Garden Fairies: Take 2

Last year around this time, I received a delightful surprise in the form of neighborhood ladies attempting to spruce up my little yard.  By spruce up, I mean cut the knee high grass, chase out some pigs, and pull a profuse amount of weeds!

This year, instead of waiting for the neighborhood ladies to take pity on the poor Peace Corps’ yard, I put my students’ excess energy to good use.  All 23 of my Class 6 hooligans paraded down the street to my house after school.  We cranked up some tunes and began hacking away at the VERY tall grass in my yard.  Every time I tried to cut some grass or even pick up a broom, one of the kids would come steal it away and demand that I sit down and ‘supervise’ the music selection.  [They recently learned about ‘demands’ and ‘requests’ in class and definitely enjoy the ‘demands’ a bit more than the ‘requests’!]

As you can see, I decided this was a good time to bring out the camera.  Unfortunately, the productivity of my little workers decreases significantly anytime a camera appears.  I had to start telling them I would only take pictures of kids who were actually working.  I can never get a good candid, they enjoy posing for the pictures way too much!

A good time was had by all, and the rat situation has abated a bit thanks to brush reduction.  What a successful day!

2012: the year of surprises!

In my last post I mentioned just how much I enjoy the day-to-day surprises that make Peace Corps the unique experience that it surely is.  I am happy to report that [re: surprises] 2012 is most certainly not going to disappoint!

Surprises thus far:

ü  Darkness: I arrived back at my little fale [house] in January to find that my electricity had been disconnected. Oiaue! [Yikes!] No sweat.  This just meant a week of lots of ‘community integration’ and reading by candle light.  Fyi: showering by candle light is tricky. 

ü  Mice: I was also received at my humble abode by the colony of mice that have taken up residence.  …alright, that might be a bit melodramatic, but there are definitely some kumā [mice] that are frequenting my house.  I feel a bit like the neighborhood wacko jumping around with my broom chasing them away.  There are multiple plans in the works to drive them away…so far they’ve outsmarted me.  I’ll keep you updated.

ü  Cyclones!: What was supposed to be day 1 of school turned out to be our first cyclone of the season.  Luckily, it was pretty small as cyclones go.  Lots of banana trees were blown over, but most houses didn’t sustain much damage.  We did, however, lose power for three days.  I have pretty much depleted my candle supply at this point.

Bugs:  Despite hiding all my food within supposedly airtight ziploc bags, creatures managed to creep on in to my oatmeal supply.  On a recent morning, I was gazing sleepily into my bowl of oats only to be greeted by little black creepy crawlies enjoying their own breakfast.  Oiaue!  [I'm used to eating an occasional ant, but these unidentified intruders are not part of my diet plan.  Right now, it is summertime here and the weather seems to be encouraging ridiculous bug populations.  I think I share my house with about 50 unique species of ants and a constant parade of cockroaches!!!  

That’s it for surprises thus far…. I am fairly certain there will be more to come!

Over and out.

Cheers to a New Year!

After a glorious month of reunions with family & friends [and of course, lots of delicious food and hot showers] in America, I’m now back in Tonga and starting my 2^nd year as a Peace Corps volunteer.  I’ve got to tell you…It’s a pretty surreal feeling.  Being back in the States for Christmas felt so natural, I kept forgetting that I’d just made a 5,000 mile trek home.  Thankfully, it also felt pretty natural to hop on the plane and come right back.

Every blog entry, I feel as though I’m waxing philosophical about how I can’t believe how fast time is flying, how long I’ve been here [15 months OH my!], etc., etc.  My Peace Corps experience thus far has been a beautiful and ridiculous trip.  There have been experiences that encompass just what I expected Peace Corps service to entail [i.e. making a fool of myself through various cultural faux pas and eating exotic new foods].  But the bits I’ve really loved have been the surprises.  Who knew I’d come to this itty bitty country, separated from everywhere else by vast Pacific waters, and meet Tongans who speak Spanish, who’ve met the Pope, and who really love Celine Dion?  Those were certainly not predictions I could’ve made about my Peace Corps journey, but the unexpected tidbits are what make this experience pretty phenomenal.

Since it has been QUITE a while since my last entry, I better make this one pretty beefy.  In lieu of a verbal recap of my first year I thought I’d post a few iconic pictures of the journey.

