April 28, 2007

We had our first week back to school for Term 2. Fortunately, we were eased gently back into the routine; Wednesday was ANZAC Day – an Australian/New Zealand/South Pacific holiday celebrating something about the last day of the war in the Pacific. Everybody on the island seemed to have the day off.

So, we enjoyed the morning at the beach. We visited the limestone stalactite cave, Anahulu, a cool little cave by the ocean. As we ventured in with our flashlights (“torches” as they call them here), we heard the bats echo-locating and saw some cave formations and interesting little “rooms” with deep pools of water. Some of our friends have been known to swim in them, but the stink of the garbage and bat guano dissuaded us from such an experience. Instead, we walked out of the cave, across a little cemetery to the beautiful beach to go swimming. Kira learned how to ride the waves, and we reveled in the fact that we had the whole stunning little beach all to ourselves, even on a national holiday.

Cliff, in particular, has been enjoying our morning beach visits more. The sun is not so hot, and we have been finding beaches with beautiful little trees that overhang the sand for a bit of shade. The water is shallow so, battling the surf is not so difficult. And whether we swim or not, we savor the show that the waves put on as they crash on the coral reef that surrounds the lush green coast and makes for calmer beaches and easier swimming.

Wednesday evening, we gathered again with the youth group (except for us old relics). They enjoy the food and company (and food) as much as we do. We always have very interesting conversations and talk and laugh until it is too late.

Cliff and Jen both got new students in their classes this week. Jen is expecting another one next week. As strange as it may be for the school to still be accepting students at this point, she can’t complain. (Cliff can, however, still find the time in a busy day to occasionally complain.) Her class is still small. Some of her colleagues’ classrooms are bulging at the seams. All the students are so nice; the new students are easily welcomed and quickly assimilated into the class.

A family from Canada with two boys joined our ranks during vacation. We spent some time with them as they were getting oriented. The boys and Teresa (the new high school social studies teacher) are settling well into the school.

Meanwhile, several teachers have been out sick. We have been watching after one sick friend, who valiantly avoided the hospital until last night. She seems to be on the mend but needed an IV to regain lost fluids. Don’t worry yourselves, though. We keep ourselves very healthy, so we will not be visiting any hospital here, I assure you. Thank goodness for our medical evacuation insurance. God willing, we will never need to use that either.

As you probably know, one of our food staples is banana bread. (I don’t think the banana season ever ends.) Jen admits that it may not be the healthiest food she cooks, but it has lots of banana and eggs and such in it. It is pretty hearty as quick breads go. OK, enough rationalization. It turns out, in the middle of cooking our last batch of banana bread, we ran out of gas for the oven (and hot water) while making banana bread… again… That sounds like quite a coincidence but we make banana bread about once a week. We have taken to frying hopa (plantain), too. Thankfully, our neighbor (the high school principal) has an extra gas tank that he lent to us. The faithful banana bread was saved again.

Cliff has been trying to reduce his wheat consumption again. It served him well to eat less wheat over the past few years but is quite difficult to do here. (Yes, eating banana bread does not help!) So, Jen has been experimenting with cooking various roots, making “potato salad” with manioc and taro root. It is not like the Tongans have all kinds of cool recipes. They basically bake or maybe boil everything. Everything is eaten plain and simple here. Not so bad, but Jen gets bored, so she starts to experiment with the foods. (We likely have the healthiest cuisine in Tonga.)

Wednesday afternoon, Kira and Jen tried to swim out to the coral reef near our house as Jen had done with our friend, Ma’a, last week. Unfortunately the tide and weather was not so cooperative. Jen chose not to wear flippers because Kira didn’t have any. By the time they swam three quarters of the way to the reef, the weather socked in, the surf got too high, and it started to rain. Today, they tried again. The tide was out, so they were able to walk out to the reef. Walking can be easier than swimming if you don’t minding stepping around dozens of sea cucumbers – these black or gray, blob-like masses and long-armed “star fish”. The weather was clear, so the visibility was good. We found a piece of an old Styrofoam cooler for Kira to float on when she got tired, and Jen wore her flippers this time, so was able to pull Kira through the channel against the tide when they came back in. At first Kira was a little nervous venturing out over the protective reef, but soon became very comfortable and enjoyed all the huge variety of fish and coral. We are so fortunate to have such great snorkeling walking distance from our house!

