What I’m Missing

This will be my last post for the next several weeks as I am traveling to San Francisco for a short vacation and beginning to plan for the next stage of my life for after I finish my Peace Corps service in October/November. While I am incredibly excited for the trip, I am also unfortunately missing two large events that will be taking place on my home island of Vava’u.

Many of you may have noticed that after incessantly blogging about feasts last year I haven’t written a single post about a feast this year. You may have assumed that this was because I have figured out that you all were a bit tired of the subject by now, but that would be assuming that I am a far better blogger than I actually am. Instead, the reason is that everyone in my three villages has been tightening their proverbial belts, both literally and figuratively, for the annual Wesleyan Conference taking place at the end of June in Vava’u for the first time since 2002.

This is a big deal. I repeat. This is a BIG DEAL. The Conference is usually held on the main island of Tongatapu as it easier for people to travel too, has far more amenities, and is simply much larger than all the other islands combined. With the Conference this year, the 14,000 population of Vava’u is expected to swell to as many as 18,000 people. Tongans from all over the world – America, New Zealand, Australia, Europe, and the other Tongan islands – will be coming to Vava’u to attend the festivities.

The Conference is centered upon the two major events that dictate Tongan life, church and food. For the week, every village is responsible for supplying the feast food, with each family providing food for one or two tables. This is an expensive enterprise, and will result in a lot of money being spent and a lot of pigs being killed. Because of this Tongans in Vava’u are not spending much money now, and I have sadly not attended a feast this year, other than when I visited my Tongan sister on the island of ‘Eua back in January. I know, I am as heart broken for myself as I am sure you all are for me. Thank you for that.

The second event is the King’s birthday on July 4^th, which he has decided to also celebrate this year in Vava’u. For the past 5 weeks, every primary school, including mine, has met on a field in town in Friday to practice for the King’s birthday. The students and teachers have to wear all red – red shoes, long red socks, red shirts, red shorts, and red shower caps (yes you read that right) – and all of this red has to be the same solid color without any writing on it. On these Fridays, some thousand primary school students stand in the blistering sun for as many as 5 hours to practice aerobics, forming the Tongan flag (one school wears white to complete the picture), learn how to properly enter and leave the field, and learn the correct way to say and act, “Happy Birthday Your Majesty.” It is interesting to watch and the kids will put on an amazing display for the king on his birthday, but all of the practicing has been a bit tedious and expensive for the schools to have to transport their kids to town each week.

The High Schools have also been practicing traditional Tongan songs and dances, which they will perform for the king. Beyond this, the entire week of the King’s birthday will host fairs, parades, and contests, such as the fakaleiti (men who dress as ladies in Tonga) Miss Galaxy competition. The entire week will be an absolute spectacle.

I cannot wait to see everyone in the US for a short vacation, but I’ll also be excited to hear about all the events that I will miss back in Vava’u upon my return. For now, thanks for reading, enjoy the photos from our practices, and see you in a few weeks!

Practicing for the Kings Birthday (the school on the right is actually wearing Iowa Hawkeyes t-shirts thanks to the volunteer living in that village)

Aerobics being lead by two volunteers and several Tongan teachers

Pesi wearing her gorgeous pule taha (the matching dress and skirt) and kiekie ( the woven skirt type thing around her waist)

A beautiful sunrise over my village

Mr. Fink comes to Tonga

After going a full year between my first and second visitors, I only had to wait the interminable length of two weeks for my third. This particular visitor was one of my best friends from home, Michael Fink, who I have known since we were 12 in Boca and lived with for 3 of my 4 years in college.

While my last two visitors, Katherine and Aunt Ruth, got a taste of my Peace Corps life and Tongan culture, we mostly stuck to the tourist beat. Fink and I of course did the tourists things as well, but he had told before he booked his flights that he wanted to stay in my village and live the Tongan way – a request that I was happy to oblige.

For the first two days we stuck to a consistent schedule, school in the mornings and the beach in the afternoons. Fink made an instant impression on all of my school kids, as they were particularly awed by the size of his biceps and repeatedly asked me why mine were not as big. He watched me teach, played rugby with the older boys, observed the kids climbing up palm trees to give him his first taste of a Tongan coconut, helped me grade the kids practice exams, and even jumped into the fray by taking my place to teach a few games. I know after Fink leaves my kids will continually ask me, Where’s Maikolo (the Tongan name I that dubbed him)?

Those first two afternoons were no less enjoyable, as we headed out to the beautiful beaches of Keitahi and the even more stunning Secret Beach. One of the other volunteers, Joey, joined us on the second day, and it was an absolute joy to again watch my two worlds collide as one of my best friends met my close Peace Corps friend. Luckily, they liked each other.

After the beach, a Tongan man from Joey’s village invited us to come back to his house for dinner and then to kava. After a quick bite, we drove to the nearby village of Tu’anekivale because they had a toua (a women serving the kava) on that particularly night. So from 9 pm to 1 am Fink and I sat on opposite sides of the toua, two spots that inspire by far the lewdest jokes, and we drank kava bowl after kava bowl, as Fink learned some Tongan words and just how dirty the Tongan jokes can be in a kava circle. Always a good sport, the men were impressed by Fink, especially after the toua gave him a kiss on the cheek.

The rest of trip was equally amazing. Fink was able to meet all of my Tongan and Peace Corps friends, making a much better impression upon them than I normally do. We went out one night to the only two bars, and watched game 1 of the NBA Finals, which ended disappointingly in a Miami Heat loss, but were able to see our team come back strong and take game 2 the following Monday. On Saturday, we left the friendly confines of land with another volunteer, Ryan, to snorkel off of the islands surrounding Vava’u and even were able to climb through a few island caves that I didn’t know existed. We could not have had a better day weather wise, and the visibility in the water was perfectly clear. Fink even braved Mariner’s Cave, where he had to trust me enough to swim under water into a black hole with no end in site, but was rewarded by glimpsing the coolest cave I have even seen. To top it all off we had dinner at the Spanish tapas restaurant Paella on the island of Tapana  - easily one of the most fun, delicious, and random things to do in Tonga.

The week went by way too fast, as we caught up on the past 6 months and picked up just where we left off before I had left for Tonga.  It really meant a lot to me for Fink to come all the way to Tonga, and he is truly a special friend and person for doing so. I was so glad that I was able to share a little of my life with him from these past two years.

Thanks for reading and please enjoy the photos.

Fink with my teacher Paea's 3 year old son, Nico, a.k.a Spiderman.

Fink teaching numbers to Class 3 and 4

Fink giving the thumbs up sign on our snorkel. Special thanks to Sarah for letting us use her awesome underwater camera.

Fink and I snorkeling off of the island of Kapa.

Fink and I (from right to left) in Mariner's Cave. The cave makes for some pretty odd but beautiful lighting. 

Fink leaving Mariner's