Hanging in There...

Well, time continues to march on for Ry and I. We are still a few weeks shy of the month mark, but time continues to fly.

The drought continues and many villages on the island are suffering. Ryan and I have been sought out by many people in our community this week to be told how to handle the water situation. We have been told by 10 different people that we should be filling every container we have with water when it is on. In the words of our town officer, “then you can flush the toilets and stuff even when water is off!” It is like they all were hanging out together and someone asked if the Peace Corps knew how to store water and bucket flush, they all decided no…we probably didn’t know that…so they all individually came to tell us the exact same thing. I think it is so funny.

The drought is on, which means bucket baths have turned into pitcher baths. Yes, it is every bit as pathetic as it sounds!

There was a really bad fire in our village bush this last Monday. Two village youth were messing around and lit the village’s kutu patch on fire. It quickly got out of control and turned into a blaze. The women are so angry as kutu was a special plant that only grows here because it requires fresh water from the lake to grow. Many women already had purchasers for their large floor mats, but now will be unable to finish them as the fire wiped everything out. Many men also lost their cows and horses as the fire got too big too fast to get them out. The town officer and leaders in the village had the police come to talk about the issues happening with the youth. The men put the fire out in about 8-10 hours. Luckily, no homes or people were affected. Unfortunately the fire reached its peak during our night school, diverting the kid’s attention and causing the class to go up in flames! (Oh my God I sound like my husband…time to get off this island!)

School is tiring right now as we have taken on extra classes to help get our kids ready for their high school entrance exam. We also have a slew of older kids coming over every night to get help with their homework as their finals are soon approaching.  Add this to the slew of women who have decided to camp out to lay claim to stuff they really want and sometimes our house reaches the level of chaos. But at least it makes the time pass quickly.

This week Ry and I will do our last church service with our family. Every Sunday, a different family is responsible for leading the church service. They read the Bible verses, the hymns, and do the sermon. Last year, Tuki asked us to pair with their family to participate and read.  True to form, Tuki has planned a special lunch for us after our last reading this week. We will go eat with her, Lolohea, Ane, the Pastor and his wife. She has come over many times to tell us what she is making. She said she is going to make us all the things she sees us eat the most of at feasts. So sweet. Ryan and I have prepared our good-bye speeches to say to them. We are really grateful to have this intimate setting to properly thank this group of people who embraced us as one of their own. Last week when we were hanging out, Tuki told us the story of how her and Lolohea first met and how they ended up getting married. Ane was so embarrassed and kept begging Tuki to stop telling the story. Ry and I were laughing so hard I couldn’t see through all the tears. It was one of those moments I just felt so connected, so happy to have people here in Tonga we love this deeply. So, this will be the saddest good-bye we will do. But, Tuki said we are going to do it early, get all the tears out, and then we can just eat and enjoy the rest of the feasts.

So, that is it from here. We are counting down the days ‘til we see you all again!!!!