Termites, Christmas, Feasts, and Planning

Judging from the randomness of the title of this blog post, my readers may be asking themselves what any of these subjects can possibly have in common. The answer, without any facetiousness on my part, is nothing.

Since no singular event occurred in my life in the past week, and I have no great theme which I would like to introduce at this time I have decided to briefly relate small anecdotes on each of the subjects alluded to above.

Termites

Frequent readers will notice that the tone of this blog is fairly positive. That is because, with few exceptions, my experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tonga has been overwhelmingly positive. One of these exceptions, however, is rather miniscule yet has become quite a nuisance.

For the past two months I have been waging a silent war – silent in the fact that I had not previously mentioned the subject in this blog but quite loud within the confines of my home – against termites. To be fair they might not be termites, but carpenter ants or some other nameless sub-species. I am by no means an expert concerning insects, but since these ants leave wood fillings around my house I have taken to calling them termites.

My methods of extermination and co-habitation have been numerous. I have filled up the holes in my house, as a way of preventing the continuous onslaught of these invaders by such measures as silly putty, duct tape, scotch tape, and strips of cardboard from the packages I have received. I have sprayed an overwhelming amount of mortein – the bug spray used in Tonga – that is undoubtedly bad for my health but necessary of my very survival. I have even resorted to the Tongan remedy, as related to me by the town officer of my village Havea, of placing kerosene in the cracks of my house to discourage the alien intruders.

So far I have met with mixed results. Due to my constant vigilance, the termites have temporarily retreated, but since I believe this retreat was purely tactical and thus temporary, I am planning on splitting the cost of an expensive (for Tonga and my stipend) termite jell with another volunteer who shares my problems.

For those of you back home, please don’t be grossed out or feel bad for me as I consider myself very lucky. Other volunteers have major issues with rats and cockroaches – problems far greater than my own – and I am quite content that I only have to battle these pesky insects that somewhat helpfully fill up my free time.

Christmas

As Tonga is a very religious and Christian country, Christmas is very important here. Christmas in Tonga has a very different feeling from America, however, as there is much less of an emphasis on gift giving, and more of a focus on church and community.

Christmas Eve is exclusively a youth event in Tonga, or at least in my village. All of the youth performed songs and dances in front of the village elders and some of the parents. After these performances the little kids were given a few presents while the teenagers and older kids were given bags of candy. Wanting to take part in the gift giving, I gave some of the kids glow in the dark glow sticks (thank you Mary Sue!) I had received in a package and must have seemed like magic to the kids. In return I was rewarded with bags of every candy I have seen in Tonga (no where near as much as in America, but substantial in its own right) that I have been thankfully munching on the past few days.

The next days, Christmas, was very much like any Sunday in Tonga. Church starts at the same time – 10 a.m. – and lasts until 11:30 a.m. as always. The difference however is that after church the entire village ate a massive feast in the hall next door. I was given the honor of sitting in the front with the village elders and church ministers, where we were allotted the best food and greatest portions of meet.

Over the next two hours, everyone feasted and the adults took turns standing up and issuing fakamalo, which literally translate to the saying of thanks. Though I could not understand much of what was said, I was mentioned frequently and was continuously humbled by how thankful they all were for my being there even though I have yet to start teaching.

It was a very nice and Tongan affair, and like all Tongan feasts, I was gifted with as many left over’s as I could carry and that happily sustained me for several days after.

Feasts

On the subjects of feasts, my theory is that Tongans just look for any and every excuse to hold a feast. Events, no matter how big or how small, are not truly honored without a kaipola, or feast.

In the past month alone, I have attended a feast for the annual fundraiser, the youth group (of which I am considered a part of and consists of everyone in the village from the ages of roughly 3 to anyone who is not yet married), a wedding, and of course Christmas. I love the feasts, as it is the only time, besides church, when the entire community comes together and are always very festive occasions.

Planning

Last but not least, to assure all of my readers that I am not just sitting around my house all day doing nothing and feasting – that consists of only half my day – I have been busy planning this past week for the upcoming term. I still have a long way to go, but my goal is to plan out the entire first term (ten weeks) for all of my English classes for Classes 6, 5, 4, and 3.

I have no clue what I am doing and all of this may be a waste of time as I sadly learned that my principle Sione has been reassigned and that I will have a new principle when school starts and whom might change my schedule. That being said, I am trying to make the most of my time and I hope this planning will make my entry to the classroom much smoother.

To conclude, I apologize for the absence of photos in the past few posts. I, unfortunately, have no new photos of myself as there is no one to take them and the café where I usually post these updates is temporarily closed and the Internet of the current establishment I am in does not have good enough Internet for me to upload photos. I promise, however, to remedy this soon.

Happy New Year!