Random Tonga, Part 2

Some random adventures:

-After eating nothing but bread and onions for a month, Ryan and I decided to splurge and buy a kilogram of minced meat. We decided to make hamburgers one night to try to get a little protein in our diet. After an epic fail, we ended up with what Ryan kept calling "a Maid Rite Sandwich." I have no idea what in the hell this is... it must be some ridiculous Iowa thing. I was a little bummed our hamburgers didn't come out as patties, but beef on a bun is still beef on a bun. After about 30 minutes, Ryan and I realized we ate an entire 1/2 KG of meat (a.k.a. 1.1 lbs). This was supposed to be two meals, but we figured, hey we hadn't eaten meat in a month. 30 minutes after that we were laying on the floor groaning in pain. We were surprised to feel so full and sick after only eating a 1/2 lbs. of meat between the two of us. After looking it up, we realized 1/2 KG =  1.1 lbs. So, we each actually about a 1/2  lbs. of meat each. While I groaned in agony over my system's rejection of the meat, Ryan kept repeating: "overdosing on beef, I feel like an American again!"

-Having NOTHING to do with the aforementioned beef overdose, we have also been getting back into shape. On our first morning of running, we woke up at 6:00 am, laced on our running shoes and went out the door. After a couple of overly-strenuous minutes, we began to hear the pitter-patter of four paws behind us. Before we knew it, it became a whole-family workout with Lucky keeping pace with us the entire course. Of course, fatty found a shortcut so he was waiting to be fed by the time we made it home!  

-Abby having to go the bathroom when she screams out because a lizard has somehow gotten himself stuck in our toilet and unable to get out. After several erroneous attempts to flush the little guy with our buckets and several shouted curses about his unnatural buoyancy, she brings in the big guns (Ryan) to hold his head under water with a toilet brush until that tail stops moving. At the last second, she stops cheering for his ultimate demise, runs and gets one of our measuring cups and yells: "don't kill him, save him with this" to which Ryan looks at her with disgust. Unfortunately the deed is already done and after a couple of more buckets, he is finally flushed. 

-Sitting on our porch, drinking lemonade, watching the ocean on a lovely Saturday afternoon. A man comes out of the kava hall, clearly kava drunk. It's not so much that we hear him taking the #2, its that after he is done he comes over to the fence to ask Abby for some toilet paper or newspaper or something. I feel like that is a great sentence to finish the line: "you know you're in Tonga when..."

Note: Cheap ass Abby gave him the newspaper and saved the precious toilet paper for us. He didn't seem to mind.

-Abby making delicious banana bread for the family that graciously gave us the bundle of bananas (as pictured in last week's blog). When Ryan went up to the front stoop of their house to deliver said bread, he chatted with our sixth grade student Ane about her day at school. So used to having Lucky at his side, he reached down and pat his head a couple of times, only to realize it was a pig instead. The look on Ane's face, as she ran away with the bread in hand, was something we won't soon forget.

Just Another Saturday in Paradise

Ryan and I are happily settling into our "normal" routine here in our village. We have been really proud of how well our students are doing in the classroom and really enjoy the people in our village. Last weekend Ryan told me I was bothering him so I invited some of our students over to the house to play with me. If you ever have a moment where you think you are kind of pathetic... just think of me. I went to ask kids parents if they could come over to work on some English with me. I made two boys play Uno with me and I had two girls help me make cupcakes. Yep, 30 years old and I bribe children to play with me.

It honestly ended up being a pretty fun Saturday. The boys told me playing Uno was "tika taha." Best English translation ever: the bomb. So, we started a scorecard to chronicle our epic Uno battle. It was so fun to play with them! They cheat, but hey, that means I can too. It adds a very unknown element to the game. You never know what is going to happen!

I was really excited to have two of my students, Ane and Melenaite, over to bake. They found a kids cookbook in the library, read it about 10 times, and finally got the courage to ask me if they could ever come to my house to make something. When they came over Saturday, I could tell they had worked together to read the cupcake recipie over and over. I helped them find all the ingredients and they were off and running. I literally just stood back and watched them handle it. It  was so fun. They were so proud of themselves and we had such a good time.

