August 23, 2013

So much has happened, but we are still out of communication with the rest of the world.  So I am going to try to pack in a couple of days in this entry.  I think we are getting adjusted to the time change, but we are struggling with the humidity.  The natives are cold, wearing jackets, turning on the heaters in their cars, and we are still sweating.  Yesterday, we got to take a cool shower, because the water heater and washing machine are on a circuit breaker on the back of the house.  It’s  raining and I think the extra humidity kicks the breaker off.  The children are running to school without shoes on, they don’t require shoes in the elementary, but the high school students are required to wear sandals.  The young folks on campus are very friendly, we have taken a few pictures of them and there is always the clown and the shy ones.  The community is preparing for a festival, which is supposed to be a family event taking place Friday and Saturday, everything closes down on Sunday.  I guess the king is going to be present for the opening ceremonies at 10 today, then the commoners can enter.  Apparently it is a big deal, so we are going to walk around it.  The high school students will have some booths or display units to show some of the areas they are studying, not sure what all is involved.  The students are also preparing for a big stake dance program they are performing in tonite.  It’s fun seeing them practice and goof off, just the normal kid stuff.

Shopping around here is almost an endurance test.  No supermarkets here!  There are a few stores with items of all kinds of stuff, shelves stacked without what I would call order.  Some are more organized than others, but you have to shop different places for different things.  The missionary couple that took us knew where all the best prices were, but we had to go many different places, and I could hardly believe how much things cost.  Juice in a box is $4.80 pa`angas ($3.03), meat, minced beef for less than ½ lb was 6.67 pa`angas ($4.42),  pork chops, $3.00 per piece the least.  Of course pigs are plentiful on the island, we even saw some on the beach when the tide was out catching fish that didn’t go out with the tide.  Pretty weird, huh!  What we couldn’t find, we’ll just have to go without or substitute.  It’s pretty interesting.

We went to the temple yesterday.  That was also interesting, not knowing where to go and unable to read the signs.  We did use the headphones, which was a little distracting.  The old film is still being used.  I had hoped to see the new one, but the temple is still the temple.  The ordinance workers at the temple were very kind.  The assistant matron spoke very good English and she took good care of me when she realized how lost I was.  Some of the ordinance workers spoke English so they were as helpful as they could be with our limited Tongan.  It was a relief to find someone that could speak English to help us.  I think that brings back the importance of learning at least some of the language so that we can communicate better.  The teachers at the school are supposed to be teaching classes in English, but lapse into Tongan when communicating with each other.

We had a meeting with the vocational teachers at the school, the principle and one of our leaders, Bruce Yermin, Thursday after school.  What a super group of people.  They are so humble, wanting to do better.  I guess they had a bad experience with the couple preceding us who wanted to get rid of a bunch of them which makes me sad.  These people are trying but are so limited with what they have and the ability to get more education to lift them up.  The missionaries next to us are teaching classes so the teachers can get certifications showing they have more education to teach.  We will be trying to get programs and equipment, so they can teach.  Our charge is to build capacity, but right now we are trying to get to know the folks.  The hardest part is remembering names since the Tongan names are so difficult to spell, let alone remember.  The most important part about these folks is the kindness and humility that they have.  Wow, it’s amazing how fast we have come to love them.  Amazing folks.