Free Wesleyan Bazaar!

This past Wednesday was the Free Wesleyan school bazaar where all the Wesleyan schools came to town to sell goods they made/ grew to earn money for next school year.

They made all different types of handicrafts (which they learn how to do in their Tongan culture classes), from tao'vala's ( the mats worn around the waist) to the kafa ( string made from coconut husks to tie the tao'vala's) ,

To kiekia's ( the decorative belt young girls and women wear )

Other schools sold bananas, coconuts, cabbage , carrots and other yummy crops!

Kiekia's and kafa!

Starting to build their entrepreneurship skills early...

The secondary school sold cabbage, tomatoes, and faikakai ( manioke mashed and baked with sugar and coconut covered in a syrup made from cooking down coconut cream with sugar) aka super yummy and super sweet!

'Twas my great luck that along with the bazaar happening, next door taliui( roll call) was in full swing for women's month! Basically every Free Wesleyan church on Tongatapu sends there women to show there presence for their district ( they do so by each singing a song and sayin a speech along with the names of people present, can't say it's a short process...)

All the women were decked out in their finest white clothes and red scarves!

The Queen Mother gave a speech.

Mo'ua was kinda enough to walk me around the bazaar and take me town! :)

Almost all the schools were at the bazaar so not much school actually happened as most kiddos and their moms were either at the Bazaar or taliui...

Picked up some fresh fish on the way home!

Naturally stopped for some ice cream...

Ended the week with these goofballs and a bonfire on the beach!

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than one seeks" 

  -John Muir

1 year in Tonga!

It's officially been one year in Tonga for myself and PC group 79! WOHOO! 

Unfortunately it also means group 78 has reached their 2 year mark, and many will start heading back to America for life after Peace Corps.

This past Saturday we welcomed in the new group 80 volunteers! 

It was a bus ride full of excitement all the way to the airport to pick up the newbies

Once they finally landed, naturally we gave them a Friendly Islands welcome complete with excited cheers and welcome kahoa's (Lei's)!

They all made it! Group 80 Peace Corps Trainees for the next 2 months until they are officially sworn in the first week of November!

Tongatapu Volunteers (groups 78 & 79's)

We are so excited for new faces and new people to learn from and work with! They start their pre-service training, which many people (including myself) from both  groups 78 & 79 will help to facilitate and get them ready to serve here in the Kingdom of Tonga!

Adventures in 'Eua!

This weekend we took a trip to 'Eua to visit our fellow peace corps friends and volunteers ( Sammi B, Sammi L, Bailey ,& Corrinne)

It was a weekend/ week of adventures!

We attempted to swim with whales on Saturday and half the crew got sick overboard, they were troopers and we still got to see quite a few whales just no swimming....

Then Sunday we split up among the volunteers and went to church with them and Kai umu'd!

I got to go with Sam to Ta'anga!

We ate lunch with Finau and her family!

Cutest baby ever!

Found a new kitty at Finau's house for Kayla!

Walked with our herd of animals to Bailey's house in Tufuvai! ( it was a beautiful walk on the beach) 

Made an awesome fire on the beach ( with the help of some Tongans aka they lit it under 2 minutes, where it would have taken us a good 30...)

Roasted some mellows with a little chocolate and graham crackers for some tasty s'mores ( a big thanks to Sammi's fam who sent the care package)

Naturally after desert first we cooked up some nutolo for our main course out of already cut coconut shells 

The next day we planned on biking to the other side of the island near Sammi's house to see the infamous horses of 'Eua. Unfortunately the island got hit by a nasty storm so it started torrential down pouring on our way there and we decided to dry off and warm up at Sammi's the rest of the day!

Rainy day movie time ki ai with Tapuaki'i ( Sammi's new pig)

Got to cuddle with Sammi's precious little puaka ( pig) named Tapuaki'i ( blessing)

Played with the new kitty!

Decided that we needed to do more intensive de-flea'ing of the kitty, so we took him to the sea to finish the job.

He wasn't a fan...

Sadly the storm just kept coming and the boat didn't come for 2 whole days, so we were basically stuck on 'Eua! But we made the most of it and kept adventuring...

Got to meet Bailey si'i!

Went on a lot of walks around 'Eua!

Explored with Alex!

Climbed some coconut trees...

Basically lived it up on the beautiful island of 'Eua!

We finally made it on the ferry home!

It was a super crowded boat as no one had been able to leave the island for 3 days!

Overall it was a great trip with great people! We made the best of it, despite the crazy weather and bad sea. 

Lesson learned: NEVER underestimate the power of the sea and the weather...

Water tank fixes...

This Saturday my school was lucky enough to have the Nuku'alofa  Rotary Club come to both the primary and secondary schools and fix 2 water tanks. The project was funded by a grant through the Australian High Comission.

Friday afternoon we had to dig a trench next to the secondary school water tank ( sima vai) in order to put piping in as drainage for the rain water into the sima. We dug until dark and had to finish the rest in the morning.

Bright and early saturday morning Robert the engineer from Rotary and 2 contractors drove up to our school ready to work.

We unloaded supplies and got to work.

While Robert and some community members worked on getting the piping installed for the secondary school tank, the contractor got to work patching up the hole in the primary school tank.

They even installed a brand new spicket!

Once they got the piping in, they started working on getting the gutters up.

We had helpers of all ages!

They installed the piping to the tank!

We filled in the trench.

Osi! This whole new drainage system will hopefully be more effective when collecting rainwater, now we just need lots of rain to fill our newly fixed tanks!

On another note my neighbors pigs just had babies and they are the cutest little things, even if they do eat my vegetables and flowers!