Let's start with the good. This week, our community got their new bus from New Zealand! This is such a blessing as the current bus is akin to a hospice patient waiting for the inevitable. There have been many days as of late where kids have had to walk to school and try to hitchhike for rides. The Scholarship Committee here in the village has been working hard for the past year to come up with the funds for a new bus. This committee is dedicated to providing strong educational opportunities for the children in the village. This was one of the main reasons they asked for Peace Corps volunteers to work in their school.
Luckily, there are many people from our village who live in New Zealand. They have been fundraising on their end and worked with the City of Auckland to procure one of their retired buses. So, after a year of hard work and one long ass boat ride, Saturday was a day of celebration! This new bus means all the high school students will have a reliable way to town for school every day! It is also much bigger, so students will not have to ride as cramped as they have been. A bus is really one of the most important things a village has to be able to transport to town and back.
First, the new bus was paraded through the village dressed up Tonga style!
These women led the charge all day. Their job was to keep the energy level of the crowd at 100% for the duration of the event. They all came over for cold water and a rest at the end of the event. They danced and banged on pots for almost 5 hours!
Then, it was time to feast and dance. Every single community member was present to celebrate.
After the dance, the bus went to "eva" around to all the neighboring villages and show off the new bus. Anyone who wanted to go for a ride could. It was neat to see so many of the younger kids and the elderly go for the first spin as they are probably the people in the community who will ride it the least.
I was so proud of Ryan this weekend. He went to the big event all by himself because I got terribly sick (what else is new) :) My immune system seems to not fight anything off. With a bad head cold and a touch of the flu, I decided to hang back on the sidelines so I could stay close to bathroom facilities. Many of our students came over to hang and chat with me. One student told me her mom was throwing up too. She said her mom was drinking a bunch of water and eating a bunch of food fast and throwing it up. When she stops, she is all better. Taiana couldn't understand why I would choose to stay in the house and miss all the fun when there was such an easy solution to my problem :) Gotta love it. One of my class 6 boys told me I was looking really thin because of all the throwing up. I laughed so hard at that I may have accidentally thrown up some water on his feet. He responded by telling all the kids to go away because Epi is "mei mate." (almost dead) Oops :)
Ryan was such a hit at the event, that Monday our neighbor came over to bring me watermelon and pineapple to eat. When she saw I still looked a bit rough, she told me she would take care of our food for the day. She came back an hour later with an amazing vegetable beef stew for me and root crop for Ryan. The soup was incredible. Later in the afternoon, the scholarship committee came to get Ryan to come eat and participate in closing celebrations for the bus. They wanted to make sure he was fed since his wife was still sick. This is why we continue to love living here so much.
Now, for the bad. And its a doozie. We had to say good-bye to our very best friends, Mark & Alissa, as they were moved to the main island of Tongatapu. These are two of the most incredible people we have ever met and we have come to cherish our time with them. In their absence, Ryan and I were reflecting how deeply close we are to both Mark and Alissa. When we spend weekends in each others village, we do nothing but eat, have a few drinks and talk. We talk for almost 48 hours straight. No internet, no t.v., no place to go and be entertained. We sit on the floor and talk. How cool is that? I would have never imagined we would make such wonderful friends here. The Coops are two of the best volunteers we have seen and we are so sad to see them leave this island. But, we know they will do amazing things wherever their travels take them in the future. We already have plans for the future, we will see them in Nuku'alofa soon, plus Ryan & Alissa have planned many a reunions for the four of us, primarily taking place at Outback Steakhouse. Go figure!
The countdown for New Zealand is at seven weeks. We absolutely cannot wait. Now all we have to do is wait and try to get back in shape. We aren't optimistic... :)
get better soon, abbs.
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