Seven Days of Tonga

This week was full of adventure and excitement here in 'Eua. I did some literacy work with class five and six students and have started to work on Christmas songs with the students. I am teaching them four American favorites: Jingle Bell Rock, Rudolph, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and Feliz Navidad! I have also been teaching my counterparts some sign language and doing some exercising with my kids. The love yoga, zumba, and jumping jacks! Now to share seven stories from the past seven days!

On Monday I chased pigs out of the school compound. There were two big pigs and a whole lot of little pigs. The pigs were sneaky and got into the school compound. Pigs like to eat our flowers so we like to keep them out of the school compound. I saw the pigs and hollered for some neighbor kids to help me. We got 'em. Never did I think that one day my life would come to chasing pigs.

On Tuesday I announced recess to the kids. At that time about ten kids take off to the bush and before I know it they are almost to the tops of palm trees. And then they are at the top and they are jumping on coconuts knocking them to the ground were the younger kids are collecting them. Then to my left come two kids running with machetes. It just all happened so fast. To say the least we all enjoyed some fresh coconut that day!

On Wednesday I convinced my counterparts, Silia and Meleongo to exercise with me. We decide to run to town and back, which is just over three miles round trip. We finally make it to town and Meleongo wanted to go to the shop. We go to the shop and she buys candy -__- I told her that we are trying to exercise here and eating candy is defeating our purpose. She says, "Energy to get us home." Homegirl is crazy.

On Thursday Meleongo wants to make dinner at my house. She made "Kentucky Fried Chicken". It was fried and it was chicken, but it definitely wasn't from Kentucky. It was delicious though! Something I have learned during my time in Tonga is that all fried chicken is "Kentucky Fried Chicken". Then she asks me if I want to eat ice cream sandwiches. I obviously said yes. She then proceeded to take half a loaf of bread and stuff ice cream in it. A literal ice cream sandwich.

On Friday I went horseback riding for the first time in my life. But more specifically I went horseback riding with "The Man of the World". One day I was walking down the road and met a man on a horse. He introduced himself to me as the man of the world and told me he would take me horse back riding. About a week earlier Sammy B had a similar encounter with him, so we decided that on Friday we would go. Lucky for me I got to ride on the same horse as the man of the world! All was going well until the last five minutes and I got some real motion sickness. Almost fell off the horse. Got off the horse and threw up. I am starting a reputation on 'Eua as the Palangi mo totovaivai which means the white person with weak blood.

On Saturday I went to a birthday part for one of my students, Tilema. She is nine! I had the most delicious food ever. We had lobster that had been caught that morning. It was like twice baked potatoes but twice baked lobster. It was blessed. I also met some Mormon missionaries from America. And we ended the party with a little swim in the ocean!

On Sunday I went to church like normal and then went to Meleongo's house for lunch with her family. While Meleongo and her sister, Sina were finishing making lunch I made some Tang (aka mixed some powder with some water and stirred). Then during lunch everyone had some Tang and Meleongo's dad mentioned that it was good and she told him that I made it. Then everyone at the table was like "poto, Bailey, poto aupito" (smart, Bailey, very smart). It doesn't take a lot to impress people here in Tonga! Every skill counts, even if a three year old could do it :)

More pictures from the week! 

 Angel face :)

 Tongan Harry Potter

 Tongan hat worn in the bush!

 Cow selfie. Not ashamed.

This kid is cray. Talilotu wearing my headband.

Angaanganoa

Malo e lelei!

Life is so happy here in 'Eua. The rest of the Kingdom of Tonga calls 'Eua "angaanganoa", which means nothing matters. Not to say that people do not care about things in 'Eua, but that the people of 'Eua are laid back and easy going. Perfect example of this slow motion island is I keep trying to do something and I will be on my way to do it, but then something or someone always changes my path. I will be walking somewhere and I will meet someone and my whole day will change.

Another big part of 'Eua culture is kaka mo'uga, otherwise known as hitchhiking. Nobody reading this from home needs to worry about my safety! Even if I did not want to hitchhike it would be pretty hard to avoid for the following reasons. There are three big differences between hitchhiking in the United States and 'Eua.The first is I would never hitchhike in the US, but in 'Eua it is my main method of transportation. The second is in the US you have to try really hard to get picked up and if you do get picked up you will only get as far as the driver is going and then you are back on your own; but here in 'Eua if you are walking down the road most likely within the first five minutes of your walk a ride will be offered and that person will take you where you are going no matter where it is and there is a good chance they will also take you back. The third difference is hitchhiking in the US is getting in the car with a complete stranger and unknown intentions, while in 'Eua you will probably be familiar with the person or they will know you and tell you that they know you are the Peace Corps in so and so village and they know you because of so and so family member. Ultimately, hitchhiking in 'Eua is more like getting a lift from an extended family member!

And in case anyone was wondering I am still Martha Stewart. I made a chocolate cake with homemade banana icing for Sammy's birthday!  'Ifo aupito as they would say in Tonga!

After the birthday celebration we got to spend the last few days with the wonderful Nia and Noa, two of our fearless Tongan leaders! They came to 'Eua to do a workshop with us and our principals! Nia and Noa stayed at the resort in my village and went to church with me on Sunday morning! It was so great for them to be here and it was exciting to share our new homes with them! I hope to be the perfect combination of Noa and Nia when I grow up, fabulous women!

