Nuku'alofa

Hey everyone. Ryan and I just finished up our training week in the capital city Nuku'alofa. Nuku'alofa is the only true city in Tonga and is located on the main island of Tongatapu. Given that the government, the monarchy and most of Tonga's people are in and around Nuku'alofa, it is a much different place than the rest of the country. It has paved roads and many shops. There are Western influences from New Zealand and Australia, as well Japanese, Chinese and Indian influence all around the city. Because of this, the Peace Corps does not place volunteers in Nuku'alofa. However, our HQ is in Nuku'alofa and it is the only official American institution in the city.

Below is the PC headquarters building. Inside the gates are staff offices, training facilities, a medical wing, apartments, a volunteer lounge and PC vehicles. The compound is heavily gated and has guards at the doors 24/7.

      .

This is the largest market in all of Tonga. It is a place to shop for clothes, vegetables, and tapas items. This is where Ryan buys all his pretty skirts :)

 

      

Here I am standing in the middle of the most developed strip in the city. It has stores and restaurants that we frequent when we visit. There are also a few bars. Look at me being all scandalous in the city. Showing leg and everything!

                                                                

 

Here is a side view of the royal family residence. Not too shabby!    

          

 

This is a large park down by the wharf. It is a popular place for Tongans to wait for buses back to the village and hang out. We often see families picnicking here. Cheesy Mcgee wanted a picture with one of the barges in the background. There is a Peace Corps monument in this park as well dedicated to all who come here to serve the Kingdom of Tonga. It is pretty cool.

 

      

 

Below, the wharf.

 

        

Ryan and I really want to get a cat to try to help rid our home of rodents. We have not yet found one yet that didn't scare the bejeezus out of us. This is the only cat we found that we like. He lives at Sela's guesthouse (where we always stay when we come to the main island.) We named him kovi (naughty) kitty because he was a little terror. He would often appear from out of nowhere and dive on people's heads then run off making scary noises. He would prowl the roof and jump out to scare you when you least expected it. But, after a week with Elmira, he turned into a big softie. If I thought he could handle being shoved in a bag inconspicuously during a hour and a half flight, he would come home to live with us. Dang... we both look a little devilish in this picture. A match made in heaven.

 

 

The hardest part of service (well, besides the vermin)...

Make no mistake, the toughest part of service here in Tonga is missing all of you in America. 2013 will feature the Weddings of two of our very best friends, Derrick & Krista and Ted & Jess (see guys, once you're married you get counted as one friend and not two). It will also feature the birth of our new nephew courtesy of the Pavelko's! Plus, there are two new boyfriends who we won't be able to grill...this means you Jeremy and Chad.

Please know that even when we miss forget to blog we are still thinking about all of you! And even though we won't be there for these exciting events, we definitely have the dates saved :)!

 

 

                                                                                                                               

Slow Days

Hey all! We got a few complaints for missing a week with a blog post. You asked for it, you got it. What is it they say... be careful what you wish for?

First and foremost, many of you have indicated you have graciously sent us packages and letters in the mail. There are truly no words to describe how much we appreciate this. The only tough part about it is the overwhelming amount of patience this process necessitates. Getting a parcel to Tonga from America takes about 4 weeks. However, getting a parcel from mainland Tonga to Vava'u requires another couple of weeks on top of that. Sometimes this moves faster or slower. In addition, our friends at the Tongan Postal Service have taken the last couple weeks off to "rest". So we promise if we get something from you we will let you know...but please be patient with the Tongan Postal Service, they are doing their best! :)

This week in Tonga is uike lotu (the week of prayer). Because of this, everyone's schedule is a bit different. It goes a little like this:

Wake up at 4:15 a.m. to the bells being rung on average from 100-200 times. Get up and have coffee and glare at the people on their way to morning prayer services. Refuse to join out of protest of the damn bells.  Spend the whole day wandering around, not seeing anyone because they are all cooking and resting for the evening festivities.  5:00p.m. is a two hour church service followed by a feast full of half-cooked pigs and mystery meat galore. Go home, take a nice long cold bucket bath and thank God for cold water. Sit on the back porch to wait for the stars to come out while the bugs to eat you alive. Bed. Yep...this was our week.

I have also taken to making tons of homemade loaves of bread. Why? I would say because our village falekaloa has not had any this week, but honestly is was just to see if I could. Oh yes, it is time to go back to school :)

 

It is cyclone season here, which means the days alternate between torrential rain and sweltering humidity. One particular evening I was facing a slew of serious problems: 1) It was very rainy and I was very bored; 2) Ryan was very smelly from the humidity but expressed little interest in bathing; 3) we desperately needed water buckets for the bathroom: and 4) I didn't want to put the buckets outside because they would get muddy. Then, in a stroke of brilliance I solved all my problems at once. Yep...I'm a genius!  

  

The only other happening this week is the mystery of the crabs. Let me explain. We have recently started to see many crabs in our yard. Maybe they were always there and have just recently been brought to light since we got our  grass cut with the "nylon." The nylon is the only working weedwacker in the village. In the middle of the night, when we timidly crawl from the safe confines of the mosquito net to use the bathroom, we have found crab carcasses in the bathroom. These are being attended to by a multitude of bugs. So gross. We throw the carcass, think "Yep, that was gross but at least it is taken care of." When we wake in the morning, new carcass, same place. This has happened for three nights in a row. Bugs? Mice? Birds? Lizards? Anyone out there with some suggestions?

We fly to the main island of Tongatapou this weekend for a Peace Corps in-service training. We are planning to take a bunch of pictures of the capital city. Some of you have asked what it looks like. Some of you have told us our blog has ceased to interest you, so you won't care what we put up anyway :) Hope you all had a great New Year!