Every little thing, is gonna be alright. . .

We recently switched the cd from the one with justin beiber and chris brown on it, to bob marley! It was a very nice change, it feels very islandery. A million things have happened since my last blog post. . .

We made tapa cloth, you should google it to see it. Basically, we went into the bush, chopped down several thin mulberry trees, stripped them of their bark, pulled out the middle, smashed it until it was paper thin, and then beat it with another one to make the two come together so it's bigger, and then let it dry. It was very hard work! We all had blisters the next day from all of the beating with the big beating thing.  It was really fun though, it made me feel like a tongan. One of the professors from byu was here for the last couple of weeks, he left yesterday, so we did some cool things with him.  We took a tour of vava'u, the whole island! We just drove in the car for four hours and saw almost everything.  There were so many incredible views, that the whole thing was just amazing.  We stopped at a beach and made lunch there (ramen noodles with corned beef, papaya, bread, and coconuts for drink).  The water is amazing here, it's just so blue everywhere, it never gets old. That night we went out to dinner at a tongan buffett (we never eat out here so that was very exciting!) and  saw a show. The dancing was really pretty, it was mostly kids, but it was really nice.

I drove the van! It's weird driving on the wrong side of the road, and the van is huge and backwards, so I was really bad.  Uini was cracking up the whole time, and the two guys in the backseat were scared for their lives. I never actually hit anything, but I did get amazing close five or twenty times.  She kept saying slow down and get in the middle of the road, but she was laughing so hard I could barely understand her. It was a good experience, but I dont' feel like I'll be driving much any more.

We went on a hike up to the tallest mountain in vava'u, it was only ten or fifteen minutes long, but it was basically straight up.  They have ropes to hold on to though and help pull you up, so that was good. We could see everything from the top. Not to be redundant, but the ocean is truly amazing. The water is so many different shades of blue, my personal favorite is the aqua, that I can't begin to describe how pretty it is.  It was a fun hike!  After the hike, we went to our normal beach to swim and make lunch. We spent the whole day there, so we got nice tans! We cooked some really tasty chicken on a fire that Ofa made on the beach, just out of rocks and twigs.  The tide was really low, so we went all the way out to the reef again, and this time walked down to an area we hadn't seen before.  There was this perfect place to jump in that was so blue and not too rocky, so me and michelle jumped in! It was probably one of the more terrifying things that I have ever done, but it was so worth it! We could see so far down, but it was so deep we were just treading water in the ocean.  It was so far away from the shore and covered by the reef, so it was like we were in the ocean alone.  It was crazy!

Speaking of crazy, we went on a boat ride this weekend for four or five hours on sunday.  Boats are fun alone becuase it's the ocean so it's choppy and wavy, but it was really amazing to just see so much of the ocean.  It's so open and endless. Once again, the water was so blue. It would be dark blue in the really deep parts and then next to the rocks (baby islands) it would be like an aqua or turquoise blue, it's just so breathtaking. After an hour or so on the boat, we pulled into this cave in a big rock of an island.  It was probably 100 ft long and 100 ft wide, so once we got through the small opening, it was pretty big.  We could see everything to the bottom, even though it was pretty dark and super deep.  I jumped in first, so I was pretty much scared to death.  It was so deep and there could have been anything in there, mostly I was afraid of sharks, but I never saw one. It was so fun to just swim and then climb the rocks and jump into the water. Swimming in a deserted cave in the middle of the south pacific ocean, definitely one of my new favorite things!  After that, we got back on the boat a went to this deserted island, no sign of life except for one random chicken.  The sand was so white and it was like walking on cotton balls or flour.  It looked so much cooler than in the postcards or movies, I couldn't capture it in a picture.  The water was so clear that I could see every detail on my legs and feet. If I had to pick the most beautiful place in the world, it would absolutely be there. So that was a fun day.

Other than those things, we went to a couple of dances, which were fun. I have been giving english lessons after school still, so that takes up some of the time. 
My students came to my house one morning at 8:10 to wake me up because I was supposed to be at school and I had overslept. It was funny just because there were 15 of the 40 kids in my class at the gate screaming for me. It was cute.

