Hey, hey!
I hope everyone enjoyed the pictures that I uploaded yesterday and today. My dog Nash is getting so big! The other dog in the picture is her best friend, Scobby, who is my principal's dog across the way. They're together all the time! Always chasing each other in and out of my house.
At the moment, I am locked inside my school. This is the second time that this has happened to me. It is now 7:52pm and I quite possibly may be sleeping here. Just kidding! But no more phone credit and people cannot hear me from outside. My only hope is that the students who will come to night school will see me and get help. haha. Oh, another day...
Things have been going great on the island. Yesterday, my friends and I had a picnic on the beach. We drove out to the far North side of the island and planted ourselves under some coconut trees. We stayed until ten o'clock just snorkeling, hiking the cliffs around us, walking the beach, playing our guitars and bbqing. We picked up some chicken and put them on garlic and herb seasoned skewers that I got from the 'Free Table' at the Peace Corps office, and threw them on top of a sheet of medal we found nestled between some rocks. Then, we started our fire, which was very difficult because of the heavy rain from the night before. What we ended up with was what you see in the picture below, which looks like things we're out of our control, but we had chicken to eat and I am happy to report I am still alive and did not die of food poisoning.
When night fell, my friend and I played our guitars. Well, a guitar and a ukulele...I must say we sound quite good playing together. Than we all watched the stars, which are indescribable here. You can always see the Milky Way and it's breathtaking. Listening to the guitar and hearing the water crash against the sand put me to sleep. Island life, man. Island life.

I wish I could be there but right now I have to go to my night class!

'Ofa atu!
Ashley

'Life has become easier, flexible, and more comfortable.' I read this from a student's paper of a Form 6 level. This is a Tongan student, in high school, writing in her second language, summarizing our modern world today in the most accurate and simple way one could ever describe it. She's right. Our inventions today are making things easier but where's the excitment in that? .... I was going to go on a long philosophical stream of conscious rant here but the crew's going out for pizza. I'll get back to you about this later. :)

Peace!

Hey, Hey!
I know it has been way too long since my last blog entry! I have just recently renovated my blog page so, for all of you who are reading this entry via your email account, please go to my actual blog page to finish reading! I just added new pics and such and I am really happy with how the page looks now :) I also added a list of all the projects that I have started at my site and a description of each of them so you have the 411 if you'd like to be involved in any way!

A belated Happy Easter to each of you! I was thinking of everyone as I was celebrating my Easter in the village of Leimatu'a with a friend and her family. I missed going to church, finding my Easter basket in the morning, having eggs' benedict, eating Cadbury eggs and taking part in the family Easter egg hunt! I missed all of it and each of you very, very much. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

As of now, I'm on the main island of Tongatapu. I just finished In-Service Training (IST), which is the 1/4 service mark of my commitment here in Tonga. It's pretty insane how fast time has flown! So much has happened since my last entry to you and it's a bit overwhelming thinking of where to start but perhaps to give you just a snapshot...
-I was the girl's track coach for the sports season which just ended and some of my girls made it to nationals. Very cool.
-My dog, Nash, has successfully learned to sit, stay, and go. (I have to write this. I'm a proud Mom.)
-I sing in my church choir a few nights a week and sometimes sing in village-wide night concerts.
-I started my dance studio, and I love making new dance routines for my girls.
-Overall, I feel totally successful in my community integration and that's a really, really good feeling.

Two other successes for the day...
1. I planted the seed to Mom and Dad about Nash coming home with me after my service and
2. I have a plan for what I am going to do when I return home to the states after PC. Alyssa and I are hiking the Appalachian trail northbound, then biking from Maine to Washington, to then hike south down the Pacific Coast Trail only to then hitchhike to the Mississippi River so we can there build a canoe to row back to New Hampshire. Anyone in?

To New Adventures!
Cheers!