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!
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3 comments:
Congrats hun.
Nice disclaimer too.
I've been to your island before and just hearing about it, I feel so very jealous of your living arrangements and the wonderful simplicity of it all....re; supplies - have you gotten a coconut grater yet? If not and you like coconut cream (tastes good boiled with lu leaves) I'm sure someone in the village can make you one.
Also, are the women big weavers there?
I haven't acquired a taste for lu yet. That's probably because it usually contains meat, which I'm still adjusting to. Remember, I was a veggie in the States? I think I'd like the lu by itself, but Tongans eat so much imported meat of really poor quality, like turkey back that's really just all fat. The canned corned beef, chicken and pig aren't much better. I did get to try lu ika on Sunday though and loved it.
As for a coconut grater, I'm going to hold off on that as it's a man's job. For now, the kids will do it if I ask them.
So cool that you've been to 'Otea! Faka'ofa'ofa 'aupito, io?
The women are huge weavers. It's definitely their biggest occupation during the day. So far I've only watched. The patterns are so intricate. Do you have some mat's in your house? Or some tapa?
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