October 7, 2012
During training we have language class on Saturdays but it is actually kind of fun because it is only for an hour and it is pretty laid back. For us in Nakolo it is nice because class doesn’t just give us a reason to get out of the house for a bit, but it also gives us a chance to use the internet. This Saturday we had a good class where we got to pretend to be falekoloa owners and use one the falekoloa by our schoolroom!
Our teacher Tasi with Katy's host puppy Nimo after he followed her to school (he has become a theme in our class, appearing in most of our language dialogues)
After class and sufficient internet time, Katy, Chiara and I went on a long walk around the village and then hiked down to the beach. It was beautiful (just like everything here), I felt like we were in Avatar or Jurassic Park, as we walked through the tall grass and between banana and coconut tress butterflies would fly out in front of us. We spent a lot of time just walking along the beach but around 5ish we started to head back. We ran into the guys on the way back and we got Katy to become the tou’a for a kava party tonight. We also ran into a litter of puppies on our walk back to Katy’s, so it is safe to say the walk back took a lot longer than it should have.
Chiara and I walking through the 'uta to get to the beach (this is in a natural clearing) Katy and me on the beach
This is what we walked through to get down onto the beach
Me with the runt of the litter We ran into Steph on our way back, and needless to say joined in the puppy play
It was really nice because after Chiara and I decided we had spent enough time away from our families we parted ways from Katy. When I got to my house I was greeted with dinner and there were a lot of people around and being social and I just thought how lucky I am to have such an amazing home stay.
Since it was Saturday my host my host brothers and I decided we would go to Ha’asini (the next village over) for a kava circle, of course Koni being the big kava drinker he is went about 3 hours earlier than Tonga and I. Tonga and I casually ate dinner stocked up on some snacks and then hung out with some guys for a bit then around 9:30 we decided to walk to Ha’asini. By this time it was pitch dark, the only light we had was the light on Tonga’s phone and the whole walk I just kept thinking of how many Peace Corps rules I was probably breaking. We tried to suto (hitch hike) but as our luck would have it we were the only people on the road. The walk was actually nice in a way, I felt like I was adventuring with my Tongan friend the whole time so I tried to convince myself that I was just integrating instead of worrying about all of the spiders that I was stepping on/ over. We finally make it to Ha’asini after about 20 minutes or so and we join the kava party, taking place at my friend Wren’s host family’s church.
I have probably mentioned this before but just to enforce the point, kava is pretty freakin’ discussing so drinking it for hours on end is a feat in of itself, let alone trying to understand anyone when they are all speaking Tongan with their kava drunk lisps. I came to the realization that kava circles are like beer pong and shots rolled into one- you are drinking out of the same coconut out of who knows how many other people, when its your turn you down the shell and look for anything that can be used as a chaser, and when it is not your turn you are kind of down to drink more…. Tonga and I joined the circle of my host brother and dad and the tou’a. It didn’t take long before they made me sit next to her and I had to turn on the charm. I realized that you don’t have to be exceptionally amazing to get the tou’a to like you, you just have to be less of an ass whole then all the other guys. I also realized that Tongans can be pretty racist. Right now there is hostility from Tongans to the chinese because they are starting to immigrate to Tonga in large numbers and they are successful business owners (Tongans believe they are stealing jobs). In the kava circle there was half chinese, half Tongan guy and the Tou'a thought he was ugly because, as she put it, he was a half breed...
Now, I enjoy the kava parties as much as the next guy, I mean listening to the classic Tongan songs, the funny conversation (when I can understand it), practicing my language and so on, but when the clock strikes 3 I am done. 6 hours of drinking kava definitely took its toal on me, and by the time we finally left I was feeling sick and very much over drinking dirty pool water. I mean Koni (my host brother) was passing out and I was debating joining him by the time my host dad got the van for us to leave.
Like any good Tongan Sunday I was able to not do anything today, which was good because I felt my first ever kava hangover (basically your whole body feels really tired). Even though I didn’t much feel like doing anything Katy has been “talking” to my host brother Koni and me and Chiara ended up going on a double date with Katy and Koni exploring the caves and walking along the beach. The caves were a lot muddier this time around and when Katy slipped we all couldn’t help but laugh. We were so dirty when we got out of the caves it was nice to wash in the clear seawater. We ended up walking a long the beach for a mile or so and it was amazing. The beach ranks probably in my top 5 most amazing things I have seen- the sand was soft, there were tons of tide pools and we had a breathtaking view of Eua and the Pacific. As we walked I kept thinking how I felt like we were at a resort and we would all go back to nice restaurant, then I would remember the only thing in my future is a cold shower…
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