Living on a tiny
island in the South Pacific I am vulnerable to the frequent and sudden changes
of weather that occur. It can be sunny one minute, thundering and lightning the
next, slightly overcast a moment later, and back to sunny again all in the span
of an hour. I mention this only because I was hoping to regale you in this post
with my adventure of camping out on an island this past weekend, with pictures
to match, but unfortunately the weather made this impossible.
Though as I type this
post the weather is sunny and beautiful, it rained so much this morning that
the ground is muddy and swamp-like, making camping impossible. You will thus
have to make due once again without pictures – Sorry! – and with the less
aesthetically pleasing anecdotes below.
But with the
dexterity of a pinch hitter called to the plate in a moments notice, I have
tried to do my readers justice with this alternate post below. First I have
some Tongan news to relate and then I will relay my semi-expat American need
for football.
In Tongan news I
gave another fakamalo, thank you speech, on Friday. Uhila, the same man who
asked me to give a fakamalo when he invited me to his house for a New Years
feast last week, convinced me again to give a fakamalo in the hall.
The only
difference, however, was instead of giving a fakamalo to 15 people, I had to
make a speech to the entire village along with visitors from the main island of
Tongatapu, other towns in Vava’u, New Zealand, and Australia. So…about 100
people all together.
To be perfectly
honest, if I had to give an off the cuff speech in English in America to my family
and friends I would probably be pretty nervous. To give a speech in a foreign language
that I barely know to a village I have only lived in for two months was
certainly daunting. To make things even more difficult, Tongans are not what
you would call tacit listeners. Whenever they hear something they like or agree
with, whether it is at the beginning, middle, or end of the sentence, Tongans
shout out one of several words – io, yes, malo, thanks, and monu’ia, blessings
or praise. My personal favorite, however, is mo’oni, which literally means the
truth.
When making a
speech in English, a good speaker expects some laughs, if the joke is decent
enough, and a smattering of applause at key moments. Imagine giving a speech in
America where instead of clapping, people in the audience would shout, “The
Truth!,” at random moments. That being said, I luckily saw the fakamalo coming
and am well acquainted with the Tongan responses to speeches, so when I rose
from my chair and began to speak I at least had some idea of what I wanted to
say.
Since I believe
some of you might be curious or enjoy knowing what the actual speech looks like
in Tongan, here it is:
“Oku ou lea
fakamalo. Malo feifekau. Malo Ha’akio. Malo ‘aupito ho’omou tokoni. Malo aupito
mau me’akai ifo aupito. Oku ou fiefia ‘aupito ke nofo i Ha’akio. Ko hoku famili
palangi oku nofo i Amelika ka oku ou fakakaukau ko hoku famili Tonga oku
Ha’akio (this received a sea of mo’onis and maybe a river of malos). Oku ou
fiefia ‘aupito ke faiako i GPS Houma. Ko kauleka i Ha’akio oku poto ‘aupito.
Fakamolemole. Oku ou lea faka-Tonga kovi aupito ka te u ako. Malo aupito.
This translates too:
I say a speech of
thanks. Thank you minister. Thank you Ha’akio. Thank you for your help. Thank
you for giving me delicious food. I am very happy to live in Ha’akio. My
American family lives in America, but I think my Tongan family is Ha’akio. I am
very happy to teach in GPS Houma. The kids in Ha’akio are very smart. Sorry. I
speak very bad Tongan but I will study. Thank you very much.
I was happily, and
somewhat surprisingly I must admit, able to make this speech with only a few
pauses and in a loud, clear voice. The Tongans greatly appreciated my attempt,
and rewarded my efforts with a round of applause and several handshakes when I
returned to my seat. It was, without a doubt, my single greatest feeling of
accomplishment since I arrived in Tonga, as I have yet to start teaching, and I
felt fulfilled that I made an attempt that seemed so unfeasible just a few
months ago.
In other Tongan
news, I attended a dance (or disco as they say in Tonga) on Friday. I do not
think I have mentioned how ridiculous dances are in Tonga. With the exception
of Tongans between the ages of 15 to 20 who are at the perfect age for
embarrassment, everyone dances unabashedly. The kids are ridiculous. Jumping up
and down and having the time of their lives. The married women are even more
hilarious, as they dance with the same incredible spirit as the kids only with
much larger bodies. Even the men get into the fray if they like the particular
song.
The best comparison
I could make is imagine being at a Bar Mitzvah, where the only music playing is
a combination of techno, hip-hop, and island music, and everyone dances (women
and children especially) with the same enthusiasm and dance moves of the ten
year old younger siblings going crazy in the middle of the dance floor. To put
it in perspective, and this should be a great image for those of you who have
seen my horrible dancing, I am considered a good dancer in Tonga – yes, I know,
I was shocked too.
It was ridiculous
and a lot of fun. I couldn’t stop laughing with the Tongans and dancing with
the kids. I am also pretty sure now that my ten year old neighbor has a crush
on me as she told I looked very handsome and quickly interceded whenever a
small child, be it male or female, tried to pull me from my chair to dance. As
you can see, discos in Tonga are certainly an interesting experience.
Now in
semi-American expat news, I am uploading this post from a restaurant in town
while I am watching the Colts play the Ravens, and later the Seahawks play the
Redskins. I walked into town early (arriving here at 7 a.m.) to watch the
playoffs as I sadly learned that the Super Bowl is scheduled on my very first
day of school, so seeing the game is unfortunately out of the question, and I
had to watch at least one playoff game while I was here.
As these are only the second and third
nfl games I have been able to watch this year – the other game unfortunately
being the Chiefs vs. the Chargers, which every nfl fan knows, watching either
of those teams alone this year, let alone them facing off against each other,
is a punishment you would not wish on your worst enemy – I am extremely happy
to partake in an entertainment that filled up so much of my pre-Tonga life.
As always, thank
you for reading. I will do my best to actually put up some photos with me in
them in the near future. Next week all of the volunteers are flying to the main
island of Tongatapu for a week of extra training before school starts, and I
will try to capture some of the Group 77 touching reunion moments and have then
in my next post. Have a great week!
The sunset in Vava'u
The view from my bike ride through the Western side of the island
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