August 28, 2007

A couple weekends ago, we tried a new “beach.” After a long drive around the harbor, we found a quiet spot on the narrow strip of sand bordering the road in a very quiet village. The water was like glass, the church attendees’ voices rang out over the water and we ate a picnic of homemade pizza, played our mancala game and read our books. The pigs considered lunching with us, but we told them to “alu!” (“go!”) so they left us in peace and munched on the grass around us. No big crashing waves like Keleti, on the south shore, just a different peace.

Last Thursday, we all piled into the car as soon as school was finished to spend an hour at Keleti Beach. It was too chilly to swim, but we were still glad we came. We saw whales a few hundred feet off shore! We watched them until we were almost late for dinner with friends, but it was worth it. We saw spouts and then they dove. We even saw the big tail! It appeared to be a baby or two and a mother. This sighting was a first for all of us, and we are all still talking about it with great excitement.

This Monday, the whole family stayed home from school sick and exhausted. We only have a few more weeks before the term ends. Sometimes it seems like the students still haven’t figured out teacher expectations and how to exhibit better behavior. It seems to come with the territory. Patience is surely a virtue.

August 20, 2007

OK, Jen is ready to tell you the story about her computer. Take this as a lesson for all. Don’t make the same mistake!

A few weeks ago I was working on my portable computer. It is a great little laptop, that is very light. I use it in school, at home, to write emails and … this blog! Well, I was working at home while sitting on the couch. We were expecting a phone call from Kira’s friend. She was due to arrive any moment if she didn’t get lost. Sure enough, the phone rang. Kira was in the other room, and Cliff had his hands full in the kitchen. So I jumped up to answer the phone. I carefully set my computer on the arm of the couch, which is a wide flat surface, but the screen was tipped back a bit, and I was afraid the computer would tip over and fall on the floor. So, I tried to pull the screen so that it was more upright. It was sticking and not moving easily. The phone was ringing, so I did the unimaginable: With my fingers on the back of the screen, I put my thumb on the front against the screen (DON’T EVER TOUCH YOUR SCREEN). I pulled with my fingers and pushed with my thumb. POP! My thumb broke the internal material!

There is now a spot where my thumb pushed into the screen, a crack cutting diagonally across the screen, and the rest is black. Needless to say, I was absolutely devastated. I was smart enough to not look at the screen until I completed the phone call. But after I hung up, I cried in horror. I had a total meltdown. It took about an hour for me to recover. Thank goodness for my wonderful husband. He patched me up with an external monitor to use at school and at home. Obviously, I can’t use my computer as a portable anymore, but at least I can still use it.

So, that is the story of Jennifer’s computer. There is no way to fix it here in Tonga. Even in the US, it is the most expensive repair the company makes! So, Jen is practicing flexibility and patience. She tries not to look at her screen while she is typing to avoid any more heart break. Boo hoo.

On to happier thoughts.

Jennifer’s students are finishing up a unit studying countries around the world. There are five groups, each studying a different country. We found faculty, who could talk about each country: USA, England, India, Australia, and Kenya. Hew students worked together in their country groups to gather information. Now, each student is using the accumulated information to type a brochure describing their country. It is a challenge to get enough time in the computer room and getting the kids organized, but they are working diligently. We will play some games later this week to conclude the unit. Now, we start our next unit, studying famous historical figures that made an impact on the world.

Kira is still practicing cooperative living at home. She often would rather read, play cards or draw instead of helping with dinner or doing her chores. She was not very excited with one chore – dumping the compost. It is actually all food byproducts including meat scraps. We gave up on a compost pile because we have no intention of planting a garden. There is no top soil in our yard, and we have no desire to spend the little time we have on gardening this year.  However, our neighbor has pigs, chickens and dogs that are always scavenging for food. All the animals scavenge in Tonga. We decided we could give the animals our food scraps.  The animals were quick to figure out that Kira was supplying them with snacks. Now, every time Kira comes out of the house, they run to the “compost” spot, in anticipation of another snack. Kira’s best friend is a big fat pig!

We have another “pet”. We have talked about the geckos before. We spent the first few months of our stay, watching 2 little geckos working out their territory disputes on our living room ceiling. They have long since grown up or been eaten. Now, we have a gecko living in our bouquet on our kitchen counter. Our friend gave us some beautiful orchids and ginger flowers. The ginger is a big, red blossom with overlapping leaves going up a stem. Well, one little gecko, decided it made a nice bed. He has been living there for the past few weeks. You will see pictures of him in the photo section.

“Around the Twist” is a television series for children. It played in Australia in the 1980s. Our friend, Justine, from the fisheries, was interested in a change from her expatriate crowd. So, we invited her to dinner last week. We don’t hang out with the expat crowd much, preferring our Tongan friends and a few “palangis” from school. Anyway, when she came to dinner, she brought a set of DVDs of the Australian TV series. She said it was a favorite of hers when she was young (yes, she is still a youngster by our old fogy standards.) She considerately thought Kira would like it.

This created a bit of a dilemma. As you may recall, Jennifer made our TV into a coffee table. She figured that there wouldn’t be much selection for TV channels or videos on this island. She was correct; videos are pirated copies made from a person standing in the back of a theater, videoing it with a hand-held camera! And the type of movies they copy are not that great either! Jen also thought removing the temptation of TV provided an opportunity to see what life was like not being plugged in during our free time.

It has been wonderful to read and play card and board games. We have all read more in the past few months than in the past few years combined (except for Cliff, and now Kira, who always manage to read all the time)! We also learned some new card games; we adapted Russian Bank to be a cooperative game; Kira loves to try to shoot the moon in Hearts, so watch out Dad! And of course, there are the many versions of Gin and Rummy and Gin Rummy.

