Friday, July 31, 2009

Tomasi Comes to Tonga

After one of the more eventful, harrowing, and frustrating series of flights in recent memory, Thomas finally arrived in Tonga on June 13th at 3:00am. (To make a long story short, his flight from Philadelphia to Los Angeles was delayed, Thom sat in someone else’s vomit, and he missed the international flight from LA to Tonga by less than 30 minutes. After lots of unnecessary struggling and bitchy airline employees he eventually got to New Zealand and from there was able to make his way to Tonga, although his luggage remained in LA for a few more days, just to make things fun- for a full and detailed report of this trip and reasons why you should fly Air New Zealand and purchase traveler’s insurance, please contact Mr. Gennaro.) Things immediately improved upon his arrival: the Tongan military marching band and prince and princess even greeted his plane on the tarmac as it landed. The official rumor was that they were there to escort several high ranking nobles, who required their own personal flight attendant in first class, delaying the plane for an hour in Auckland while the airline found additional personnel to work the flight, on their way back to Tonga for the former Prime Minister’s funeral, but we know better.

Although we didn’t get back to our guest house until 5am Thom’s first day in Tonga could not be spent in bed. Because his luggage was still MIA, he had been wearing the same clothes for more days than was advisable, and we were stuck in Tongatapu until Monday we ventured out pretty early and down to the Saturday market by the wharf to pick up the essentials. We met up with Marloucha, who has graciously let me crash at her house for much longer than she initially agreed to as the planes kept getting delayed, and set out to procure items of clothing for Thom and imported cereal for me (Frosted Mini Wheats!), which for some reason can only be found in the capital at this flea market. We bought some t-shirts and shorts fairly cheaply, but the item we most desperately needed was not to be found: men’s underwear. After scouring the market and me making a fool of myself asking all the vendors, mostly older women, for said item, Thom and I virtually sprinted to the one semi-“department store” in Tonga before it closed at noon (everything would be closed the following day as well- it’s illegal to open businesses on Sunday, with the exception of bakeries in the evening). The pickings were slim, but we finally found some workable garments. It wasn’t until we arrived back at the guest house that we realized there was a sticker on the package marking the underwear’s “imperfect fit”- in essence we bought damaged underwear, which I would highly recommend if you need a good laugh. We took full advantage of our time in Nuku’alofa to visit some pretty snazzy restaurants, eat a lot of good food, drink beer without fear of angry glares, and catch up away from the prying eyes of my village. It was pretty wonderful. And, as the US dollar is worth about two Tongan pa’anga we got to see a side of Tonga I hadn’t yet experienced on my Peace Corps budget.

We headed back to Ha’apai that Monday afternoon, burdened with as much produce as we could carry. Most of the first day was spent settling in and walking to town to carry the air mattress back from the office there as my ‘bed’ is possibly the most painful thing to sleep on in the entire country and I wanted to keep eyebrow raising and gossip to a minimum in my village by having ‘Tomasi’s bed’. Annoyingly, I had a PC workshop for the next two days and essentially ditched Thom (to be fair he was first invited and then uninvited to the workshop by some really stellar PC employees- but, that is indeed another story for another time) but he still managed to find his way around our small island quite nicely. My neighbors took wonderful care of his for those first few days: Lupe cooked incredible amounts of food and came to chat, and Fotu didn’t leave Thom’s side, making great efforts to teach him Tongan while simultaneously doing all the things I never let him do in my house. Thom also promptly picked up the Tongan custom of suto, hitchhiking, and somehow enlisted several of the boys at my school to show him around town and climb all over the boats docked at the wharf. Sadly, as this was the week before the two week school break and I had the workshop and a site visit, he never actually got to see school happen, but he still met some of the kids, and we got to play with them a bit.

For Thom’s first Sunday in Tonga Sefo, a wonderful man with no teeth (this becomes important later) who I often bake for, invited us to a kai pola, Tongan feast, at his church in Holopeka, the neighboring village. I helped Lupe do a bit of the cooking and then Thom experienced his first Church of Tonga service, decked out in full Tongan apparel: his very own tupeno, a formal wrap skirt, and a ta’ovala, giant woven mat, that Lupe and Le’o let us borrow. He looked quite dashing, and I hope some photos survived of us in the formal church wear. After church is was time to eat. The feast was held in the church hall, and we all sat on the ground around obscene amounts of food. Thom was very hungry (shocking, I know) and very adventurous, trying all sorts of foods from raw fish, to octopus, to root crop, and even managed to continue eating for longer than most Tongans…no easy feat. As the feast was wrapping up Thom finally decided he wanted to try the roast pig, but was too embarrassed to serve himself. As he was going back and forth on the matter I finally got fed up and dug into the pig myself, literally, with my hands, and pulled out a few chunks of puaka and put them on his plate. At this, all the men we were sitting across from burst out laughing, thrilled that I was serving my boyfriend and pleased at what a wonderful wife I would be…obviously I loved this attention. I helped clean up while Thom made valiant attempts to stand up and stretch his legs, and then we headed back home to enjoy a very Tongan Sunday of laying around digesting, baking, and going for an eva.