Couple of funny things: The kids said I killed the puppy (which I definitely didn't, and I'm pretty sure they did).  They told Uini in tongan that I choked the puppy (they did the choking sign and everything) and there were four of them saying I did. We all that it was pretty funny, sad of course that he died, but funny they blamed it on me.  I asked Uini how we say "be nice to the puppies" in Tongan, and she replied, "punch their heads." That's the preferred parenting style here.  The kids chant about the red worms, calling them "jesus's bugs."  And isileli found a straw and came up with the creative idea to put one end in his mouth and the other in his armpit and run around in circles blowing it, for the record it makes a farting noise, so it's funny.  He thinks it's the funniest thing. The kids also think it's funny to run naked in the rain, so they do that a lot.  And the most popular song the Tongan children sing is "happy birthday." You hear a lot of neighborhood kids screaming it on a daily basis, even though it's no ones birthday. That's the most english any of them know.

Life lesson of the week:  Don't worry. Be happy. Every little thing, is gonna be alright.

Even if you have nothing, you can still be happy. You can always be happy.                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Time is flying by. . .

I'm already feeling really sad just thinking about how I have to leave in just under two months! It feels like we just got here yesterday! The kids at my school have won me over and have me wrapped around all of their little fingers. They are truly precious, and if it wasn't for my friends and family, I think I would stay here forever with them.  Nothing too crazy has happened in the past two weeks. . .

I went on a walk towards the shoreline with two of the people in my group, but they gave up and didn't want to trapse through the bush to find the water. I, on the other hand, am always up for the adventure! So, they turned around and I walked towards the bush.  They thought I would follow them (they don't know how crazy I am yet!), but instead I found a little boy (13 years old) who spoke a little english.  I asked which way to the water, and he showed me a path. He took me down this SUPER steep, muddy trail that led to this swampy marsh. I fell down about 26 or 97 times in the mud, but it was just really funny and I only got a few scrapes and minor cuts. When we got to the swamp I asked if it led to the ocean and he said it did, so we kept walking. The marsh was covered by a ton of rooty trees and you couldn't see anything except the trees above you.  There were a lot of crabs and fish in the water, which was cool.  Finally, we made it to the open ocean. It wasn't like a beach, it was just magical, still, bright, blue water. All around you could just see water and green trees and hills.  it was crazy, beautiful! Truly, life changing! Anyways, he's my new friend. On the way up, he helped me up the hill. At one point he was pushing me up the hill because it was so muddy! Very funny picture, I know! We have been back there a couple of times since then. 

I have been giving english lessons to a couple of the kids from my class after school, they seem to enjoy it. I'm not sure if it's because I'm a palangi girl and they are boys or if they just really want to learn english. But they are my new best buds, so I keep them around.  ONe of them wants to move to America to become a doctor and the other wants to move to america and be a teacher.  I love listening to them talk. 

Nothing else exciting is coming to my mind. . . just a lot of laundry, bugs, walks, beautiful sights, amazing water, OH! ONe more story. . .

The other morning I woke up to the sound of a dog barking like it wanted to kill someone, and a pig squealing like it was dying, and children screaming.  So, I went outside at 6:30 am to see what was going on. Still in my pjs, glasses, and hair in a lopsided pony with half of it falling out, of course.  I go out to the fence and see a tiny, baby pig stuck between a banana tree and the fence, with Sally (the dog we named) attacking the pig. So I kick the dog away and pick up the pig. The gate was still locked and there were three little neighbor girls (who the pig belonged to) on the other side. The oldest was maybe six years old. There were also three dogs on the other side of the gate trying to jump and get the pig out of my hands.  the girls were throwing rocks at them and kicking them, while I'm holding the pig up in the air (like in the lion king when rafiki holds up simba). After a few minutes, another neighbor girl comes over gets the pig from me and puts it under her house safe from the dogs. it was a funny picture.  That's all for this week. . . more to come soon!

These are a few of my favorite things. . .

