My life in the Kingdom of Tonga: Swearing In

Sorry I haven’t posted anything for awhile but I’ve been pretty busy and not near a computer too much. Yesterday was my first day at site as a Peace Corps Volunteer. We all got sworn in on the 15^th back in Nuku’alofa. We all arrived in the capital last Tuesday and we had a few days to do our shopping for our house. Most people had to buy expensive things like refrigerators, stoves, and bikes but I was very fortunate to have that stuff all left to me by the Volunteer who use to be at my site. My biggest purchases were a washing machine (300 pa’anga) and an arm chair (about 300 pa’anga). The rest of my shopping was smaller things like pitchers, buckets, machete, etc. Our things won’t arrive until Wednesday when the boat comes in.

The ceremony was pretty nice. Peace Corps got a venue on the lagoon in Nuku’alofa. The Japanese, Chinese, and New Zealand ambassadors attended as well as the head of the Anglican Church in Tonga and the guest of honor, the Minister of Education. I read part of the opening hymn in Tongan. We all said the oath together, which I believe is the same for all government employees, and then we were called up individually. There was some food afterwards and then that was it and we were now volunteers. Most of us finished up our shopping and everyone went out for a great night of partying to celebrate that night. It’s a strange and great feeling to officially be a volunteer and to have my 2-years of service to have begun.

The other new volunteer here in Ha’apai and I arrived back here yesterday morning. I was picked up by a man from my village who I believe is a minister in the Mormon Church in my village. I cleaned up a little bit and started my community integration. That’s basically my only priority as far as Peace Corps goes for the next month or so. The summer holidays just began so school won’t start again until the end of January. Now is the time where I practice my language more and meet everyone. After I settled in again at my house, I went for a walk to go and start introducing myself. It’s not really me introducing myself because everyone for the most part knows who I am. It more like me going and greeting people and trying unsuccessfully to remember people’s faces and names. I was lucky to stumble across a Wesleyan Bar B Q. I was invited to join them. They gave me some delicious chicken and manioke. After I ate, I drank some kava with them for an or so and then went home. With my community integration for the day done, I went spear fishing. Before going to sleep I studied some Tongan for about an hour and watched a movie on my laptop. I imagine that this will be roughly about my schedule for the next month or so. I’d say day one as a volunteer was a success.