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!

Rotary Clubs & Book donations oh my...

This first full week back to school was full of new surprises!

My school was gifted 5 boxes and a whole tub of new awesome books from a famous Tongan poet who passed away and his family wanted to remember him through the donation of books. 

It was super exciting, books, books, books! 

Spent most of the week after school sorting the books to be labeled and organized into our existing library.

Thankfully I had help from my class 6 girls to label each and every book. They were awesome helpers and got to read some of the new books first ( the Barbie golden book was their favorite!) 

The surprises and gifts just kept coming!

An Australian Rotary Club group stopped by and dropped off new excercise notebooks for all the kids.

The kids were over the moon!

Over all it was a good and productive week back. I was able to start reading groups for all the classes ( where each teacher and myself take a group during English time).

Hoping this productive trend continues as we move into August!

Coronation & Visitors

This past Saturday was finally the big coronation day! It was also the day that Liz & her mother and sister (Gail & Melanie) flew in! 

I met them at the airport with handmade kahoas from Mo'ua and her family!

We headed into town and checked out the  pier.

We found some food and watched as the school students lit torches all along the coast for the Kings birthday!

Saw some awesome fireworks courteousy of China. Finally went back to the airport and picked up Liz! 

On Sunday we went to the Catholic Basilica in town and saw the new Cardinal for Tonga preach (pretty neat he's the only Cardinal for the whole South Pacific)! 

Did a lot of sightseeing, showed Gail & Melanie the various Peace Corps housing and schools. Stopped by the Anahulu caves where we got to jump in and enjoy a fresh water swim.

Liz and Alex 

Inside the caves...

We ended their week here at Liku'alofa resort with a Tongan feast and cultural show.

Kayla & Liz 

Performing the ma'ulu'ulu (sitting dance)

The traditional tao'ulunga.

Started the weekend off with the big Kai poula (feast) for the Free Wesleyan Conference happening in town.

It was food on food, lots of goodies!

Tents on tents of people feasting, the Free Wesleyans don't mess around when it comes to feasting! 

Cleaning up after the feast, everyone basically brings bags or bins and piles all the food they can to take home as left overs ( mind you this was just the lunch feast, there will be a whole other feast for dinner...)

The family's left overs ready to head home in the back of the truck.

Kayla's super find from all the goodie baskets ( 2.25 liters of sprite).

The conference ends on Monday , so hopefully things get back to normal after all the craziness of the coronation and conference. School is supposed to be back in session on Wednesday but we'll see if that follows through.