So I had another couchsurfer stay at my house (Katriina) and she left a bunch of awesome pictures for me. I went ahead and uploaded them all. Here are a few highlights.
Sometimes the Tongans just get you down. Here it is expressed quite literally.
I'll never get tired of attending the blowholes
Got ready for some Kava drinking
And then got served!
Overall the last few weeks have been pretty good. My first semester teaching is done and I am looking forward to my trip to Sydney next month. I'll hopefully have some pictures of the Opera House and bridge before too long
So I went to the Houma blowholes again this weekend. The pictures came out pretty good. I was with a couchsurfer (Julia) and I would say the tide turned out perfect.
I also ended up actually reading a statue that I pass quite often. It turns out Tonga had men serving in both WWI and WWII.
So I have lost or had almost everything stolen that I have brought to Tonga. Here is the list.
First up
It was partially my fault since I did leave it behind, but when asking the flight attendant to call back he told me he could not until they were in the air (and the 'all clear' was up)...he then proceeded to tell me they were to far and not call until about 8 hours later when landing in Samoa. Woot!
Next Up is!
After several small thefts (shoes, small gadgets, etc) we have my first time ever becoming the victim of an armed robbery! Man breaks into the room I am staying with (along with 4 other guys) and starts stealing stuff. John wakes up and yells (this will be stuck in my head for life)...UP...UP....WE'RE BEING ROBBED. The portly gentlemen proceeds to make his out the window with a dive and leaves behind his knife.
My losses were small, but odd. I lost a pair of flip flops, swimming trunks, a shirt, and a towel. Others lost much much more.
So I know I have not been posting a lot, but I have an excuse! Not really a good one, but the one I am definitely going to stick with.
I lost my battery charger for my camera. No camera = no pictures...no pictures = no posts. I just find it hard to post a lot of text without some pretty pictures to distract people with.
Getting beyond that a bunch has happened since my last post. I took a trip to 'Eua and have some pictures in my gallery to prove it (I lost the charger in 'Eua...lol). Here is one of my favorites...Krystal giving me some sort of angry face?
I also have been a little more active with the church. They are taking a trip to Australia for World Youth Day and it looks like I will be joining them. Here is the obligatory picture of a cute kid from the church. In the background you can see the Prime Minister (white hair on the right), Priest (white hair on the left), and even the security for the Prime Minister (awkward looking guy in the back right [green]).
I've hosted some couchsurfers and here are two sets of them (they stayed at completely different times).
I've read a bunch of new books and started saving the ones I have read on a new site. The site itself is Goodreads, I suggest you sign up and add me as a friend. Although if you don't want to, here is a link to my books (two shelves...the currently-reading and read) http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1006028.
In other news my aunt says she sent me a package, but after she told me how much it costs I kind of felt bad (over 100 dollars to ship!). It has a rolling pin though...which should help make my flour tortillas respectable.
My next door neighbor's husband passed away. Today is my fourth day wearing black. I will stop on Tuesday after the body is laid to rest. The whole idea of wearing black here is a little different then I am used to. Usually in the US you wear black on the day of the funeral (if you're a family member or friend) and then maybe a few days/weeks before or after if you are mourning. Here in Tonga I am wearing black more as a sign of respect towards the family. I have never personally met the father of the children next door, but since I am a neighbor and on good relations with the wife/children it is respectful to wear it. I'll post more info later on the actual funeral procedures (with differ greatly from the US)...should make for an interesting post.
Well I hope somebody is actually reading this :P, Later
So I'm a kid.
I don't mean that in a maturity way (which is totally true), but in the way I am perceived here in Tonga. By contrast there are Tongans who are younger then me who are not kids...actually there are a LOT of Tongans that are younger then me, but not kids. How is this?
In Tonga you are a youth until you get married. The fact that I am unmarried makes me a youth. 30 years old, no job, and still living with mom? Not a big deal...you're not married.
In other news Grant came into town a few weeks back because of an infection. He had to be put on an IV for two days, but that didn't stop me from making him administer eye drops.