We had planned on going to ‘Uoleva, an uninhabited island just to the south of Lifuka, and staying at a resort for a romantic beach getaway on Monday, but as luck would have it Sunday evening brought some pretty intense storms, and we spent the day moping up my flooded house and bleaching the floors instead. Luckily, the weather cleared up, and we spent the next three days in chilly beach paradise. I’m not quite sure how to sum up ‘Serenity Beaches’, that’s the name of the resort we stayed at, except to say that it was wonderful. It’s owned by Patti, an amazing if spacey woman, and she built this place with help from her boyfriend Semi. They are some of the kindest people, and we had a great stay there. We had our own little fale, and even though it was quite cold at night and there’s no electricity, it was perfect- Patti has stocked endless candles in all the fales and the main areas, and the result is very picturesque. We met a great British couple there, and as the resort doesn’t have their liquor license yet and can’t sell beer Semi made all dinners more entertaining by keeping drinks in constant supply to share. Most of our time was spent sleeping in, lounging and reading on the beach and walking, although we did have a very memorable kayak foray, and of course Thom had to spend a few hours one afternoon running around the entire island; I preferred to eat cookies and finish my book. It was quite nice and a bit necessary to get away from my village and Tongans for a while and just be able to be ourselves without have to check constantly to make sure we were the requisite 5 feet apart when out in public. Needless to say, we really didn’t want to leave.

The rest of our time in Ha’apai was spent basically hanging out. Thom got to meet the other volunteers here with me, and we all went out one night for Kate’s birthday. We walked around my village, worked in the garden, played catch with a disc (although Thom was invited to play rugby one afternoon while we were throwing and left me for a bunch of Tongan men), and chatted with my neighbors. During on of the more memorable talks about education in Tonga we were all sitting outside in the school yard, when Le’o abruptly asked Thom if he was hungry. Obviously, Thom enthusiastically told him that he was indeed hungry, despite my warning glances, and then Le’o turned to me to let me know that I should probably leave the discussion and go prepare Thom’s food…oh traditional gender roles! We also took a few bike trips up to Foa, the island to the north of Lifuka connected by a landbridge, and to the beach and resort at the furthest tip of the island. Partially because it’s tourist season and there are other palangis and partially because it’s winter and no Tongan is silly enough to want to go swimming now, we were able to wear bathing suits and generally act Western in Foa, which was very nice. I even went in the water twice to appease Mr. Gennaro who made countless references to my lack of strength and climate wimpiness.

On Thom’s last day in Koulo, my neighbors prepared a farewell feast, which we ate at their house with their family and some friends, including Sefo. Sefo even went out the night before to try and catch some fish for this lunch, although sadly nothing big was biting and we ate quite a few baby fish. This was endlessly amusing to many members of the crowd, especially Le’o who kept cracking jokes such as “their mothers are sad now because they can’t find their babies.” Sefo was also berated for not being able to eat the fish because he has no teeth and for having to eat soft food like a baby. This was all very witty and funny, especially to Sefo, who laughed the loudest each time. Lupe made some amazing ‘ota ‘ika and Le’o even killed one of his chickens for us to eat. It was such a kind and lovely gesture, and it meant a lot that the family I’m closest to really enjoyed having Thom here and were so supportive. Le’o especially really liked having another man next door, and stopped by a lot while Thom was here just to chat, something he never does with me, and kept inviting him to go play rugby. The whole family has invited Thom back next year, something we’re both really hoping will be able to happen, and all of our time in Koulo and Lifuka was lovely. That was definitely the happiest I’ve been since I arrived in Tonga.

From Ha’apai we made a quick pit stop in Tongatapu and the next morning caught the ferry out to the island of ‘Eua. While Ha’apai is full of flat sandy beaches, ‘Eua is the complete opposite and is covered in huge hills and dense forests and rainforests. There are even rivers through the island and waterfalls, not that we managed to find those. We stayed at an adorable guest house on the edge of the national park where we met lots of interesting travelers, and despite an abrupt change in our marital status courtesy of a concerned ‘Eua PC volunteer we had a great time. To be fair, I’d never been to ‘Eua before, and thus we spent a better part of our two and a half days there lost, primarily in the forest. But, the people were lovely and wonderfully friendly and the woods were gorgeous. We didn’t really find any of the “sights” since there are not really any trails through the forest and even fewer signs, but I think it’s safe to say that we had a very nice time nonetheless, despite Thom’s random bursts of patriotism and his American flag bandana on the 4th of July.

Sadly, we had to go back to Tongatapu Monday morning, which meant catching the ferry at 4:00am- why the hell it has to leave that early no one knows. For our last full day in Tonga we gift shopped at the market and a few stores, and were joined by the lovely Melanie for our final dinner in town.

It was so wonderful having Thom here, and I hope he enjoyed seeing where I live and a bit of what I’m doing over here. Granted, it was quite difficult to say goodbye again, and I’m still readjusting, but it was the best month ever. You are all highly encouraged to follow Mr. Gennaro’s example and come for your own Tongan holiday- I would love more visitors at any time.

Interlude

Hi all. So, the blog’s been on a bit of a hiatus as of late, but I am going to do my best to bring it up to speed as succinctly and painlessly as possible. It’s been a pretty eventful couple of months, not necessarily work-wise (school’s been on a month-long plus break but we’re finally getting back into the swing of things), and there’s a lot to tell.

Also, for those of you who may be in the greater US this December, I am coming home for Christmas. I’ll be back from the 23rd of December until the 6th of January, most likely hiding out in various parts of Massachusetts and possibly New York going through severe culture shock, avoiding crowds, eating copious amounts, and taking as many hot showers and baths as possible, so if you are at all in the area, I would love to catch up. Sadly, my time home will be limited due to a fairly restricted number of vacation days afforded to PC volunteers, but any and all of you are welcome and encouraged to come visit the Kingdom at any time!

I’ve been missing you all, my family and friends, very much these past few weeks, and I am looking forward to seeing you all again more than I can express. To all of you who have sent emails and letters and packages I can’t thank you enough. It’s been quite a rollercoaster here.

‘Ofa ‘atu!