Tongan Take-aways : Farewell Home Stay

October 30, 2012

The last day of home stay went really well. I got to spend a lot of time with my family because class ended early to give us time to pack. I got to help make kava and my host mom made me made me a huge dinner with all my favorite foods here. The Mormon youth had a session for us, which was a bit awkward at first because they were praying for us and then said how much they loved us but they didn’t really know me all that well since my family is Ba’hai and I didn’t go to their church (like the others did who were staying with Mormon families)… It was really nice of them though and they gave us little gifts which was thoughtful. When I went back home my host brother Tonga presented me with an amazing woodcarving he made for me! He also painted it and my family wrote a little note on the back, it is one of the coolest gifts I have ever gotten and I was so overwhelmed that he went through so much effort for me, he is the coolest and nicest guy in the world (he still calls me to check up and he met me at the airport the following day to say goodbye) The last kava party was great as well, Katy was the tou’a and our Tongan was on point. We were making jokes and talking with all the guys and one of them even bought us snacks and a drink. We were able to hold out until after 1 (we were being picked up the next morning at 6:30 to fly to our sites) before finally having to say goodbye to everyone. We went around and shook hands with all the guys and got our Tongan kisses (a sniff on the cheek), it was awkward because I assumed my host dad was going to give me a Tongan kiss, because he did the first day we met, so I leaned down after shaking his hand and he didn’t do it! I quickly made for my sandals to try and act as if that was my plan the whole time and then I bolted out of there with Katy; oh awkward cultural mishaps…