October 2010: Mom & I taking a typical airport picture before I headed into the unknown!  You can’t see it, but there should be a little thought bubble above my head thinking, ‘Holy moly, what have I gotten myself into?!’

October & November: Now… with my new Tongan family during 2 months of Pre-Service Training.  I was incredibly lucky to stay with the Vakalahi family.  They treated me as one of their own/a princess.  I was the best fed Peace Corps in town!   

October & November: This is my host Papa, 'Ofa [which means love in Tongan].  He is an expert diver and fisherman.  He'd sometimes head out to sea for days at a time in a little fishing boat and return with LOTS of delicious fish and lobsters!  

November 2010: No Barbie cars here….but old lawn mowers are a suitable substitute in Ha'apai.

November 2010: Great thing about Tonga? Totally acceptable to ride in the back of trucks! During training, a kind soul tried to pick up about 9 of us walking along the road to town.  Promptly after we piled into his truck.... his two back tires went flat.  woops!

December 2010: Training has come to an end and off goes the Vava’u Crew [minus a few who didn’t want to stop for our corny picture] to our next adventures.

December 2010: Welcome to Vava’u [my island]!  Unreal views and lovely neighbors galore.

January 2011: It’s finally time for some real work to occur…meet the kiddies of GPS Tefisi!

June 2011:  During a 2 week school break, I ventured to New Zealand with some Peace Corps friends.  I have never been more thankful for cool weather & grocery stores!

Every day: My neighbor, Mele Lose, graces my front steps and tells me about life.  Her specialties include predicting the weather, telling me when the next full moon will be, and giving massages [yep, massages].

September 2011: Need a reason to parade and dance in  the streets?  We have one….RUGBY!  The Tonga Ikale Tahi [Sea Eagles] competed in the Rugby World Cup and invoked some serious national pride in Tongans all over the world. 

September 2011: PCVs and Tongan counselors facilitated Camp GLOW, a pretty fantastic Leadership and Youth Development camp for young women! PCVs all over the world participate in Camp GLOW.

October 2011: My class 6 munchkins pose here after taking their High School Entrance Exam.  Bless them all for being the guinea pigs during Nola’s first year teaching.

November 2011: School has unofficially ended, so I spent a lot of my time malolo-ing [relaxing] and making flower rings with the neighborhood kids.

December 2011: 'Osi mo ta'u e taha! [Finished with year one!]  Ended the year with a phenomenal trip home to the states.  THANKS Mom & Dad! :)

*sorry mom, I think you're behind the camera.






So, that about covers the first half of my Peace Corps journey.  I count myself among some of the luckiest PCVs.  I serve in a safe country with extremely kind and generous people, plenty of delicious food, and [of course] some unreal scenery.  I have no idea what the next year will entail, but I'm pretty excited to find out. So, with that..... Cheers to a New Year!!!!

Taimi SIVI [ Test Time]

What an interesting week this has been!  October in Tonga is ‘taimi sivi’ [a.k.a. test time!]!  This time of year every class 6 student takes the SEE [Secondary Entrance Exam], colloquially referred to as the ‘sivi’ [test].  There are 4 separate sections testing the kids on English, Tongan Language, Science, and Math. The kids’ ‘sivi’ score can determine a lot about their future.  It certainly carries a lot more weight than any test I took at age 11. 

           

There are 6 High Schools [one government and 5 religious] here in Vava’u and the kids’ scores determine where he or she can attend school.  It’s quite the regimented process.  Each child’s family comes into school and ranks their top three high school choices.  Months later, after the ‘sivi’ has been graded, I am told that a big announcement is made on the radio and the kids all find out what school they’ll be attending. 

SIVI week blasted off to a bit of a slow start.  I meandered into school Monday morning to find our students split into a variety of factions.  There were card sharks on the verandah, future athletes kicking the rugby ball around, some ‘bookworms’ fanning themselves with my recently arranged library books, and the truly hardcore few having ‘chicken fights’ in the schoolyard [if you are unaware, chicken fights consist of two pairs of kids. one kid is the legs of the operation while the other sits on his/her shoulders.  the two shoulder sitters duke it out until one team topples over.  now…. I like a chicken fight as much as the next gal, but I did my chicken fighting in a POOL!  These kids are arm wrestling and slapping each other around before plummeting 4 feet down to some pretty solid ground.  Needless to say, the band-aid box is a popular destination.] Sorry, wandered off on a tangent there.  However, my point was that not much happened the day before our big test began.  While the kids played, the teachers went to work preparing the testing rooms.  Preparing the testing rooms, you say?  How long can that take?  Grab a few pencils and make sure there are enough chairs, right? Wrong.  We had to pin up white sheets all over the classroom and make sure there were absolutely no distractions for the kids. Quite the process!

