Happy Thanksgiving

Holy crap, have we really missed two Thanksgivings in America? Happy Turkey Day to all of you. We hope you are enjoying that good American food for us. J We miss it sooo much!

What did we do for Thanksgiving? Well, let’s see.

We went to school to lead singing practice for the kids’ end of the year program. By we, I mean me. The kids are singing five Christmas songs in English and a rendition of “Goodbye to You” (not sure if that is the real title or not) from The Sound of Music. It is so fun to watch them work so hard at singing the English songs. Every night, gaggles of kids sit on our fence with us practicing memorizing the words. They are so nervous and excited to have their parents see them sing in English. We are really looking forward to the performance next Wednesday.

Afterwards the kids do a Tongan version of double dutch with Tongan songs and old jump ropes tied together. Then we had contests to see who could set the high mark for jumps in a row. Afterwards the winner, our favorite kid Laea, challenged Ryan to get up there. I was delighted (and very, very surprised) to watch my husband, barefoot and wearing his skirt, smash the kids’ record all the while singing his own double dutch anthem…My bologna has a first name, its O-S-C-A-R…Another proud moment for me. Ryan later revealed his beloved swim coach Wags used to make him do jump rope until his calves bled (his words, not mine) before he even got in the water, revealing the secret to his one coordinated athletic endeavor.

Some of our favorite girls intensely studying for the big XMas sing-off.

For our big Thanksgiving dinner, we ate with our principal Tevita and the other teachers. They whipped up a delicious lunch of otai (juice.) This juice was fresh crushed pineapples—harvested that morning from our patch, sugar, and the pièce de résistance cold water. Our mouths were watering as we couldn’t wait to dig in. But before we could drink they told us to wait,  it wasn’t finished and they needed to add the secret ingredient—crushed soda crackers. Yep. Crush those things right up and then it’s a meal! With a bit less enthusiasm we still asked for a drink, but they couldn’t find cups, so Tevita had the kids go scavenge for old soda bottles, then cut the top off and used the bottoms for cups instead. I tried not to think about where the kids found these bottles as we ate. Honestly, it was pretty good even though it was weird as hell.

After some more singing, we returned home to prep our own Thanksgiving feast. I made steak, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie muffins.  I am jealous of any of you who got to just open a can to make your pumpkin pie J I ran out of butter, so I asked Ry to run to our village store to get more. He returned laughing. The guy working the store told Ryan he thought he had some butter. He ran into the house and brought this out:

Yep, that is the butter straight from his own fridge since the store was out. Thanksgiving spirit is always alive and well in Tonga J While I slaved in the boiling hot kitchen, Ryan relaxed outside with Lucky. He gave the dog a very strange haircut. (He thinks it looks awesome, I think it looks like the dog gnawed off huge chunks of fur.) The food was such a treat, even if we had to eat it dripping in sweat J

A Tongan pumpkin, that's right, everything from scratch out here!

We planned to go in and eat dinner with all the other PCV’s, but we had already committed to helping the people at the Wesleyan Church prepare for a huge fundraiser.  But we had a great holiday in the village. We talked about how thankful we are for all of you…. our wonderful friends and family. Your love and support has gotten us through some pretty low days here in ‘ol Tonga. Thank you all for everything you have done to help us! Love you all. Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Homemade pumpkin pie muffin, in all its glory!

The kids collecting flowers for the big fundraiser.

The worst sweet tooth in the world strikes again...

End of year BBQ!

Our principal has been feeling a little under the weather lately. So, he needed to stay home from school for a few days. After the first day of wild chaos, the other two teachers decided to have a “kai tunu” (picnic/BBQ) at school to occupy the kids.  It was a WONDERFUL idea.

Here are some pics:

Step 1: Chop up 20 kilos of frozen chicken, put in big ‘ole pot.

Step 2: Who wants hot dogs?

Step 3: Put pot on top of large fire built under the mango tree. Fire hazard? Probably.

Step 4: Have a kick butt dance party in a classroom while the food cooks.

Step 5: Put the food into small individual tinfoil packets.

Step 6: Wait patiently for everyone to get food and…..

Step 7: Dig in!!!

This is the other married couple we teach with. They are both so creative and work hard to give the kids different experiences. The whole day was so well organized….. they made cooking and feeding 50 screaming children look effortless J

Full Circle

The other night, Ryan and I were sitting on our back porch enjoying the cool late afternoon breeze. As we sipped our vodka-crystal light cocktails, we had a moment where we realized we had come full circle in so many ways. 

How, you ask. Let me explain.

1. It is getting hot again. Like you can't wear underwear more than one day anymore hot. We forgot how miserable the summer here is. 

2. The crystal light vodka cocktail hour is back. Believe the hype!

3. We recently had the opportunity to go to the next village over and help them welcome their new Peace Corps Volunteer, Haeyoon. This was originally supposed to be Ryan's work site before he was asked to work with me here in our village. Needless to say, this community was very hurt and disappointed to not have a volunteer the past year as planned. Though they were understanding, it still was hard for all of us. Going to Haeyoon's welcome feast was a wonderful opportunity for us to have some closure with that community. Ryan gave a wonderful speech (we all know how much he loves his speeches) on our behalf letting them know how happy we are they have their new volunteer. At the end of the day, we felt reconnected with this community. 

