Holiday

 December started with school ending and ended with an awesome visit from my family to the Kingdom of Tonga!

My host family graciously picking my U.S. family up from the airport.

 Lunch after the plane ride at the favourite local spot (best food in Tonga)!

My two momma's!

My brother checking out the school and library.

 A rat eaten water-bottle... there were some adjustments they had to make living the Peace Corps Tonga life during their visit, but they adapted very well.

 Waiting for the bus to town.

Checking out the Saturday market in town.

 Pineapple season!

Got some quality church time in, all dressed in their traditional Tongan attire.

After church my host family prepared a wonderful feast full of traditional Tongan foods.

Including a roasted pig!

Mom found some papaya (lesi)!

 Explored the main island

Blowholes!

Land bridge!

 Hufangalupe!

Got to meet my awesome taxi driver, who took us all around the island!

Erik got to bond with the kitty (Pinati).

Enjoyed some resort time!

Church on Christmas!

After Christmas we started our 'eva' to the big NZ!

Visited the living Maori village!

Rode up the gondola and naturally go-carted down!

'

Then my favorite human came!!! Bil joined the adventure!

Found some seals!

A cute little blue penguin!

Tried some brews at the infamous Speights Brewery!

Found some Lord Of The Rings filming sites!

Explored Auckland!

Hiked to some waterfalls!

Chilled with some Hobbits!

Naturally ate some Hobbit food!

 Explored some caves!

Jet boated around some waterfalls!

Finally headed back to Tonga with Bil, as my family left for back home!

 Bil with my host brothers!

Overall it was an amazing trip and I enjoyed every minute of it! It was definitely a much needed break and I am refreshed and ready to work hard and make my last year here count!

Happy 2016!

Green day in Nukunuku!

This Friday Akoteu Nukunuku was lucky enough to be picked by Bank South Pacific to participate in a green day program for keeping Tonga clean!

We started the program off by picking up rubbish on the school grounds.

Then some awesome hats and shirts, along with gloves and rubbish bags were distributed by BSP!

Once everyone was ready we headed out  into the community to pick up all the rubbish!

The kids worked hard picking up the rubbish all through the community for a good 2 hours!

It took the stundenta awhile to distinguish what rubbish was, a lot of students picked up old leaves and compostable materials rather than the non-compostable materials like wrappers and cans etc. Generally picking up compostable materials is what is expected of students in their homes ( clearing old coconut leaves and husks etc) rather than a focus on non-compost able materials, so this was a great learning experience for many of them.

We stopped and took a much needed break about halfway through as the sun was soooooo hot! ( A big thank you to BSP for providing the water)!

Complete with ice blocks!

We finished off the rubbish pick up at the school!

Class 6 sang their recycling song my principal composed!

Overall all it was a success! Malo 'aupito to BSP and all the students! 

End of the year faiva!

Faiva ki ai!

All the fee wesleyan schools got together and showed off their best dance moves for the various traditional dances!

Vaotu'u killed it with the Kailau (spear dance)

Utulau did the tao'ulunga!

Mamaloa side school did the lakalaka!

The ma'ulu'ulu!

And best for last Nukunuku brought the house down with a Fijian fan and spear dance!

After many weeks of practice the performance was finally over.

Mo'ua, Ane, & Siaosi!

Overall it was a very warm day full of fun for all and a great way to end the school year!

It's official... Tonga Group 80 are now PC volunteers

Group 80 swore in this past Saturday as official United States Peace Corps volunteers!

It was a lovely ceremony with speeches from the wonderful Director of TTI ( 'Ungatea Kata), our program director, country director and an RPCV who served in Tonga in the 90's.

Officially swore in by a representative from the U.S. Embassy in Fiji.

The group did an awesome job performing the traditional dances in a stage show. 

Boys doing the kailao ( Tongan spear / war dance)

Unfortunately we also had to say goodbye to our fellow group 78 volunteers Jason & Emily who we're closing their service that same day! They headed back to America for life as RPCV's ( and lots of good food and hot showers ;P)! They will be greatly missed and had an impact on Tongans and fellow volunteers that will be felt for many years to come! We learned from them and with them and were able to do some really amazing things here in the kingdom! They gave so much of their time and energy to Tonga as volunteers and people that their work and life here will not be forgotten! Ofa lahi atu Soni mo Emili!