Dr. OCD realized that for all my Spanish classes at Valley, I could barely speak it! I was lectured then and I am lectured now.

-The down time. Yup, this one is a double edged sword. We have really pushed ourselves to enjoy the simple times, watch ships come through the inlet, read as much as possible and spend hours reflecting on life in Tonga and America. Its truly a test of wills for over-stimulated Gen Yers and we have survived it so far.

A few pictures...

Here is our wall of pictures from home. Take a look at it. If you are not on it, then it means we don't have a picture of you to share with our village. So please send us one! This means you Mark & Nanners / Wes & Lisa!

                                                                                                                  

 

Across from our house is a hall, where all the men who work in the bush (i.e. harvest root crops in the sweltering Tongan heat) are fed. They asked us to come over and enjoy a 2 o clock snack with them, which we were unable to do. So, they decided to pack us a "small" to-go bag for us to nibble on. Yup, feast your eyes on a "small" snack in Tonga:

                                                                                                  

 

Being that its Thanksgiving, we too made a special dinner to commemorate. Rice, beans and vegetables...a.k.a. the same dinner we eat every night.

                                                                                                 

But no worries, none of your fancy American appliances can compete with our garbage disposal...this wild guy, and the 20 of his close, personal friends who come to our backyard every night and makes sure no food goes to waste!

                                                                                                   

And finally, my silent Thanksgiving protest.

                                                                                                    

 

First Days in Vava'u

It is Ryan and my first Sunday in Vava'u.  We have lived in Vava'u for about 6 days now. Here is a little of what our first days in our new home have been like:
Wednesday:
Were woken up by a large schoolbus honking outside our front door. Looked at the clock and realized we were supposed to be out the door on the way to town for a very important meeting. Threw on clothes and grabbed what we could as we ran out the door. The town officer and an entire bus of children laughed at the palangis who were late their first day. A few of the adults on the bus asked us slyly if the bed was comfortable enough wink wink. Awesome.
Got to town and had a supervisors workshop all day with our new principals and the new heads of Peace Corps Tonga. It was a wonderful way to get to know our principals more and talk about our work in the schools. Rode the bus home.... the driver stopped to pick up a live piglet to roast in our honor for the feast the next day. Double awesome.  Returned home to eat more pineapple than any human should ever eat and crystal light for dinner. With no stove... you go with what you got. All in all, quite a first day in our new community.
Thursday: 
Woke up to church bells across the road being rung like all hell was breaking loose. Lucky for us, this only happens Monday-Thursday and Sunday. The bell tolls at 4:15a.m. and rings one hundred times. We officially win the world's worst alarm clock award. I dare you to try to beat that :) Fun Fact... this happens at 5:30 too!!  Tried to go back to sleep but had a hard time due to the noise of rats scurrying through the walls and ceiling. We shall battle another day rodents. Decided the heck with sleeping, got up, and tackled three weeks worth of laundry. Thought, this will be great, someone left a washing machine for us. Laundry will be done in no time. Lesson #1 of the week: nothing here is EVER easy. Let's just say a washing machine still requires hauling lots of water, hand rinsing, and garments can only be spun 3 at a time. So, three days later... laundry done.
                                                                    

On Thursday and Friday afternoon, Ryan and I went to feasts at each of our schools in the different villages. The Tongans celebrate every memorable occasion with a feast. This is how they show their appreciation of people in the village. It is also how they welcome people into their community. The feast begins with songs of welcome. These were sung by the students at our schools. It is so beautiful to see them do the movements and hear their melodious voices. The WHOLE student body participated in the welcome song. Pretty amazing to see.
 

The students at Ryan's school performing a song. His school has about 110 students in total. Quite a view!

The students, principal, and teacher at Abby's school. My school is much smaller... only 40 students in the whole school!

