For lack of a better cliché, time really does fly when you’re having fun. I’m quarter way through my time here and it’s been a hectic three months. Let’s have a little review of the months gone by.
We arrived late at night on 24 April, nervous, excited and with a whole lot of luggage. We stayed at Sela’s Guesthouse and was carted around looking at houses, eating the most food we would since arriving, finding our bearings around Nuku’alofa and learning the Tongan language. Before we knew it, we had to say goodbye to the Vava’u girls and move into our respective new houses.
Panogram of my house
May came and went as we settled into our new homes, new friends, new job...new life basically. We had 30th birthday parties on Pangaimotu, wedding themed farewell parties and I even scored my first try in touch footy. Thanks to the hospitality of the old volunteers and the Tongan people, it didn’t take long for us to settle in.
My birthday came around in June, along with my first visitor and our first Tongan public holiday. We helped out at a Children’s Fun Fair and then I went on my first trip to ‘Eua. We climbed up and down caves, into secluded beaches and caught our own crabs to cook on a fire. June also brought with it the church conference and a week-long feast. You haven’t been to Tonga until you’ve been to a proper Tongan feast! There were piles of boxes filled with feke (octopus), puaka (pig), ika (fish), even turtle...I had never seen so much food in my life!
Our takeaway from the feast!
July is when I started really making progress at work – sending out surveys and getting responses back from organisations. We also had surprise public holidays and of course, the ROYAL WEDDING! We dressed up in our best clothes and managed to sneak in to the wedding and the reception of almost 3,000 people. With a favourable tide, we also did our first walk to Pangaimotu, which was delightful! There were more birthdays (Sophie, Patrea and Phil) and farewells (Drew and Hannah, and Belinda and Ben who aren’t really leaving), the highlight of which was Sophie’s embarrassing serenade at Billfish. I also experienced my first farewell feast at work where I had to cook and bring a Tongan dish. After a week of stress, I made kaloa'a (clams) in coconut cream and onions. Not exactly great, but I tried!
The two-week Heilala Festival also came around, filled with its share of marching bands, float parades, dances and a fun-filled street party. I also made a presentation on the alternative measures of well-being at ‘Atenisi at the end of July. The crowd was bigger than anticipated, but most seemed to be students forced to be there. I had a few (often hilarious) photo shoots with a few volunteers in action at work for Austraining, and go to know a bit about what others are doing.
The final day of July brought with it a new group of AYADs (as well as my brother’s birthday), and so the process begins again! It’s been a fun-filled three months, and I have no doubt the next nine months will be just as good!
Royal Wedding
We arrived late at night on 24 April, nervous, excited and with a whole lot of luggage. We stayed at Sela’s Guesthouse and was carted around looking at houses, eating the most food we would since arriving, finding our bearings around Nuku’alofa and learning the Tongan language. Before we knew it, we had to say goodbye to the Vava’u girls and move into our respective new houses.
Panogram of my house
May came and went as we settled into our new homes, new friends, new job...new life basically. We had 30th birthday parties on Pangaimotu, wedding themed farewell parties and I even scored my first try in touch footy. Thanks to the hospitality of the old volunteers and the Tongan people, it didn’t take long for us to settle in.
My birthday came around in June, along with my first visitor and our first Tongan public holiday. We helped out at a Children’s Fun Fair and then I went on my first trip to ‘Eua. We climbed up and down caves, into secluded beaches and caught our own crabs to cook on a fire. June also brought with it the church conference and a week-long feast. You haven’t been to Tonga until you’ve been to a proper Tongan feast! There were piles of boxes filled with feke (octopus), puaka (pig), ika (fish), even turtle...I had never seen so much food in my life!
Our takeaway from the feast!
July is when I started really making progress at work – sending out surveys and getting responses back from organisations. We also had surprise public holidays and of course, the ROYAL WEDDING! We dressed up in our best clothes and managed to sneak in to the wedding and the reception of almost 3,000 people. With a favourable tide, we also did our first walk to Pangaimotu, which was delightful! There were more birthdays (Sophie, Patrea and Phil) and farewells (Drew and Hannah, and Belinda and Ben who aren’t really leaving), the highlight of which was Sophie’s embarrassing serenade at Billfish. I also experienced my first farewell feast at work where I had to cook and bring a Tongan dish. After a week of stress, I made kaloa'a (clams) in coconut cream and onions. Not exactly great, but I tried!
The two-week Heilala Festival also came around, filled with its share of marching bands, float parades, dances and a fun-filled street party. I also made a presentation on the alternative measures of well-being at ‘Atenisi at the end of July. The crowd was bigger than anticipated, but most seemed to be students forced to be there. I had a few (often hilarious) photo shoots with a few volunteers in action at work for Austraining, and go to know a bit about what others are doing.
The final day of July brought with it a new group of AYADs (as well as my brother’s birthday), and so the process begins again! It’s been a fun-filled three months, and I have no doubt the next nine months will be just as good!
Royal Wedding
New blog post please!! (make use of good internet yeh yeh!)
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