The Road Less Traveled : A Quick Adventure

Hello Everyone. Thank you all for your patience the past few weeks with my infrequent blogging. Between my broken charger, which is now no longer an issue, and my traveling, it was difficult for me to write many posts, but I am happy to say that those sad days are now a thing of the past.

For those of you who don’t know, I left Tonga on April 4^th for the first time in 7 months. I met my parents in Bali and traveled with them to Singapore and Japan. I do not plan on saying much about the trip, as I want this blog to reflect my Peace Corps service rather than any traveling I may do. However, I have uploaded several photos to this post for you all to peruse at your pleasure, and I will relate some aspects of the trip as well as comment on a few of my highlights in Vava’u since my last post.

To start it was incredible seeing my father, mother, and brother and be able to spend time with them. 7 months is a long time, and I very much needed the break from Tonga and I could not imagine having a better vacation.

The best parts of the trip ranged from the trivial (hot showers and fast internet) to the substantial (not sweating every second of the day, eating food I hadn’t seen just killed, and of course being in such spectacular locations) to the somewhere in between (having something to do on Sunday and seeing so many people in one place).

It was an unbelievable break from my real fake life as a pcv and I hope you enjoy the photos, but first….

Some Recent Highlights:

1. After weeks of training my East Region (Vave Hahake) warriors, i.e my Tongan primary student athletes, we finally had our all GPS – primary school – sports day. I am overly proud to admit that, partly thanks to my palangi (foreigner) training, or so I told every Tongan I could see in my gloating hubris, my region came in first place, defeating the other 5 regions. As I have often mentioned, Tongans love to joke, and I had a particularly good time joking with my old school principle, who is now teaching at another school, about how he missed the chance to play for a winner by moving to the Town Region. He gracefully acknowledged his mistake, laughing heartedly in the process.

2. After my faster kids finish their worksheets during class, if the other kids are still working they have to read a book or look at the world map I glued to the wall. Their worksheets finished, two of my better Class 6 students walked to the poster, looked at me, and said, “USA…?” with the obligatory head tilt to the side accompanying the question. I responded, “Amelika,” as that is the only way America is referred to in Tonga, and they nodded their heads knowingly. After this episode, their eyes ventured North to where I heard, “Canada?” The two kids repeated “Canada” to themselves for a few moments and I could clearly see they were contemplating something. Each murmur of “Canada,” became subsequently louder, and more of an exclamation than a question. Rapidly, after 3 or 4 of these mutterings, they turned to me incredibly excited and shouted, “Soni…Canada! Celine Dion?” I was blown away. If not for the fact that I had heard my kids several months ago singing My Heart Will Go On from Titanic, my face would have literally hit the floor. Stunned, I just responded, not really knowing if I was telling the truth or not, “Io (yes),” to which their little faces beamed with a sense of pride and pleasure. They then ecstatically interrupted the rest of the class by yelling, “Hau sio (Come look). Canada! Celine Dion!” and thereby creating a shocking level of excitement within the class. I am still amazed. My kids might not know what the US is but they sure know that Canada holds the honor of birthing Celine Dion. Well done Canada!

3. The Monday after Easter was a national holiday and school was canceled, so my neighbor invited me to eva pe (wander) with his family across the main island of Vava’u. We drove West to the villages of Longomapu and Tu’anuku, seeing the only fresh water lake in Tonga, Lake ‘Ano. We then traveled to the Southern tip of the island to Pangaimotu, which is large island connected to the main island by a causeway. It was an incredible way to spend the day, as – and I know I often forget to relate this – the island is stunningly beautiful and truly a tropical paradise, and with my sojourn to the West and South I have now seen the entire main island. I am very lucky to have such a welcoming neighbor.

4. Several weeks ago, my counterpart Paea asked me if I could draft a legal document for him. He told me he was renting a house in Neiafu to a Tongan couple and wanted to give them a document reaffirming what they had agreed to pay him each month, and other such details. After making sure Paea realized that anything I wrote would not actually be legally binding, I agreed to write the document. As the son of a lawyer, I naturally assumed that some of those skills were genetic and I was curios to see what knowledge I had absorbed from the 5 episodes of the tv show Suits I had seen almost a year ago. After exhaustive work researching the Tongan legal system (just go along with that remark please), I returned my “legal document” to Paea, which he had the renters sign. And with that my professional legal debut was finished.

As for my life at this moment, I am currently training with the other pcvs on the main island of Tongatapu. I am returning to my home in Vava’u on Saturday and will restart teaching on Monday. I promise to share anything interesting that happens in my next post.

Thank you everyone for reading. I promise to post more frequently in the future.

Also, in the wake of what happened in Boston, I hope everyone is safe and doing well. My heart goes out to everyone back home and especially those affected by the tragedy.