Big Island Life

Last week the Sams and I went to Tongatapu for a couple of days and it was wild. After a month of being in ‘Eua it felt weird being on the main island. We ate at a restaurant, we were scared of the cars, and we used public transportation. It was a lot to take in. We went to Tongatapu for two reasons, a Tongan Wedding and to get Maka and Niu spayed. The three of our two animals and us stayed with Kayla in her one bedroom house and her cat, Kava. It was a circus, but so fun!

Tongans wedding are made up of three things: speeches, dancing, and food. And they are on repeat. Eat. Speak. Dance. Repeat. The bride is one of my coteachers, Silia and she looked absolutely beautiful. It meant a lot to me that she invited me to her wedding and her whole family was just so happy that I came. When I was leaving I went to say goodbye to Silia’s family and when I hugged her dad he whispered to me, “Pailey, malo aupito. You marry Siva now” (Silia’s brother).

The next day Maka and Niu got spayed. A nonprofit from New Zealand, SPAW comes to a couple of the different islands in the South Pacific and does free veterinary care for animals. It is a pretty amazing organization and since we went on the last day a nurse told us that they had more people that week than they have ever had, which is great for them. Niu was a champ and was fakasesele (crazy) within an hour of waking up. Maka on the other hand was fakaofa (pathetic). Home girl would not wake up and couldn’t lift her head for the rest of the day.

Then that night we had a PCV reunion to celebrate Sami L and Lana’s birthdays! It was so much fun to be reunited and to eat a hamburger and to dance.

Fabulous weekend in Tonga!