First of all, let me apologize for how mundane my blog looks. It's all black and boring, so sorry! I'll try to upload pictures if/when I remember to bring my camera over to the town officer's house/my only source of internet.
I spent last night at the TO's house because the village is worried that I will have 'ilifia (fear) because I'm the only one currently living on the school compound, which is technically outside of town. But it's only a 3 min. walk to the TO's house, and I like the location...there's a huge open field in front of the house, with bush in the background...and a fence to separate my house and the bush. My house still needs a little work, but it is clean and huge and beautiful! The curtains are almost finished, and I'm hoping to get a gas tank for my stove/oven! I want to bake so bad... And as far as food, I'll be set because the TO's wife said I could come over for any meal, anytime. Tongans love feeding we Palangis. Yesterday, she got teary because she didn't have "Palangi food" and was afraid I wouldn't like Tongan food. She was happy when I told her in Tongan, "Oku ou sai'iataha kumala mo lu mo pele! Sai pe 'ia!" (My favorite is kumala, lu, and pele leaves! It's okay!)
Kumala, by the way, is the sweet potato here...it comes in white and purple, and though everyone says they taste the same, kumala Hawaii (the purple kind) tastes better to me. Probably because it's prettier. Lu is meat with onions and coconut milk stuff wrapped in leaves and cooked in an 'umu, the outdoor underground oven. Pele leaves are like spinach, and they are excellent and easy to cook with coconut milk and any vegetables or meat.
Today will probably be busy, but maybe not quite as busy as yesterday. A PC staff is here, thank goodness, because she makes things easy for me! She's helped me with SO much and has worked her booty off to get my house clean, organized, and taken care of. Later, we'll go to town so I can pick up some last minute things for the house... I hope to stay in it tonight!
Yesterday I checked out the school, since it's a rock's throw away from my house. It's pretty cute, and I will be one of 3 teachers--which I'm kind of excited about! It's a primary school, and I think I'll teach Classes 3-6...I'm not sure how the structure of time will go, but I guess we'll see! When I peeked in the classrooms, everything looked very thrown together...I'm pretty sure the library is on a couple of benches in the messy room, so I may have some projects to tackle! But I still have a month before school starts, so hopefully I'll have my ducks in a row before the madness begins.
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