Hello friends! Sorry it's been 2 weeks. Busy life, crazy life, sometimes sad and whatnot, but I wrote a song and have performed it twice so far... once over the phone to my bff Kaitlin who had a really hard day, so when I finished it, I called her and serenaded with this parody. I wanted to preface this because I will provide commentary in parenthesis, so don't get confused. :) Malo 'aupito!
Ode to Clean Life (I've adopted "Clean Life" as a euphemism for "America" thanks to my 'Eua crew pals Paul and Bre.)
Get the wine from a bottle and not from a box (even in restaurants, it's a gamble)
and cuddle next to me with our warm fuzzy socks (we miss coldness...)
we'll order a pizza from a place down the block-- (oh, to have proximity of pizza)
Imagine a business that uses a clock (we cannot WAIT for delivery)
And after our bellies are drunk from all the bread ("makona" is bread drunk...it's one of my fav. Tongan words)
we'll watch a good movie with no Filipino cred (the most popular movies are Filipino extended mini-series and soap operas... and they are excrutiating)
we'll lay on a couch, and not a foam pad bed,
I think we'll start when the popcorn's ready (we dream of movies and popcorn)
(Chorus)
Who knew that we could be so glad
despite our polka dot legs (from mosquito bites, boils, bed bugs, scars)
'Oiaue, no work today ('Oiaue is my most-used Tongan word. Just an expression)
I have to say, I like this Clean Life Way.
I am just a girl from Kentucky
and I've grown fond of my pink little bucket (multi-purpose... for baths, dishes, vomiting, and even filling my toilet!)
but a bath from it don't take away the funky,
so a steamy hot shower makes me feel lucky (what's a hot shower again?)
No more chasin' rats in the middle of the night
or dousing the house with harmful pesticide (the black can smells like oranges)
no more wringin laundry to hang it on the line (I have callouses now)
though we'll miss that snow-globe, Pacific-night sky (BEAUTIFUL nights in 'Eua!)
(Chorus)
Who knew that we could be so glad despite our ice cold baths
'Oiaue, no work today, I have to say... I like this Clean Life Way
Now don'tcha be sad, the mem'ries won't drop,
we'll miss that life but not the root crop (if I eat 'ufi one more time...)
we've a nice road ahead without smelly pig flop
and you can talk to me with no guttural stop (the ' in Tongan requires a throat stop)
And we can build dreams from a head of lice (I see them crawling quite often)
look how we've grown, like a Tongan wife (almost ALL married women are obese)
though some of us should never touch a knife (like 'Eua pal Kim, who ran a knife through her hand while cutting a coconut)
it's time we take a jab at this clean life
Who knew that we could be so glad, despite our rodent nightmares
'Oiaue, real work today, (we often dream of like...making money)
I have to say... I like (or missed) this Clean Life Way
(Thank you... hope you enjoyed it. I hope to have a video soon!)
Friday, June 17, 2011
Friday, June 3, 2011
Call me a mirror
When you stay by yourself for an extended period of time, you find yourself doing a lot of weird things. Like tons of life-reflection, even life-fictionizing. (You mean I DIDN`T run into Donald Miller on a Portland streetcorner while talking on the phone to my friend Lauren and discussing deeply interesting spiritual things, at which time Don would stop, look at me, invite me to church, and then proceed to fall in love with me???) Right. That will happen AFTER PC.
A year-ish ago, I was a new, fresh, glowing college grad eating a Flying Cupcake cupcake in Indianapolis with my new amazing host family and new amazing roomie who I:d only met a few days before at the Nashville airport. That whole summer was about surviving missionary life obstacles, staying afloat with an unpaid internship, and hopping over to my second home, Belgium. I came home an absolute wreck because I had two options. Belgium missionary shenanigans or Peace Corps African (at the time) service. I was really really confused.