April 15, 2007

This is a little out of date order due to the storms and other excitement. We did not catch up on all the news that transpired before the end of the term, so we will continue:

Cliff gave end-of-the-term exams… well, not exactly end of the term. They wanted to give out grades before the end of the term, so everyone in the high school had to give exams two weeks before the end of the term and submit grades the second to last week and kill time during the final week. Cliff made the best of it and did some fun review games, trying to inspire some interest and laughs. He made a great Peter Marshall for his rendition of the Hollywood Squares. Assembling a bunch of computer and Ocean of Light trivia questions, he arranged the kids as both the stars and the contestants handing out candies to the winners (and losers) of each round. He employed our year of service helper, Camellia, as his faux Vana White to tend to the tick tack toe board. Believe it or not, he had to teach the kids the strategy of tick tack toe! On a side note, one day in class he caught the kids playing Minesweeper, FreeCell and Spider, among other Windows games. Instead of getting excited they were playing when they should have been listening to much needed lessons, he said they could play as long as they understood the strategy. Incredibly, it turned out they had no idea how to play! They just hit buttons and hoped for the best. He was incredulous and set aside time after school to teach them how to play correctly. He figured if they were going to play, they might as well engage their minds to do it creatively and constructively. When the Principal came in to after school study and Cliff was tutoring them to play the games, he wasn’t too sure; he didn’t say anything though.

The primary school had an end-of-the-term Science Fair. It was the first year the school had done one, so there were a few kinks to be worked out, but all in all, it was a very successful. In Jen’s class, the students worked with their partner to demonstrate and explain one of the many experiments that the class performed over the past five weeks. Although it was questionable as to whether the students understood what they were doing or saying, they seemed to learn a little more each time they presented. For the most part, these kids really enjoy performing. Parents and classmates all enjoyed the two-day affair, which included a Parent’s night special event.

Our final day of school was mostly non-academic. In Jen’s class, about half of her students were in attendance so they played a review game, read a story and cleaned up their room. Some students participated in a soccer game, so the primary classes watched and cheered them on. The day went quickly as it was a half day.

So here begins our 2-week vacation. We spent the first week doing some work and some play. We started with a trip to our favorite beach. Every day this week, we invited friends to join us for a meal. We met the new teacher for the high school who is from Canada and “kid-sat” their 2 boys while they looked for a rental house. We also spent a day working out some lesson plans with a fellow teacher and friend. Lyndsey is the Class 4 teacher and her daughter is Kira’s friend, Nisyola. Nisyola and Kira emailed each other while we were still in Oregon. They still enjoy playing together when they get the chance. Nisyola is in her first year in the High School, so they don’t get together as much as Kira would like.

We also had a nice quiet day at our favorite beach and a more raucous day with the youth from the school attending the Easter Egg Hunt and festivities in the local park. They prepared a “delicious” picnic of white bread, processed “cheese,” Oreo cookies, bananas and chocolate cake! Mmmm! They are such wonderful folks that we didn’t mind; we laughed a lot and enjoyed the beautiful day.

Thursday, we toured the National Tongan Museum. Everyone groaned when we told them we were going, because they think it is so unimpressive, old and dusty. The exhibits may not have been awesome, but some of the old photos were interesting and the woman who gave the tour was informative, telling us about the dancing, food preparation, weaving and tapa cloth-making. We went with the year-of-service students, Krizia and Camellia, and they make everything fun. (The year-of-service students are 2 girls who have dedicated a year before college to providing service to the School.)

Friday, we took a couple of Kira’s friends to the National high school track and field competition at the Nuku‘alofa stadium. Filling the stadium and in tents all around the track were students from all over Tonga, cheering on the high school competitors. We saw some impressive runners (400, 800 and 1500 meter) and jumpers (high, long, triple and pole) and throwers (shot and javelin). Mostly, it was fun to watch everyone get so excited.

Jen’s dear parents sent her a way too fine digital camera as a late birthday present, so we are back in the picture business again! Yay! Thank you, Wilsons! So, Jen has been taking pictures like crazy to make up for lost time. You can finally see our life in Tonga (subject to upload time, which if a SAT question would be worded, US DSL is to the speed of light as Tonga “broadband” is to the speed of sound). In the new Photo Gallery, you can view the beach, the school, the festivities and our other adventures. Just click on the link at the top or bottom of this page to see our pictures.) We have yet to clean up the other links on this web site. Thank you for your patience.)

Please keep those letters and emails coming. We do not hear much from your neck of the woods and would like to stay in contact with everyone. We anxiously await news of your goings on. Emails are the best way for us to communicate, but phone calls are welcome also. Note the time difference and try Pingo or some other inexpensive calling company. We check our email once or twice per week and look forward to emails from friends and family as long as they don’t have big attachments (remember the SAT analogy).

