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.
some magazines and books coming your way soon!
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