Tofua'a

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Thursday and Friday of last week I was a little sick. I’m unsure if I ate something bad or got a little something from someone, but it was no fun. Since I was to be locked up in my house for a few days, my friend brought over his families TV and VCR. There are no actual TV Stations here in Vava’u, but it’s great if you just want to watch a video. I borrowed the Star Wars trilogy from another volunteer to make it through the day. I watched two of the movies before it was discovered that the TV was at my house. Once the news was out, my house was full of children. If you look at the pictures of my house then you would notice that it is quite small. I had about 13 children inside with a number of kids outside. I laid in the middle of the floor on my sleeping pad with a blanket over me. I was annoyed for about 5 minutes until everyone started laughing. They loved the movie and I think the Ewoks were the big hit. They will sit through movie after movie in English and not understand any of the dialog. I don’t have that kind of patience.

My village of Okoa is a small island, but is attached to the main island by a bridge. There is a decent size inlet at this point where many villagers swim, fish, and collect clams. The other day I was crossing the bridge, which was full of people. They were all looking out into the inlet pointing at something. Apparently about eight baby whales had managed to swim into the cove, but could not get themselves out. The word for whale in Tongan is tofua’a. It is a little early for whale season, so I’m not sure what happened or where the mother was hiding out. They are beautiful creatures and I’m glad I had the opportunity to just relax and watch them. The sad part of the story is that some fisherman from my village and our neighbors are killing these baby whales for food. The fishery department put out an announcement over the radio that this is illegal, but no one seems to pay attention. I heard gunshots the other evening so I think we are down to three whales now. Everyone wants a taste and no one seems to care about getting them out. They have been here now for four days and I have a feeling they wont last too much longer.

Time for a little Tongan lesson.
The way that English is taught to primary school students here is over the radio. We have one AM station and surprisingly it reaches all the islands. Each class listens to the 20 minute program with their teacher present. They repeat words, answer questions, and sometimes even maneuver through true and false questions. This is to ensure that all the students in Tonga are receiving the same information. The teacher is then encouraged to follow up with the students and expand on the information. Once a class is finished with listening to the program, a students runs the radio to the next scheduled classroom. At this point I’m not sure if I agree with this system or not. As with anything there are many ups and downs. A funny side note is to see the women in local town halls weaving and listening to the program. For many villages, this is the only radio station that they receive. So you can hear C-A-T and H-O-U-S-E echo across villages at 9:00 in the morning.

I have a new cooking idea for all you creative folk.
No – not whale.
I’ve been trying to budget a little better, so I’ve been packing a lunch when I go to the office. This week I was lacking some of my easy options such as PB sandwich, bananas, crackers and cheese. So I decided I would bring a hot dog. Yes, a hot dog – one of the basic food groups. The only problem is that there is no microwave or stove to heat up my food at the office. Here is the creative part: I wrapped the hot dog in foil and placed it on the tin roof. After a few hours in the sun the hot dog was heated thoroughly and ready to be eaten.
I challenge you all to get back to the basics.
Think simple.

Love you,
Adrianne