The Naval Welcome Ceremony: Part II

On Monday, July 13th, the large ship arrived and on Tuesday there was a welcome
ceremony at Ha'apai High School. It was moved inside since it was raining like crazy, and the whole thing was a bit packed and claustrophobic. Students from three of the primary schools, their families, high school students and teachers, the town and district officers, and the naval officers all gathered inside.

Faleloa (Sarah's school) and my school were enlisted to provide the entertainment. And, since this is Tonga, drama ensued and nothing went according to plan. My school planned to use the dance they learned last year for the coronation, and they did a few refresher lessons the week before they arrived during school (obviously). The governor’s office called my principal and me on Friday and informed us that they wanted me to dance with the school for the soldiers. My principal told me she'd send her daughter and a few other girls over to my house on Saturday and Sunday to teach me the dance. In true Tongan form, despite phone calls, no one ever came, and since I was still feeling pretty sick and tired, I didn't track them down. Monday was a holiday, and with no school, all the girls were supposed to come to practice all day. However, it poured for almost 24 hours and we got a few feet of water, so obviously that didn't happen. Around 2 I called my principal again, and she promised to send girls over at 2:30- they got to the school a bit after 5. We started teaching me the dance and after the first verse another one of my teachers decided that we weren't going to have enough time to prepare so I should refresh the solo dance I'd learned before, and Koulo would do two dances. I also later learned that there was a CD availability issue (the CD with the song the students dance to belonged to a DJ in another village who was in NZ and had the CD in a locked briefcase that no one knew the combination to...they were practicing with a DVD from the coronation). Since this decision was made around 8:30 I didn't get to start practicing the other dance until after 9 with Lupe, who also stayed up all night perfecting my costume since I would now be dancing alone.

We got up early and went to the school where all the female students along with myself and Sarah were stripped down right outside the auditorium by anxious mothers and wrapped up in our tau'olunga costumes. 5 of the girls from Koulo were sick, another one fainted, and one more threw up, so our numbers were down considerably. Without any warning we were rushed into the auditorium and were all standing at the front. My principal took this opportunity to inform me that I would not be dancing alone, but with the students- the dance that I knew 1 minute of because no one ever came to teach me and that I was told to stop learning to practice the other one all night. I got very angry and frustrated and dizzy and had to sit down, which made them think I was even angrier
and wouldn't dance.

Meanwhile, the DJ started playing music for Faleloa's dance even though Koulo was standing up there, so the other school ran in and stood in front of us and started dancing. I was quite upset that I was now going to have to stand up there with my students for a dance I don't know in front of a bunch of officers. But as soon as Faleloa's dance is over they start playing the music to my solo dance...big wtf. My teacher literally shoved me in front of the platform, and I did my dance without passing out (I was so nervous) and then we all filed outside. Apparently they didn't have the CD to the song the students were supposed to dance to, but the message was reversed in the telling. So much stress- I don't think Tongans understand why this would be such a big deal to me. Luckily, all in all, the dance went pretty well.

I changed out of my costume, and met the commander and a bunch of other officers
who were very nice, along with the other volunteers: Kate, Bret, Phil, Grant, and Sarah. While we were mingling, the navy brass band started playing, and the kids went nuts. They all gathered around the band, dancing and jumping up and down, which was pretty adorable to watch. High school girls walked around with cups of sugar-coffee for the soldiers and tried to impress them and catch their eye with lots of hair flipping and dance moves right out of rap videos. I was later told that all these American soldiers were prime marriage material, and for the rest of their time here, it was fun watching the teenage and twenty-year old girls pursue various unsuspecting and uncomfortable men.