Summertime

This week I had my first close encounter with a molekau. That’s Tongan for giant scary centipede. Sure they’re in my house sometimes and like to come out especially at night, but I haven’t had to touch one before this week. These suckers are longer than my whole hand and bite with a fierce vengeance that lingers extremely uncomfortably.

Friday morning I rushed around for about an hour getting ready to go into town. After clambering on the boat I touched the back of my head, felt something unfamiliar in my hair and shook my head to get it out. Next thing I know the little barefoot guys I’m with are hopping about madly shrieking and pointing. An enormous molekau had just jumped out of my hair. How I didn’t get bitten on my hand or head I don’t know, but I found out that those things can swim! It paddled right over to someone else’s boat and climbed right up the side. O dear. The Town Officer (whose boat we were in) told me it must’ve jumped out of a tree onto my head. He knows better than I do.

Tonga has scorpions too, but the only other poisonous animals are in the ocean of course. No land snakes, but one of the deadliest things is the sea snake. The first time I went snorkeling in ‘Otea I got to see one winding its way through the coral.

I’ve been in ‘Otea for 5 weeks now. Unbelievable, uh? Though many things about living on an outer island are still difficult, I’m absolutely loving life in ‘Otea. The past 5 weeks have been a mixture of Tongan feasts, sports competitions between neighboring villages, singing practice (hymns for church), and visits from relatives near and far. It’s summer here, school is out, and the pace of life is even more relaxed than the usual. The town is bustling with activity, prepping for all the special holiday events and spending time with visiting family members.

My mom asked me to describe my typical day, but right now it’s tough to say, which is the beauty of the season. I’ve been doing exactly whatever the village is doing. My job right now, before school starts and I have a more defined schedule, is to integrate into the village as fully as possible, learning the ways and the names of the people and helping them feel comfortable with me. So far so good!

I’ve been lucky enough to make some really good friends already in the village. In Tonga, youth means anyone between 13-40 years old who’s not married. There are plenty of youth in ‘Otea that I’ve gotten to know really well already. School hasn’t started yet, so I’ve had plenty of time to work on what I hope will become a really successful secondary project – working with the youth group. The group has some really great competent organized members, and then lots of others who need a little encouraging. They have a ton of energy and potential and could really make things happen in town. I hope to help them get a little more organized. The leader’s name is Lomio (Tongan for Romeo, as in & Juliet) and he approached me the second night I was in ‘Otea to ask for my help with the group. We’ve had some great talks so far, have some good ideas rolling. It’s hard to say what the long term plan is, partially because most Tongans don’t think in that timeframe. So far though, we’ve held two fundraisers in town to raise money for our projects. This past week we cleaned and painted the town hall and the grounds in front of it. On Thursday we plan to beautify the whole town. We had heavy rain for 12 straight days (it’s hurricane season) so the plants have gotten tall, the paths are extremely muddy and the pigs have rooted around everywhere. Lomi and I have discussed having the youth manage a vegetable garden as a source of income and helping all of the houses in town get electricity. So far everything’s in the planning stages, but we’ve got a new bank account with money in it and regular meetings going. We’ve paid our annual fees and registered the roster, so things are definitely progressing!

I’m glad I have a solid start with the youth group because I’m about to get a lot busier. I’ll be teaching English to grades 1-6 at ‘Otea’s one and only government primary school (GPS), starting on Monday. Everyday this week all of the teachers in all of Vava’u have been going to orientation and training sessions to start the school year off. Yesterday I met the new principal of my school and started planning a little for the year. She’ll teach Class 1-3 and another teacher will teach 4-6, while I do English sessions and act as a resource teacher. That’s the plan anyway. I’ve asked just to observe for the first week or so until I get a handle on how things run, especially because there’s a new principal. In Tonga, the teachers and the religious ministers from many of the denominations are rotated (often with their families) to a different village every three years, just like military personnel in the States.

To sign off, thanks for all the overwhelming love that’s been sent to me already! Mail seems to be taking an average of 4-6 weeks, which is fine because it’s giving me a nice extended Christmas season J Remember, the less value you claim on the customs form for the contents of packages, the less I have to pay when I pick it up from the post office. Thanks especially for the CDs! They’re another reason I get along with the youth so well. They’re hungry for good music too, so we do just fine.

Can’t wait to talk about how school goes in my next update!