Matamaka GPS

Last year, one of my Peace Corps friends was working at a government primary school on one of the outer islands. His village, Matamaka, is about an hour boat ride from the main island of Vava'u where I live. My friend started a project to repair the school wall and build new benches. When he left last year, the project was ongoing so he passed it on to me. We recently received all the funding and just started purchasing supplies. Yesterday was the big shipment out to the island. We rented one of the biggest boats in Vava'u and loaded it up with bags of cement, concrete blocks, timber, metal rods and gravel. When we arrived at Matamaka, lots of people turned up to help us unload, even the school children! Construction should begin soon, which is very exciting. Look for future blog posts about the finished project!

100 and counting...

I have read 100 books since coming to Peace Corps! Here are some of my favorites (in no particular order):

A Room with a View - E.M. Forster

The Sunday Philosophy Club - Alexander McCall Smith

Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert

A People's History of the United States - Howard Zinn

White Teeth - Zadie Smith

Ishmael - Daniel Quinn

The Tuesday Night Club - Agatha Christie

The Help - Kathryn Stockett

This Side of Paradise - F. Scott Fitzgerald

The World is Flat - Thomas Friedman

And still plenty of time this year for more reading!

Sun and Sports

This week was the inter-house sports competition at Mailefihi. The students and teachers are divided into 4 houses for competitions throughout the year, including this one; I am a part of #3 this school year. On Thursday and Friday of this week, the students competed in track and field events. My favorite events to watch were javelin and the 400m relay. Javelin is entertaining because Tongan boys are really, really good at it. They can throw so far! I like the relay because they are really, really bad at it. I didn't see a single good hand-off. There were some really talented athletes, and I'm sure the students will do great at the inter-school competition in March. Go blue!

A Cyclone and a Sunburn

6:00 am - woken up by heavy rains and strong wind

6:30 am - power goes out

7:00 am - watched a banana tree blow over

7:30 am - rearranged living room so furniture wouldn't get soaked

9:00 am - storm is finished

9:30 am - swept out leaves and water from my house

10:00 am - started reading a book about a Peace Corps volunteer in Mongolia, mood is lifted

11:30 am - neighbors bring me breadfruit from a tree that blew over

1:00 pm - walked around town with some friends

5:00 pm - returned home with a sunburn. oiaue.

7:30 pm - dinner by candlelight

8:00 pm - continued to read Mongolia book using headlamp

9:00 pm - bedtime

the end.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Three weeks and counting...three weeks of wet, windy, nasty weather. Three weeks of wet laundry, muddy feet and lots of time indoors. Also, this is peak cyclone season, so we are on alert for cyclone warnings and possible consolidation. Oiaue.

In other news, last week was the beginning of school, although not the beginning of classes. The students at the catering school came in to fill out their school applications and scholarship forms to help pay for their school fees. The teaching staff had meetings with officers from the Free Wesleyan Church offices in Tongatapu, updating us on changes for the 2012 school year. Next week will be our first week with the students. We will start with orientation and field trips to local hospitality establishments.

The beginning of school also marks the beginning of track and field season. I may try my hand at coaching again this year, although coaches are more often found socializing under the mango trees as opposed to actually helping students. If this is the case, I am more than happy to help coach =)

Outside of school, I have been hanging out with my fellow town folks, Dominica and a new Australian volunteer, Jessica. We take advantage of our close proximity to town by eating lots of ice cream and buying lots of DVDs. Good times in Vava'u!

Back in Vava'u

Hello everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates lately, but now that I'm back at my site I should be able to start blogging again.

To wrap up my time in America, I spent a couple days giving presentations about Tonga. I spoke to classes at Highland Middle School, Reynolds High School, and the Sunday School classes of St. Mark's, all of which were great audiences. I loved sharing my stories, and I hope others enjoyed them, too.

When I arrived back in Tonga, I attended a training session with the rest of Group 76. It was great to see all of the other volunteers from different islands and catch up.

Now that I'm back in Vava'u, I'm just cleaning my house and getting ready to start school. Next Monday, we begin planning week and the following week is the first week of school. I'm excited to get back to school, see all of the Mailefihi staff, and meet the new students.

Here's to a great 2012!

Hello America!

Family, food, malls, cars, cold, food, Christmas, food, friends, travel, beer, food. America is a little overwhelming! However, it feels so great to be home and I could not be happier to see my friends and family.

Wishing everyone a merry Christmas and joyful new year!