Surreal

Today, we had a water safety class, then headed over to the house of a guy who was a Peace Corps volunteer several years ago and basically never left Tonga after he was offered employment here.

We stood in his backyard where there are several tall, lovely coconut trees, he showed us how to husk coconuts - did you know that they are covered in a thick brown husk that makes them the size of a large football?? After husking, volunteers had the opportunity to crack open the coconuts with a bush knife and I just had one of these moments...we're standing around cracking open coconuts so that the white milk splashes out, with perfect coconut trees behind us and a beautiful blue sky behind that....It was definitely one of those, I can't believe I'm here moments!

After cracking a coconut, it needs to be grated with a metal & wood contraption that you sit on. All the shavings fall into a bucket. To make the milk used in cooking, a little warm water is added to a bowl of shavings, then the shavings are squeeze with pieces of the coconut husk (or tightly with your hands) and the liquid that drips out is saved for use.

We learned how to make Lu and 'Ota Ika which are traditional Tongan dishes.

For Lu, Taro leaves are used first (these cause a terrible allergic reaction if they are not cooked before consumption) to make a sort of flat bed for some raw meat (mutton or tuna), then some coconut milk and salt and pepper are added and the leaves folded up to form a sort of package. It is then wrapped in foil and tossed into the 'umu (an outdoor oven) for cooking.

'Ota Ika is a raw fish salad. Something I would have never thought I could enjoy. We started with diced up raw tuna that had been lightly marinated in lime juice. To that we added some chopped cucumber, chives and tomato. Then added some salt, pepper and a generous amount of coconut milk. Dished it into bowls and gobbled it up!

Where am I living??