Here's A Video From My After-School English Program

Ma'asi in Vava'u :)

Hey everyone! I'm thankful to report that all is well in safe in Tonga! We were on tsunami alert after the devastating earthquake in Japan but aside from a visible rise and fall in the sea level, we were okay. Thanks to everyone for their concerns and prayers!

I am currently uploading my first Tongan photo album on Facebook so be sure to check it out! Facebook seems to be uploading them faster than my blog site so you may just have to start finally accepting my friend requests and check 'em out ;)

Today's Sunday and after a nice church service, and a yummy feast at my friend's home, I am netting away at the PC office :)

Things have been going very well here in Tonga. I finally have gotten over the flu and thanks to some 'Women's One-A-Day' vitamins, and to my Crossfit Aerobics class, i've been feeling great! Getting in shape for bathing suit season which is every day here, of course! So, it doesn't help that i'm already pretty far behind :)

The weather is absolutely beautiful! It's not nearly as hot or humid as it was last year but it still gets up to high 90s every day and the air can be so hot as well. My friends and I like to lay out a Tongan woven mat under the breadfruit and mango trees to cool off. We'll use breadruit leaves or cardboard torn from boxes to use as fans. It's too hot to go swimming when the sun is out but on cloudy and rainy days, the wharf is full of people; children running, and doing insane flips off the wharf and into the water :) It's the hot spot to be!

We're already almost four months into school. We started in January with teacher planning week and staff meetings. School classes were to also start in January but we took our time and had classes officially starting around the second week in February...not that much of a delay, eh?

School, however, is great! I'm teaching Form 3 this year. My kids are about fifteen years old. I teach two classes at the Form 3 level and I teach Class I and Class II at the Sau Faupula Christian Bilingual Primary School. My kids are four-six years old. They are just starting to learn basic English so I am actually learning a lot more of my Tongan language just by working with them. I am all alone in the classroom so you can imagine it can be quite challenging. But, they are kids, and like kids all over the world, they love singing, dancing, and learning. We sing a lot of songs and rehearse our bible verses in both English and in Tongan. I have a puppet I brought back with me from the states that the students have named Jack. He comes with me to class everyday and they love to learn English with Jack!

In addition to my own classes, I am still running the English Language Lab which I started last year. It's open all day for students to read, play English games, etc. Some students are still to shy to come in but it gives me such joy to see the students take advantage of the lab. They love flipping through the picture books of Dr. Seuss and reading the Hannah Montana chapter books :)

I have also started teaching an afterschool English program for kids at the primary school level. I started in February so i'll keep you posted on how that goes....as of now, however, it's a huge success! I have kids knocking on my door an hour- and sometimes two hours before it starts, to make sure i'm ready and going!

I'm also busy with sports practice after school but, to be quite honest, myself and all the teachers just use it as time to relax and chit-chat under the mango tree. I used to be a lot more active and have the kids run sprints and do exersizes. I used to wear running clothes myself to work out with them but that's a little to intense...a little to 'palangi' of me to be so active....hhh

Our sports week is this week and our students will compete against all the other high schools in Vava'u. They will compete in the long jump, discus, hurdles, shotput, relay, and all other typical track and field events. It is one of the biggest social events of the year and everyone in Vava'u goes! Most places close down to see the sports and all the families come with their picnics and lay out on the grass to cheer on their children. Schools are very competitive and we've missed all our afternoon classes this week just to rehearse our cheers in the school hall! Our school colors are blue and white, so I painted my finger nails and toe nails dark blue with sparkles just for the event! A color I don't think i'd ever fashion back home....

I'll be sure to upload some photos of the sports soon! Remember to check out my Tongan photos on facebook :)

Thanks so much for reading!
'Ofa atu!
Ashley

Home Is Where the Heart Is

As most of you know I was extremely lucky to spend Christmas back home in the states with my family and friends! For those who came to visit me, I thank you so much! I really appreciate your efforts to stay in contact with me and for your understanding in knowing that it is not always easy for me to do so in return. However I love writing to you all and I very much enjoy reading your comments! So, one of my resolutions for 2011, is to blog atleast once a month. I know it's nothing big but it will be an improvement :)

I had a wonderful holiday break which consisted of a lot of family Yahtzee games near the Christmas tree, fun 'sistes-only' outings to the Boston aquarium and the local YMCA (for mainly hot-tub and sauna uses...haha), long nights sitting with friends- catching up on all that has happened over the past year; and family parties at my grandparents, which always consisted of delicious holiday food and fun :)

I very much enjoyed going to resturants again and going to the movie theater. I had a blast going shopping with all the gift cards I got for Christmas :) Thank you again for those fantastic presents! I was able to get so many toys and books to bring back to Tonga with me for the use of my school library and to share with my community.