So a lot of random things have happened this week! I'm just going to give you the highlights of a few of the cool and funny experiences!  First, we went to a dance last friday night. It was really fun but very different from any dance I have ever seen. After every song, everyone goes back to their seat. You wait for a boy to come ask you, and to ask you he walks up to you and bows then you go and dance with him.  No one was talking to any their dance partner and you stand about four feet away from the person you are dancing with.  It was very entertaining.  The kids would come up behind me and touch my hair and when we were dancing there were about ten kids circled around me dancing like i was.  It was precious! On saturday we went to the beach, which is always amazing! we went to the rocky beach again.  It was high tide and the current was very strong! It's kind of like an adventure to stay up and not be pulled away.  We found a "cave rock" that was huge and climbed up on top of that (which was kind of painful and scary) but when we got to the top it was the most amazing view of just the ocean and waves and palm trees with the sunsetting directly over them.  On the other side the stars were already comng out.  It was truly breathtaking.

On Monday, Nick and I talk Manoa (the 13 month old we live with) for a walk in his stroller. We were just walking for fun and to see things and we saw this sign by a path that said something ( a long tongan word) lookout.  So we decided to be adventurous and took the dirt path. We walked for about an hour in the bush (the jungle) and the path ended but we knew that the ocean had to be somewhere close so we kept going through the knee high grass.  I carried manoa and nick carried the stroller on his head. Finally, we found the edge.  It was a big jungly cliff, and all we could see was ocean all around us.  It was absolutly amazing! It wasn't a beach at all, just a the edge of the island.  The ocean is so massive and went on forever every direction.  I had chills it was so pretty.  it was kind of a funny picture too though, because it was just us two palangii's with a tongan baby and a stroller hiking through the jungle without any direction and no body around us. It was a four hour hike/walk, but totally worth it! BEST VIEW EVER!

We went to a funeral yesterday, which was pretty cool. I was at school still for half of it, but the other students went to the house and hugged the dead body. So that was interesting. Everyone sang a lot and then at the end they gave everyone a bag of meat. I'm still not sure why, but we ate it for dinner last night and it was ifo'opito (very delicious) so I'm not complaing!  An interesting thing about tonga is that they bury a lot of people in the same grave, up to ten family members.  When the next person dies they dig up the grave again and put the body on the others. It was a very special thing to see.

A few random funny things: The tongan babies are strong! They beat each other all of the time and never cry.  One of the guys here kicked a rugby ball (very hard leather) straight up in the air and it fell right on a baby sleeping in it's stroller.  It hit the baby full force, but the baby just woke up cried for three seconds, and then went right back to sleep. All of the kids are so tough, it's amazing! 

My tongan is still really bad. I was at school the other day and I was leaving the class and then a few of the students ran after me yelling something.  I couldn't understand them so I just smiled and waved and said "Bye!" and kept walking. Then they yelled louder, but I just turned around and waved again and said "see you later" and then finally one of the girls who does speak english came out and was like "they say you left your umbrella!" It was really funny.

I have a student in my class who always picks papaya and indian apples (the most amazing food I have ever put in my mouth, so delicious!) for me and brings them to me! He is so sweet and always stands outside my house and yells my name. It's adorable!  Another funny story, Uini through a giant cock roach at me. i was standing by the door and she thought I was holding it open for her to throw it out the door, but I wasn't. So she throught it straight at me. I almost had a heart attack. There was a lot of screaming and jumping.  This place is really funny!

Embrace it!

This post is going to be short because I am sick today but this is the only time this week I will be able to be on the internet so I wanted to write something. . . Basically everything is going great.  We are finally adjusted to just about everything and it finally feels like real life.  We went to a feast on monday (pretty sure that's what made me so sick) and it was incredible.  They had so much food! Most of it was really good.  I wasn't brave enough to try canned spaghetti omlettes, but I tried just about everything else.  We were guests of honor, so we got to sit at a table and got our own food plate.

Not much exciting happened this week besides the feast.  We have been walking a lot, met a lot of nice people, weaved- which is fun, and just working on our projects and teaching english at the primary school.  I love my students and even though it's annoying because the book is totally useless and the kids don't understand anything, it's really fun and they are so sweet.  One little boy climbed a papaya tree and picked a few for me, it was nice!  Thanks for all of the comments! I didn't get any emails this week so I would love to hear what's going on over there.  . . hint, hint. :)

The Palangi's vs. The Critters . . .

