Saturday, August 04, 2007

Backtracking - Homestay in Ha'atafu

Sarah Kate and Carly on the beach at Ha'atafu


Hi Everyone!!



Here is an update on life in Tonga - it's a little wordy (and i was writing fast so the writing is not good) so bear with me...





We got to Tonga on saturday and stayed at a guest house in nuku'alofa saturday thru monday. on saturday afternoon we just dropped off our stuff and then went to the peace corps office for a traditional kava ceremony to welcome us. kava is a drink with possibly hallucinogenic properties (ours was very watered down but still made your mouth numb) and they told us this whole story about how the king went to this island with all his troops and the family there did not have enough food to feed the king so they killed their only daughter, named kava, to cook for the king and when the king heard he was touched and just said to make the oven her grave and he left with his troops so the family didn't have to feed them. and then this plant grew from her grave and the family sent it to the king and they made the kava drink from it and it is used in formal occasions. to show the humility and sacrifice of the tongan people. it was interesting. tastes like muddy water but does make your mouth feel funny. after the kava some peace corps volunteers that have been on the island for a while did a traditional dance for us. it is very similar to hula dancing but they were covered in baby oil and people stick money on them. then we walked into town with some of the other peace corps volunteers and they showed us where some things were (ie - the internet cafe and where to buy calling cards).





The next day was sunday so we went to church with the peace corps trainers (religion is very important in Tonga so on Sundays everything shuts down for the most part). Some people went to the catholic church, some to the church of tonga, and some to the king's church - the Free Wesleyan Church. that is the one that I went to. The new king was there at the front of the church with his family and everyone was wearing black in honor of the previous king's death. Oh, and the men and women both wear these woven mats around their waists when they are dressed formally. it's the equivalent of wearing a tie. The men wear skirts and the women wear ankle-length skirts and shirts covering their shoulders and their hair up. And if they are in a special bible study group, they wear a red scarf around their necks. On Sundays all Tongans do is go to church and eat and go to church and eat, etc. so after church we went to the Peace Corps country directors house and had a feast. And then me and three other volunteers decided to walk back instead of drive so we had a nice 45 minute walk back to town along the beach. The only scary thing is the wild dogs but they didn't give us any problems - they are mostly afraid of people. After walking back to town I started to get ready for my homestay but then some other people said they were walking to the beach, so of course i went with them and then we ended up walking all over town and i joined another group walking some place for dinner and i didn't end up going back to the guest house until almost 8 or 9 at night. then i had to pack up because the next day i had to get some vaccines in the morning and then we had class all day (language class, safety and security, cultural class, and teaching class) and then we got in a bus and drove to another village for homestay.





We are currently staying in the village of Ha'atafu at the very end of the island of Tongotapu. It is a small village and we are staying with different families in the village in pairs. I am staying with a girl named Sarah Kate (also from connecticut - there are three of us in our group of 15 from connecticut and 3 current volunteers from connecticut- wierd, huh!) - she is really nice. Our family is really nice and kind of lets us do our own thing. They are very busy right now because the daughter in the family (Leti) is getting married. Last night they had a big feast for all of the bride's family - it was her time to say good-bye to all of her family. They made all this food and laid it all out of some mats and a cloth on the front porch and then all the family (and Peace Corps volunteers) ate (you have to sit on the floor while eating - i have to practice more so my legs don't cramp up) and listened to the family give speeches and then everyone else in town ate. One of the Peace Corps volunteers is a fire-spinner so he also did a show for everyone with his fire-spinning torches. The family literally stayed up all night long eating and talking, but Sarah Kate and I went to sleep because today we had an adventurous day.





Today was our drop-off day where the Peace Corps trainers take us somewhere on the island and our job is to find our way to the Peace Corps office in the main city by 12:00. My partner and I lucked out because we were here by 8:45. We were asking this nice woman when the bus came for Nuku'alofa and she said maybe 8:00 and then someone else pulled up in a car and she said "we go here" and we all got in with this nice man and his very elderly father and he drove us all into town (with a brief stop to pick up is sister from theology school where she is studying to be a missionary). so now we have many hours of free time to email!! yeah!!





What else...at our homestay we do not have running water so it is all about the bucket bath. it's not bad though. we use rain water from outside the house and the water isn't too cold becuase it has been sitting in the sun during the day. On November 14th we take an overnight boat to another island group called Ha'api to do another homestay for 5 and a half weeks. Those islands are much smaller and more remote but they say we will have email access. i'm not so hopeful about the water situation though. At that homestay we will stay individually with families. And we will also have Christmas there. Then we come back to Nuku'alofa for about 1-2 weeks and then have our swearing in ceremony and find out where we will be living for the next 2 years. ahhh!!





ANother thing - supposedly the mail situation isn't that bad so feel free to send me presents. :)





Again, my address is:





Carly Anderson, PCV
Peace Corps
PO Box 147
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
South Pacific





Ok, that's all for now!!





Cheers!


-carly

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