So this past Friday we had a really good rain. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures directly afterwards because I am lazy and assumed this happens often.
When I found out that this was a 'freak' occurrence I was pretty disappointed, but I am confident in the ability of Tonga to deliver something else picture worthy before my tour is over.
Overall, just under a foot of rain fell in less then 24 hours. I had to wade through my yard into my house where the water line fell less then a quarter inch from flooding the inside of my house. Many other houses were not so lucky. I was walking down the road off the ocean and saw a man sitting on his couch with a few inches of water below him. I did take this picture about two days after the 'flood'.
and this one today!
Right of way, this is something you hear a lot in the states. "John got into an accident. He was side swiped by a guy, but he had the right of way" and "Mary got hit by a car, they didn't give her the right of way" are some common phrases heard when discussing traffic.
I don't believe there is a strong grasp on the concept of 'right of way' in Tonga. I found this very surprising since roundabouts are found on every other block here in Tonga. I'll have to admit that I was not very familiar with a roundabout since I live in the states, but I did some research and it turns out that the whole concept of roundabouts is built around a 'right of way' mentality.
To further bolster the point that Tongans do not understand the right of way, I was hit by a car last month while walking down the street. Just walking along and I get hit by a side view mirror. I would say this was just one jerk driver, but John was hit by a car while riding his bike. Add this to the fact that most Peace Corps members are not entirely used to traffic coming from the opposite side of the street and we have a nice recipe for disaster for our first few weeks in country.
Here is an roundabout thats is nearby my work
In other news I ran into a freaky looking sheep wolf dog thing. Here is photographic evidence of this Frankenstein breed of dog.
So I have kept my blog fairly friendly for the first few months because I did not want to vent about this country and give the impression that it is some sort of wasteland. Actually the country is quite lovely, but there are a LOT of areas where I find myself wanting to clothesline some people just to laugh at them on the ground, haha.
The first thing to fear on this road to our right is the packs of dogs that wander/rule it. Unfortunately these dogs (which most of the time have 'owners') have been beaten so much that they are super aggressive. With all the abuse they luckily are easy to keep at bay by pretending to throw something at them.
Assuming you've made it past the dogs there are still the drunk Tongans to worry about. Most of the time they are pretty harmless, but every once in a while you'll get the 'white people are the devil' variety who unfortunately don't have the same boundaries about grabbing people as drunks in the US do. These are actually pretty easy to deal with compared to the final type of drunk. This drunk is the deportee drunk. Normally this drunk will talk to you in perfect English since he spent most of his life in the US. He reminisces about his wife and children in the States and will make it his goal to hold you as long as possible without saying a single thing that you feel at all interested in.
Assuming you make it home safely you'll get to a house that has absolutely nothing inside of it and fall asleep. You'll be woken up at 3am by the rat that obviously lives in your ceiling and then again at 7am by the next door neighbor who needs at that particularly moment to inform you that your banana tree is ripe. Yay!
You'll then be the first person to arrive at work...three hours late! Only to play secretary and get calls for the other two guys who weren't there the first ten times they called. Then of course you'll leave work to go somewhere where there is something to do, but only to find that you're needed at the office! It may seem like this is all a one bad day rant, but this is pretty daily. I am considering asking for a secretary....or at least an answering machine!
So then after work I am ready once again for the walk home which begins this vicious cycle all over again!
There are occasional breaks in which something awesome happens to me. Like this morning when I am walking to work and an elderly women stops what she is doing, stands up, and sincerely thanks me for working (Malo e ngaue - a Tongan phrase). These moments make me realize that Tonga is really one of the most awesome places I have ever stayed...regardless of the drunk guy who pee'd at me the other day (PEED AT ME...not on me!)
So I haven't actually written much about what has been happening these last few weeks (months?) so I figured I would put some text along with pictures this time :D.
1) I've lost a lot of weight
2) I'm tanned/burned
Well I guess that is a good summary of what I have been doing so far in Tonga. It really is an interesting mix and I am super excited for what is going to happen when I start school.
I've got a bunch of new pictures up. Here are some highlights, as usual there are more in the photo gallery.
