November 2nd
The next day I got to go and see my site! I got to see my house and my school (literally 3 steps away from my house), I got to meet my principal (who is super nice) and counter part (who is super crazy and used to work for PC as a language trainer at one point) and I also got to meet most of the kids! The school was awesome and I know it is perfect for me because they grow pineapple in the back of it! The house is huge, the biggest PC house they have and I have no idea what I am going to do with all the space but it is nice to have I guess. There is a big yard and there will be lots of space to garden and grow coffee; I think I will also build a chicken coop for fresh eggs. My principal's husband was also there and I got to talk with him about working in the 'uta and he said he has 20 chickens that I can take care of and get eggs, he sounded like he was very willing to help be start up some of these small projects. The principal and my counterpart and I had a big lunch after I met the kids and looked around the school. The lunch was extensive with lobster and chicken and fish and a dish called ota ika (raw fish with peppers and onions and coconut milk). The meal was great and I got to talk to my principal a bit, I found out they were really confused because they thought they were getting a volunteer named Joe so they kept asking me what happened, I didn't really understand at first but then it sort of clicked and I explained to them that Joe, Joseph, Joey is my name in fakapalangi (english) and Sifa is my name in tongan. They laughed after that and my counter part told me it is good I go by Sifa because apparently one of the most famous fakaleitis in Tonga goes by Joey. Overall I am really excited, the only thing is the house is on the school compound which is a little isolated from the community so it might be hard to meet people at first. I also didn't get to see much of the actual village but I have two years to do that so I am not too worried about it.
the kids in front of my new school
this is my new house, literally right next to the school
more of the kids
After site visits we all just hung out until dinner, we went to this place that serves actual hamburgers! We also went back to Tongan Bobs for trivia night! It was really fun because since it is such a small island everyone on the different teams knew each other and was talking crap back and forth the whole game. We got to meet some of the local palangis and we got free drinks by winning the joker rounds (-: It is cool to know that there is also a small community of white people that live in Vava'u as well, it seems that it would be nice to find a balance of living in my community and also being able to join the palangi community on the island as well.
at Tongan Bobs, the tall kid is and the girl to the right of Jason (the one in the blue shirt) are not PCVs and but they a part of the small palangi community
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