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.)