Message/ Packing List To Group 78

To the incoming ladies of Group 78, and that loan wolf-I salute you. Below you will find a packing list- mainly for the one guy volunteer but you all might want to browse through it. I also, have a few words of advice which you can take or leave- really people can tell you anything but odds are you are going to think a certain way until you find it not working for you.

If you are like me, you are not putting too much thought into your pre departcher, instead you spending the rest of your US moments with friends and consuming substances. However, if you are a go-getter and need to read every packing list and blog out there I provide you with yet another example of what you can bring with you on your two year journey in the Kingdom of Tonga.

I would like to preface the list by saying thousands of people live here now, and have been living here for awhile so do not freak out about forgetting anything- you can get everything you need right here in country. I would focus bringing things that you specifically find essential and make you happy. For instance do not waste space on bringing a whole bunch of soap and toothpaste unless you a very keen on using a specific brand. And don't waste space on bringing shoes! Also, odds are you are going to over pack- pretty much my whole group did along with those before us- it’s our nature as Americans and nervous people. I would suggest over packing on things like candy, a hand held video game sytem like a Gameboy or PSP (if not for you for the kids who will inevitably end up at your house), your favorite t-shirt or pair of jeans, pictures of family and friends, beef jerky, a couple of books, blank cds, an extra computer charger or your favorite spices and hot sauce (I would definitely bring garlic salt, cinnamon and anything spicy). Anyway, without further adu I Give you Sifa’s Peace Corps Tonga Packing List:

Clothes

I don’t know if they updated the PC Tonga Info Packet they send you but YOU DO NOT NEED THAT MUCH BLACK. The color thing is not as big of a deal here as the play up in that info packet. Also adjust these numbers depending how often you are prepared to do laundry (remember it will most likely be by hand) use the smaller number if you will be a once a weaker adjust from there.

4 – 7 colored shirts at least 2 long sleeve and at least 2-3 black

4-6 T-shits I would recommend a few of your favorites and then some black or blue plane Hanes undershirts (shirts you can swim in and get dirty without worry)

1-2 Tank-tops for palangi times

3-4 pairs of regular shorts/ board shorts

Swim trunks

2-3 pairs of gym shorts

A light jacket or sweatshirt

1-2 pairs of paints jeans or otherwise (you probably won’t wear them)

1 pair of khakis or dress paints (you can never be too sure you will never need them)

Socks and running shoes (I have those weird feet shoe things, I would suggest those because then you don’t have to worry about socks and they don’t take up any room)

Definitely bring a lot of underwear that you don’t mind someone else looking at since your host mom will most likely be taking care of the washing during PST.

You only need one good pair of flip flops (I bought and brought chacos- totally unnecessary)

Kitchen Things

Measuring cups

A single cup coffee brewer with a significant amount of filters and coffee or a French press (it is my most prized possession here)

A really good nonstick pan (I have a deep on so it is perfect for making soup as well)

A good spatula

A cooking spoon

Some good sharp knives

A few pieces of silverware (they don’t really use it here but it is nice to have for myself)

A can opener

Your favorite spices (I have recommend what I consider the best ones to bring but to each is own)

Toiletries

Shaving gel/cream

Razor with extra heads

Face wash

Toothpaste

At least 4 toothbrushes

Tweezers

Nail clipper

If you like a certain shampoo (costco size that shit and bring it)

if you wear contacts i would bring at least 2 big bottles of solution because that us one thing i have not seen sold here

Miscellaneous

A backpack

A backpacking backpack

Candy- To give out and to use as kava chaser (skittles work well- pretty much any sweet thing like that)

Gum- they don’t have good gum

A watch that is water proof

Head light/flash light

An E-reader would be good

Any device that gets wifi (I have my iphone here and use it when I get wifi and it makes keeping in touch with back home super easy, I downloaded an app where I can text for free to the states.)

Day planner/ calendar

Ipod/ mp3 player

Handheld gaming device

Anything that you feel like in 6 months you will love to stumble upon e.g. letters from friends, pictures (I brought a lot to put up in my house and show Tongans- they love pictures!)

Towel (2 if you can spare the room- one quick dry and one normal one)

Flash Drives and an External HD (if you could come with it pre-loaded with newer stuff it would help all of us out! E.g. the new season of walking dead and Arrested Development and Modern Family also Daft punk, Kanye, Jay-Z and Calvin Harris' new albums)

handkerchiefs (you will want a sweat rag)

Duct tape!

