FIEFIA, FIEFIA, FIEFIA

(HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY)

This past week has been full of so many adventures. I am still catching myself at least once a week being completely dumbfounded at the fact that I am living in this beautiful place. In my last post I said I would find out my placement last week, but things have changed and as a result It will now not be until the middle of next week. It is a disappointment and there is a lot of anxiety within my group because we just want to know, but it will all work out! I will send an update as soon as I know!

With swearing in only two weeks away my group has been preparing some performances for swearing in. The girls in my group are going to do a traditional Tongan dance called a tau'olunga. It is going to be so awesome. We have spent the last week learning the dance and throughout the next two weeks we will be practicing A LOT! On the second dance practice we learned a part of the dance where you have to do this clap thing and hit your chest with your hands. I, to say the least, was not quite getting the concept. A Tongan lady that is helping to teach us came up to me and said, "uhh Pailey you are not King Kong. You are a Tongan girl. Be gentle." So there is that. Since that day I have not been called King Kong, but I was told to stop clapping like a man...whatever that means. My different facial expressions throughout the dance are also a topic of conversation throughout the Tongans. I had little facial control in the United States and I remain to have little facial control in Tonga.

After dance practice Friday night the family that is teaching us the tau'olunga hosted a karaoke night for us and they had mash potatoes. It was blessed. The guy that is teaching us the dance, Hame asked me if I was a good singer before we started karaoke. I told him that my singing is worse than my dancing. He said, "Oh, you must be good singer then."

Another happening from this week is I was sitting in language class and there was a hina (spider) crawling in my hair. I was informed of the hina in my hair and had a minor heart attack. My language teacher pulled the spider out and told me I should be happy because a spider in your hair is good luck. Okay, Tulu was all I had to say to that.

Also, on Friday we got to go on a field trip in Tonga. We started at the Ha'amonga 'a Maui. It is three coral limestone slabs. It was made during the beginning of the 13th century for the 11th King of Tonga. It is thought to be the entry way to his palace. Tongan myth says that the Ha'amonga was built by the demigod Maui because these stones would be too heavy for mortals to move. Five of us in my group climbed to the top of it and it was crazy, especially since four of us were wearing skirts and all of us were wearing sandals. The decent down was a hot mess, but we survived.

After going to Ha'amonga 'a Maui we went to the blowholes. In a previous post I mentioned my family taking me there. It was fun to play on the rocks and watch the the waves come in! My favorite part of the blow holes is every time you leave there you are just covered in salt from the water hitting you. The blow holes really make you feel alive!

On Saturday a big group of us went to the beach and it was blessed. It was the best beach we have been to yet. The water was pretty cold, but so beautiful! We had a picnic and got some sun. It was a great day!

Finally, today is my last Sunday with my host family and the beginning of my last week with them. Every Sunday we eat Lu like I have mentioned in earlier post. With it being my last Sunday I made a goal to eat all of my Lu. I have never been able to eat more than half. Let's just say: Bailey- 1 Lu- 0. My mother was so happy that I ate all my food I thought she was going to cry. It was a big milestone for me. It was efo efo aupito (very delicious)! My host mom also patted my butt today after church so that was precious.

After lunch I got to facetime my sister, which was so fun! It is here birthday today here in Tonga and it was just great to catch up. I taught her some Tongan words! I love you so much Emily! I miss you and hope your birthday is perfect!

On a sidenote I had a dream about Chipotle this week. More of a nightmare if you ask me. And then I met a lady at church today that is a Tongan that lives in America. She is home for a visit and she started to talk to me about American food and what do you know, she loves Chipotle.

A few more pics from the week!

 Language Group

 Serving Kava from a few weeks ago!

 Praying before school!

'Ofa atu!