Leaving my home stay was certainly bittersweet.
Before we left for our home stays, the staff told us that many volunteers
become very close with their families and maintain relationships with them throughout
their service and for many years afterwards. To be perfectly honest, I was
extremely dubious of this. I figured that since I would only be living with my
family for two months (of a 27 month commitment) and would not be able to speak
English with them, there was no way we were going to get close. I was excited
about the home stay experience as I studied abroad in London and never had the
chance to live with another family, but I did not foresee a profound experience
by any means.
I was wrong. In two months, aided by my family’s
fluent English and their incredibly generous hospitality, I have become
extremely close with them and am truly considered a member of the family. Faina
is like another mother to me and I think of Sione and Kalo as a brother and
sister respectively. I could not have been more fortunate by being assigned to
my family and I plan on maintaining a strong relationship with them for the
next two years.
To give you an idea of how generous my family is
and how close we have become I wanted to give some specific examples below:
1)
My grandma cried on Sunday that I was
leaving while we were eating lunch.
2)
Faiana wanted Sione to travel to Vava’u
with me to make sure that I was ok, but since I am leaving during his school
year he is planning on staying with me in December.
3)
They offered to pick my parents up at the
airport when they visit, and Faiana wants them to stay at her house as guests.
4)
The family was sad that I could not come
for Christmas, but I promised to visit when I return to Tongatapu in April for
training.
5)
The morning I left their house Faiana was
crying and told me she loved me.
These are just a few examples of their
generosity. I have had an amazing time getting to know my family, and saying good-bye
was tougher than I ever expected. I feel very fortunate that I was so welcomed
into such an incredible family.
It is not all bitter, however, as the title of
this post alludes too. Yes, I am sad to say goodbye to my family (though
hopefully it’s more of a see you later), but I am also incredibly excited to
start my service and begin actually making a difference.
This past week, I spent a few days living in Vava’u
at the house of volunteer who has been in Tonga for the last two years. The
week was incredible. I finally got to see Vava’u after hearing from all the
Tongans how faka’ofa’ofa (beautiful) it was, and I was not disappointed. I saw the school I will be teaching at,
met my fellow teachers (all 2 of them), and entered my future home of two
years.
Since there is so much to tell, I will try to
just mention the highlights and post some pictures of my house and my school
below. First, I want to mention how beautiful Vava’u is. When you think South
Pacific, it is exactly that – hilly, covered in rainforests, and little islands
everywhere. When we flew in I had a bird’s eye view of the island group and I
could not believe how lucky I am to live here.
Second, my school and house are great. My school
is literally in the middle of the bush and there are 3 towns about a km away.
The kids walk to the school every day from their homes from their 3 respective
villages. It is really cool and it is an easy walk from my house. My house is
very small and cozy, but has more than enough space to live and now I just have
to learn how to cook.
Thirdly, the main city of Neiafu has a large
expat community of Americans, New Zealanders, and Australians. Some of the
expats live in Neiafu (the capital) or the nearby town of Toula, but most live
on their private yachts that are docked in the harbor. I think this will
provide an interesting dichotomy for me as when I am in my village I will very
much live a Tongan lifestyle, but when I bike to town I will hear English and
be able to order a diet coke at a restaurant, eat a burrito, and watch an NFL
game which is certainly not what I expected when I joined the Peace Corps.
· I
hiked up a mountain and was rewarded with an awesome view of Vava’u (picture
below)
· We
went to a fakaleiti (men who dress like women) show at Tongan Bob’s, so I
basically saw a drag show in the extremely conservative and Christian Tonga,
which was definitely a unique experience. (For those of you who have seen
Priscilla Queen of the Desert imagine that but scaled down 100 times).
· I
played – and won – trivia night at Tongan Bobs the next night with some
volunteers and expats while eating my first, and very much needed, hamburger that
was pretty delicious.
· To
welcome me at my school, the kids gave me a bag of 50 mangos and were surprised
when I did not ferociously eat 10 of them right away.
· I
met my first noble, the governor of Vava’u. He was of course no different than
other Tongans I have met, but at least now I can say I met a noble.
That was my last week in a nutshell. It was an
amazing time and very different from my home stay experience of the past two
months. I am incredibly excited to finish my last week of training in Nuku’alofa
and then head back to Vava’u and start being a real volunteer.
This next week I will be in Nuku’alofa buying
everything I need for site, meeting the new director of Peace Corps Tonga,
taking my final language exam, and officially swearing in as a Peace Corps
volunteer.
As always, thank you for reading!
The view from Mt. Talau
At the fakaleiti show
My school - GPS Houma
Class 1 and 2 at my school
My house
My bedroom
My common area and kitchen (the man with his back to me is the town officer and the other man is my Tongan counterpart who teaches Class 3 and 4 at my school)
My kitchen
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