TGIF. For real! (wink, wink, Maire ;) haha)

I have survived my first 'Uike Lotu!' Uike Lotu means 'week of prayer' in Tongan, and this past week I have been celebrating the holiday by going to church twice a day at 5am and later at 5pm. Most days there have been feasts or what we call 'faka'afe' after service. It makes for long days full of LOTS of hot dogs and prayer time- not that that's bad of course, but I am exhausted! Though I have been getting great face time with my community :)

I go to the Free Wesleyan Church, which is the largest church in Tonga, though the Mormons are becoming ever more popular throughout the kingdom. Still, the King and almost all the royalty belong to the Free Wesleyan Church. Interestingly, my first Sunday in Tonga, I went to the king's Free Wesleyan Church in Tongatapu, and got to see him. Since then, I have seen him on several times but have yet to meet him nor do I think I ever will. There's an entire separate formality in regards to your manner and language around the king that takes years to acquire. Nevertheless, it's still cool to have seen him on such past occasions and I am sure I will see him often in the future by way of his promised visits to my church here in Vava'u.

There are, of course, plenty of other denominations of churches around my home but for the sake of being sensitive to my school, which is a Free Wesleyan school, I have been faithful in my attendance to the Free Wesleyan church. Plus, my neighbors within the compound all attend this church and its become a pleasant routine getting ready and walking with them to service.

Though many Peace Corps volunteers have found it beneficial to rotate between the different churches in their village so as to meet everyone in their community, this has also posed problems for PCV in the past. Tongans are very proud people and may take offense to your absence one Sunday PLUS they are very proud of “their” palangi and can become territorial over their Peace Corps volunteer. This is more funny than anything else. Like I said before, palangis are quickly made family by members of their community, and very fast I have been friendly welcomed into the Free Wesleyan church and have become quite involved within the congregation.

The youth of my church have been putting on what they call an 'action song' at every service this past week. Recently, I have been joining in on their performance. We've been practicing for an hour or two after each service to prepare for the next day's 'action song.' What we do is basic hand motions and footsteps to Tongan and English worship music. It's very silly but I have enjoyed hanging out with the youth after church.

Tonight's our last action song and we need to bring Tongan flags as one of our props. I plan on having some of my little neighbors come over to help me color some Tongan flags. There are two girls in particular, Fou leka and Sela, who love to come over and use my color pencils. They always take the ornaments off my Christmas tree (which will be my table piece for the next two years), and hang them from different spots around my house. Leka and Sela also love to play with my stocking sent by my parents which plays ten second rounds of Christmas music. They will knock on my door every day asking if they can come over to dance 'disco,' which I know just means repeatedly pressing the stocking to listen to its music. It's adorable but I'm sure the day is coming when I will think to hide the stocking under my bed... :) Wait, I guess I am already plotting... hehe

We have almost reached the point of day when the world stops. I mean it. Everything becomes silent around here as everyone is sleeping and taking cover from the sun. Like I mentioned before, January and February are the hottest of the months and people get all of their responsibilities complete in the morning. Such behavior is not only appropriate but much needed during uike lotu because of the daily risings at 4am. Though it's hard for me to get used to taking frequent naps while it's still light out, the sun has drained all energy for anything else, and consequently, I have turned to the alternative of watching 'Entourage,' which, if I may provide a slight advertisement within this blog, Entourage rocks! With that said, I am going to take a moment to celebrate my last lazy morning of Uike Lotu with an episode and making some fudge sauce for my neighbors. BTW, below is a recipe for this yummy sauce!

1 can of sweetened condensed milk
2 squares unsweetened chocolate or 6 T cocoa and 2 T butter
1 tsp vanilla
½ oats (just to give it a little somethn, somethn ;)

Mix all ingredients in a heated saucer, stirring constantly until melted. Tastes delicious when placed as a filler between sliced bananas, and then frozen slightly.

Enjoy!

As always, thanks for reading and 'Ofa atu!
Ashley :=)