April 9, 2007

Oh my, so much to tell. We had a busy last few weeks of school, but now we are on a vacation break after the first 10 week term, so we have a bit of free time and can catch up with friends.

As we enter our winter down under, we don’t know if the end of the summer rainy season was supposed to come in like a lion and out like a lamb, but it seems to be doing the opposite. Everyone was admiring the mellow and relatively dry summer. It wasn’t that hot and didn’t rain too horribly much (although at times it seemed plenty hot and wet). In the final throws of the season, Mother Nature is giving us her all. At the end of March, the rains were long and hard - so much so that the school yard flooded. Our house drain pipe that feeds the rainwater tank snapped after a torrential rain. Fortunately, the drain pipe was fixed quickly, so we were able to take advantage of the water for household use.

Despite the rains, there was enough sun for Jenny’s class to make a solar oven out of a pizza box painted black and lined with foil and cook hot dogs and marshmallows. The students enjoyed making and monitoring the oven. Eating our accomplishments was a mess as there were no plates in the school and the marshmallows were not made by Kraft. They were a horrible sticky mass! Hot dogs are always a favorite here, though. Lots of processed foods are available. I think it is because they ship easily and are cheap. (Tonga is not a ripe market for the heath food business.)

During the same break in the weather, we experienced our first Hash House Harriers walk. (Originally, they would gather socially after the event at a hash house to drink and eat and drink some more.) So, every Thursday for the past seventeen or so years in Tonga a bunch of wild New Zealanders and Australians get together to walk or to run a course set out by the course master. A lot of talking and kidding surrounds the event, which is heartily enjoyed by all, despite the sometimes dreary route. This one took us around the old garbage dump, which is about to be abandoned for a new area to contaminate on the small island. Litter is a huge problem here and people will throw garbage anywhere and everywhere, even their once pristine beaches.

Then, more excitement – a tsunami warning! OK, we are standing with our colleagues in the school yard, discussing what we might do if it hits. Nuku a’lofa is about 5-10 feet above sea level. The city is surrounded by harbor, lagoon and swamp! The highest point on the whole island is 136 feet above sea level and the King’s residence is on that hill. We were debating whether he would welcome his subjects in these times of trouble (Your Majesty, may we join you for afternoon tea?). The King is not that fond of his subjects, we are told, and the young men with guns guarding the gates do not inspire drop-in guests. So a mob of nervous Tongans at his gates may not bode well. The other high point on the island is the airport. This is good because escape from there would be easier, but it is a half hour drive under normal circumstances, and a lot longer with half crazed islanders all rushing there at once…an interesting dilemma. The good news is that we didn’t have to figure out what to do. The tsunami was less than a foot high by the time it passed Tonga. The Solomon Islands were not so lucky; we send our prayers and heartfelt condolences to the people affected.

Then, if that was not enough, the last day of school hits us with another surprise. We had a half day. The primary school ended with a little party for a departing teacher. Danashree, the Class 3 teacher of 3 years is a beautiful woman and wonderful soul. We will all miss her dearly, but she will happily return to her traditional singing career in India and a nice Tongan teacher will replace her.

While Jen is partying, Cliff is attending the first, and only, staff meeting for the whole 10 week term.

Meanwhile, there is word that Cyclone Cliff is approaching! As a hurricane (cyclone in these parts, revolving in a clockwise fashion) was brewing, the primary school took the hint and packed up to go home. The high school droned on at their meeting as the winds started to pick up. Jen and Kira waited patiently for Cliff to finish his meeting, but there was no sign of it letting up. Then, our Peace Corps volunteer, Beth, gets a call from her office saying that is it coming faster than expected. Since the US does not have an embassy here (it is outside the US sphere of influence), we have asked Beth to be our contact person. We would probably use the Peace Corps as our exit agency if necessary. So, when she gives Jen the word, it is because it is important. Jen takes the hint, informs the high school staff of the news, and indicates to Cliff that it is time to go (Enter Jen, stage left: “the storm is coming and it’s time to go, now Cliff!” Cliff: “okay I have just had word from a higher authority, see ya. Depart Cliff, stage right whirling in a clockwise fashion out the door.) Don’t mean to be pushy, but we would rather not play with Mother Nature, especially a few hours before all stores close for a 4 day holiday (Good Friday through Easter Monday).

Cyclone Cliff! Now, isn’t that a wild coincidence! This is the first and only storm of that name ever to threaten these shores. The crowds at the stores seemed to be mostly due to people preparing for the holiday. The storm did not seem to hit head-on. We felt a lot of wind and some rain throughout the evening and night, but it was more of a tropical storm than a cyclone when all was said and done (few inches of rain and winds up to 50 MPH).