Craig's Birthday

Craig has quite the pad to live in - it's two bedroom, painted fun colors & cement (so no termites). It was his birthday today and he invited everyone over to help him celebrate. And help we did - our group definitely let loose a little bit and Craig gave quite the speech!

You'll notice Jason in these photos ... he'd been on his island 'Eua (a 3 hour boat ride away) for about a week and there was basically no job for him there and although there is one other volunteer there, she is a 45 minute walk away. With few to none english speakers around, no job to do and missing me so much, he returned to Nuku'alofa to see if he might be able to find a place in the capital where he can actually be useful and also be nearby.

Sushi in Tonga?

Yes!! It's true. Sami found supplies and decided to treat us to some homemade sushi! She is quite the chef!

And...I still live here

So...although volunteers are supposed to have a house and work site once we are sworn in, I have neither. Apparently, a document needs to go through approval with the government for me to work at the Chamber of Commerce (and for them to be able to fund my housing). While that is waiting to go through, I am living at the hostel and tagging along with Sami to work. Rather odd, but I'm not going to complain. Another volunteer, Jeff, and a guy from Australia working on his doctorate as also regular guests at Sela's, so I have good company.





Outside of Sela's guest house...













My home...
















Sami & I, "working."









Where I am supposed to be working.

The King's Putu

The King's funeral was a VERY big deal. The last time a ruler had passed away was in 1965. Every Tongan who could possibly make it to Nuku'alofa for the ceremony came.

















A group of us decided to sit a little ways away, so that we could exit without notice after a few hours instead of staying for the 8+ hour ceremony.















Jason & I had decided to start dating a couple days earlier ... we don't look disappointed, do we??

The King's coffin was carried by a 1000 pallbearers - you can see the black structure being carried here. This whole structure had been carried from the palace all the way to the tombs. There is one man allowed on the structure with the King. But, since NO Tongan is allowed to be higher than the King, the man was a Samoan man who had been friends with the royal family. He had a fan that he was waving around to ensure no flies or other in appropriate pests bothered the King.

A legal trip to Pangaimotu

The volunteers who have been assigned to outer island areas are being allowed to stay until next Wednesday so that they can be present at the King's funeral on Tuesday. Since this is our last weekend together, a group of us decided to rent the large room at this rustic resort and spend the night at Pangaimotu ... this time without breaking into the Peace Corps office for our life jackets!

Our very rustic accomodations...

We had brought mats to sit on and plenty of coke and Tongan rum (which was really rough) to enjoy the sunset with ... we must have been in a good position for a meteor storm as we saw SO many "shooting stars!"

The group ran off to get some more beverages from the cafe, leaving Jason & I watching shooting stars alone together...we thought that was a coincidence (ha ha!). It had been nearly a week since we talked about how he felt about me ... after shedding many tears because I knew I could not be with him, I finally realized that if I didn't at least try, I would most likely regret it for the rest of my life. And that is what I told him. So we held hands for the first time while watching shooting stars on a beautiful beach in the South Pacific ... not bad!



The group room we stayed in and the beautiful ocean just steps away.

Jason showing off his incredible back flipping & rope climbing skills!!

Boys & Trouble

William, Jason & I went for a wander the other day ... as we passed to local prison on our way through town, William had the idea that it would be fun to see the inside of a Tongan prison and asked the front desk attendant if we could go see. They joked that it would cost 50 cents and let us go in. The first thing I noticed was that the prison doors were OPEN and then I noticed one inmate in just a towel who made some remark about me before I turned and quickly headed out of there! Here are some proud photos from our experience:

Saying Goodbye...

Several volunteers in our group (who are being based in Nuku'alofa) are already being taken to their site today. Although this is what we are here for and what we went through training for, it's really hard to see our group being sent in different directions already...

Sworn In!

Today, we officially became volunteers of the United States Peace Corps. We've only been "trainees" up until now ... we took our final language test yesterday and I passed!! And today we had our ceremony. Generally the ceremony is quite an affair, but due to the King's death, it was very subdued - a read a hymn in Tongan and we sang a couple songs, got our certificates, then watched the incredible video that Adam and Sami had been SO many hours into making

Wake

The King's body was returned to Tonga today from New Zealand where he passed away. From the time the body left the airport, the roads were lined with Tongan school children and adults, paying their respects to the late King.

We lined up in town to watch and be part of this event...every building had been covered in black and purple cloth - signifying the colors for royalty and for mourning.

Shock of my Life!

While checking my e-mail after class yesterday, I received the shock of my life. One of my fellow volunteers had sent me an e-mail that I was completely unprepared for! He'd hoped to speak with me in-person but since all of us were always in a large group, hadn't been able to and had to tell me (basically) that he liked me! I most definitely did not see this coming. I even wondered for several minutes if it was a prank of some kind as I'd never gotten any vibe from this guy that he was remotely interested...

