Life Update

Life here is still beautiful and fabulous. I am loving life and I can hardly believe it has already been almost year. I am in the midst of month 11 with just over a year left.

*Health

-I haven’t had strep throat since April! Go me!

-I had food poisoning a month ago. Events that took place in those 48hrs were an all time low for me…

-I have lost 18 pounds since being in Tonga.

*Animals

-I got to hold a baby goat.

-I get to cuddle a baby pig all the time because Sami was given one by her neighbors.

- Faina was left without adult supervision and may be pregnant. Confirmation has yet to be made.

-A pig bit my nose. I was just trying to kiss it.

-I was eating dinner the other night at Ongo’s house and all of a sudden the bag at my feet started to move. It was a chicken. Tonga.

-I ate sea turtle at a feast.

*America

-I went to America in June to play with my family. Taco Bell, Dr. Pepper, and shorts for dayyysssssss! And Netflix :)

-Got my computer fixed in America so hopefully more blogs will be posted!

-I was asked to be the newest Kallal baby’s Godmother! aka I am a Fairy Godmother.

*Tonga

-I am now scoring in the intermediate high range for my Tongan language.

-I have a Tongan bestie. MeleOngo <3

-Halfway through my first school year in Tonga.

-Almost halfway through my service. 

-It is too cold considering I am in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!

And a couple of pics of Faina and me being cute :)

School Activities

School has been very rewarding and successful this past month. I finally feel like I know what I am doing and what my role is in my school. I thought I would share some success stories and pictures with y’all.

We have recently wrapped up the study of colors in my class ¾. Knowing the English word of the colors and being able to describe something based on color. They love to do color by numbers!

This past week we started a unit called Narrative so we have started with learning the parts of a book. Teaching vocabulary such as literacy terms is tricky. I decided to make vocabulary squares with my students. We created squares in their journals where they have the word in English and Tongan, the English definition, and a picture representing the word. As they were working on their squares I would show them the vocabulary word using an actual book.

I am so excited for this unit. We are going to be doing a lot of reading, creating simple books of our own, and we are going to end the unit with some plays. It is very exciting. 

As for class 5/6 my class 6 students are preparing for a big test that has a heavy weight on their future. The first week in October they will be taking the test. The score the students get on this test decides where they go to high school. Students that do not get into the government school have less likely chance of completing their high school degree. My class 6 is composed of six boys. Ongo and I are putting in a lot of work with them to get them prepared.

Part of this preparation is we have been really working on our writing because sentence structure is proving to be hard. A PVC, Chiara, who lives on the island Vava’u and I started a pen pal exchange between our students. My students sent their first letters about a month ago and have just received some from Chiara’s students this past week. They were so excited to get responses. I don’t think they believed me that I was really sending them to students in Vava’u. This next week we will be getting new letter prepared to send off!

Also, I have been giving my students prompts to work on, such as My Best Friend, The Happiest Day, The Saddest Day, etc. On Thursday MeleOngo’s nephew, Maka wrote a story about his Best Friend and he wrote it about me. It was only the cutest thing ever. 

Then in class ½ I am getting ready to start working on English with the class 2 students. I am too excited. We will be starting with the alphabet and move onto numbers and then if there is more time before the end of the year some more basics!

Lastly, my school finally has a school garden that is growing, growing, growing! So excited to have some fresh produce readily available and to sale the vegetables for the school!

Siosifa Kava 30-4-15

Back in April my Town Officer, Kava passed away. It was a surreal first couple of days. I went to school that morning to be told that Kava was missing. He had gone diving for lobster with another man in my village late the night before. A big wave hit them separating the two men. Afterwards he couldn’t find Kava. He went to get help. Kava’s body was later recovered about a mile down the coast from my village the next morning.

I have been to a handful of funerals since being in Tonga, but this was the first one I had been to that was personal to me. At first I wasn’t sure how to be a part of the funeral and how to best help my village, but I was instantly welcomed by my village and allowed to help and participate in the funeral preparations. Kava was a very gracious and wise man. I find myself to be extremely lucky to have met him.

I remember my first week in Tufucai when all the faces and names were running together and I couldn’t remember whom anyone was. There were three men that I knew; I knew one was my town officer, one of the faifakau (minister), and one took me to a store my first night, but I didn’t know who was who. Anyways, a week into being here I went to Wednesday night church. I was timid to go into the church without MeleOngo so I was awkwardly standing outside waiting for her. Then Kava came up behind me and it was like he could read my mind. He said, “Come on. You don’t need MeleOngo to go to church”. And so Kava and I went to church and when kava stood to give a thank you (that’s when I finally figured out he was the town officer) he said something about me, something nice I am assuming, because all eyes turned to me accompanied with big smiles.

Kava really was a great man that was admired and liked by all.

To prepare for the actually funeral service, we had five nights of failotu (small church services) at the home of Kava where people from Tufuvai and all over the island came to give respect to Kava. Also, a lot of cooking was done to feed all the people coming to see Kava. There are a couple of reasons that man Tongan funerals last a week. One reason is so that family members from the main island and from overseas have time to make their way here. Kava had family that came from a couple of the other islands in Tonga, as well as Australia, New Zealand, and India. The second reason is it gives the family time to fully say goodbye to Kava and put him to rest. Then the night before the funeral family members and fellow community members decorate the church in black and purple to show mourning and blue and while to show he was a part of the Wesleyan church in preparation for the funeral service. We stayed up until about 2am preparing the church. 

Finally, on the day of the funeral people starting making their way to the funeral around 8am, with the funeral beginning at 9. From 9am to 1pm people continue to come to the funeral. They will view the body, including kissing and saying a final goodbye to person, sing hymns and eat. People will work their way in between the church singing hymns and Kava’s house eating and drinking. Then at 1pm the funeral service begins. Faifakaus from all over the island come and together they deliver a sermon and lead the service. Kava had seven at his funeral. Followed my speeches from a couple of family members and singing. There is then a funeral precession to the cemetery. Another short service is held as the body is lowered into the grave. At the end of the service everybody who attends the funeral leaves with a big bag of raw meat. 

The failotu continues into that night and the following night before the funeral in it’s entirety is over.