Back to Justine: she left 4 DVDs with us. Jen banned TV. What do we do? We made a deal in effort to encourage Kira to get accustomed to word processing. Although she is a good writer, she has been resistant to learning keyboard. She started to learn over a year ago, but claimed she always hated it. Now, for every minute she watches “Around the Twist,” she must practice her typing. It may be a bit of a strange bribe for a parent to make, but it has worked well so far. She already typed a letter to a friend and started a story. We watched a few episodes on our tiny computer screens. (A brand new TV came with the house, but it doesn’t have a video or DVD player.) The show is … um …interesting, conjuring up memories of Cabbage Patch Dolls, baggy sweaters, and old DOS computer screens. The Australian accents are a kick.  We are getting used to them because most people here have an Australian or Kiwi accent.

Kira has also started running with Jen. After a brief hiatus due to a strained muscle, Jen has returned to her routine, running 4 times per week, usually before dawn. There are fewer cars, it is very quiet and the temperature is cooler. Also, we are too tired after school to exercise, especially since we walk 2 kms to and from school.

Last Sunday, Kira did her usual complaining about our weekend walks. Then, while munching on her pancake snack, she started jogging with Jennifer. Usually she runs for 100 paces, then returns to Cliff and walks and talks with him. This time, she kept running. She ran for 10 minutes and would have kept going if Jen didn’t need to stop and stretch her strained leg muscle! That broke Kira’s rhythm and, although she kept it up for a total of 20 minutes, she had to stop frequently. Now, every time Jen goes running at dawn, Kira yells at Jen, “Why didn’t you wake me up so I could run with you?!” What a trooper! Even Cliff doesn’t like to wake up that early!

Sunday, we made our usual excursion to the beach. We were all up for a bit of an adventure, so we decided to try one of the beach roads near Keleti Beach. We usually go to Keleti because it is a known quantity. It is small, quiet and has spectacular scenery, with big waves crashing against the coal reef that protects the little pool we swim in. The coast all along the south side of the island has the same spectacular reefs and pools. We have visited a few of them, but sometimes the access road is too rough or the beach isn’t as perfect as Keleti. Well, we haven’t tried them all. Jennifer, the explorer, wanted to try some others. Does that mean she is never satisfied or the Great Adventurer?

We ventured to the next road after Keleti and wound up on a road with 3 nice houses and a little path to a nice little beach. There was even a place to park our car. We then discussed whether we should ask for permission from the house on the beach. In Tonga, like Oregon, people cannot privatize beaches. All beaches are public access. However, we might be parking on their property. So, is it the custom to ask for permission? They don’t have “No Trespassing” signs around here. You are not allowed to pick fruit from trees that are along the road because they are generally part of a plantation, but this was a garbage-filled parking space across the road from the house. It looked like a nice house and the cars were in the driveway, but it may be considered rude to disturb people on Sundays. People take the Sabbath seriously here. So do we knock on the door? The dogs are barking, but seem harmless…. OK, Jen finally approached the house and called out.

What a coincidence, it is the Ramseys! Mele is in Class 4 at Ocean of Light School. They recognized us immediately, gave us a big hug and welcomed us to park, swim and come in for tea after our swim! The irony is this really is not that much of a coincidence. Everyone knows everyone in Tonga.

Mele came swimming with us. We found some amazing snorkeling pools and climbed on the coral reef, looking at the little tidal pools and getting sprayed by the waves and blow holes. Kira and Mele were so thrilled to have a friend to play with, that we could not tear them apart after 2 hours on the beach and another hour visiting with the parents in the house.

Today is a national holiday. It isn’t clear why it is today. They used to have a big celebration for the old King because he was getting old and they weren’t sure how much longer he was going to live, so, every July 4^th (his birthday) they would celebrate his birthday like it was his last. The new king had his birthday in May, but wanted to change it to a different date (I don’t get it either…). Somehow, we ended up celebrating it today. We have no school today. There was supposed to be a Fun Run early this morning and a parade, but it has been pouring since last night. So, we are snuggled in our house, drinking tea, eating homemade scones and waiting for Mele to come play for the day.

We are all happy for the day off. We are in the middle of our third week of Term 3, but, for some reason, everyone is exhausted. The weather has been “hot” and “cold” (relatively speaking), wet and dry. It is supposed to be the dry season, but this is the second big rain we’ve had in the past week! It is great for our rain water tanks, but feels a bit too much like Oregon.

Cliff has been teaching Aikido to the youth every Friday for the past few weeks. He is really enjoying it; the kids love it; and Jen enjoys a couple peaceful hours to herself. She usually hangs out with Lyndsey, a teacher friend who lives near the dojo. Lyndsey’s kids make up a third of the class. There are about 15 kids in the class ranging from Kira’s age (9/10) to young adult (23).

Jen has been setting a bit more relaxed pace for her self (in a relativistic way). She stopped tutoring the Korean students after school and uses the time to tie up loose ends for her class, do email and get home at a more reasonable hour. We finally bought tickets for New Zealand. We only have one week vacation because Cliff has to prep his kids for Cambridge exams. We are now in the process of deciding what we can do in such a short time. We will probably focus our time on Auckland, where we fly in and out, and Christchurch, where there is an interesting school (thinking of our next potential adventure…). If anyone is familiar with these places, ideas are welcome. We are talking to our friends here, as many have lived in New Zealand at one time or another.

I was going to write a bit more, but I had a major catastrophe with my computer (a story I will tell you next time). Meanwhile, I want to post this entry before it gets too old.