The Man Comes Around

Saturday, August 10th marked the revival of a major event here in Vava'u. You see, every year the Kingdom has a Royal Agricultural and Fisheries Show that is pretty much like the Iowa State Fair for folks in Tonga. However, for a variety of reasons (both political and logistical) this event has not taken place on the island of Vava'u for 13 years. That streak came to an end this past Saturday as the show took place at Vava'u High, the one public middle school/high school on the island.

What's more? With great circumstance comes great pomp, and there is no greater pomp around these parts than the King. The show also marked the inaugural visit of King Tupou VI to Vava'u. That's right, the streets were cleaned and lined with flowers and flags, everyone put on their best tupenus, taovalas, puletahas and kiekias and the military showed up to provide security, all to welcome the big man to our tiny little island paradise.

The show itself was fantastic. Each village had its own display booth. The most prominent booths featured their village's largest root crops (I mean it is still Tonga, folks), woven mats, livestock, wood carvings, fish and flowers. We saw 6 foot tall taro plants, 6 foot long eels and enough ufie to eradicate the entire Irish potato famine of the 1860s (its hard to over-emphasize the amount of root crop at this thing). We don't mean to be biased, but it was clear our village's woven mats were the most beautiful of any booth. There were also demonstrations for Tongan wood carving, weaving, harvesting vanilla, andgrowing vegetables. Naturally, the two of us with our friends Mark & Alissa found the booth where they were using fresh grown ginger and yeast to make ginger beer and serving it with a side of root crops friend up like potato chips. So good.

The day also came with one HUGE surprise. To explain the surprise, you have to understand our relationship with Tuki.

In the vein of Nan Louise, Lisa Eileen and Grandma Cassie, Tuki is truly our Tongan mother. She lives in our village with her husband Lolohea and teaches kdg. in Neiafu at the Fijian school (she is half Fijian).  Since the day we moved here Tuki has taken us under her wing and looked out for us. She regularly stops by to chat and share village gossip with us so we know everything "important" happening. She tells us when big village events are happening, guides us on what we should wear and how we should act and usually comes by to actually take us to the event so we don't feel akward. A Godsend is what she really is. Tuki often has her husband gives us rides to town when we are in a pinch. 

The Saturday morning of the fair, Tuki came to tell us she was going to have Lolohea drive us into town for the fair. We thought we would be going with them, but we soon realized that Tuki had Lolohea come from the bush just to take us in early so we could experience the fair from start to finish. Later, when we were walking around the fair, Tuki came up to us and told us that Lolohea had won a prize that day for his root crops. This was incredibly exiting, because it meant Lolohea would be called up in front of the thousands of people to accept his award from the King himself! Then she dropped a huge bombshell on us.  She said that she and Lolohea decided one of us should accept the award because this would give one of us the opportunity to meet and shake hands with King Tupou VI. We were stunned speechless. Shake hands with the King? Really? We decided that Ryan would meet the King as I was not very dressed up and we all know Ryan has a pompous superiority complex to begin with :). So, an hour later, Ryan got to walk up the stage in front of the whole fair, remove his shoes, bow to his majesty (twice as tradition dictates) and shake hands with King Tupou VI. It was such an amazingly cool moment. But don't feel too bad for me, I got to join Ryan and Tuki in the Royal tent to watch the affair, where cakes and juice were served to us on platters by high school students!

At the end of the day, Tuki stopped by our house to chat with us about the fair. She wanted to know what it was like to shake hands witha King. Tuki then said she had to walk all the way to the store to get laundry soap. This is a woman who had been running ragged since about 4 a.m. and it was now 6p.m. I tried to give her some of our laundry soap to take home so she could just go home and rest, but she absolutely wouldn't take it. She said everything she had done was because she was our Tongan mother and that is just what Tongan mothers do. Ryan and I love this woman so much. We feel so lucky to have made a friend such as her on this journey. 

