It's absolutely incomprehensible that tomorrow is Christmas! I really can't believe it. In fact, it seems like some other holiday is going on and that's what the masses of relatives visiting and bands playing music and rickety floats careening through town are for. My idea of Christmas seems to not have a place here at all.
Except that Tongans love to sing, and Christmas was brought to them by missionaries. So occasionally I'll hear a song I recognize and then I realize, yes, 'tis the season. Silent Night, O Holy Night, and Angels We Have Heard on High have all been translated into Tongan. Same tune, different words. When I hear those old friends, they bring me to the present reality. That and he Christmas pageant I'm being part of tonight. I'm so curious to learn what Tongan Christmas is like. It all starts tonight, with the pageant.
This is the first time I've been really truly homesick. I hope you feel blessed to be wherever you are, with whomever you're with. I feel blessed to be here, but I still miss my Christmas.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Please note the address change: now I'm a PCV!
TA DA! I did it!
Made it through 10 weeks of training and am now an official U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer. We had a beautiful ceremony last night at the Cultural Center with all the PC staff, the Minister of Education, an important minister (of course), China's Ambassador to Tonga, and all the host families we stayed with during our first 3 weeks here. I held up my hand and swore to defend the Constitution and serve the people of Tonga, yes, so help me God. I actually got a little teary-eyed during some of the speeches (Tongans are very big on those). We were given beautiful pins that have the Peace Corps logo and a Tongan and American flag side by side. Afterwards, a big feast and a floorshow put on by the Center's dancers.
I feel such an enormous amount of responsibility right now, and I also am so honored to be a Community Education Peace Corps Volunteer. Looking around the room last night I realized how many resources in time, people, effort, sweat had been poured into just me and I had an overwhelming sense of how big this is. I am in a position to change a lot of lives, both in the present and the future and not only that, but that is the expectation for me. This is a huge undertaking. The sky's the limit. If I'm willing to dream big and then take on the challenges required to meet those dreams, anything could happen. And so the adventure begins.
My plane to Vava'u leaves at 6:30 AM on Saturday morning!
Made it through 10 weeks of training and am now an official U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer. We had a beautiful ceremony last night at the Cultural Center with all the PC staff, the Minister of Education, an important minister (of course), China's Ambassador to Tonga, and all the host families we stayed with during our first 3 weeks here. I held up my hand and swore to defend the Constitution and serve the people of Tonga, yes, so help me God. I actually got a little teary-eyed during some of the speeches (Tongans are very big on those). We were given beautiful pins that have the Peace Corps logo and a Tongan and American flag side by side. Afterwards, a big feast and a floorshow put on by the Center's dancers.
I feel such an enormous amount of responsibility right now, and I also am so honored to be a Community Education Peace Corps Volunteer. Looking around the room last night I realized how many resources in time, people, effort, sweat had been poured into just me and I had an overwhelming sense of how big this is. I am in a position to change a lot of lives, both in the present and the future and not only that, but that is the expectation for me. This is a huge undertaking. The sky's the limit. If I'm willing to dream big and then take on the challenges required to meet those dreams, anything could happen. And so the adventure begins.
My plane to Vava'u leaves at 6:30 AM on Saturday morning!
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Transition Period
As promised, this week has been one long extended shopping spree. Too bad I hate shopping. Right before we move into our sites, Peace Corps gives us a settling-in allowance that we're supposed to spend on setting up shop in our new places. It's quite a logistical nightmare. Half of our training group hasn't even seen their houses yet and they have to buy the furnishings for them anyway. Some people move into fully-furnished homes, some into empty ones. Some people have things passed onto them by Volunteers are who are ending their service. Others just start from scratch. Every situation is different.
As I said, I've only seen my house once, a week ago, but all that was in it then was a bed frame, a broom, and a mug with no handle. Hopefully by Monday there will also be a mattress, a table, and two chairs. That's the minimum. Anything else I want is up to me to buy with my allowance. One really nice thing - I don't have electricity so I don't even have to look at anything that requires an outlet. Makes my choices easier! I get to save on utility costs too . . . so that I can spend the money on batteries instead. Really though, I'm totally satisfied with everything I know about my living situation so far. I wanted a completely different lifestyle and that's what I'm getting. Some of the trainees are living in the capital with hot water, refrigerators, and indoor flush toilets. I'll take my bucket bath anyday.
So what did I spend my allowance on?
