Culture Day - Am I Tongan yet??

I have been dreading this day since they told us about it at the beginning of training!

Each village group is required to do a series of tasks to prove that we have learned about the Tongan culture during our homestay in training. The purpose of this day is to display these tasks in front of the entire community and the Country Director of the Peace Corps office. The tasks include:

--Performing a traditional Tongan song and dance

--Creating and performing a humerous skit about life in Tonga
--Sharing an American activity or recipe with our Tongan family

For a few weeks now, we've been practicing a Tongan sitting dance (woo-hoo! I only need to learn arm motions and a song in Tongan) and have been trying to come up with an idea for a skit. Since the day I arrived in Ha'apai, I've been chained to working on making my kiekie. My host mom taught me how to make a really pretty one with flowers, but it also is extremely time intensive. I also made a Tupeno (the wrap around skirt worn here) and learned how to make 'Otai, a fruit drink with grated mangos, coconut milk, sugar and water. And, I taught my host mom how to make my favorite chocolate peanut butter no-bake cookies. YUM.

Done! And SOOOO Happy!