Here is a picture of Tuki and Abby at the fair:

Our village's booth:

    

Other booths at the fair. We LOVED the outer island's booths because they had the craziest display of ocean life we have ever seen. The sharks and octopus were our favorite.

King Tupou VI  taking a tour of the fair:

Ryan waiting to meet the king:

And finally, the big finale. Ryan meeting King Tupou VI.

A Big Moment

To help explain (and justify) our lack of posting, we wanted to share with you a big moment we recently had in our service here in Vava'u. While our village does an amazing job of celebrating the old customs of Tonga, it also wants to be present in the 21st century so the children have as many opportunities as possible with their lives. Throughout our service, they have constantly reinforced this vision.

To make this vision a reality, we scoured our Tongan contacts and finally got put in touch with a Tongan businessman who lives in Auckland, New Zealand by the name of Mosese Uele. For several months we worked with Mosese, telling him all about our amazing students and village. Mosese grew up in Tonga but used his skills in English and computers to start his own import/export business in Auckland. We all agreed that these are the types of skills the village must have if they are going to be able to have these same type of opportunities. In the end, Mosese told us he would like to visit our village and donate four computers to our school. He said he would only do this if we agreed to train the Tongans on how to use, maintain and maximize these computers.

On Wednesday, after a lot of stressful planning, Mosese came to our village with five computers. The people were so touched by this generosity they planned a massive town celebration in which they roasted pigs, setup a feast and a performance to honor the gift. It was an amazing day in which there were LOTS of prayers, speeches and thanksgivings. Ryan even got up and gave a speech in Tongan!

After all is said and done, now the hard part begins! We are working on re-wiring the Tessa library to accommodate the computers, scouring the world for cheap English Language Learning and math computer programs, and training our village on how to maximize these wonderful gifts. For us, the most important thing about this entire experience has been that it was a Tongan man who was giving back to a Tongan village, which made the day about Tongans empowering Tongans through education versus the white-man just giving things to a needy community.

Our next project with Mosese (oh we are not close to done with him) is setting up a second computer lab for the community which will be for general use. Mosese was so touched by the reception he received, the eagerness of our community and the plans we have made that he has asked us to facilitate another gift of computers at a later time. Already we have had several young men in the village volunteer to work with us and take on the task of creating a community computer lab. Our goal is that within one year, both of these projects will be completely run, maintained and administered by the people of our village, which is the only true way to create sustainable change in this community.

Here are some pictures from this wonderful day, enjoy!

 

 The new computer lab in the Tessa Library:

    

          

The community enjoying the feast:

     

 

      

Here is Mosese joining in the traditional Tongan feast dancing. A little rain never stops the Tongans!

 

   

   

 

 

I was so proud of how great Ryan was with our community. At first, the men and women were a little hesitant to go into the library and check the computers out. But, Ryan was so encouraging and tried to have everyone come see "their" new computers that by the end of the day, even the women came in to have their picture taken! This is a huge deal because the women were SO shy and uncertain about going into the library where all day only the important village men had been. I was so happy to walk into the library and see two really involved moms chatting with Ryan and asking to be shown some things on the new computers! YEAH!!!

 

P.S. There are many pictures of me on this blog because I let kids loose with our camera, which Ryan is firmly against. So, when it came time for me to take pictures of him giving his speech and leading the big reveal of the computers, I realized the camera was in a 5th grader's hands at the other end of the feast table and he was taking pictures of roast pig. Oops!

Knee Deep

First and foremost, we wanted to wish Dr. OCD a very, very happy 65th Birthday today! We know Big Nan and 'Team One Day' will make it a great one for him!

We are sorry for the brief hiatus in posts. The truth is we've been knee deep in work and with our community and have simply forgotten about it lately! Overall, both of us are starting to feel incredibly positive about our work and our experience in Tonga as we approach our 1 year mark (September 4). We truly love our community, our school and (most of all) our kids. These things continue to keep us going when things get difficult. 

As for some highlights.

