My water smells and tastes like vegetables because my electricity has been out three days due to the Gale Force winds we encountered because of Tropical Storm Wilma. Luckily, we weren't touched by the cyclone-- just a lot of wind and rain. My fridge smells like rotten produce, but due to an amazing package from my aunt and uncle--full of wonderful things like spices!--I made pasta with a delicious sauce of tomatoes, cheese, black pepper, sea salt, and chopped veggies. Yummmmm. The packages from Laura/Tim and Lauren/Chase (and a fun Christmas card from my cousin Kathy) totally made my day--candy, cookies, spices, a book, school supplies, water bottle, ball shorts...it was wonderful.
Since it gets dark at 8, I spent the rest of daylight (after church) cooking and washing dishes. Luckily, my PC friend let me borrow her flashlight, so I read til nearly midnight, finishing Memoirs of a Geisha (what a great book and movie!). I couldn't sleep well because my big toe is infected somehow and is extremely sore. Pus has now surfaced from the swollen red knot in the corner cuticle, but things are getting better since I've drained it a little, cleaned it, and covered it with a GOOD bandaid I received in my package from Elizabeth! (What a good nurse she is... she even included Tums! She knows me too well.)Unfortunately, I didn't get a ride back from town to my village after the teacher workshop, so my foot was really sore. Boo-hiss. I feel silly that one infected toe makes me feel all complainy, I mean I had food poisoning for goodness sakes! At first I thought it may be an ingrown toenail, but...no. I don't think those ooze.
On a non-grody note, I know what I am teaching now! School starts Monday (you may do a happy dance along with me, if you wish), and I will teach Classes 3 and 4 (Grades 2 and 3, essentially), and will eventually start teaching a night class for high school students.
As far as secondary projects, I want to start a Creative Writing group here-- there's a program I heard about on the main island that publishes good Tongan works by students, so hopefully that can happen!
I will also be working with Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) all this year until the camp starts in September, and I will be a Camp Counselor leader type person, and I'm totally excited about it! Gender issues are...well, an issue here, as in many PC countries (well, pretty much all over the world), and we want to equip females here with the confidence and ability to function and be educated in many things-- health, youth awareness, and of course...fun. I am pretty stoked about it!
Some have asked if I need anything for future packages:
First of all, thank you to everyone who has sent me packages! It absolutely makes my whole week when I have packages in my possession. It is seriously Christmas every time I even open a card or a letter--so even if you don't send an overly expensive package (stupid shipping), please--a card or letter is much appreciated! I love it all!
Here are some school supplies that would really help me:
-Post-it notes
-Note cards
-Markers
-Crayons
-Colored Pencils
-Colored Chalk
-Construction paper
-Maps! (US, World, Pacific??)
-Pens
-Scissors (the small kind for kids)
-Glue/sticks
-Composition Notebooks. I want to use these for my Creative Writing class. In the US, when school starts, people flock to the many aisles dedicated to school supplies in Wal Mart, Target, etc and raid them like it's an Easter Egg hunt. It amazes me now to think of the one aisle JUST dedicated to notebooks. Composition notebooks, 50 cent notebooks, Mead NBs that cost like a million dollars, calendar notebook planners, Steno pads, binders... Here, the notebooks are small, simple. The quality is equivalent to the really cheap flimsy notebooks you can get at a DG store or Wal Mart, but the paper is... well, from all the moisture and humidity, paper here never feels dry. It's crazy. Many kids usually just carry one notebook to school, so I would love for my Creative Writing kids to have a Comp. notebook for their own imaginative writing...I may keep them in my possession between weeks (because someone could easily take them if the kids keep them...in Tonga, my pencil is your pencil. My frying pan is your frying pan. My bra could just as easily be your bra.)
Anyway, those are the main supplies I"d love to have--thank you to everyone for your support! Also, if you have any children's books or see them on clearance or anything... books are also scarce here.
Taimi malolo (time to rest.)If you've ever seen Blazing Saddles (a movie that will make me laugh from start to finish no matter how many times I watch it,) I want you to imagine me as whats-her-face, the performer with the funny bunny "wabbit" voice who can't say her R's. She's on stage and starts singing, "I'mmmmm sooooo tiii'uwd, ti'uwd of being ad-mi-uwd..."
Consider that my exit performance. I'm beat! Only to hike back to town tomorrow. 'Oiaue.
No comments:
Post a Comment