Tues, Jan 9, 2007; TONGAN PHONE NUMBER

Recieving my certificate to official make me a Peace Corps Volunteer

Carly and Karen - juggling masters!!

Hello all!

Hope you are all doing well and enjoying the new year! I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer now. We had our swearing-in ceremony on January 4th after 10 weeks of training and then I actually started work the very next day (I am the only one who has had to start already and I am very tired so this will be brief). Our swearing-in ceremony was lovely. It was held at a resort in the village next to where we had our first 2 week homestay. The restaurant overlooks the water and is very very beautiful. We had people from the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and Ministry of the Environment there to welcome us to our work in Tonga. Our host families from Ha'atafu all came and other friends of Peace Corps and the volunteers who stay in Tongatapu. It was a beautiful ceremony and my Team Koulo group and I got to perform our juggling dance. (Did I tell you I've learned to juggle since being in Tonga? I can only juggle fruit though, I've never tried anything else)

The day after the swearing-in ceremony those of us staying in Tongatapu had our supervisor's meeting where we met our new supervisor's and discussed what our role in the organizations will be. As I think I said before, I will be working with a man named Malakai (Sonny is his nickname) in order to develop a Special Education program for Tonga. I will be working directly in the classroom with a Tongan teacher in order to train her on working with Special Education students and develop an inclusive Special Education program that fits in with the school system and culture in Tonga. I am really excited about this opportunity and having the chance to be part of such an exciting change in the education system here. Work has already been hectic - today alone I met with the Tongan teacher who will be in the classroom, with an Australian volunteer who will be teaching us Australian sign since one of the children is profoundly deaf, an Australian volunteer who is an OT and will work maybe once a week with the kids until she leaves in March, and then I had 4 parent meetings and met with my supervisor! They are keeping me on my toes!

In other exciting news, it looks like I will have a home by the end of the week (after they clean out all the rubbish from inside - and I literally mean piles of rubbish were inside the house - why is that necessary? yuck!) It is a house owned by the Ministry of Education - 2 bedroom, indoor bathroom, and a very large kitchen/dining room/other room and a living room. It even has a mini-fridge and a mini-stove!! I'm excited but I have no idea how I will fill all that space - guess you will all have to visit me a lot!

Here is my new info:

Phone Number: 011-676-879-2284 (hint hint - it's my b-day tomorrow - january 10th here - so you better call me!!)

Address (stays the same):
Carly Anderson, PCV
Peace Corps Office
PO Box 147
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
South Pacific

(How cool is it that I live in the South Pacific??)

toki sio!!
-carly