From Ryan

When I was growing up, my mother taught me that I was to never 'hate' anything in this world as 'hate' is ugly and negative and has no place in our hearts. However, my father corrected this and actively taught me to hate the source of all evil in our universe, which of course is the University of Nebraska Cornhusker Football Team. Therefore, it was incredibly heartwarming and even more infuriating when my Aunt Debbie had the 4th grade Student Council at her school, Harney Elementary in South Sioux City, Nebraska, send our students a box of school supplies, an amazing handmade book about school life in America and a boatload of University of Nebraska Cornhusker merchandise for our students to enjoy. While I watch our students enjoy these things on a daily basis, I can't help but hear the laughter of the Gunsolleys, the Fields and the Urkoskis (all the Cornchuckers in my life) in my head. Its very tough.

The kids enjoying the book:

 

Abby writing herself out of the Kloberdanz family will:

Abby's way of torturing me, making me stand for a picture with some of my favorite boys amid this ugliness:

(wipe that grin off your face Urkoski)

But don't worry Hawk fans, every single student in the village knows how to say 'Go Hawks' and 'On Iowa', while the advanced kids are working on things like 'Hawks day today' and 'I sure do love Kirk, but does he have to be so stubborn all of the time?'  

We also had the pleasure of hosting our friends Mark and Alissa at school one day this past week. The kids were besides themselves and couldn't stop bragging how important our village was to have four 'Pisikoas' (Peace Corps) there. Mark & Alissa are fantastic teachers so they loved watching Abby work and made the day super fun for our kids and our staff. My favorite part of the day was watching the kids greet the four of us. At the end of conversations in Tonga, its customary to to shout the person's name and then 'eh' and for that person to reply with 'yo'. This is considered a sign of respect. For our students, every single time they walk past our house they shout "Epi mo Laieni, eh" and we are required to drop everything and answer them with "Yo". When Mark and Alissa were here, it was truly hilarious to hear our young kids take a huge deep breath and bellow "Ma'ake mo Lisi mo Epi mo Laieni, eh!' every time they saw us and get back for 'yo's' right on cue.  

*Sidenote: When and how the Canadian "eh" made its way into Tonga I'll never know, but its well entrenched now.

From Abby

I, too, spent the week just feeling so happy and blessed to be surrounded daily by our students. They exude life.... EVERYDAY. They are just so full of energy and enthusiasm it is hard not to feel like the luckiest people in the world for getting to work with them. It was also wonderful having Mark and Alissa to our home. Friends make this experience so much easier to handle. It is especially wonderful to have another married couple to confide in as we work through the many feelings and situations that constantly bombard us here. 

One big highlight for me is doing zumba everyday at 3:00. Right when Ryan and I finish our last class, we join the entire school to zumba. Our class 1/2 teacher, Viola, is incredible. She is a Tongan teacher who is really pushing innovation in the classroom and healthy lifestyles outside of it.. She went to a training for Tongan teachers and learned lots of different ways to incorporate physical education into the school day. She recently taught the kids badminton, which they now play daily at lunch. Then, this week, she taught us zumba. It is awesome because we come together as a whole school. Our principal, Tevita, even joins in. Here are some pictures of our students, principal, and parents exercising in the rain!

     

Sadly, I did have to take the broom and hit the dog with it this week. Truly it was for his own good. My softie of a husband confuses the poor creature by actively trying to lure him in the house. He now plays dead when I try to push him out the door. So, a little whack with a broom and he has learned he needs to stay right outside the door. The broom whacking also applied to my husband anytime he instigated the situation. Someone has to bring the tough love. But, I was forgiven and all is well.

Its also been great to find a bunch of kids who love to play uno as much as I do. Some of them even started to win without by using "Tongan rules" a.k.a cheat as much as possible. We have the students write their names on our blackboard once they get a LEGIT win. This week Laea, a student who is Ryan's best friend because they have a similar sense of humor, beat me. He was so proud to see his name go on the board. I was actually pretty excited too.

