May 19, 2014

May 19, 2014

As I sit at my computer today, I am not sure where to begin.  We keep having this experiences that boggle our minds, and I say to myself, I've got to remember this to write about.  However, now that I'm writing, I can't remember what it was I wanted to write about.  So, I guess, I will just start writing. 

About 2 weeks ago, after a piano recital and the wearing of a Lei, I started coughing and sneezing with the itchy eyes, etc.  By Sunday, I was coughing my lungs out, sinus headaches, jaw aches, etc.  I started on allergy medicine immediately when we got home from the recital.  I coughed for 2 nights, with little sleep, then one morning after I had finally gotten to sleep about 4am, I woke up with a very sharp pain in my ear, like I have never experienced before.  I took every pain medicine I could find to ease the pain.  I felt fluid draining down my ear and thought maybe my ear drum had burst.  So being the anti doctor person that I am, I tried all the home remedies that I could think of.  My neighbor, Sister Aland, tried some of her oils in my ear, which didn't hurt at first, then about killed me.  My jaw, my neck and my head above and below the ear hurt badly.  I wasn't sure I could stand it, when the pain finally subsided, but I couldn't hear from my left ear.  It has been that way now,  long enough  that I got to the point of saying, "enough already".  I stayed home a few days, read some books and just played lazy.  Nothing I did, seemed to help.  I even went to talk to the pharmacist that we go to and he just told me I needed to see the doctor.  Finally after I had enough, and at the urging of the lady who cuts my hair, I called the doctor's wife who gave me an appointment on Saturday. 

Saturday, I finally went to see a doctor.  What a rush back in time.  I think the only thing I can compare it to is the cowboy movies that show a doctor's office and the instruments displayed there.  The office was historic, no confidentiality, just a wall dividing the waiting room from the exam room.  His desk was covering with all of his instruments that were the old type things that were used when I started my nursing career a 100 years ago.  There was no nurse, no sterile instrument trays, no fancy scopes or lights, just a light that he wore on his head and the instruments that we throw away in the US to use for examining ears. The doctor was very nice, spent a lot of time talking to me and explained what was happening.  He grabbed a broom handle stick beside him and pointed to a chart on the wall that shows the ear, middle ear, ear drum, etc.  No fancy computer, or computer imagines, no modern day gimmicks to explain what was happening in my ear.  Luckily, my ear drum hadn't broken, but I did have a lot of fluid backup behind my ear drum.  I think the worst of the symptoms was the lack of hearing and the ringing in my ears.  He gave me a prescription for a different antibiotic and I think it is helping, at least I hope so.  I am still taking Ibuprofen, allergy meds and decongestants to get me through this.  Some days the ringing in my ear drives me crazy, but I think not being able to hear is pretty much on my mind all the time.  Sooooo, we will see. 

During this time that I have been working through the ear thing, I was asked to participate in the career week at the school.  It started out as a little thing, a 10-15 minute workshop about careers, but everyday, it kept expanding.  Then we had to change schedules because of a last minute meeting that was called by Folau, who is the deputy commissioner of education on the island, so I figured I was safe and could just relax.  However, one of the school counselors grabbed me at school and asked if I would give the opening talk at the final assembly of career week to the student body.  That was really ok because I could take the information that I had prepared for my workshop, change it around a little, and give that talk.  No big deal.  I was prepared and talking to the students for a few minutes wasn't that bad.  We walked into the assembly and I realized that what I had prepared would not work in the setting.  Our Vice Principal and Bishop, one and the same, and Peni Tonga were playing Tongan jazzed up music and the crowd was wild.  The noise was so loud with their cheering that we couldn't anything except cheering.  I was afraid the roof was coming off.  The principal finally got up and calmed down the audience reminding them about manners.  When I saw the list of participants in the career show, I knew we were in trouble for time.  My talk changed 5 minutes before I stood up, and I gave a totally different talk than prepared.  I talked about what influenced me to study nursing, mom and grandma Grover who started her nursing career at 56.  I also told a story about a Churkendoose which I found in a book by Mary Ellen Edmunds.  It is the story of an egg that everyone took turns sitting on--the chicken, turkey, duck and goose.  When the baby thing hatched, it was a combo--part chicken, part, turkey, part duck and part goose-- a Churkendoose.  I thought it would work because the Tongan kids are raised by everybody, moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, cousins, so sometimes they don't know who they are or who their parents are.   The story goes on that the Churkendoose was a strange and different kind of beast, others made fun of it.  It got very lonely,  It sang some songs about how it felt, how painful it was not to be treated kindly; "Does the  pear tree say to the apple tree, 'I hate you 'cuz you're not like me'?"  In the end the Churkendoose saved the others from a fox----and then everyone was nice to him.  The students didn't get it because they don't have turkeys, or geese here. Their chickens are like roadrunners. So my story was not a success, but they did like hearing about sitting by my mother listening to her play the piano and grandma Grover with her adventures at the hospital, traveling back and forth from Parker to Rexburg before the roads were plowed in the winter.  It wasn't a total loss, but the rest of the story was much more interesting. 

