When she called me on the 24th I was at a wedding - after the wedding we got back to the car and I had 3 missed calls...one from "unknown." I knew it was Jamie and was so disappointed that I had missed her call. Fortunately she called again about an hour later and we were able to talk for awhile.
When we last spoke she was a few days from finding out what part of Tonga she would do her 2 years of service, which begins mid-December. She had just met with the Peace Corps people - they were meeting with all of the volunteers individually to find out how things were going and to get an idea of where each volunteer would be a good fit. She is still on the island of Ha'apai with the host family. She told them that she was doing well there and thought she would be ok if she were moved to an even more secluded island. That is what she expected would happen, but then a couple of days later she called mom and dad and told them that the PC had met with her again and were interested in placing her at a boy's military school on the main island Nuku'alofa. I believe the boys are 10-12 year olds and she would be teaching them English. They were interested in placing her at this school because of her background in sports and music - they thought it would also be good for the kids. If she went to this school she would be able to live in a dorm-type setting. It sounds like a great place to be, however we are slightly concerned about the all-boys aspect of it. Hopefully there will be other female employees or volunteers there. She should know by now where she will be, she was supposed to find out last Thursday, but we haven't spoken with her since.
I asked her more about the food she has been eating. It sounds more similar to our diet than I would have thought. The meats are similar, they eat beef and chicken. They also eat pork but the host family she is staying with is Seventh Day Adventists and they don't eat pork. She did say that a lot of people there eat dog and horse meat, but as far as she knows she hasn't consumed either! I thought this was pretty cool - most of the restaurants there have a meal called "Kentucky" - can anyone guess what this meal might be? Fried Chicken!! So at least we know she always can find some good Kentucky food if she needs to! Pineapple and mango season is approaching in Tonga and she is excited about that. She was also telling me about the bananas they have there...they are huge. They are as long as her forearm and as thick as her wrist. That would be awesome, except she doesn't like bananas, ha ha.
She is still enjoying her host family and they have been extremely accomodating to her. Her host mom is interested in learning new American receipes, so one of the last times Jamie talked to mom she asked her to send some recipes the next time she sends a package. Mom also sent a book and information about Kentucky, so they can learn a little about where she is from. And she is still spending time with the boy from Ohio. :)
I think the funniest thing that happened while we were on the phone was that she asked me to hold on for just a second, then started talking to someone in Tongan. It was really cool, but also strange to hear her speaking another language! She is doing a great job learning the language so I'm sure she will have no problems passing her language test before she begins her service.
This is one of the better maps I've found to give a better idea of where Tonga is.