After deciding that this was not a prank, the real difficulties began ... I think the world of this man - he is absolutely everything that I could imagine wanting in a life partner ... strong Christian, adventurous, completely hot, easy-going and very considerate. The catch ... I'm 4 inches taller than him. Even he realized this might very well be a problem. But, he had to tell me anyways and now I have a decision to make.

We spoke for nearly 4 hours today - alone - and I still can't make a decision. I've asked him to give me time to think about it and he's given me all the time I need or want. I'm really conflicted over this - as great as I think he is, I don't know if I can date someone and feel like a giant ogre all the time we're together and it wouldn't be fair to be bothered by something that is completely outside of his control ...

The King's Death

We arrived in class today dressed in our usual clothing that contains color ... we were advised by our trainers that they King had passed away in the night and we would need to go back to the guest house to change into all black during our lunch break. Black clothing is a requirement during a period of mourning. Mourning can last from a week to 6 months...hmmm, black clothing for 6 months, that could be interesting!

Big Trouble

The eight of us who had taken life jackets in order to adhere to PC policy got to stay behind during lunch today (does this remind anyone else of elementary school??) and have the PC Director yell at us for a while.

Obviously, in retrospect we realized it wasn't the best thing to do and that maybe a different avenue should have been pursued, but we didn't do it maliciously and no harm came out of it.

None of that seemed to matter to her. She said she could send all of us home for this (I wonder how it would reflect on her as a leader if she had to send 50% of a group home??) and couldn't believe that we didn't think it was going to be a problem with breaking & entering into a government building and stealing from it. When she put it that way, it did sound bad. But to us, taking a life jacket that was assigned to us from a locked storage shed while a security guard watched, didn't seem quite as serious.

Dawn was our main spokesperson during Betty's interrogation ... I hoped that since Dawn is older than Betty, it would go easier. It really didn't seem to matter ... I'd previously had a difficult time finding Betty to be sincere in her interactions with us, well, she was sincere this time. I'm hoping to limit my interactions with her in the future.

Thiefs!

We awoke to find a glorious day today and eight of us quickly decided to venture to Pangai-motu - a rustic resort island only a 15 minute boat ride from the Nuku'alofa warf.







Sami & Kiki waiting for the shuttle boat at the warf.






During training, we'd had hammered into us that the PC requires us to have a life jacket anytime we're in a boat. We'd been issued one when we went to Ha'apai, but on our return, they had been placed at the PC office. So before heading out, we went by the office to find that the life jackets had been moved from where they'd been during the week. We roamed around a bit and finally found them in a locked storage shed in the back. While the security guard looked on, we checked the windows which were all shut tight and then used a credit card to pop the door open. We got our life jackets, relocked the door and headed out....completely oblivious to the trouble we had just gotten ourselves into.






Don't we look happy (& innocent) here in our life jackets??







When we arrived - we were elated to see how wonderful this little island was ... and we began to feel a little worry also as one of the PC staff members was sitting on the dock when we got in, on his cell phone advising someone we'd arrived. Rose went right up to him and explained exactly what we'd done ... but we soon realized, we were in pretty big trouble. Evenso, we did our best to enjoy the afternoon and worry about the consequences when we returned.

Freedom (& hunger)

Our first real day of being "on our own" was wonderful! Sela's (the guest house we're staying at) has the feeling of a college dormitory right now. There is a small, central courtyard area where we all congregate, playing cards, playing "would you rather?" and just talking the night away.

We realized very quickly though that getting food today might be a trick - all stores and restaurants are closed on Sunday's. Our trainer promised there would be something open, but I don't think we found anything other than the bakery, in the afternoon ... what a DELIGHT that was though! We bought "bun-nies" --- buns with a sugar cream filling and went to sit on the warf while we gobbled them down.

Leaving Ha'apai

Leaving this homestay had a little different feel than when we left Ha'atafu. We have 2 weeks of training left during which we'll get to stay at the guest house/hostel in Nuku'alofa. The freedom and conveniences that we'll have there (showers with sometimes hot water & no host family watching all the time) are very welcome. I think all of us are ready to move onto the next step too...

Flying on a intra-island plane was quite an experience. At the airport, each of us was weighed (with whatever carry-on bags we had), then assigned a seat based on our weight and the weights of those who checked in before us. We boarded the plane from a door in the back and had to stoop low while working our way forward to our seats. Once seated, I noticed that part of the interior of the cabin was taped together with duct tape. Hmmmm....

The views from the plane on the way back were phenomenal!!!