Finally, bright and early Tuesday morning, the kids arrived with shiny sharp pencils in hand ready to tackle the SIVI.  For 4 hours each day, the kids toiled away taking tests. Meanwhile, I lounged around [like a hippie Peace Corps should] talking to grandmothers and smelling flowers.  After testing, however, the kids were justly rewarded with a giant feast….4 days in a row!  Every afternoon, the whole village seemed to appear out of nowhere with pigs, tables, coconuts, and fish galore! I have never been so absolutely stuffed!  Some local ministers blessed the food and then various townsfolk gave fakamālō's [which are mini thank you speeches] praising God for puaka [pork], kau faiako [teachers], and everything in between!   Mālō e sivi!! 

Kau Laka! [Let's Parade!]

Would you like to see a country with some impressive national pride?  Come to Tonga. NOW!  There are people wearing red….everywhere!  I have been almost publicly shunned for wearing a red skirt/white shirt combo rather than an entirely red ensemble.  There are also occasional ‘lakas’ [parades] consisting of lots of Tongans driving around the island and shouting!!  

What is causing all this ruckus, you ask? Why, it’s rugby!  For the past few weeks, Tonga has been participating in the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.  Even more exciting, there is a player on the national team who hails from my village [giving my village, and our whole island, a reason to celebrate!]

On a recent Friday, my principal asked me if I’d like to ‘laka’ instead of school as usual.  Naturally, I said ‘of course!’  I assumed we’d decorate his truck a bit and then go into town and drive down the main road…short and sweet.  Do you think that is what happened? ‘Ikai.’[Definitely not.]

We did decorate his truck!  The teachers literally chopped down two little trees and fastened them onto each side of his truck. We made posters, a banner, and even a giant eagle to represent our team, the ‘Ikale Tahi’ [Sea Eagles].  Then, far too many people climbed into the back of my principal’s truck and began the trek into town.  On the way in, I began  to suspect this ‘laka’ was going to be bigger then I’d anticipated.  More and more trucks draped in red began appearing behind us…and then the honking began. Oiaue! 

When we finally arrived in town, we proceeded to drive around and around for at least 3 hours!  The trucks honked and honked, blared loud music, and occasionally made a pit stop to have an impromptu dance party.  After these shenanigans, I assumed we might be finished. Nope.  We left the big city of Neiafu and headed for the villages singing and shouting ‘Go Ikale Gooooooooo!’  In one particularly boisterous village, a man was ready for us with a giant pail of water.  Right as we drove by, he tossed it at us successfully drenching me, and pretty much only me.  However, it was a much needed cool down. Typical Nola style, I hadn’t prepared properly for what turned out to be an all day trek.  I had no food, water, or sunscreen.  Luckily Tongans are very generous.  I ate plenty of snacks and drank enough water, but my poor nose was bright bright red after our day in the sun.

Our team may have only won 1 game thus far, but the Tongan team spirit has not diminished in the least.  Long after the Rugby World Cup has finished, devoted fans here will be wearing red and looking ahead to 2015.

Tānaki Tu’unga

As usual with school events thus far, I never really know what’s going on.  I tend to need a little time to digest and ask a few questions.  Today proved to be another somewhat confusing, but certainly entertaining cultural experience.

Oh boy! The class 6 girls are anxiously waiting to find out

their class rank!

This morning, we were scheduled to have the annual Tānaki Tu’unga at school.  It is an event that marks the end of our 2^nd Term of school, essentially the middle of the school year here in Tonga.  Translated literally, tānaki tu’unga means ‘to gather the ladder.’  In reality, it is the announcement of class rank.  I like the symbolism, though.  I envision all the kids in their cute little red uniforms arranging themselves on a giant ladder [with plenty of pushing and shoving, of course].  [note: I’m being a stellar PC volunteer and writing blog posts while sitting around with my teachers.  I just giggled aloud while writing that bit about the ladder.  One of my counterparts asked me what I was laughing about, but I couldn’t tell her for fear that at the next tānaki tu’unga someone might actually bring a giant ladder. People take me way too seriously here…or I am just not so ‘poto’ [smart/good] at making jokes Tongan style.]

