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!
No comments:
Post a Comment