                                              
After the welcome song, Ryan and I were taken to a Kava circle. This is another Tongan tradition that has carried through many, many generations. During the Kava ceremony, Ryan and I sit in a circle with all the important men of the village. They take turns saying what they are thankful for. The men of the town said many kind words about Ryan and me. Previous volunteers just left our communities, and it was very plain to see what a positive effect they had based on the words of the village men. It is inspiring to follow in their footsteps.  When the men have finished, students perform the call and response that determines in what order the kava is drunk with Ryan drinking first and me second Fun fact #2: Kava tastes like dirty mop water bathed in wood. Its awful folks but its tradition, so we drink! Once everyone has drank, we leave the circle to feast. Tongan feast food is unlike anything I have ever seen. The food is made by women in the village. They prepare the food, put it on individual plates, cover it in saran wrap, and set it on the head table. The food sits like this for anywhere from 1-2 hours. It then sits in the  sun while flies attack. Once we sit down, the faifekau (pastor) gives a prayer (this is usually a 30 min soliloquy that involves screaming, crying and thanking everything but the dirt for existing.) The word amen signals GO TIME. You grab food and shovel it in as fast as you can. YOU NEVER STOP EATING. If you stop eating, you will be handed a whole pig leg. The feast ends when the food is gone. NOBODY can leave the table until that happens. Lesson #2 of the week: pick fruit and food in a container. Take small bites, puff out cheeks as you chew and the Tongans think you are eating a great deal. Slyly slide uneaten whole pig parts and whole fish to the person next to you and they will eat it without realizing that it is yours. And tada! The Tongans think you ate a lot... you avoided e coli and puking :)

Students preparing and serving the kava circle. The man in the background is the town officer of our village.

Feast time!!!  Eat till you drop baby! So sad that by the time we took this the whole pig that was on  the table has already been eaten. Another time :)

Students dancing the talounga.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

On Saturday, Ryan and I had the chance to go into town to get some food and supplies so we could cook for ourselves. On Sunday, we went to Catholic mass. This was by far the most amazing church service we have been to in Tonga! It is a very small congregation, but a WONDERFUL group of people. We will be very happy to worship with them every Sunday.  After church, Ryan and I came home to enjoy the first day with a working stove. we brewed some Starbucks coffee on a French Press and about died it tasted so good. We also had a box on Mac and Cheese we found and indulged in. Let's just say only idiots pay what we paid for this precious commodity.  I was having so much fun cooking, I decided to bake banana muffins and cookies from all the fruit we had been given to pass out to people in the community who helped us out this first week. Forgetting lesson #1, I thought this would be a fun way to pass a few hours. 4 hours and 4 batches of black as coal cookies later, I am sweating like a pig and swearing like a sailor. I have cursed the blasted oven and sworn to set it on fire. Lesson #3 of the week: in this situation, husbands should not say shit about his wife's burnt cookies. EVER.
Needless to say, my battle with the stove ended. Baking requires the perfect amount of flame, a silicone pan, and constant turning of the pan despite the many burns acquired during the process. But, I finally made a few batches of cookies and muffins that were edible and successfully handed them out to very happy neighbors. During our nightly eva pe (walk around town) we were stopped by many of the women in town thanking us for being so happy in their village. If only they saw the before.......

Success!  Muffins that don't look like hockey pucks... even though hockey pucks are a specialty of mine.
Shut up Ryan.

                                                                                 
On a daily basis, Ryan and I only have running water and electricity for a few hours in the afternoon. We thought this would be a huge adjustment and inconvenience, but it is not. I was just finishing typing this post when I looked over to see this:
                                                                   
Needless to say, I think I can close out this week by saying "Oku ma ongoi'i lata aupito 'i Tonga ni. (We feel very content in Tonga now.)

Moving To Our New Home

Well..... it has been less than a week since Ryan and I stepped foot off of the main island of Tonga to move to our new home on the island of Vava'u. Both Ryan and I have moved to many new homes in our lifetime, but we both agreed no move will ever match this one.
To get to our new island with all of our many belongings, Peace Corps had us take the barge. This was a 24 hour ride on a boat through the windy seas of the South Pacific. Super fun for the first few hours. We spread our mats on the floor, made a large comfy space with all our bags, ate snacks and played cards. We thought this was the coolest way to travel.  Four hours later most of us were huddled on the floor in what little clothing we had, desperately trying to stay warm as strong ocean winds whipped across the deck and quell our seasickness. At that point, the entire barge looked more akin to a ship carrying refugees and I am pretty sure I stayed huddled in this fetal position for the next 18 hours. On the upside, the stars were beautiful in the clear night sky and Ryan got to view several shooting starts from the top deck!
Here are some pictures from our lovely boat ride.
     