The line up of the students who were supposed to be explaining about their careers, took on a life of its own, when many of the students decided that they wanted to be famous singers, who make a lot of money so they could help their families.  Unfortunately they didn't pick singers who could be called  role models, nor did they have the voices that could take them to fame.  At least they tried.  These kids love attention and any kind of attention is better than none.  It may be because they do not have any discipline when they are little, then very harsh discipline when they act out.  At any rate, the assembly  went on forever.  Some of the students did choose other professions besides singing, a few had different acts, that were only supposed to last about 3 minutes,  34 groups. Steve got some interesting pictures of the assembly.  I was really glad when it got done, I was afraid we were going to be there all weekend.

 Then we really did have a wonderful cultural event that our Relief Society prepared for the senior missionary couples.  We were fed a Tongan feast where, of course, the tables were piled high with food.  We had "organic" chicken(which was pretty scrawny), raw fish, octopus, a cooked fish that was pretty good, Kumala (like a sweet potato), Taro,(like a potato), hot coconut drink and a drink made from watermelon and coconut, plus desserts which were interesting and for the most part pretty tasty.  We then were taught some of the Tongan customs, the clothing, the wedding apparel and significance and the customs regarding funerals.  It was a neat experience which gave us a better understanding of why some things are done the way they are. The people here go into debt for weddings and funerals.  I guess it isn’t so much different than what we do, but the families give gifts and food to the guests, not the other way around. The Relief Society went above and beyond anything else we have seen and we have seen many events.  It was a very memorable evening that we thoroughly enjoyed.  We laughed a lot.

 Last Saturday,  the senior missionaries went to visit the island resort of Atata which was about a 30 minute boat ride west from Nuku`alofa.  It was a bright sunshiney day, but not overly hot, very pleasant.  I was still suffering with my ear, but other than the boat being overloaded, it was a fun ride.  It is so amazing to see the color variations in the water.  It is also mind boggling to think about the size of the ocean in contrast to the size of the land mass that we are currently living on.  Atata is a very small island west of Tongatapu.  It has a population of about 200 who live and work at the resort on the island.  The power for the homes is supplied by solar systems funded by the Chinese.  Unfortunately, there is a system in place with the Chinese that is “ I do something for you, you do 2 things for me”.  The Chinese are getting visas for their people to come to Tonga to open businesses that compete with the Tongans.  The village at Atata  has foot paths between the resort and the homes, plantations.  As we walked down the path that is shared by chickens, pigs, dogs and people, we could see the ocean on both sides of us through the trees.  They have a little tiny school that I think had 16 students in it.  The village again was “old world” almost thatched roof looking houses.  Most were put together with salvage items, tin, any piece of wood, paper, you name it.  Some looked neat and clean, others not so much.  It was surprising how many pigs we saw, but they were also pretty skinny.  One little piglet didn’t look like he was going to survive, he was the runt and he didn’t run and play like the others in the batch.  He was just lying in the shade of a tree in the grass, probably making his way to pig heaven where he’d get enough to eat.  We had a very nice lunch at the resort, then most of the missionaries went snorkeling.  Steve went, but I didn’t.  I spent my time sitting on a reclining chair and had a little nap.  That sounds a little boring, but it felt good to me.  Steve said he saw some beautiful fish but got panicky when his mask didn’t function like it should.  The ocean is very big when you are in the middle of it and very deep.  He was able to use a board kind of thing that had plexiglass at the head of it so you could lay flat and look into the water.  He saw an area that was filled with huge clam shells that were very big, he said about 3 feet.  Many did not have clams in them, but the ones that did were an iridescent blue or purple.  Beautiful and amazing was the way he described it.  Those who were able to go snorkeling all raved about how beautiful the reef , the fish and the clams were.  It was a good day.