P.S.- Notice's Ryan's crazy dog photo-bombing Ite and Ane's picture. 

 

      

Ite's brother also came over to see what was going on and ended up helping Ryan in the yard. Ryan chose 4 hours of clearing the jungle that was our lawn over playing with me. Ahhh... love. When I walked outside our house I literally gasped. Our yard looked naked! No more huge overgrown trees, tangled jungle vines, or creepy ass spider webs. I could actually see fence and lawn and the massive decorative rock that came with the house! The yard looks awesome... the rock does not. 

One of our students, Laea, loves Ryan and stopped by to show him his new bike. Despite its "used" condition or the fact he shares it with his five brothers, he was SO EXCITED about it. He had Ryan help show him how to put the chain back on when it fell off and also asked Ryan to fix the brakes. When Ryan told him the brakes were cut and didn't work, Laea just shrugged and told him he didn't really need them anyway.

        

He was born to pose with that thing!

While the girls were baking they asked if they could make some lemonade for Ryan because he was working so hard. They showed me how to make homemade fresh lemonade with a lemon they got from the uta. It was the most delicious and refreshing thing ever.  Ryan and I later made the same version with a little "adult spirits" added. After two lemonade cocktails, Ryan and I stumbled out of our lawn chairs. Turns out we no longer have any sort of alcohol tolerance. All in all, a pretty nice Saturday.

A Day in the Life

Hey everyone, we are doing well down here. Its hot as ever, but school is keeping us busy. Our trip to Fiji is five weeks away and we can't stop daydreaming about fast food, movies and beaches...we can't wait! For this week, we thought we'd give you all a little tour of a day in the life at our local village school. Hope you enjoy!

The teacher's start the day at their house, choosing from their many options for breakfast. Let's see, I think today we will go with bananas...

(These were given to us on Tongan Father's Day by the men who work in the bush. This is such a generous gift as this bunch could easily feed a large family breakfast and lunch for a week.)

Like all schools, ours begins with the bell...yep...

 

The morning assembly begins, where students say their prayers, sing the national anthem and march. 

Recess happens in the morning. While we may not have a jungle gym, we do have one big ass mango tree that provides all the excitement one might need!

Recess usually consists of the girls huddled around Abby, and the boys engaged in an all out brawl...

 

...Unless, the New Zealand Ministry of Science has recently donated magnifying glasses to your school, in which recess consists of trying to burn paper with said magnifying glass...

A trip to the drinking fountain, which consists of a sima vai donated by the people of Japan and a coconut shell donated by the people of Tonga, before class begins.

Teaching Class 3/4 is up first. As opposed to their usual desk work, English class will be Montessori-inspired centers activities. Take special notice of the magnetic letters from Lakeshore Learning, they were purchased at a momentous occasion, Cassie Louise Kloberdanz's first (and definitely ONLY) trip to Lakeshore Learning in Lakewood. It's a jungle in there, huh Cass?!? :-)

     

      

     

Class ends with a read-aloud. This book is about farm animals. What you can't see, dear reader, is Ryan adding the sound effects to each animal. Our kids have been saying 'oink, oink, oink' for days! So helpful.

 

Lunch consists of, wait for it, yep, more bananas. You probably don't need a picture of that.

Lunch is followed by brushing our teeth. While most schools in Vava'u do weekly teeth brushing, we are proud that our students brush their teeth every single day after lunch. It's always quite a spectacle.

In the afternoon Abby teaches the big class while Ryan pulls out his boys for work in the library. Given the sounds I hear, the crazy activities they do and the laughing that comes out of the library, I'm happy to see a picture of the boys actually getting to work...

 

School ends...except for our 6th graders who will take their High School entrance exam in October. So for them they go home, take a bucket bath, eat dinner and come back for 'po ako' (night school) to get ready for the test.

 

And finally, what would the Instructions Unit be without a little Cha Cha Slide to end the night.

 

Now that's what I call Dancing in the Dark!
(Dear reader, did I want to add in this stupid, cheesy joke? No. But Ryan insisted that it get included for Kapolas)

Well that's it from here. All in all, it was a good, normal, 11 hour day working at school. It would not be possible without our amazing kids or all of the support we get from you in America. 