4. We just finished our school's end of the year faiva. One year ago today, we went to this same event. It was all so new to us. We didn't know any of the kids, parents, or teachers. We felt so awkward and uncomfortable. We ended up observing most of the day. This year was so different. We got to watch the students we love dance with such passion. After hours of practice, I was able to actually memorize the faiva song so I could sing along this year and be a part of the performance. Ryan assumed his spot with the principals and ministers drinking kava from the main tent. Parents we have worked closely with were excited to have us take their family pictures. It was an awesome day to celebrate with the people we are the closest with here in our village. 

5. Best of all, it has rained lately. Our water tank went dry last week and the pipe water in our village, which is always scarce, was not turned on. Let's just stay it was a stinky week with no laundry, no bucket baths and minimal dishes. Our town officer made sure we had access to a water source in the community but with almost every other tank going dry, we were very conservative. After the rain we washed the fish smell off our bodies and are beginning the assault on our clothes. It is likely that nothing can be done about Lucky's smell, as the pig poop he takes refuge in on a daily basis is simply unstoppable.

The weirdest thing about this time of year is how far removed from our friends and family in America. Its probably cliche to say we miss you guys and talk about you all the time, but its the absolute truth. We can't help but think what Thanksgiving, Christmas and the season would hold with all of you if we were in America. I am holding up pretty good, but when Ryan starts to cry (or pout) I remind him that Iowa is bowl eligible and that usually perks him up.

We have three weeks before school ends and one month left before we travel to New Zealand. The interim will be used for getting in shape (life on island time is NOT conducive to fast-paced traveling), meeting the other new PCVs on Vava'u and a few Hawkeye-themed surprises for our kids!

Here are some pictures from our Faiva:

 

The kids chillin' next to our pride and joy, the new bus!

The girls getting ready.

One of our favorites, 4th grade Taiana.

Our village's performance, which featured boys and girls side by side with parents and teachers in the back.

Abby getting in the action!

Ryan spent the event drinking kava with the principals. He is a little loopy...

Our neighbors and one of our favorite families.

Abby and Viola, one of the teachers at our school.

A Visitor From America

This week Ryan and I hosted a visitor from America. Janet came because she was a good friend of Tessa Horan. Tessa was the Peace Corps Volunteer who was killed 7 years ago by a shark. Janet is an artist and children's book author. So, she volunteered to come to our school and read one of her books to our students and do a fish painting activity with them. This was a really incredible experience for all of us at the school. Again, any time something new or different happens is a good day. The kids, true to form, were so timid and shy with Janet at first. They were hesitant to paint an actual fish and pretty much just seemed overwhelmed by all that was happening. But, after a few rounds of brave souls, we were off and running. Kids started to really get creative and enjoy painting and coloring fish. It was a high energy day. Tevita, our principal, and the teachers were so accomodating. They told us to structure the day however we felt and gave us free reign of the school. It was fun for Ryan and I to change things up and work with different groups of kids as well. 

Here are some pictures from our day together at school.

 

 

 

We hung the finished project in the library. One of the kids later told me the library is their favorite room :) 

Another activity we did was to hang a sign at the beach where Tessa's accident happened. We got a bunch of our kids together to help clean up the garbage on the beach and hang the sign. This was another huge success. Just another way to let their wacky personalities shine.

As I was trying to get the kids attention and focus their electric energy on me to hear the directions for the afternoon, I realized Lucky and Ryan with a camera posed too distracting for them. Typical.

The first hurdle of the afternoon was trying to figure out how to get rubber gloves on and plastic garbage bags from America open. All the kids brought both back to me moments after getting them telling me that they were "maumau" (broken). I died laughing and lead my first "How to Use a Rubber Glove and How to Open a Garbage Bag Session." My sessions were successful and we were good to go!

 

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Awhile back, Ryan and Laea started a private joke about being heroes. This has somehow spread, and so anytime our students do something new that scared them at first they come up to us and say "We are Heroes!" I LOVE that this is their new mantra. It makes tears spring to my eyes each time I hear it.

What would garbage pick-up be without ending the day swimming in the ocean?

All in all, it was great having Janet stay with us. It really made us realize how far we have come as volunteers. We planned and ran some activities all by ourselves.. and they went great. Our principal thanked us for all the activities and experiences we give to our students and said he thought we did good planning this week. It was cool to see how our community thinks of us because on the sly they would ask us if the palangi was okay and if we needed any help with her. It made me smile to think, "Wow, we are actually on the inside if people are asking US if we need help hosting a palangi." Pretty cool. Thanks also to Ryan who was the behind the scenes guy. He ran more errands, talked with more village women to make plans, ate more Tongan food than I have ever seen, and ran the camera for two days straight. A hero indeed. Thanks honey.

Oh, and I think this picture might give Ryan and Lucky a run for their money: