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...