Ryan's Note:

Given that my crazy wife forces me to work 11 hours per day at school, I present to you payback in the form of my wife trying to teach our 3/4 kids how to pronounce the 'at' sound. Enjoy!

    

 

         

   

 

Election Day 2013

It's been a busy week around here. Now that we are safely in Tongan Winter, Mother Nature naturally decided to deliver us the most stifling heat we've experienced to Vava'u thus far. It's been brutal. Without a breeze our library becomes an oven that brings out the most wonderfully curious smells. Same goes for our house, where our beloved dog Lucky continues to park his smelly self wherever he damn well pleases, regardless of the "rules". While Ms. Lilly is certainly the neediest dog North of the Equator, Lucky definitely claims that title for those dogs South of it. Here's hoping the breeze comes back soon!

School has been going great. Earlier in the year Abby received a wonderful present from her sister Emily. It was a 'Wreck this Journal', which is a journal that has hundreds of pages, each with an instruction to do one crazy thing. Its contents demand you rub dirt on one page, collect bugs on another, etc. For someone who pretty much lives to journal, Abby has had a ridiculously fun time doing hers. So it was our idea to make 'Wreck it Journals' for our students. For students who have spent their entire life being educated by copying lines into a notebook, they could NOT believe they were being asked to rub dirt on pages, poke holes through pages and draw silly pictures. It was a great time. Of course, I was all prepped to take pictures to share with you, dear reader, but Crazy McTeacherson told me to put down the camera and get back to work. Life is not easy when lived under a dictator.

Our last bit of excitement was the Elections held in Tu'anuku. That's right, even here in a Constitutional Monarchy we elect town officers and district officers. The town officer liaises with the government, while the district officers comprise the lower level of Parliament in Nuku'alofa. We will elect the higher level of Parliament next year, but only members of Tonga's 33 noble families are allowed to run for that house. But don't fret too much, the Parliament has no power of taxation and only recommends laws, so the King and the Royal Family are still running the show down here!

Our election day did not consist of debates, CNN or yard signs. It was pretty much one large kava circle with our principal, Tevita, serving as the election official. They came, they voted, they drank kava while the women sat out on the stoop and gossiped. When I brought cold lemonade over for everyone in the heat, there was serious consideration for making me the town officer. Tevita kept yelling, 'its okay, its okay he is already the principal of our school'. Instead of that honor, Abby and I were invited to eat a 'light lunch' with the polling officials. Since this only consisted of us plus two other people, our normal feast tricks did not work as our plates were too visible. This ended in us pretty much eating our body weight in food. I have seriously never seen Abby look so sick at a meal. But, we held our own and really enjoyed the lunchtime conversation. At one point Lucky decided to come in and try to sit next to us at the table. Big Tongan no-no. Tevita kindly told us we could eat him if he was being 'fakahela' (tiresome). Abby and I nervously laughed at this... while Tevita was confused that we thought it was funny. They definitely do eat dogs here in the Kingdom. But since Lucky is now known as the  'Peace Corps’ dog, he will live to scratch fleas another day. So in summary, kava, feasts and fakamalos (thank-you speeches) all held at Church for Election Day 2013, or in other words the same celebration as every other in Tonga.

That's it from us in the South Pacific, be well and we'll catch you on the flip side.    

Inactive Shots from an Active Week

Its been pretty busy around these parts lately. We went from tropical storms to blazing heat, but the mornings and evenings are starting to become very mild and very enjoyable here.  We have been dragging our mat to sit in the back yard and watch the sun go down just to enjoy the amazing weather. This is a nice change for sure! Here's hoping you over there in Amelika start to get a little bit more sunshine and warmth in your life!

Things at work and in life are good. Half the time we feel content, happy and proud to be working in Tu'anuku. The other half we spend crying over the lack of turkey sandwiches, ice cream shops and Starbucks in our life. Its a delicate balance to say the least.