Steve is teaching a Reading in the Content class for ITEP and has 8 or 9 teachers in it.  I can’t remember how many he said now.  He loves teaching, especially the Tongans.  They are so good and when they do a project they go all out.  He has learned many things about their culture that help us to understand the why’s of many questions that we have had since we got involved with the teachers and the school.  All students at Liahona are required to learn English, the language in which the classes are taught.  Many of the students come from homes who have no English spoken.  Some of the students may be lucky enough to have one parent who may have served a mission in the states and have learned English.  A very few have 2 English speaking parents.  Can you imagine, trying to graduate from a school speaking a language you don’t understand?  Can you imagine not knowing how to read or to not have your parents ever read to you, no books?  I can’t  even imagine what it would be like for me at this point to know Tongan well enough to take a test in Tongan and pass it.  This is what these kids are doing.  Many of the teachers have a good command of the language, but it is not pure English.   There are many dialects and misspoken words.  The teachers also have concerns about writing in English, they are aware that their writing skills are deficient.

 We had a surprise meeting yesterday that the principal asked us to attend.  It was a surprise because the administrators were not notified about the meeting until after school, the night before.   There was really no way to notify anybody about the meeting.  We were elected.  Those folks who were supposed to conduct and do the presentations did not come on time, so we wasted a good hour waiting for them. Finally a man came who had also been asked to participate at the last meeting.  He had the information because he had worked for the ministry of education prior to his retirement and had presented the program before.  He told the faculty that this was the same program that was offered last year and because there had been so many problems with the students and their projects, journals etc., that they were going to redo the presentation.  As we sat and listened to him, we had an almost immediate thought that his presentation was above the written and spoken English skills of those present and that it was certainly above the level that the students could do well at.  Although the teacher was a good teacher, we both came away with the feeling with, “if you continue to do the same thing, you can expect the same outcome”.  I was surprised how long Steve managed to contain himself, but when the instructor told the group that students should not use power tools in school, teachers should be using the hand tool method, he finally had to talk.  Umm, well, let’s just say, I thought ” yikes, how do I calm him down without embarrassing him, but he needs to make a point about teaching in the dark ages”.  The instructor listened to his comments, did not get angry while they wrestled with Steve's concerns.  Most of the other schools do not have power tools, so they only teach hand tools and methods. Otto and Steve had talked some during group work when they could talk privately about the material. It was apparent after the first group work that the teachers could not do the work being presented to them that the students had to use to write their journals about their projects. After the training was done, Otto and Steve talked candidly about their philosophies about education. They both came out with a good feeling, but Steve fretted about it most of the night.   It is so hard to raise the standards to meet the needs of the school, but it is also hard when someone else changes the standards/curriculum without consulting the people who know what is happening in the schools without an accurate assessment about what is really happening to the students. This happens a lot when you have government and church dictating policy.  Luckily this morning Steve was able to talk to the Principal, Fehi and Vice Principal, Fotu and the counselors about his thoughts.  Fehi and Fotu both told Steve that his thoughts were exactly in line with what they have been seeing and feeling about the direction of Liahona.  Fehi keeps telling us that we were sent here at the right time for the right reason, so just keep working.  She has also told us that our mission needs to be extended for another year.  That would be great if we could move all of our family here, but that isn’t really practical.  At this point, we won’t even be here long enough to see if anything we have done has helped anyone.  I have to take that thought back though because we do know that we have affected a good outcome for Viliami.

This week has been Tongan week and we have had a great experience watching the students perform songs, dances and wear the traditional Tongan clothing, that they have made.  I took many videos of the dances with my I pad, but I don’t know how to transfer them to my blog, so I’ll just have to save them and show them when we get home.  It has been really fun to watch the talents of these young people.  They are amazing.  We are recognized enough on campus now, that the students call us by name.  We get lots of Hi/bye, Elder and Sister Meyers.  Sometimes, it’s just Hi/bye, Meyers.  The Hi/bye are said together with one breath, so a greeting and a goodbye in the same breath.  We really do love these people.  I will miss their beautiful brown skin and friendly smiles.

We have been wrangled into doing an “item” for the ward talent show this Friday night.  Luckily for us, Bob and Suzy Wood who are new ITEP missionaries have agreed to help us.  Suzy plays the ukulele and Bob plays the washboard and various other interesting instruments.  I have now purchased a Ukelele to help with teaching music and we are playing, singing, "You Are My Sunshine" and being crazy for the talent show.  My fingers are sore from practicing but so far, we had a good practice, that's right, only one so far.  Bob and Suzy have done a lot of playing for school events and Bob is a ham.  He loves an audience.  Suzy loves the Ukulele and rhythm instruments, and  has been involved with getting her family hooked on the instruments also.  She knows lots of songs, has given me copies of them and is teaching me the strum methods.  But so far, I haven’t got the knack of it yet.  I’m a little challenged that way, it’s like me trying to chew gum and walk.  That is not good, but I am just learning.  So far, it’s been fun.