 The rain finally stopped! We all love the return of the sun. Lucky and I are sunbathing while out solar shower heats up for a warm evening bucket bath.

 

                                                                                                                                             

Cooking classes continue! This week was chocolate cookies. Word has gotten around the village about my cooking classes. This has, well, exploded. Let's just say I will be leading so many pizza, cookie, and muffin sessions that I will be able to make these things blindfolded. But it is so worth it. The kids just love doing something they have never done before. My husband will eventually forgive me for spending our hard-saved alcohol money on baking goods. :)

 

That's all from us for now! Stay tuned next week!

Exciting news

The big news around here this weekend is that my sister and Jeremy are engaged. Abby and I are so excited for both of them and can't wait to celebrate with them next March in Australia.

Things here are good. The weather however, is not. Its been in the 60's temperature-wise (but our blood is so thin!) and has not stopped raining for the past week. Miserable! School and work is going well and we are excited for Vava'u's brief Winter to be over soon! We hope all of you are doing well. More to come next week!

Me'a Ofa Day

This week was our first week back from break. Ryan was a champ and ended up teaching most of the week solo as I got sick as a dog in Fiji. He did an awesome job and when I returned the kids reported that "Ryan is a fun teacher!" 

The weather this week was so strange. Every day we went from crazy rain and cold wind to full sun and beautiful weather. I have never seen weather just switch back and forth from completely overcast to completely clear and back to overcast quite so many times in one day. The result is many people/ kids in our village ended up as sick as I was. Not so fun. One afternoon I awoke from a nap to see this lying in our house:

After giving Ryan the "why the hell is the dog in the house like that" speech, Ryan just looked at me and said, "He was cold, so I made him a little bed inside." Note: that was NOT mud. It was mostly pig crap. A lovely way to scent our house. Stupid boys and their dogs.

I returned to school on Thursday because Ryan came home super excited Wednesday night telling me our students had finally filled their "Good Things Jar." The Good Things Jar is an incentive we use in our classes to encourage students to work collaboratively and try to push their comfort zone with English. It took awhile for them to really latch on to this, but once they hit the halfway point, they really got amped. They have been doing so great trying lots of new things in class. When they fill up a jar, they earn a special gift. Our students had no idea what the gift was, but they found out on Thursday it was a brand new bag made by my Aunt Nina, Aunt Jean, and cousin Lexi. (Emily, I did not include your name because I heard all you did was drink coffee and watch. No credit for you sister dearest!) My aunt Nina had simply made these to give to our students, most of whom do not own anything they can call their own. She had no idea we would milk three months of good behavior out of the kids before they got 'em! Thank-you so much Nina, the bags are truly amazing!

In the bags were large notebooks, candy, pencils and pens, and mini-notebooks. Our students LOVE school supplies and they LOVE being able to have their own stuff. Needless to say, the day they received their gift was incredible. We had so much fun chatting with the kids and watching them revel in their hard work. Here are some pictures from the day!

    

       

 

        

 

 

 

Fiji

When you are sick and tired of Polynesia, where do you go to get away from it all? Melanesia of course!

The first day of our travels, Ryan and I were so excited to actually be leaving our island. Upon our arrival at the international airport in Tonga, we realized for the first time how un-citified we are. We spent a good chunk of money buying a bunch of big waters for the trip. When we went to board the plane, we were astounded to see a security checkpoint. They promptly told us we could not take any of the waters with us. Duh. We were just so used to flying our Tongan airline where they write your name on a piece of paper and tell you to go get on the plane. Liquids and food are actually encouraged. After taking our waters, the man directed me to walk through the metal detector. I walked through and it went off like crazy. The man just stared at me open mouthed and said, "Miss, you are supposed to take the metal off BEFORE you walk through." Oops. I know these things, but it just didn't register. 

