The first half of our conversation was a little awkward. Mom had warned me about the delay. When I would say something she would hear it 5-10 seconds later and vice versa. She was used to this but I wasn’t so about halfway through I finally got the hang of it and stopped interrupting her so much. And then of course there were all these things I wanted to talk to her about and ask her about and as soon as we started talking I couldn’t remember any of it, I just told her to tell me everything! Unfortunately we didn’t get to finish our conversation; we got disconnected while she was telling me about some kind of root that they eat. But we were able to talk for awhile so I have some information to share!
She has now moved onto the island of Ha’apai, Tonga. She is living with a host family as she goes through her training, which will last for another 2 months. She is with a really neat family. The dad is a police officer and the mom makes bread. So she has protection and good food! They speak Tongan and English and are really helping her to learn Tongan. They will usually talk in Tongan and then repeat it in English for her. She also said that sometimes they will be speaking and just mid-sentence switch languages. She said the mom has been great and asked her what she liked to eat. Jamie told her that she really likes vegetables so she has been preparing lots of vegetables for her. I didn’t get any details about what she has been eating, but she did mention that she had ONLY had diarrhea twice! Ha ha! Jamie’s not very picky so she has adjusted to the food well. She did say that she has been eating small portions, though they keep preparing very large meals for her. That is sort of a tradition for them, they feed their guests well! The family also has 4 children. I think they varied from ages 7 to 14. That might not be right, but it’s something like that. Jamie has been trying to exercise (Tongans are generally large people and she is afraid that she will gain weight) but she said that in Tonga people don’t exercise like they do here, it’s just not something they put any emphasis on, or even seem to be very knowledgeable about its health benefits. She has been walking with one of her new sisters, and wants to do some running but she can’t do it by herself. She said that there is some superstition there and if women are alone people will tell them that, “The devil’s gonna get ya…” She said at one point she was walking a short distance from one house to another and she was told that the devil was gonna get her.
She has been going to church with her host family. There are 4 villages on this particular island and they travel to another village for church. She said they have a truck and everyone piles up in the bed of the truck. I talked to her on Saturday afternoon, which was Sunday morning in Tonga, and no one was going to church that particular day because it was absolutely pouring, and I guess everyone has trucks and was going to get soaked. She said that the church atmosphere is different there than what she is used to. Their church places more of an emphasis on community togetherness rather than on God and one’s personal spirituality. I'm not sure what type of church it is. I know when we were looking up information about Tonga we saw that it was heavily Methodist and Mormon. I'm sure both of those denominations have done lots of mission work there.
She really likes the other Peace Corps workers. There are 25 all together in Tonga, though only a few are with her in Ha’apai. I know there is one particular male volunteer from Ohio whose company she has enjoyed, and they have even been singing some karaoke together at a Tongan bar. I will also get more details about this. ;)
Unfortunately Jamie is having a problem with mosquitoes. They are pretty bad in Tonga, though thankfully Malaria is not an issue. She said that one morning she woke up with 24 bites on one leg… 6 alone on one knee cap. She also said that there are a lot of bugs there. It’s not unusual to see lizards and cockroaches in the house. Eeek.
She said that she has no idea what is going on in America, and feels completely cut off from the rest of the world. I tried to fill her in on some of the latest news stories. She didn’t know about the miners in Chile being rescued so I told her about that. I also made sure to catch her up on Glee. :)
She has started to get a nice suntan, but she also has major tan lines since she has to wear shorts and a t-shirt if she goes to the beach. She said that there will be times when she is not working and can go to some of the touristy areas and pretend to be a tourist and wear a regular bathing suit, so that will be fun.
I am so glad that I was able to talk to her and hear that she is doing so well. She sounded very happy and that made me so relieved. I was confident that she would adjust well, but I had this awful fear of her getting there and being lonely and uncomfortable. I know this wouldn’t be like Jamie at all, but this was a big cultural shock and I just wasn’t sure how things would play out. But I was happy to hear that she is having the time of her life. I can’t wait to see pictures. She is hoping to have some online time soon. She said the other day she was having trouble getting a computer connected and it finally did and she was about to check her e-mail and then they had to leave to go to some training. Hopefully I will get to talk to her soon and get some more details. I honestly was so excited to talk to her that my mind went completely blank and I couldn’t remember any of the specifics I wanted. Here are a few pictures I found of Ha’apai, just to give everyone an idea of where she is!
A road on Ha'apai
I thought this was kind of funny...here is Ha'apai, Tonga!
Beautiful!
Click here to see some more gorgeous pictures from Tonga! I tried to copy them here but they had a copyright.
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