My favorite times were when I was just chatting with my family and watching tv together in our warm home beside the Christmas tree. Brit and I even spent many nights sleeping on the sofas in the living room just admiring the lit Christmas tree :)

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I thank you for letting me be apart of it once more this season. It was so wonderful to spend time with each of you and I feel so blessed to have such AMAZING, and loving people in my life.

God bless each of you as you move forward into the new year!

Hope you enjoy some of these pics from my time at home :)

'Ofa atu!

Goal # 3

Peace Corps Volunteers work hard to complete three very important goals: share our American culture, values, and knowledge to our host community and country; learn from the host country's culture, values, and knowledge, and lastly, return home to America and share your experience with your fellow friends and family. This cycle helps promote peace and acceptance through the sharing of the experiences and lifestyles of Peace Corps Volunteers during their service. It helps to break down the ignorance and prejudice in our world while at the same time encouraging people to embrace those differences and be reminded of just how unique we all are.

Today I hope to expand on Goal #3 as I visit a local elementary school in Weymouth, MA to give a presentation on my Peace Corps experience thus far in the Kingdom of Tonga.

Almost one year ago, my mother, a second grade teacher at Ralph Talbot Elementary School, proposed an idea that would forever change the way this small Weymouth public school would communicate with the world.

She suggested that before I left for Tonga, I speak to the students on the mission of Peace Corps and describe my upcoming journey to the South Pacific country, Tonga. While I had but only Google images of the islands, and Wikipedia facts on Tonga's culture, housing, and fashion, I spoke to the students and left them with a Tongan dictionary in hopes that perhaps my mother's classroom could stay in touch by writing to myself and my Tongan community.

That short presentation was a wonderful opportunity to share why I wanted to become a PCV and where I was going and now, after almost a year and a half, I plan to visit Ralph Talbot again to share pictures and stories from the islands of Tonga!

I do hope to continue contact with the students for the remainder of my time out there. It has been a lot of fun sending pictures, letters and fun postcards to the kids and I know it really widens their perspecitve of the world and encourages them to learn about other peoples and walks of life.

Wish me luck! I hope I get through the school doors in my full Tongan dress!

'Ofa atu ka kimoutolu!
Ashley

Holiday Break in Vava'u

Malo e lelei!

I know it's been ages since my last blog (per usual) but I wanted to update you on a few things in the kingdom and upload some pics before I head back to the states. I'll be home for Christmas this year and I am very excited to see you all! The weather is very hot and it will be so refreshing to have a bitter cold, white Christmas!

Below are some pics of Vava'u at the end of the school year!

An old pic of Nash and I outside my home

Snorkeling in Vava'u!

Warm greetings from the South Pacific!

It's Sunday, and I have already gone to morning church, ate lu moa (chicken and coconut milk wrapped in lu leaves) from our underground oven outside, and have made my way to the PC office. Right now everyone else is taking an afternoon nap but it's the perfect time for me to 'sneak' away and break the Sabbath! I'm on a mission today to upload photos, update my blog, book my ticket home for Christmas (pause here for your utter shock, your jumps up and down, and loud shouts of joy)____________, and do I dare say...get some work done. But first, what I am most anxious to begin, is telling you all a little story about two crazy Americans from the suburbs who took a wild, wild ride to a little island in the middle of nowhere called, Tonga...

As you may have already guessed these two crazy Americans could be none other than my parents, and I was so lucky to have them as my guests for two weeks! My parents and I had a wonderful time and even though they got to experience the luxury of living on a beautiful Pacific island, I made sure that they were exposed to the Tongan culture as much as possible and to the Tongan way of life (this includes fetching water from my water tank outside and killing a cockroach here or there...)!

