Tongan Take-aways : Attachment Day 1: Getting to Vava'u and Leiti Shows

November 1, 2012

We just got back from attachment today. Attachment is when us trainees go to stay with an older volunteer near our sites and learn what their day to day is like and just be able to see how a volunteer lives. This means I got to actually go to see my site and where I will be living and working for the next 2 years! Even flying into Vava’u I knew I was in the right place, it’s not the Tongatapu is not beautiful but Vava’u is what everyone thinks of when they think of the south pacific. It is absolutely spectacular, there are tons of small islands and teal water and the main island itself is incredible. Mt Talau

The first day we all met our attachment volunteers. 3 of us guys were staying with Sean who is going to be or volunteer leader next year (he is extending his service an extra year and working part time with PC to help with training of new volunteers among other things). We got to see the main town of Niafu, which is tiny but fun and there are a few nice restaurants that will be fun to go to when we can’t handle Tongan food anymore. We all made a great lunch at Dominca’s house (the old volunteer leader, she will be leaving in December). Her house was really nice and big, she made it very cozy with couches and candles and what not. After lunch we met up with Mandy and Love (a volunteer from Sean's group) and went on an amazing hike up the tallest mountain in Vava'u, Mt Talau. The mountain had lookout points that had views of the whole island and some of the outer islands! When the hike was finished we were significantly sweaty (Vava’u is hotter the Tongatapu and more humid) so we headed over to Sean’s place, which was definitely more of what I expected of a PC house to look like. It was about the size of a master bedroom of a normal house and the bathroom and shower were located on the outside of the house. It was nice though and easily manageable, of course the first thing I see when I walk in is the infamous molokau! A molokau is the island’s crazest/scarest predator to us volunteers, it is a giant centipede that has pincers and its stings are incredibly painful- the damn thing was curled up right where I would be sleeping that night… After settling in and what not we got ready to go to a fakalati show. Fakaleitis are basically drag-queens but it is a bit different because there are some really interesting cultural aspects behind it- one being that make the choice to be raised as a girl at a very young age in a country where homosexuality is illegal. We met up with Mandy (who was staying with Love) and Mark and Alyissa (who were staying with Dominca) at Tongan Bobs (the only real bar on the island). It was such a crazy show; never did I think I would be watching drag-queens grind up on my fellow volunteers during my PC service!