Regular tape

Some nails (you can buy a hammer here)

Screw drivers (1 of each)

School Supplies

I am sure you all know what you like better than me but I think it is a good idea to bring a costco pack of pens and pencils (the kids never have them)

Erasers

A good pair of scissors

Glue stick

High lighters

A big box of crayons or markers

Some coloring books

Post-its

Some folders

A few notebooks

Whiteout

Flash Cards (a lot to help with Tongan and whatever else)

I think that is pretty much all the necessary things and even they aren’t essential. Like I said don’t worry too much, you can get a lot of stuff here if you forget things, it’s just a bit more expensive. My advice try and limit bringing the things you really care about getting broken or lost. If you have any questions feel free to email me and I would be happy to help you out. Good luck, have an awesome last summer and we all can’t wait to meet you! Oh, and tell Shelly we all say hi and we made it on the plane without paying any overage charges on our luggage (she is going to try and scare you about that).

-Joseph (Sifa) Group 78

P.S. don’t freak out about the language either ( I didn’t study at all once so ever before I got here and I am doing fine) if you work at it and want to learn it, you will.

Make that a double…shell.

June 10, 2013

When I used to walk around Berkeley, sometimes I would wonder what sort of parties would be going down later in the various apartment buildings surrounding the school. I used to imagine a group of kids having a great time and think it was weird how even though we went to the same school I would have no idea about their Friday nights. It was interesting when a similar thought hit me here. Last Friday I had was invited to an octopus dinner by my friend Tevita and naturally afterwards we went to go drink some kava. The thing that got me thinking though is that we went to some seemingly random house for the circle. Not that kava always has to be a big ceremonious thing or anything, in fact most times it is way to chill for that. However, this was my first encounter with the idea that there can be a group of guys getting down on some kava pretty much anywhere here and it does not have to be a part of a village or church circle. Sometimes it is just funny to me how much things have changed but in weird ways are not that much different. I may not be heading out to some loud crowed party filled with people swarming the bar and trying to get as drunk as possible, but I am still going to hangout with a group of people for the night and, well, the first shell of kava is always a double….

oh kava!

some guys from my village just chillin'

what you can't tell from the picture is just how unpleasant the taste is....

You Know you are integrated when…. You Know you are integrated when…. You Know You Are Integrated When...

June 13, 2013

You know you have been in Tongan for a while and you are feeling integrated when:

After a 4 hours of drinking kava your principal’s husband wakes you up at 5 am before the sun has risen to borrow a flash light. Upon returning said flashlight he engages you in conversation about hooking up with the tou’a (the kava server- who they always want me to take home even though that would never actually happen). Instead of being angry or bothered by this you simply wonder why he is going to the bush in his tupenu…

If while having Sunday lu at a family’s house, your favorite three year-old takes off his shorts and starts to run around naked then proceeds to squat and poop and this does not make you lose your appetite.

you hear someone telling a story that is about you.

your kava jokes get told to other people then spread around town.

When you no longer wear any type of footwear to work.

Only washing an article of clothing when it begins to smell bad.

the kids don’t find you particularly fascinating anymore nor do they try and feel your skin/hair.

Killing a tub of ice cream with 3 Tongans guys from your village outside the falekoloa (the shop where you can buy food items and random Chinese products) without the use of any eating utensils.

Telling kids to give you some of their keke (fried dough) in the morning before school without any hesitation. This one extends to making the kids do pretty much any type of manual labor for you as well.

You start to look for the root crop at every meal, even the ones you make yourself, and even if that meal consist of carbs only anyway (i.e. Pasta or rice).

Visit From The Teeth Doctor

June 7, 2013

I have made it my mission to help improve the oral hygene of the kids at my school. I have always been a big supported of the dentist and the idea of tooth brushing and after realizing that that is just not a thing here i set my sites to fill that gap. Luckily for me, the Japanese have a system already in place! They come to the school about once a week and do a tooth brushing session with the kids. I have picked up on this and have gotten some tooth brushes and tooth paste donated (if you happen to be reading this and are a detest by the way please feel free to support my effort with brushes or paste) and have my kids brush their teeth everyday after lunch. What I didn't know is that in addition to their regular tooth brushing visits, the malimali program comes along and sets up a whole station using desk chairs and blow-up pillow to do sealing and checks on the kids. I am not sure but I guess maybe it is one class a term or something because only our class 2 got the sealing this time, but the do checks and reports on all the kids. I love the dentist and have been worried about my teeth so I had them check mine too- turns out I am doing okay. This one one of the cooler I have seen here and definitely one of the more effective ones, even more cool was the women doing the sealing was Tongan- I guess they have a program on the min island to become, as they call it, a teeth doctor.

portable!

the Japanese Aid Volunteer Misako and one of my fellow techers doing checks on the kids

the got the kid's benches and put them together and plug some stuff in and they were ready to start putting sealing on the kids' teeth!

