The Things Kids Teach Us...
This past month has been full of lots of emotions, as I’ve
started preparing to leave and close projects that we have worked to get off
the ground and running these past almost two years (September is officially two
years in Tonga… WHAT?!).
July started with our first basketball game and ended with
my group’s close of service conference where we started thinking about life and
options after Peace Corps.
View from our training room... it was real rough ;)
Close of Service Certificate
Story of the month:
Had a midnight visitor…
First I thought it was a molokau (centipede) and was
debating if I wanted to tackle it then or leave it till morning, until I heard
scratching which is not a sound that belongs to my molokau friends, so my next
thought was it must be a rat. Then my kitchen fell apart with the landing of
some larger creature sporadically jumping around it.
Assuming that this intruder was a man eating rat I naturally
brought my knife and can of mortein from under my bed and ventured into the
kitchen area hoping it was just my cat being ridiculous. Once I finally called
her and she came running in from her own bush adventures she laxidasically
started eating her food while this unknown creature continued to thrash itself
against every surface in my kitchen. Once I finally got courage enough to put
my hand in the kitchen to turn on the light I found this…..
This random bush cat decided it was going to claw its way through
my ceiling…
and make itself at home, unfortunately I scared it and it
ran right into the window in an attempt to escape but ended up getting itself
stuck in the windows (by this point the cat was so angry it was literally
hissing and spitting).
So I decided that dealing with the hissing, spitting cat at
midnight alone wasn’t something I felt like doing, so I ran next door to my
class 6 teachers house and asked for help. She sent over 2 of the class 6
girls, and finally we had to get another girl and boy to help in the releasing
of this crazy animal out of my window. They slowly but surely started taking
each luva (window pane) out and finally the cat was so agitated it broke the
glass of the top luva and scurried back up the hole in the roof through which
it had come. All that was left were some bewildered 12 years at the incompetence
of their palangi teacher, broken glass and some bloodied hands from the
shattered glass.
Lesson learned : My
class six students are very adept at taking apart windows and bush cats are not
to be messed with!
From that little purview I’d like to do a shout out to the
children of Tonga and all the things they have taught me over my service!
Tonga is awesome in so many ways!
Eating on the floor is awesome!
Patience (they are masters at keeping themselves occupied
without someone telling them what to do, these kiddos are braiding the grass!)
Dress sharp!
Take a rain bath/play in the rain!
It’s okay to be unsure.
Be resourceful!
Just jump in!
Sometimes its okay just to sit and watch the world around you!
Water Tanks are a blessing!
Smile!
You can look thug and pick up trash!
But most importantly family come first!
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