But. Here I am! Showering every 3-4 days. (Dont judge... you have running water!) Waking up early because I was too `busy` reading a book to plan for class, finally discerning the difference between church bells (which ring ALL the time) in my village, rocking out to new random songs on my ukulele, dreaming of random things... like being 9 months prego and chasing a jumping molokau in my parents bedroom, and surviving the mumbling, un-anunciated speech of my Tongan peers.
I do a lot of thinking. A lot of motivation and attitude-checking. A lot of friend-making. Tons of reading. Cockroach-killing, Ant-massacring (or eating...which is the same), family-missing. Story-telling.
The other night, one girl showed up for my night class (story of my life), and I let her draw a metaphorical picture for a poster contest in Fiji, and after she finished, she asked to braid my hair. It made me think of my first night in my new Ha`apai home, where I bonded with my host sisters by braiding their hair. (The Tongan braid is much stronger and much more intricate...my braid is sloppy from braiding my own hair for years.)
My awesome family sent me a coffee press, and I reflected on my relationsihp with coffee, starting with my late night adventures to Nashville with my dad for pitching lessons. (Sometimes I hardly remember I played softball like it was my entire being!) He and I would stop at a quick-stop gas station (oh to see one of those here...) and grab an uber-sweet cappuccino... now, I prefer my coffee black, if its strong enough and with good flavor.
And friend-reflecting. Oh, how I miss all my amazing friends (this includes family, as they are some of the best friends I have), and how I miss just being THERE. Just relaxing on a couch, having movie marathons, religious philosophizing, games-playing, life-contemplating, weekend-trip-planning.
In a year and a half, when I am permanently back in Clean Life (for however long that is), Reflection will be my middle name. Ohhhh friends, prepare yourself. And have a tape recorder ready for when I sleep... Im dreaming in Tongan, so I`m sure random languages will start spewing out in my dreams.
A year-ish ago, I was a new, fresh, glowing college grad eating a Flying Cupcake cupcake in Indianapolis with my new amazing host family and new amazing roomie who I:d only met a few days before at the Nashville airport. That whole summer was about surviving missionary life obstacles, staying afloat with an unpaid internship, and hopping over to my second home, Belgium. I came home an absolute wreck because I had two options. Belgium missionary shenanigans or Peace Corps African (at the time) service. I was really really confused.
But. Here I am! Showering every 3-4 days. (Dont judge... you have running water!) Waking up early because I was too `busy` reading a book to plan for class, finally discerning the difference between church bells (which ring ALL the time) in my village, rocking out to new random songs on my ukulele, dreaming of random things... like being 9 months prego and chasing a jumping molokau in my parents bedroom, and surviving the mumbling, un-anunciated speech of my Tongan peers.
I do a lot of thinking. A lot of motivation and attitude-checking. A lot of friend-making. Tons of reading. Cockroach-killing, Ant-massacring (or eating...which is the same), family-missing. Story-telling.
The other night, one girl showed up for my night class (story of my life), and I let her draw a metaphorical picture for a poster contest in Fiji, and after she finished, she asked to braid my hair. It made me think of my first night in my new Ha`apai home, where I bonded with my host sisters by braiding their hair. (The Tongan braid is much stronger and much more intricate...my braid is sloppy from braiding my own hair for years.)
My awesome family sent me a coffee press, and I reflected on my relationsihp with coffee, starting with my late night adventures to Nashville with my dad for pitching lessons. (Sometimes I hardly remember I played softball like it was my entire being!) He and I would stop at a quick-stop gas station (oh to see one of those here...) and grab an uber-sweet cappuccino... now, I prefer my coffee black, if its strong enough and with good flavor.
And friend-reflecting. Oh, how I miss all my amazing friends (this includes family, as they are some of the best friends I have), and how I miss just being THERE. Just relaxing on a couch, having movie marathons, religious philosophizing, games-playing, life-contemplating, weekend-trip-planning.
In a year and a half, when I am permanently back in Clean Life (for however long that is), Reflection will be my middle name. Ohhhh friends, prepare yourself. And have a tape recorder ready for when I sleep... Im dreaming in Tongan, so I`m sure random languages will start spewing out in my dreams.
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