Now, on with the story!  I arrived at school just in time for the 8:30 bell [read: bell = old propane tank] to find 3 kids milling around and no teachers to be seen.  My teachers told me that the program would start at 10.  My ‘palangi’ [foreigner] brain assumed that we’d continue school as usual, but everyone else understood that they were to sleep in on this momentous day.  ‘Sai pē ia’ [It’s ok].  I am pretty much incapable of sleeping in here anyway.  There are far too many roosters and barking dogs to make for a late morning.

Hence, I wandered around school for a while until families began to arrive.  Eventually, the parents and kids began filling every shady space available at school.  It certainly pays to arrive early…no one wants to be stuck sitting in the sun!  I thought that this might turn out to be my first Tongan event that did not involve food in any way. I was wrong, of course.  As the Class One kids sidled out in front of the crowd to perform, I noticed that along with makeshift instruments, they [well their moms, to be more precise] were carrying all sorts of produce.  There were giant bunches of bananas and every variety of Tongan root crop.  The class then commenced singing ‘Come and Buy,’ and tried to entice the crowd [again, their moms :) ] to come purchase food to benefit the PTA. 

These future class one musicians are starting small with
corned beef can instruments!

The class’s makeshift instruments were quite impressive.  A few budding musicians played guitars made of giant ‘kapa pulu’ [corned beef] cans.  Another popular choice was a giant rum bottle [‘osi inu a.k.a. already imbibed] filled with rocks! I am not entirely sure what musical instrument this was meant to be, the cucaracha perhaps? Regardless, the kids performed wonderfully…for the most part.  A few shy youngsters were simultaneously ‘tā kītā’ [playing the guitar] and crying.  Sidenote: Tongans REALLY love to laugh.  While these few little kids were singing and crying, the crowd was ‘kata lahi’ [laughing a LOT].  At first I wanted to cry for the kids.  I felt so bad that they were frightened and uncomfortable and that all their mothers were laughing at them rather than comforting them.  However, that’s just life here.  Kids definitely grow up with tough love…..and in Tonga, we laugh at pretty much everything!  Eventually, the little boys came around and started giggling too.  It’s certainly infectious.

Here class 3 ladies perform a traditional Ta'olunga dance!

The performances continued with every class singing a song and then lining up in rank order in front of all of their parents.  At first, I will admit I was slightly mortified at just how public and straightforward the whole process was.  My heart breaks a little for the kids at the end of the line.  But, there are no secrets in Tonga and it’s not shameful to be the kid at the end of the line.  Conversely, kids seem to be teased a bit when they are really intelligent or work very hard at school.  It’s almost taboo [which ironically, is maybe the one word Tongan contributed to the English language] to be ‘fiepoto’ [essentially to want to be smart].  That is certainly something that is changing in Tonga, though.  Education is becoming more and more important to many families.  The current generation of Tongan kids is beginning to have access to the internet; and they certainly ‘sio vitio’ [aka watch movies].  Through technology they are seeing the opportunities available to them through education, and soon the scramble to the top of the ‘tānaki tu’unga’ ladder will be quite the energetic race! 

NEW ZEALAND: Mokomoko lelei!

 

'Mokomoko lelei' is a lovely term used in Tonga to describe the rare day when we have some cool, breezy weather!  Recently, a few friends and I traveled to New Zealand for two whole weeks of 'mokomoko lelei' days!  We started our journey in Tonga by taking a 20 hour ferry trip to the main island... quite a delight!  In New Zealand, we rented the 'El Cheapo' minivan and cruised around the North Island visiting Auckland, Whangarei, Rotorua, Napier, Wellington, and Taupo.


The trip was a much appreciated re-entry into 'clean life!'  There was a hot shower to be had every day, my feet weren't covered in mud on a daily basis, the mass of fluff on top of my head actually laid down and looked like normal hair, and most importantly there were enormous grocery stores with aisles and aisles of delicious food ripe for the taking!!!

The only downfall of this dear, sweet trip?  A nice customs official confiscated the THREE jars of delectable peanut butter I was attempting to bring back to Tonga.  Note for the future: Peanut Butter is considered a liquid.  Don't say you haven't been
warned!

Click here to peruse some NZ pictures:  

https://picasaweb.google.com/115337002678167742573/NewZealand?authkey=Gv1sRgCM_H2YbgkoLZJw