There is definitely something in the Tongan water that makes the bugs (monga mongas) grow crazy huge! I'm thinking steroids, but I'm not sure.  We have had more mosquito, flea, and spider bites than most people get in their lifetime.  There are ants all over everything, including us!  The cockroaches are measured at around 8inches with their antennas (5 without).  And then there are the mice that like to hide in our window seals and the deadly centipede that ran under my chair! You should google centipedes in tonga to get a better understanding of their size.  The good news is that we are all surviving and have actually killed quite a few!  It's funny though because it's kind of like a game and it makes it a little enjoyable, like "what will we find today?" 

Other than that things are great here! We don't have running water so we have been bathing (not often) in buckets, brushing our teeth outside, and using the bathroom in the outhouse.  It's exciting!  I'm becoming very domesticated and brave!  We did our laundry by hand outside last week and have been making food without measuring cups and with a stove you light with a match.  We wash our dishes (and hair) with rain water.  It's all very. . . traditional! I feel like after three months here, I will be able to live anywhere!  We don't sleep with covers, just our mosquito nets, because it's so hot here.  It's funny that they call it winter. I really do love it here! The people are so friendly and seeing how little all these people have makes me realize how silly I am for placing so much emphasis on material things.  It's like all that these people care about is laughing, being with their families, and enjoying life.  People are always just sitting outside hanging out and not stressed about every little detail.  I'm learning a ton!  Even though we don't have all of the technology and comforts I'm used to, it's like it doesn't matter here.  Nobody has anything but it doesn't feel like they are missing anything either. 

I started volunteering at the primary school this week.  It's so fun! They always stare at me and smile and call me palangi.  They get so excited when I come! I'm teaching them english which is hard because I don't know enough Tongan and they don't know hardly any english.  the book they gave me to teach them out of is WAY TOOOOOOO advanced! So it's frustrating, but it's sweet because I'll tell them I'm done and they can go home and they will be like "no, we want to learn more."  The school always gets canceled and let out early all the time.  It's really sad.  When I'm talking they just listen and pay attention and act like they really care what I'm saying.  It's nice.  The school just needs a lot of help and more teachers, they only have five teachers for six classes.  Despite how little everyone here has, they are so happy and know how to enjoy life.  I'm so glad to be here and to be learning from them!

This last week I learned to weave with banana leaves (I think that's what it is in english), went to a dance where they did traditional dancing, went to two different beaches that were both as clear as a pool.  One was rocky and the current was the stronger than I ever imagined it could be so I got a little cut up, but it was so beautiful I didn't even notice.  the other was sandy and better than anything you could see on google images or in a post card. Pictures can't capture it.  Funny thing about the beaches! We saw cows on the shore of the rocky beach and pics on the sandy one! It was hillarious! PIGS ON A BEACH! We also found an electric blue starfish that was still alive, I picked up but threw it back because I felt bad killing it.  We went to a rugby game too, which was cool.  I feel like we have done so many things but I am out of minutes on the computer so I have to get off! I love this place! You should make it your next goal to come see this place! It's incredible!

And the adventure begins. . .

Malo e leilei! I LOVE TONGA!   The flights over here were great, I watched about six movies and nine episodes of Cougar Town (very funny, by the way).  They fed us some pretty great food and had the greatest new zealand accents I have ever heard.  It was funny when we got off the flight from NZ to Tongatapu (the main island), because  instead of walking through a terminal you just step off the plane, like the president does.  The airport there is so small and has  like three main rooms, one to get your visa and check passports and one to get through customs, and one for departing flights.  So we get through customs, get our visas, and exchange our US dollars for Pa'anga, and then just look at each other, like "now what?"  Our flight from Tongatapu to Vava'u (the island we are living on) didn't leave untill the next afternoon, so we had 24 hours to kill on the main island.  After an hour, and a series of unfortunate events, we arrived in nuku'alofa at a guest house/hostel and got a room there for about $15 usd.  It was. . . interesting.  It really wasn't that bad, just a lot of bugs, centipedes, spiders, grime, etc. They were really nice though, so it was nice!  We walked around nuku'alofa and ate at this little Tongan restaurant.  It was pretty good, I had "kentucky" which was just fried chicken.  I thought that was pretty funny.  On the menu it doesn't say anything about chicken or it being fried it literally just says "kentucky."  That night we just walked around and looked at things and then played cards after it got dark because it's really bad to walk at dark (or so they say.) 