At last, we see land!!!! This was undoubtedly the coolest part of our trip...driving right next to beautiful exotic islands of Vava'u. We even saw the one where Survivor was supposed to be filmed. It is a long story about why it actually wasn't filmed there (I will bore you with this another time).
                                                                                      

Our amazing new principals Fine and Tevita came to pick us up at the wharf and take all our belongings to our new home. Fine's wife also brought us a pizza to share for dinner! When we got home, many people from the village came over to make sure everything was okay with our house. Water and electricity still weren't totally working, so many men jumped up to fix it. The women fed us an amazing feast... Ryan mostly ate pizza (shocker) while I did my best to put away a two person share of Tongan food. While we ate, all the Tongans brought all our stuff into the house for us. The PTA did an amazing job on our house. We feel so fortunate to have such a wonderful place to live. After a few days, we have settled in and made our home work for us. Let's begin the tour!
Here is our very first house we will live in as a married couple! Dream starter house.... I think so :)
 

  
 
           
    
   
 

Without running water, this is the source of all our H2O! Its one of the few tanks in the village, so our yard is quite popular!

 
 
Well, that is all for now. Ryan and I will spend the next few weeks getting acquainted with the people in our village and the people at our schools. Summer break begins on December 7, so after that we will be spending a lot of time preparing our lessons, running summer school, and helping with any other projects in our village that we can. We are very much looking forward to all of this! Toki sio (see you later)!

Swearing-in Ceremony

Well, it is official. Ryan and I are officially Peace Corps Volunteers! Our Swearing-in Ceremony was Friday. This was truly an amazing and humbling experience. We had the opportunity to be sworn in by the United States Ambassador to the South Pacific, and the Tongan Prime Minister. Our host families who have taken care of us and introduced us to life in Tonga also came to celebrate with us. Our host mom Tia came and adorned us with traditional flowers worn during ceremonies. 

Everyone in group 77 wore traditional Tongan dress as a sign of respect at the ceremony. Ryan looked amazing as he wore his wedding outfit...well, minus the pants. But don't worry.... his tupenu was present. I wore a puletaha and a special tapa kiekie. Tapa is very special to Tonga. It is a traditional cloth made out of ponded bark from the Tapa tree. I felt so honored to be given this treasured kiekie by Tia. 

Both Ryan and I participated in the ceremony. I read a verse of a Tongan hymn. Yep, in Tongan. Scary, but soo cool. Ryan was selected by our group to give the speech of thanks to all who had worked so hard to prepare us to be successful volunteers. Needless to say, he wowed the room. He was incredibly brave, and chose to deliver portions of his speech in Tongan. The families hugely appreciated this. After the ceremony, our new country director, his wife, and every person on our training staff offered Ryan a teary eyed thanks for his words. He truly captured the essence of what the Peace Corps is all about, and I think it touched people to hear Ryan promise, on behalf of our group, that we were here to serve the Tongan people. His humbling of himself in front of an entire group of powerful people made that promise seem less about the words, and more about the action behind them.

All in all, the ceremony was beautiful. It was such a poignant moment for all of Group 77. There are no words to describe what it felt like to take the oath of service with 13 other amazing individuals,  while the many wonderful people who have worked endless hours to bring us to this moment looked on. Ryan and I feel ready and excited to move to our new home and begin our work in the two Tongan communities we will be serving.

Thank you to all of our friends and family in America. Your many prayers, emails of encouragement, and that crap all you Iowa boys send have lifted Ryan and I up in moments that were hard. The Hawkeyes, sadly, have not. All your love and support helped us in ways you will probably never know. Thank you so much for your role in helping us make it through Pre-Service training. We could not have done it without each and every one of you.

We move to our new home in 4 days. We will post pictures of our house as soon as we can. I think we are as anxious as you to see what our new living quarters will look like. I spent some of our very dwindling funds on a buttload of rat poison and cockroach killer. I have no doubt this was more important than an industrial size jar of skippy peanut butter...I don't care what my husband says. (Hopefully he doesn't read this post too close because I am not sure he is totally aware that I made that switch. As far as he knows.. the super size jar is packed somewhere in our luggage.) Ahh... the joys of marriage in the Peace Corps :)


With our wonderful Language Trainer Alisi.

With our Training Manager Elenoa and our Language Manager Lose. Without these two no one in Group 77 would have ever made it through PST. The support and guidance they show on a daily basis is nothing short of amazing.

With our host mom Kaliotia, who is next to Ryan. As for the other lady, lets just say Tongans LOVE being in pictures and have no problem jumping into random ones when they see the flashbulbs!