Saturday, November 20, 2010

September: My Parents Came to Tonga



 The month of September got off to a sad start, because my dog Moli disappeared the first week of the month. I went to visit friends on Friday and left her tied up, and when I came back later that night she was gone. She had slipped out of her collar and it was still attached to the rope. I have no idea what happened to her. I searched some in the next couple of days, but there was no sign of her, and I’ve decided I’m officially done with having pets in Tonga, though several people have offered me replacement dogs. I’m really sad she’s gone, but on the bright side I think that maybe now I’ll travel after C.O.S. since I won’t have a dog to take home anymore.

Goodbye Moli- you were a good dog
I helped a little at Camp GLOW, which was held on Tongatapu. It seemed to go really well. I was disappointed because none of the girls from my school ended up attending. I’ve decided that I’m going to get more involved with it next year and try to get some St. Andrew’s girls over there. Anyway, the rest of the month was pretty busy getting final exams written and trying to cram in the rest of the material before the year ended, and as a result I’ve resolved to plan better for next year.

By far the most exciting part of the month was when my parents came to visit on the 27th. Mo’unga was nice enough to drive me to the airport to pick them up, and then we came back to my house, where surprisingly enough, they wanted to stay. I tried to clean it well before they came and sprayed liberal amounts of Mortein. I taught my classes and they came and introduced themselves to the Form Ones. Mom brought gifts of candy and pencils, which were a big hit. Then went into town by bus and walked around a bit, and unfortunately Mom twisted her ankle at the market so we went back.


On Friday we had a “work-a-thon” at the school and singing practice. I had Mom and Dad come to the morning assembly, where they were recruited to hand out certificates to the form one boys who did the “rubbish patrol.”

That night we went to a feast and culture show at Oholei Beach, on the east side of the island.
At Captain Cook's Landing Place on the way to the show.


Fire dance!

On Saturday we did an island tour with Tai, which was fun. It took all day and went around the entire island. We saw:

The Ancient Tombs at Lapaha...

Captain Cook's Landing Place (picture c/o Tai, haha)...
The "Fishing Pigs"...
The Ha'amonga...
'Anahulu Cave...
Keleti Beach...
The Natural Landbridge..

The Blowholes...
 
  Liahona, the two-headed coconut tree, and Abel Tasman’s landing place (no pictures, sorry!). Sunday we went to Pangaimotu Island, where we had lunch and lounged around on the beach.

1 comment:

  1. I'm so excited to come visit you! I'm going to have to think of something fun to give your students.

    ReplyDelete