 Noa

 Nia

Noa, Sami L, Me, Sammy B, Nia

This week at school I am starting to do some more school work with the students. I have started to read a Magic Tree House book with the class five and six students! And in the next week I will be working on creating a school garden with my students. After school is over in November for summer break I will be doing different activities with the students for a few hours everyday. We will be reading, exercising, crafting, singing Christmas songs, and playing games! It is going to be a fun next three months! 

Here are some fun pictures of my students! 

I have a student named Maka and Maka the kitty loves him! 

And to conclude this blog I would just like to share a picture of my view while writing to y'all about my beautiful life here in Tonga! 

'Ofa lahi atu!

Two Month Update

To start the blog off here is a video of one of my students, Tupou dancing!

I AM IN LOVE WITH 'EUA! It is the most beautiful place I have ever been and I get to live here for TWO YEARS! My heart is happy <3

I am living in the Village Tufuvai. It is very small, but full of beautifully wonderful people! and puakas (pigs). 

With the help of Google Maps I created this nice visual for you! The green circle is my whole village, Tufuvai. The blue circle is my school and the yellow arrow points to my house! Last, the purple circle is where you will stay when you come and visit me! And the beach to the left is the most majestic beach I have ever been to.

My school is a government school. There are two teachers, Meleongo and Silia and a principal who also serves as a teacher, Muli. My school has all composite classrooms. Meleongo is the class one/two teacher. Silia is the class three/four teacher. Muli is the class five/six teacher. Some schools in Tonga has kindergarten, but not all schools do, like mine. Kindergarten is more like preschool in the United States. Class one is when students are required to start school and it more similar to US kindergarten. After students complete class six they move to a secondary school. Tufuvai does not have a secondary school so the majority of the students will go to 'Eua High School, which is in the main village, Ohonua, but some students may go to one of the few religious secondary schools. There are only four weeks left of this school year and then students will be on summer break. They will start school again in February.

 Silia, Me, Meleongo, Muli

 Silia, Me, Meleongo

 Class one/two building

Class three/four and five/six building

 With two of my students at my welcoming feast! Lineni and Malama

 This week was my first week in school and it made me so excited to be a teacher! I did a little bit of teaching too. I work on letter sounds with the class 3/4 students. Something interesting I learned during this was they call the letter Z set. The Tongan school system is set up to start teaching English in class three and by form one which is the grade after class six students are taught in all English. I will be working mostly with Silia and Muli, but since there are only 36 students in my school I am going to do some simple English with the class one and two students too! I also read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom to some of the students. They loved it and it was so fun to share an American favorite with my Tongan students!

First day of school outfit in my house!

My house is right next to the school. I am spoiled with my house. Most peace corps volunteers have very small houses, but mine is huge. I have way more space than I know what to do with. I will post some pictures of the inside once I have everything settled and homey! Anyways, here are some photos of the outside!

 My backyard

 Picture of the whole compound! My house is on the left!

As I have already shared multiple times there is a beautiful beach two minutes from my house. Tomorrow is Sammy's birthday so we are going to eat at the resort in my village for dinner and camp on the beach, followed by a hike on Saturday! So exciting!

 Tufuvai Beach

And here is a picture I took of Maka today next to a coconut. She has yet to kill a cockroach, while I on the other hand have killed like 20. I told her she has one month to start earning her keep and then I am sending her back to Tongatapu.

Miss and love you friends! 'Ofa atu!

ps. If you want to send anything for my kids they could use marbles, pencils, red pens, a map of the world, stickers, and really anything you want to send!

Officially a PCV

A lot has happened in the last few days. On Wednesday I found out what island I would be living on and what village. DRUM ROLL...I am moving to the island 'Eua and will be living in the village Tufuvia! I will post some pictures of my crib and THE BEACH I live right next to soon! Moving with me to 'Eua are the two Sams! It is a dream team (we just wish are boo boo Kayla was coming too!

 I was really happy to find out my site!

 'Eua sister wives!

 Kayla in her new house!

 I didn't want to say goodbye to KayKay

I also became a mother on Wednesday to a three week old kitten. I do not even like cats and kittens are a lot of work, but they do kill the bugs so therefore, I appreciate the cat. Full circle. Her name is Maka. In Tonga maka means rock, which I thought was appropriate because she is a survivor (mama cat abandoned her) and it is also a Tongan beer.

Then on Friday we swore into the Peace Corps! It was such an amazing experience. The venue we swore in at was right on the water and it was majestic. During swearing in Kelsey and I delivered a thank you speech, we did a traditional Tongan dance, and we made a pledge! I had three costume changes throughout the ceremony, all of which were made by my host mom!

I

 Yesterday, I arrived in 'Eua. I took a three hour ferry and it was rough times. The water was very choppy and the boat was very shaky. After getting off the boat I was sick and would be just fine never getting on it again (which means I may never come home). Pictures are to come of my new home! I was a little nervous to sleep in my house by myself, but I was so tired that it really didn't matter. When I woke up this morning I had a swollen face. I am currently having an allergic reaction to something and it is not awesome.

I am now into my third month of service and have experienced three medical complications. Hopefully December will give me a break!

'Ofa lahi atu!