Stove with 4 burners and an oven that runs on propane (my biggest purchase: 1/3 of my $)
Soccer ball (great for bonding with the kiddos)
4 tins (one each for washing dishes, rinsing, laundry and bucket baths)
Kettle (to boil my water so I don't get sick)
Big water container (to minimize lugging from my sistern to my stove for boiling)
Tons of dry foods since supplies on the island are limited
Things I'm still looking for:
Iron (the kind you put on your stovetop to heat up since I can't plug it in)
Candles
Kerosene for my lantern (I just don't know where to buy it)
Kayak
I bought a bunch of other little stuff too, but I don't want to bore you. Just know that I'm going to be doing a lot of baking and picture what supplies I need for that. My plan is to bake at least once a week and then give the result to a different family in the village. Despite all the imports Tonga is bombarded with, it's still a community based very much on goods, not money. Tonga is a very collectivist society. One of the things this means is that everyone shares what they have with everyone else. What's important is now how much or what you give, but just that you give. Hence my baked goods! I'm going to be receiving so much support in the way of food, supplies, food, advice, food, and baking will be something special I can do to give back.
The iron also has cultural significance. Similar to what I've found in many other cultures of similar status, Tongans put a high priority on appearance. Impeccable appearance is vital. Even if your clothes are made of the cheapest material available, they should still be spotless, ironed and without rips of any kind. Teaching is an especially public profession, so I've got to be able to iron my clothes everyday. I know Mom, shocker, right? Gotta live like the locals.
And the kayak . . . Oh man that's the most important and unfortunately most elusive purchase. It's turned out to be really tough to find a place that manufactures or even just sells them here, despite several kayak rental places. They're not looking to sell though. Here's why a kayak is so important: Tonga is a highly conservative culture. The smaller the village, generally the more conservative. So, being placed on a little island quickly limits my freedoms. The expectation for women my age is to spend all of their time in the home. Making a living is challenging here and both men and women work on it equally, the difference is women's activities are centered in the home. This is difficult for me to adapt to for many reasons, not the least of which is I'm such an outdoorsy girl and there's so much in Tonga to explore! In addition, Tongans never go anywhere themselves. In fact, that was cited by one of my friends as the reason why I had tonsillitis last weekend. Too much walking by myself (only to and from school Mom). So - all this being said, a kayak could be the key to my freedom and thus my personal happiness. I'd be able to explore the surrounding lagoons and islands, visit Volunteers on other islands and even paddle all the way into do my grocery shopping and send some e-mails! I've got one lead on the only known place that sells kayaks in Nuku'alofa, so here's hoping. That little vessel really would open up my world in a wonderful way.
In other news:
We had our first cyclone (Southern hemisphere word for hurricane) warning this weekend. Luckily it only gave us a lot of rain and weekend, but did some damage in Fiji. So that threat passed, but then just last night (Sunday) I experienced my first Tongan earthquake! Tonga is right next to the Tonga Trench, second deepest in the world and is home to several active volcanoes. Quakes are pretty common. Apparently there was a small one a few weeks ago that I didn't feel. Yesterday, however, was a 7.6 on the Richter scale. It happened ~330 miles southsouthwest on Nuku'alofa (the capital city, where I am right now) and ~116 miles deep in the ocean. It went on for a good 2 or 3 minutes. Definitely the biggest quake I ever felt. The walls of the guest house we're staying in were swaying and things are the walls were swaying. And then we kept playing Spades. Hoka hey!
P.S. I laughed to myself out loud in the store just watching myself think about how big of a tin I needed to hold enough water to bathe my whole body in. I'm learning such good problem-solving skills in the Peace Corps!
Awesome quote I've learned here: A normal person looks at a glass of water and thinks it's half empty, a Peace Corps Volunteer looks at it and thinks, "Hey, I could take a bath in that!"
As I said, I've only seen my house once, a week ago, but all that was in it then was a bed frame, a broom, and a mug with no handle. Hopefully by Monday there will also be a mattress, a table, and two chairs. That's the minimum. Anything else I want is up to me to buy with my allowance. One really nice thing - I don't have electricity so I don't even have to look at anything that requires an outlet. Makes my choices easier! I get to save on utility costs too . . . so that I can spend the money on batteries instead. Really though, I'm totally satisfied with everything I know about my living situation so far. I wanted a completely different lifestyle and that's what I'm getting. Some of the trainees are living in the capital with hot water, refrigerators, and indoor flush toilets. I'll take my bucket bath anyday.
So what did I spend my allowance on?
