One Month Update

This week/weekend has been very eventful here in Tonga. I made a Tongan feast with my language group, marched in a parade for teachers, and served Kava! I also received my first package and got to talk to some sweet friends via facetime throughout the week! It was also one month since beginning my Peace Corps journey on Wednesday!

In the four weeks I have been here I have watched my family and sometimes provided minor assistance in the making of the traditional meal, Lu. In another blog I talked about Lu, but as a reminder it is a meal cooked in the ground in an oven called an umu (directly translate to BBQ). It is meat, onions, and coconut milk wrapped in talo leaves and then cooked in the umu for an hour. This past week my language group made our own Tongan feast featuring Lu with a watermelon drink, papaya dessert, and several root crops. After participating in the process from the shopping to the eating of the meal I realized just how much work Lu really is. We created the Lu at my host family's house so my mom taught us her ways! She let me help make the coconut milk, which is no joke. It was hard work, but there was something about making the coconut milk that was very liberating. I think it is because I can know make a key ingredient used in several Tongan dishes. Overall, my language group did a fabulous job with the feast and it fed the four of us, my family, and other Peace Corps staff members!

Then on Friday it was Celebrate Teacher's Day. All the teachers on Tongatapu participate in a march through Nuku'alofa and then an assembly is provided by the students from the different schools throughout the island. There was singing, dancing, and a lot of laughter. On top of it being Celebrate Teacher's Day in Tonga, Tonga also participate in Breast Cancer Awareness month so all the teachers dressed their best in all shades of pink. One of my host mothers, Kalo, is a teacher in the village next to ours so she insisted on making my outfit all out for the day. I got a dress handmade by my other mom, a beautiful flower necklace, long pink ribbons in my hair, a pink sun hat, and I wore a tavalo (a wrap worn around the stomach for special occasions). The best part of the whole outfit was that Kalo had a matching one! My mom told me I was going to find a good Tongan man that day when I left. It was a very wonderful day in Tonga.

That evening I went to a concert/fundraiser that was at the church down the hall from my house. Two of the other Peace Corps girl were supposed to be dancing at the event, but there was an accident in the village next to ours so the power was out. While we were sitting the hall only lit by a few flashlights there were men participating in a Kava circle and they asked me to serve the Kava. It is a pretty big deal to be invited to be a part of a Kava circle. It was a very funny and interesting experience. During this experience I was proposed to and told I was talavou (beautiful) several times. After serving Kava on Friday night I asked my host family if I could serve Kava at our church on Sunday.

This morning I served Kava before church. I am going to attempt to paint a picture of what a Kava circle looks like and explain the purpose. Before I start to explain I want to state that Kava circles are a very old and respectable Tongan tradition. As an American it was hard to not have a negative perspective of them at first, but now that I have experienced them and they have been fully explained to me I can accept that they are just a part of Tongan tradition. With that being said please keep an open mind about them and do not let this make your view of Tonga a negative one. The best way to describe Kava circles is large mats on the floor with mostly middle aged men sitting around the edge of the mats. Most of the men are middle aged, but men as young as 21 to 70 participate. At the front of the circle is a person that puts the Kava in bowls that are halves of coconut shells and the Kava is passed down the row. Each man in the circle drinks a bowl of Kava for every round of Kava served. Kava is not technically alcohol, but it comes from a root and it has properties of substances that people consume/smoke in the United States that causes unnatural feelings in the body. Similar to the US substances the more Kava you consume the more you feel the effects of the Kava. Kava circles are a male only activity, besides for the person serving Kava. Kava is not always served by a female, but it is preferred to be a female. Kava circles can last several hours, but the one I participated in today was just under two hours because it happened before church. In the Kava circle I served in there were all the ministers of the church, the choir director, and a handful of other members in the church participating.

 After serving Kava this morning

Cousins, Sister, and Mama

As a side story. A pig was stolen from my family's house on Saturday morning. It was a very dramatic ordeal. A lady from another village hid in the bush (forest/farm area) behind our house with her dogs. When a baby pig came out into view the dogs bit the big and the lady then ran away with it. While all this was happening our dogs were barking fiercely and the pigs were squealing. It was a lot to wake up to at 7am. It was really sad and we are still working on getting the pig back.

More pictures from the week

 Sammy took this picture of my Kuitangata. He is the cutest!

 My mom has been making tapa all week.

 An old bus in the field next to my house

 sunsets on sunsets on sunsets

 Some little kids we taught to play duck duck goose at the rugby field

My new best friend, Navau. He is a chunk!

Toki sio, friends! 'Ofa atu!

ps. send chipotle