Highlights from School: Week 1

Hey everyone, thanks for the emails about the tsunami. While we lost power for a bit, we are in the clear here! 

This past week was our first week at school with the kids. Like all schools, we were busy cleaning the school, organizing the classrooms and preparing to learn. However, in true Tongan style, things were a bit quirkier than we are accustomed to. But, the kids are amazing and the teachers are excited to have a different atmosphere. We feel welcomed and part of the team at school. Here are the highlights from our first week. Enjoy!

-Abby telling Ryan that "no offense, but you look a bit sickly and pale". Which led to Ryan spending Sunday, the only day with sunshine last week, outside tanning in his chair. Given that this is the South Pacific sun in mid-summer we are talking about, Ryan has spent the entire week of teaching with boils and blisters on his dark red skin, excusing himself from class to wipe away the water when his stomach and chest pop.

-The kids bringing us our welcome gift, a 3 foot long water snake they caught in the ocean during recess. Priceless.

-Abby reading a story called "Party in the Barn" to the 1st and 2nd graders of this school. In this story, the animals of the barn like cows, roosters and kangaroos (this is one eclectic barn!) make noises and the kids have to make the noise and do an action associated with the animal. At one point, the kids were so excited for whatever noise they made next, Ryan had to remove one little girl because "Abby, she was too damn excited for this book. If the next thing was cock-a-doodle-dooing like the rooster, then she was going to pee her pants!"

-The 1st and 2nd graders subsequently following around Abby and chanting "taimi laipeli" (time for library) whenever they see her.

-Ryan setting up the school's technology, which consists of a computer and copy machine from the 1980s...the early 1980s. What's involved in setup? Dismantling the PC, finding the bugs lodged in there, and killing the bugs. The kicker? The damn thing still works better than most computers in America!

-The kids showing Abby "tongan ice cream", which is code for the one outhouse in the school being backed up.

-The kids making a sweet fort with all the desks and chairs in the classroom. Ryan asking Abby if he can go play in the fort. Abby telling Ryan "no, he may not go play in the fort"........Ryan playing in the fort.

-And finally, 45 kids and teachers, 1 bathroom, no running water. You do the math.

Abby, right after school...back to work.

Ryan chose to celebrate the end of the week a bit differently...