Tongan Take-aways : Kilimasi LeLei

December 26, 2012

My first Christmas in Tonga came and went pretty quickly. Christmas is not a huge spectacle here so in all truth it didn’t really feel like Christmas at all. On Monday, Christmas Eve, I spent the day with the Mormon missionaries in my village on their day off- P-Day. We went to a Church in another village and played some volleyball and ate a big meal. It is the one day off the missionaries get a week so they all got to change out of their uniform and relax a bit. It was really interesting seeing into a completely different program and hear their stories and drama and what not. A couple of the guys were actually getting ready to leave, they had finished their 2 years. It is cool talking to them and hearing how they weren’t ready to leave- if they are that enthusiastic after two years and their program is way more strict than PC, it gives me a lot of hope for my time here. It was funny hearing how a few of them had plans to get married already; I guess they don’t waste anytime… I finally got to try ice cream bread too! It is really just what it sounds like, ice cream put on to a loaf of bread. The church we were at was doing some sort of kids program so they had this special treat and of course in Tongan fashion, they had to serve everyone who was there. Ice cream bread is where it’s at.

After P-Day I got a suto into town to spend Christmas Eve with the Australian volunteers who had invited me the previous day when they came to the beach in my village. I figured since Tongans don’t celebrate Christmas Eve I would spend it with the Australian Aid people. We put together a slip n’ slide out of tarps and had a talent show of sorts- where I performed the dance I had taught the kids for their graduation. I also got to have a really great conversation with one of their older volunteers who help me get a different perspective on my service here.

I stayed at Sean’s house because I am sort of watching it for him while he is on vacation and it was supposed to work out well because his neighbor, Mone, is related to Suliasi’s family and was going to take me to the beach where we were all going to celebrate Christmas. I was worried that this message didn’t get to him however, so I woke up at 6:30 to tell him and see when we were leaving. Turns out the beach day got canceled for some reason- either the doctor said or the rain, the whole not understanding Tongan yet makes things like this confusing. They gave me some cake and then I left to borrow Sean’s bike and head back to my village to try and make it to church at 10. The ride to my village on a bike takes maybe 40 minutes if you are making good time, I should explain Sean’s bike is a beach cruiser. My ride consisted of several hills of all sizes and I left at 9:10, basically I had quite the ride ahead of me. I started riding and the tires started flattening so about half way through the way back to was like peddling through sand. I decided to take a turn to go the back way so when I got to my village I didn’t pass people on their way to church. Well I thought I knew where I was going, turns out I was kind of lost and of course it started pouring down rain. So here I am on Christmas morning biking up hill on a beach cruiser with flat tires in the pouring rain. My white shirt was see through at the point I finally reached a familiar village and got on the road to my town. I looked at the clock and realized I made it back in enough time to get to church- it was 9:55. I quickly showered donned my Christmas tie and went to the Wesleyan church only to have my principal tell me to go to the church of Tonga. After church I got to go to a feast and then I drank kava for a few hours. I went back to my place and after watching every Christmas episode of Friends I went to eva. I said hi to a car passing, as is customary, the slammed to a halt and asked me if I wanted to go with them around. I mean I wasn’t really doing anything so I said yes and ended up going on a drive around Vava’u doing random drop-offs with the family. Got back to my place and made myself some pasta and finished the night watching the Grinch- Merry Christmas!