Stove with 4 burners and an oven that runs on propane (my biggest purchase: 1/3 of my $)
Soccer ball (great for bonding with the kiddos)
4 tins (one each for washing dishes, rinsing, laundry and bucket baths)
Kettle (to boil my water so I don't get sick)
Big water container (to minimize lugging from my sistern to my stove for boiling)
Tons of dry foods since supplies on the island are limited
Things I'm still looking for:
Iron (the kind you put on your stovetop to heat up since I can't plug it in)
Candles
Kerosene for my lantern (I just don't know where to buy it)
Kayak
I bought a bunch of other little stuff too, but I don't want to bore you. Just know that I'm going to be doing a lot of baking and picture what supplies I need for that. My plan is to bake at least once a week and then give the result to a different family in the village. Despite all the imports Tonga is bombarded with, it's still a community based very much on goods, not money. Tonga is a very collectivist society. One of the things this means is that everyone shares what they have with everyone else. What's important is now how much or what you give, but just that you give. Hence my baked goods! I'm going to be receiving so much support in the way of food, supplies, food, advice, food, and baking will be something special I can do to give back.
The iron also has cultural significance. Similar to what I've found in many other cultures of similar status, Tongans put a high priority on appearance. Impeccable appearance is vital. Even if your clothes are made of the cheapest material available, they should still be spotless, ironed and without rips of any kind. Teaching is an especially public profession, so I've got to be able to iron my clothes everyday. I know Mom, shocker, right? Gotta live like the locals.
And the kayak . . . Oh man that's the most important and unfortunately most elusive purchase. It's turned out to be really tough to find a place that manufactures or even just sells them here, despite several kayak rental places. They're not looking to sell though. Here's why a kayak is so important: Tonga is a highly conservative culture. The smaller the village, generally the more conservative. So, being placed on a little island quickly limits my freedoms. The expectation for women my age is to spend all of their time in the home. Making a living is challenging here and both men and women work on it equally, the difference is women's activities are centered in the home. This is difficult for me to adapt to for many reasons, not the least of which is I'm such an outdoorsy girl and there's so much in Tonga to explore! In addition, Tongans never go anywhere themselves. In fact, that was cited by one of my friends as the reason why I had tonsillitis last weekend. Too much walking by myself (only to and from school Mom). So - all this being said, a kayak could be the key to my freedom and thus my personal happiness. I'd be able to explore the surrounding lagoons and islands, visit Volunteers on other islands and even paddle all the way into do my grocery shopping and send some e-mails! I've got one lead on the only known place that sells kayaks in Nuku'alofa, so here's hoping. That little vessel really would open up my world in a wonderful way.
In other news:
We had our first cyclone (Southern hemisphere word for hurricane) warning this weekend. Luckily it only gave us a lot of rain and weekend, but did some damage in Fiji. So that threat passed, but then just last night (Sunday) I experienced my first Tongan earthquake! Tonga is right next to the Tonga Trench, second deepest in the world and is home to several active volcanoes. Quakes are pretty common. Apparently there was a small one a few weeks ago that I didn't feel. Yesterday, however, was a 7.6 on the Richter scale. It happened ~330 miles southsouthwest on Nuku'alofa (the capital city, where I am right now) and ~116 miles deep in the ocean. It went on for a good 2 or 3 minutes. Definitely the biggest quake I ever felt. The walls of the guest house we're staying in were swaying and things are the walls were swaying. And then we kept playing Spades. Hoka hey!
P.S. I laughed to myself out loud in the store just watching myself think about how big of a tin I needed to hold enough water to bathe my whole body in. I'm learning such good problem-solving skills in the Peace Corps!
Awesome quote I've learned here: A normal person looks at a glass of water and thinks it's half empty, a Peace Corps Volunteer looks at it and thinks, "Hey, I could take a bath in that!"
Thursday, December 6, 2007
My first post, on my first blog, for my first overseas experience
This is it - the beginning of the chronicles of a world-changer fueled by love. Big statement I know, but I really feel like all the experiences of my entire life have been preparing me for this endeavor.
Many of you who know me are familiar with the title of my blog, but if not, an explanation will help you understand how I feel a little more. Hoka hey is a pearl of wisdom orginating from North Carolina Mountains Native Americans. It means, simply; Today is a a good day to die. Every day I serve in Tonga feels this way to me.
This week marks the end of Pre-Service Training (PST). I've been in Tonga for 8+ weeks now and loving it! On December 12th, I'll officially swear in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Then on the 16th I'll move into my new home for the next two years: 'Otea. I'm super excited!
