My Aunty from America

I had a very special visitor this past week – my Aunt Ruth. I was incredibly excited for Aunt Ruth to visit, as I wanted to share my experience of serving as a volunteer with someone from my family. I have not had a visitor since Katherine came to Vava’u almost a year ago, so I have spent the last few months planning what I hoped would be a great trip for my aunt with a mix of leisure, adventure, natural beauty, and cultural immersion.

Rather than write a play by play of our week, I have decided to touch upon some of our highlights. On Thursday, Aunt Ruth came to my school and met all my teachers and students. Everyone at school was excited to get a glimpse of my Aunt, as I had warned them that she was coming with candy and other presents. It was hard to tell who was more excited by the prospect of the sweets, the teachers or the kids.

When my aunt finally pulled into school around 10:30 am, the kids swarmed her, carefully eyeing everything that was in her two plastic bags. I first introduced her to my teachers, and then carefully laid out all of the presents on my principal’s desk for her to examine. The kids were hovering around to see what goodies awaited them, but I made them line up and patiently wait their turn as I passed out the candy – a grueling display of patience that for them seemed akin to torture.

After eating their sweets, the students excitedly posed for pictures, continually gesturing to Aunt Ruth to snap a quick shot of them. This went on during class, as the students would continue to watch what our special visitor was doing rather than the lesson at hand. Regardless, it was amazing to be able to show my aunt my school and teach a class in front of her, with the special bonus of finally capturing quality pictures of me teaching (returned volunteers often say that one of their regrets is not having photos of themselves working when they get back to the states).

The rest of the day was spent walking around my villages and meeting with my neighbors and town officer, or my “Tongan Father,” as he likes to call himself. Every person we passed eyed us curiously until I explained that I was with my “aunty from America,” and in response they all greeted her with the traditional Tongan sniff on the side of the face. It was a surreal moment observing these interactions, as it was like watching two completely different worlds of my life coincide for the first time. I kept imagining epic music playing in the background and the words, “Clash of Civilizations,” zooming in fast like in an episode of a cheesy old tv show. More seriously, however, it meant a lot to me for my aunt to see how I live, what I do, and to meet the people who have taken such good care of me these last two years.

There were too many highlights to keep this post short, but I will do my best. We went on an incredible day sail with three other volunteers to the uninhabited island of ‘Euakafa, of which I have gone diving off of but had never before stepped onto the land itself. It was a beautiful South Pacific Day as we sailed through the stunning turquoise blue water. After snorkeling with another volunteer and meeting up with the rest of the group on the beach, my world traveler aunt confided in me that it was one of the best beaches she had ever been to and that she had never seen water that was this color before. I must admit that I felt a sense of pride hearing such a statement about “my” island.

I introduced her to everyone I could think of. She met all of the volunteers – American, Australian, English, and Japanese – and every Tongan that I know. She forever ingratiated herself with some of the volunteers by buying them a meal (for all volunteers, including myself, the true way to our hearts is inevitably via free food). One day Aunt Ruth gave an impressive lecture at the hospital to the doctors and nurses, making me look good by association which is always a plus.

And of course it was the little things that I’ll remember. I have never eaten so well in Tonga in my life (steak, snapper, pesto pasta, and lobster – twice!). We hung out with all the volunteers, as my aunt had the opportunity to meet the people who have been so present and important to me in my time living in Vava’u. I got to share the beauty of Vava’u with her by hiking up Mt. Talau, swimming through the picturesque Swallows Cave, walking the jungle trail on the island of Mala, and kayaking through the turquoise waters of the South Pacific.

It was a perfect weekend with incredible time spent together. Moments are more meaningful when they can be shared, and I tried to share two years of my life with Auth Ruth in a one-week visit. I may not have been able to show her everything, but I believe that I passed on a little of my love of this country to her, and revealed the true beauty of the place – its people – to a family member who had never heard of Tonga before the Peace Corps told me that I would be living here not so long ago. What more could either of us have asked for?

Thanks for reading and enjoy the photos of our time together taken by my aunty from America.

Posing with Sione, Simi, Henry, and Samiu

Teaching phonics to Class 5

The Run to the Board Game (I really need a better name for this) with Class 3 and 4

Aunt Ruth and I on are sail with 'Euakafa in the background