We spent the first day of our trip in the capital city of Suva. Our Country Director met us and gave us a tour of the South Pacific Peace Corps headquarters building. It was really fun to have some time to just sit and chat with him. We had only really met him once before because he was named Country Director of Tonga after our training. After that, Ryan and I hit the streets of Suva. It was so wonderful to be in a city again! So many people, so much noise, so much happening on the street. It was great. Once again, we came face to face with our uncitified-ness. We passed a man who stopped to say hello to us. We chatted with him a bit and he told us he wanted to show us a really neat local craft vendor. Not thinking anything of this, I said "Great!" and we followed him. Within the span of five minutes, we realized we were in a back alley and he had slyly written our names on a craft. So, now he needed to be paid. He started to get really worked up when we said we didn't ask for that, so we just decided to swallow our pride and let ourselves be swindled. After paying for our "hand crafted artifact," we hit the streets feeling violated, but lesson learned. Later, a much nicer Fijian man stopped to chat with us while we were looking at the bus schedule. He warned us of these street vendors who pull tourists into corners and con them into buying something. He told us how to walk and greet people so this would not happen to us. He was so excited to help us I didn't have the heart to tell him we had already learned this lesson the hard way. But, he restored our faith in humanity.

We enjoyed our city day very much. We were able to amble along main street Suva and just enjoy seeing take-away food places, shops, and the ocean. We went to the botanical gardens and Suva museum which was really cool. We learned a lot about the history of the Pacific. After that, we treated ourselves to an awesome lunch of McDonald's. French fries and chicken nuggets never tasted so good. After that, it was on to the movie theater. We saw World War Z in 3D. The best part? Movie tickets, a large popcorn, medium soda, and 2 bags of m&m's was only $25 FJD, which is like $17 American dollars! Righteous.  It was wonderful to just sit back and get lost in the world of a movie again. We also realized how much our blood has thinned. We shivered through the whole movie. Air conditioning was more than we could handle.  After our movie, we stumbled upon a pub. We stopped in to have a drink. 8 beers, two glasses of wine, and a pizza later, we stumbled out of the pub. It was half off drink and pizza night. The bar was busy, the food was awesome, the music was great. So, we indulged. Total cost: $45 FJD. Not too shabby!

 

                                                

The next day we jumped into a van to trek out to our resort. The resort lies about 2 hours west of Suva. The van ride was really cool. We got to see a lot of the countryside and the small villages. Fiji is really beautiful. The mountains, the greenery, the rivers. Gorgeous. We spent the first 2 hours at the resort lying on the beach. We burned so badly. We forgot that certain body parts of ours had not seen sun in about ten months. Yikes. Spent the night drinking with some huge rugby fanatics from Australia. They were pre- drinking to prepare for a big game. We made it through pre-drinking and dinner, but were in no shape to go watch the game. We had a great time with them and the family who owns the resort. 

During our morning breakfast the next day, Juta, a Fijian from the village closest to the resort, came over and asked the group we were chatting with if we all wanted to go for a jungle hike to a waterfall. We all eagerly agreed. We had an AWESOME time trekking with Juta, two Swiss travelers and two German travelers. The jungle floor of Fiji is pure clay. It was interesting trying to scramble up bits that Juta made look so easy. Many times, we all landed in a pit of mud/clay up to our knees because of one misstep. Luckily, we tramped through various rivers throughout the hike, so we had many an opportunity to clean the mud out of our shoes. All in all, this was one of the highlights of our trip.

 

    

      

The picture above on the left shows a PVC pipe that a village runs all the way through the jungle to the waterfall. This is one of the ways they get water into their village. So industrious!

         

We spent the next few days laying on the beach, having cocktails with various traveling groups, and gorging on local fare. The weather was incredible... cool in the mornings, sunny all afternoon, and cold at night. We enjoyed walks on the beach, lazing in beach hammocks, and hot showers. It was a wonderful, and much needed, vacation.

Some pictures of our resort:

       

   

Low tide was so cool. We could walk all the way out to the break! This was a neat way to see some of the creatures lurking at the bottom of the sea :) Creepy and fun all at the same time.

 

A shot of our resort from the ocean at low tide and a sea snake.