Here's what I know so far (I've only been there once, for all of 30 minutes):
'Otea is a little village of 200 people on a little island (name?) on the island group of Vava'u (Tonga has 5 island groups). There are two other much smaller villages on the island. There is also a little tourist resort right next to 'Otea.
'Otea is situated right on the water, on a beautiful sandy beach. It has two churches, Mormon and Wesleyan, and a little Government Primary School, which will be primary place of occupation. Very telling of the community, the school has 21 students in grades 1-6 and employs two teachers, one of whom acts as the prinicipal, typcial of Tongan schools. Tiny! In some ways, every American teacher's dream. Talk about low student to teacher ratio!
I've gotten to see my house, which is beautiful, on a hill with an ocean view (awesome!). Much bigger than I expected with 3 rooms, albeit empty. Don't know what I'll do with them all! I've got a nice big yard, already fenced in. Definitely going to start a garden, since the fence looks strong enough to keep the pigs out of it. I have a pit toilet and a bathing hut in my compound, as well as a sistern that collects rainwater from the roof. So really, I have everything I need! I can't wait to move in. The plan for this weekend is all about shopping. Need to furnish that thing! Too bad the stores are only open from 8-12 on Saturday and not at all on Sunday.
Really I am so lucky though. I'm totally stoked about having the outer island experience. Small community so I'll hopefully be able to integrate into easily that will offer infinite opportunities for cultural exchange and to practice the language. 'Otea doesn't have electricity or running water, so that'll all be part of the experience! Lucky for me PC issues us lanterns.
Whenever I tell Tongans where I'm working, they always grin and say "kaukautahi" (swim) "kai ika" (eat fish) "aho kotoa pe" (everyday). Sounds like I'll like the lifestyle on 'Otea alright!
Thanks everyone for all the support you've given me so far in mail and e-mail. It really makes such a difference. I really can feel the love all the way over here!
PLEASE NOTE MY NEW ADDRESS ON THE RIGHT --->
Many of you who know me are familiar with the title of my blog, but if not, an explanation will help you understand how I feel a little more. Hoka hey is a pearl of wisdom orginating from North Carolina Mountains Native Americans. It means, simply; Today is a a good day to die. Every day I serve in Tonga feels this way to me.
This week marks the end of Pre-Service Training (PST). I've been in Tonga for 8+ weeks now and loving it! On December 12th, I'll officially swear in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Then on the 16th I'll move into my new home for the next two years: 'Otea. I'm super excited!
Here's what I know so far (I've only been there once, for all of 30 minutes):
'Otea is a little village of 200 people on a little island (name?) on the island group of Vava'u (Tonga has 5 island groups). There are two other much smaller villages on the island. There is also a little tourist resort right next to 'Otea.
'Otea is situated right on the water, on a beautiful sandy beach. It has two churches, Mormon and Wesleyan, and a little Government Primary School, which will be primary place of occupation. Very telling of the community, the school has 21 students in grades 1-6 and employs two teachers, one of whom acts as the prinicipal, typcial of Tongan schools. Tiny! In some ways, every American teacher's dream. Talk about low student to teacher ratio!
I've gotten to see my house, which is beautiful, on a hill with an ocean view (awesome!). Much bigger than I expected with 3 rooms, albeit empty. Don't know what I'll do with them all! I've got a nice big yard, already fenced in. Definitely going to start a garden, since the fence looks strong enough to keep the pigs out of it. I have a pit toilet and a bathing hut in my compound, as well as a sistern that collects rainwater from the roof. So really, I have everything I need! I can't wait to move in. The plan for this weekend is all about shopping. Need to furnish that thing! Too bad the stores are only open from 8-12 on Saturday and not at all on Sunday.
Really I am so lucky though. I'm totally stoked about having the outer island experience. Small community so I'll hopefully be able to integrate into easily that will offer infinite opportunities for cultural exchange and to practice the language. 'Otea doesn't have electricity or running water, so that'll all be part of the experience! Lucky for me PC issues us lanterns.
Whenever I tell Tongans where I'm working, they always grin and say "kaukautahi" (swim) "kai ika" (eat fish) "aho kotoa pe" (everyday). Sounds like I'll like the lifestyle on 'Otea alright!
Thanks everyone for all the support you've given me so far in mail and e-mail. It really makes such a difference. I really can feel the love all the way over here!
PLEASE NOTE MY NEW ADDRESS ON THE RIGHT --->
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