Ryan had a great experience working with the Tongan government and the Red Cross on Disaster Management Training. He was able to help Vava'u plan for disasters at the highest level of government (the Governor's Office) and the smallest level of government by working with individual village leaders. He was also asked by the Governor's Office to submit some DM proposals on their behalf to His Majesty's Government, which was exciting. Putting that MPA to use! Disaster Management has really emerged as a passion for Ryan and he hopes to continue making it cornerstone of his service with Peace Corps.

We leave for Fiji in less than two months and could not be more excited. Its been eight months said we've had a vacation and it will be nice to leave Tonga, if only for a week.

Last Sunday began faka'me in the Weslyan church. This is a month long celebration of the family unit. It started with a celebration of the children. We were so happy to be able to go to the celebration because many of our students were part of the services. The kids presented the Bible readings and lessons in the form of skits. It was really cool to see them do their thing and they were really happy we came. After the 4:00 church service, we attended a tea hosted by the congregation. It was really amazing. It was a cool night, and the hot tea, cakes, jelly sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, and cookies were incredible. Somehow I ended up leaving the event with pink frosting streaked all the way down my white puletaha. Weirdly enough, Ryan's white shirt emerged intact. Loser.

We returned from the wonderful event to a house that literally smelled like it was rotting. We figured our luck with the rat poison had run out and one had died in the roof. After having the door shut for a few hours, we were unable to breathe because of the awful stink in the house. Unsure of what to do as crawling into the creepy depths of our roof was NOT an option, I decided the only way to handle this situation was with the "sniff test." We stood on chairs and walked all around our house to see if we could find the source of the permeating smell. We finally narrowed it down to the area behind the fridge, but, seeing as how that wall was a single piece of drywall, we were confused. Ryan had the idea to move the fridge and dig around in the back of it. Bingo. He found the dead, rotting carcass of Rat #4. After bludgeoning Rat #3 on Monday night and having to dig Rat #4 covered in flies and maggots out of the fridge, I will no longer ever accuse my husband of being "girly." He has earned the full title of manly. :)

Not much else is new. Classes are going really well. We have our kids working in differentiated learning centers to try to help them have more autonomy in the classroom and build collaborative communication skills. This has been going really well. It is cool to see them interact with English in lots of different ways. We just benchmarked our class 5/6 kids and almost all of them have grown a full reading level! Exciting stuff. I also had all of the kids come to our home this weekend to participate in an English interview with me. These also went really well. Our students are really starting to try to use their English language outside the classroom to talk and engage with us. No words can describe how cool and awesome it is to do this work everyday.

My 16 year old friend Mele came to our house on Saturday to bake muffins with me. Somehow, she turned out with a pan of beautiful muffins made with fresh oranges that are plentiful in our village this time of year. Mine were small and a bit burnt. Mele thought that was funny :)  Ryan did not.

We had a nice visit with our Peace Corps Safety and Security Officer. She came to conduct a routine check of our standing in our village to make sure we were doing okay. It was fun to chat and hear word from the main island. She told us that ten new volunteers have accepted their invitations to serve in the next group of volunteers here in Tonga. We are excited to have 15 new PCVs join us in the field this September.

That's about it here. We wish we had some  cool pictures to share, but since we didn't think you wanted to see our dead rotting rat, we don't have much new to show you. But here are some "action shots" from life in the fast lane:

Ryan has let Lucky breach the perimeter. Ryan often smells as bad as the dog. Man, am I one lucky girl or what?

We found this bug in our house one night, It was truly the biggest bug I have ever seen. The picture does not it justice. No one has yet been able to tell us what this evil, mutant moth is and no one will, because I made Ryan kill it.

Our class 5/6 kids finished their American pen pal letters this week. I was so excited to see them taking risks and straying from just copying the template. This was one of my favorite in the"strong voice category." Or, maybe one for the "most inappropriate pen pal closing" category. 

     

Finally, Ryan and I started a night class with our class 6 kids. Getting Ryan to stay at school until 6:30 one night was feat enough. After a crazed night of trying to teach the kids how to make paper airplanes and having them test fly them, Ryan may never come back. Who doesn't love mobs of kids screaming and throwing airplanes?