the kids were a mixture of super curious and worried it might hurt- I kept asking if they will cry and they kept assuring me they wouldn't and they would try and look less apprehensive

a boy from class 2

one of my favorite kids of all time- Taniela

Feast Crasher

May 23, 2013

Those who regularly read my blog are probably aware by now that I am somewhat of a feast junky. Well yesterday I may have sunk the lowest yet in order to find myself a free meal. Before I explain I need to give some background in order to rack up some sympathy points. First off this week has been a little stressful and endless. My refridge broke again after I had paid 100 pa’anga to get it “fixed” last week and my class 4 was practically running up the walls and not listening to anything I was saying- I had, hands down the worst lesson I have had so far this week. Oh, and my walking/ Zumba group is down to just me and one women, even when go to the weaving house I steel their stuff to get them up the ladies won’t come exercise! I don’t mean to complain, I am simply justifying why I purposefully went to the conoseti early and dropped the line that I was hungry ultimately leading me to be fed.

How it works is, the people performing in the conoseti and the important people (i.e. the pastor, and for this specific show one of the high school’s bands) get to eat before the show. I showed up and sat down to drink kava with the men outside the hut where people where eating and mentioned something about the food. In Tonga, all it takes to get fed is saying something about food when it is anywhere in the vicinity. After the group had finished eating and took their food away, I was told by one of the Pastors to go and eat. I felt a bit uncomfortable going in by myself and what not but I was hungry so I went to sit down anyway. The women who were cleaning up put some plates in front of me and told me to eat. I sat there, just me and plate, stuffing my face with fried chicken while the little kids ran around picking up scraps of food and the women were cleaning up the place- definitely not my proudest moment.

The rest of the conoseti turned out good though; a lot of dancing and what not (I was called up to do some dancing by the announcer guy and my kids). I ended up drinking so much kava that I was up half the night making trips to the bathroom (it makes you pee a lot). I guess the lessoned learned is even when you are not having the best week Tonga throws you a bone…or legs of fried chicken.

  

just chilling with my hommie

the dance floor got packed, this picture is just from the start of the conoseti

my favorite Tongan Toddlers

the band's trombone players did a dancing solo

Night School

May 22, 2013

Po ako essentially translate to night school and is the name given to the extra classes that the class 6 students have in order to prepare them for their class 6 exam in October. My students do their po ako before school and right after school because our class 6 teacher doesn’t like walking in the dark and the school is a bit away from the center of the village. The class 6 students have about 2 and half hours of extra class every day, which is also extra teaching time and I really doubt that this extra time is compensated for…

I teach English po ako for about an hour and half to two hours once a week. Yesterday, I took the class 6 teacher’s slot because she wasn’t going to have class so we started around 4:30. Now I was pretty hungry because I hadn’t really eaten all day (which is pretty unusual as I am sure you know if you have read some of this blog), so I told the kids to go and get me some coconuts before class. This right here is probably my favorite thing about Tonga, since everything is surrounded by bush and the kids are expert climbers by the age of 5, you can send them off to get fruit at any moment. Unfortunately, my little farmers came back about 20 minutes later with just papaya- I don’t like papaya, I think it smells farty and it is always too mushy. After the kids finished cutting up the fruit with the same box cutter razor that they use to sharpen their pencils I did decide to give it another try (a decision I make every time I am offered the fruit) and it actually wasn’t too bad-I think I was just too hungry. I should mention here though that I sort of might be allergic to papaya as I was up all night with the worst stomach pains I have ever felt (of course this probably wont stop me from tasting it again if it is offered to me)….

Find The Smell!

May 16, 2013

I played my first game of “Find That Smell!” today. It is a pretty simple game that us, here in Peace Corps Tonga (and I am sure in many other PC countries), like to play. The game play is simple- you simply administer poison to anyone of your bugs/ rodents- most common, obviously being the rat, and you wait for it to dies and start to decay. When the smell has reach its prime you simply follow it (if you’re lucky you will get help from the flies) to your prize!

My game was played with a rat. I have had a rat for awhile and since I only had one and felt bad I didn’t want to kill it so I just let it have my house as long as it only came out after 10 pm and didn’t go in my room- it seem to understand this deal. I didn’t know that rats here are a bit more hungry/ aggressive and it ate through 2 of my plastic storage bins- one being my spice bin and chewed through a plastic bottle of salt and a few other select spices. After the spice bin and the massive amounts of feces it left everywhere, I decided I needed to just end it. I got some poison tablets from town and gave them to the rat a week ago, I am pretty sure he was a super rat because he just started to smell today and I doubt it really takes that long. Lucky for me it was during my site visit from the Peace Corps Medical Doctor! She wished me happy hunting after she left and I felt glad to have a doctor who knew a little about volunteer life.