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!"