2018Tonga

Well another school week has started in Tonga at Tupou College. Still no power and the generators whirring is the 'norm'.  Somewhat of a relief from the chain saws at random times for hours on end. No end in sight for the restoration of power yet. The variations in different power sources have affected the water. No water in our kitchen since Thursday night, and an off and on supply to the bathroom basin and shower. Of course when it's hottest; no water to the shower. Still we have bananas, which ripen all at once. So banana porridge, banana cake, banana anything we can think of and then the pigs are the beneficiaries. The Scenic Hotel, near the airport is back in action, although the pool is still to be filled and available, but it is a light relief from Toloa. They do have meals and drinks. Saturday we decided to take a bus to town; quite an adventure. The 30 seater was transport for 42 people and as we had to stand for the 18 km trip. We had no idea of our locati...

Following the overnight cyclone on February 12th we went down to our cottage the follwing and it was full of water, including a leak from the ceiling onto our bed. All rooms were awash but we didn’t lose anything. The car port blew away but we’d secured the scooter in a large covered outdoor learning space. The school and in fact all of Tonga lost power (still largely out) and trees and building rubble everywhere. We moved to the ‘guest cottage’.. a simple duplex with two minute bedrooms, a kitchen and eating area and a weird loo and shower with a head height divider. The mirror image through a core door, Klarissa and her husband and two kids are in. So only limited generator power, couple of hours a day, no refrigeration and one powerpoint to charge things (phones and laptops) when generator is on. (no fans!!) No night reading, but we watch a dvd in the evenings and play scrabble at cocktail hour (no real drinks only luke warm water). The candles are not romantic at al...

The blog has been asleep for 8 or 9 days due to the fury of cyclone Gita. Even now internet is very limited and power is via generators and restricted to a couple of hours a day. The fuel is limited across the island, so generator use is judicious. It means limited water at home, one light, one power point, a couple oh hours a day. No refrigeration and strange and less than exotic meals. We do have gas cooking so I've managed pancakes, porridge, Greg made a banana cake, which has multiple applications and we've collected some paw paws from the surrounding trees.   Sounds worse than it is and hopefully the islands power supply is not too far from restoration. However on the occasional drive to Nuka'Alofa the tangle of power lines down is staggering. I have some great images of said downed power lines and severe storm damage but currently there is no way to transfer them to my blog. We lost power Monday last week and thus internet, this is the first time we've had t...

The school celebrates its 152nd birthday this weekend. The Queen of Tonga is the official guest so we have to learn and put in place many protocols. However, a cyclone is approaching Tonga and has changed everything. After a glorious weekend staying at the Dateline Hotel for a bit of R & R, cyclone Gita has decided it has Tongtapu (the main island of Tonga) in its sights. Due here at 7pm tonight, Monday Feb 12th. I'll share the hotel images and although we had access to TV we watched a very limited selection of the Winter Olympics; for obvious reasons. More interesting is the addition to Tonga of a giant warehouse shop called CostLow, yep quite similar, albeit a local owned and operated version, of another big retail bulk store. No doubt prices are very dissimilar, see below, lucky we don't need litres of mayo!! BUT the $8 Timtams are beyond the pale. But, the fruit at roadside stalls and the markets in Nuka'Alofa is terrific, everything is $3 (that's pa...

Yep, another Friday so we've been here THREE weeks. Lots happening but I gather there have been issues with connecting to the blog. I feel that may have been resolved. Read on the adventures in paradise continue. So, a huge day Sunday with staff and prefect induction, followed by an enormous feast. We were careful not to overeat so that we could still walk home.  However left over food was delivered  later that night, just in case we were hungry. It included half a pig. Luckily it was cooked. We did manage to eat some of the pork meat Tuesday evening and it was great. Another short teaching week as Thursday and Friday have been Athletics Carnival. I have spent the time watching from the main building composing a PPT for the Queen's visit to the school 152nd birthday celebrations. Getting to know the boys, m any of whom are live wires very keen to learn and benefit from the 'International class.                   ...

Friday, after a not very busy week. We headed to the pool at the Scenic Hotel and on return the sun was setting as we looked for a little pizza place. It was spectacular, the sunset, the pizza was average. The 'new' team car has a TV, all in Japanese of course. Greg popped into collect the pizza and I entertained myself with Osaka TV, couldn't understand anything and the GPS could have taken us anywhere in Osaka! Not much help in Tonga!