First, my boyfriend and I drove out to get my parents at the airport. We had picked up a kahoa for each of them (a flowered necklace) to place around their necks when they first got off the plane. I was so anxious to see them that Pa would tell you I had been literally nervous all day! It had been so long since we had last seen each other! I even peeked through the closed off doors to see if I could spot them picking up their luggage and such before they exited the terminal!

Seeing my family for the first time in over ten months was the most amazing thing! We couldn't stop smiling and embracing one another. My parents met Pa for the first time, which had been making me just as anxious as reuniting with my parents. They were so excited! As we put the kahoa on my mother and father they in turn reached into their bags and pulled out an offering which could not have been more appropriate....Reeses. It had been too long! At that point, I think I was more excited to eat the Reeses than to see my parents! Just kidding, Mom and Dad!

The trip from that point on was amazing! We spent that night at our hotel in Nuku'alofa (the capital city) and had late night Tongan-style BBQ before we went back to the hotel. The next morning was Sunday and my parents got to experience their first Tongan church service, where they prayed with the king, and listened to beautiful church singing. After, they got to eat from their first 'umu,' which means underground oven but my father will forever mispronounce the word as 'uma,' which in Tongan means 'kiss.' We still laugh at this all the time!

At the kai umu, my parents had lu moa, lu sipi, manioke, puaka, and kumala (cooked chicken & coconut milk wrapped in lu leaves, cooked goat & coconut milk wrapped in lu leaves, root crops and pig). Yum! My dad even sat and roasted the pig for a while!

After we went on a drive to check out some beautiful sights in Tonga before we flew to Vava'u!

In Vava'u we stayed at our wonderful resort not too far from town, and I had the luxury of staying with them and taking hot showers! We enjoyed using the kayaks to visit other nearby islands, snorkel and lounge by the beach. There were plenty of other guests that we befriended including the owners and their young, rambunctious, blonde boys who always wanted to play cards with my father. It was quite funny watching my father play with these three boys, trying to teach them sophisticated card games like Wist or Hearts. It then became a screaming game of 'He cheated! He cheated,' where my mother and I would then have to step in to referee, only to find that the cheater was 9 times out of 10 my father!

As much as we enjoyed the luxury of the hotel (especially myself!), we made our way to my village almost every day to visit my home, visit my school, test-taste kava (which turned into my father singing with the Tongan band in front of everyone at a local restaurant!), take a boat around Vava'u to some great dive and snorkeling sites, visit an elementary school and its village on an outer-island, attend a Tongan singing concert, and much more!

It was so great to have my parents meet my friends and family here in Tonga. In fact, my Tongan friends and family put on a feast for them their first night in Vava'u, where we all gathered at my closest friends' house, Talaheu. While we ate my friend, 'Ana, and I put on a traditional Tongan dance called the tao'alunga. Although 'Ana and I went a little overboard in our Tongan costume and drew with bright, red lipstick tribal drawings all over our faces. It was hysterical! I think my parents might have been even a little scared!

Although the whole trip was unforgettable, one of the coolest memories was when my parents came to my school. My mother had been working for months with her school to fund-raise books to donate to my kids. Together, her and her school, Ralph Talbot Elementary in Weymouth, MA, made bookmarks to sell in addition to collecting over six large boxes full of children's books. The money they raised from selling bookmarks helped cover the shipping cost of the books. It was incredibly generous and so well-received by my students.

My school held an assembly where my parents put every book on display and presented the gift on behalf of my parents and my mother's school. I cannot tell you the look on my students' faces when they saw the books! The kids couldn't wait for the assembly to be over so they could run up and look at the books, which they did! After that, my parents team-taught two of my classes and read one of the stories that they had come with from America. It was so great to have them in my class and I was so grateful for their visit and their gift.

My parents' trip was incredible and although it went by all too fast, I can't believe I'll be home in almost two months to see them again! I have already uploaded a bunch of pictures from their trip but stay tuned for one more of my father roasting a pig! We call this 'tunu' in Tongan.

As always, thanks for reading and please come out and visit me! I promise it will be an adventure you'll never forget!

'Ofa atu!

Ashley