The next morning, the same taxi driver came and got us and took us on a tour around the island.  The taxi, btw, is a big van with no AC and he played a lot of funny reggae mixes of american music (like jason mraz, shania twain, and cher, to name a few).  We saw the natural blow holes which were indescribable!  They were so breathtaking.  We also saw fox bats (google them) and the stonehinge which was like two big rocks.  then we went to the beach, which was the most beautiful place I have ever seen, easily better than the pictures!  The water is AQUA blue and as clear as crystal.  The sand was clean and there were tiki torches everywhere. It was incredible. 

Our flight to vava'u was good, it's funny because they have no security at the airport and the ticket they give you is like a hand written slip of paper.  And the cockpit (where the pilot sits, I think that's what it's called) is open, so you can see him and everything in there.  We got the airport and Ofa and Uini picked us up with their four beautiful little kids.  We were supposed to be staying at three different places in two different villages, but we got to their house and they were like, "Ok, we moved to the hut outside and you guys are all going to live in our house, because all of the other familes had something come up." So we are all living in the same house! I feel terrbile that they gave us their house, but I'm incredibly blown away by their kindness.  It's not like any house I have ever imagined before.  I can't really explain it.  There is no running water out of faucets but we do have a toilet inside, but no shower.  There are bugs everywhere.  Yet somehow, it already feels like home!  I really love it.  The kids are funny, they don't speak english so they just yell "PALANGI" which means white person and then run around giggling.  Ofa (the dad) doesn't speak english either, but he seems really hillarious!  Uini does speak english pretty well, and I already love her.  She is probablly the sweetest person I have ever met. 

I'm sharing a bed with michelle and we sleep with our mosquito nets covering us up, but no blankets becuase it's too hot.  The windows are always open, because there is no AC anywhere on the island, but it feels totally safe.  Everyone is super friendly!  They wave and smile at us.  Everyone kind of stares at us, and the kids all say palangi and laugh when they see us.  It's nice though.  It's so beautiful and green.  There are pigs, cows, and horses just running around everywhere.  Lik in the road, with no fences or anything.  It's cute.  Oh! and the best part is, they play Justin Beiber, all the time!  the kids know "BABY,BABY,BABY, OHHH!" It's adorable.  Anyways, I think that covers pretty much everythig so far.  We are going to the market now, we never know what to eat so we've just had a lot of fruit.  Hopefully, we'll learn to cook tongan food, soon!  It really is like heaven here!  I'm starting to volunteer at the primary school on Monday, so hopefully I'll have good stories from that!

MALO!  Alu a!

Last day in the U.S. . . .

So I'm leaving for Tonga in a few hours, it's kind of hard to believe!  Basically I'll be working on this big research project I have designed, to study family dynamics, for the next three months.  The program is through BYU, kind of like a study abroad but it's a lot less structured and we each have our research projects we will be doing. I am staying in a village in Vava'u about thirty minutes away from the capitol city Neiafu.  There are five students going to Tonga and I will be living with one other girl, Michelle. We are staying with a lady named Ana and I'm pretty sure she is single and lives by herself. I think that covers all of the logistics. . . I'm not sure how our house will be as far as running water and all of those kinds of luxuries, but it should be interesting. It's kind of nerve racking and I really feel like I have forgotten a million things, but I'm sure it will be great!  I'm really excited and think it's going to be a fun adventure, not to mention a great experience to build my research skills and learn a ton about the Tongan culture!

P.S. I made this blog for a class I had last semester, so all of the posts before this are about the class and my project, and I don't recommend reading them (they all start with learning journal, if that tells you anything).