2018Tonga

Well the R & R went so well I didn't update the blog. It was  terrific, we had a very well positioned AirBNB which was our first experience of them and a very positive one. We had a large studio apartment so could cook etc and really get the food especially the fruit and vegies we've not got available in Tonga. We also manged a movie, signed up to Netflix so caught up on some great TV, read, swam both in the complex pool and more enjoyable was Waikiki beach a 1km walk. The  beach is a long wide strip about 3kms with beautiful clear, clean water, luxurious gardens behind and a spectacular view. Evening of July 4th, waiting on the beach for the fireworks (not as spectacular as Sydney New Years Eve was the general consensus) Waikiki Beach 4.7.2018 Now back in Tonga and hosting a group from Newington College for 6 days. Lots of feasting (on Tongan food) and many many photo opportunities. The highlight for me is the head of Drama with the group who has been a terrific ...

As the term winds down we launch into exams, marking and doing some prep for next term. It’s been another busy term, no cyclone admittedly. However we have had a few days of torrential rain. The worst, overnight last Thursday. I woke to cold drops on my face to discover rain leaking through the eastern side of our cottage. The same spot as during the cyclone. Greg was drenched and had only woken at my exclamation of the cold drips on my face. We moved the bed went back to sleep deciding to deal with it in the morning. Friday dawned and the rain continued for a couple of hours, long enough to cancel the afternoons rugby. The sun appeared for a while but rugby was planned for afternoon had been cancelled . The junior games were played Saturday. The fields at Atele  were a  mud bath but the 13A final was exciting, ultimately a win for Tupou. The ‘Firsts’ will play Tuesday  afternoon. Again after heavy rain overnight it will be another wet track. The Romeo and J...

Thursday morning June 7th sun rise over Toloa Friday morning June 8th after a night of torrential rain, strong winds and a leaking roof, similar view at the same time.

As we wind down for the mid year break I share the images of the term Making bread: Greg dressed for the King's visit for the schools' 152 nd birthday  The King and Queen enjoy the entertainment and feast Text messages (about 6 a day!!) Just a small group of boys who are scheduled weekly to do mowing etc, there was a glut yesterday

Thursday this week was a usual day until I learnt that there was a planned visit to the palace. Greg and I had the choice to go (or not). Naturally we decided to go. Instructed to be at  the palace gate at 5pm, luckily we were early as the whole show started before 5.  The school bands/choirs performed really quite spectacular, many many speeches, prayers (all in Tongan naturally). But the highlight was being presented to the king. Just Greg, me, the school principal and Special K. Who's that you ask. The other Aussie here from Blue Mts, a teacher/missionary. Not teaching here but doing other stuff with staff training and generally getting involved in everything. Next weekend is the big school 152nd birthday. big big deal. The Newington retiring headmaster and the incoming Headmaster will be here. All the local big wigs will be here; various diplomats, high commissioners and the Tongan King and Queen. More news when the big weekend has happened.

With the start of Week five the half way mark for this term arrives. Five more weeks and we head to Hawaii for R&R. Nothing outstanding has happened, although cause to celebrate as we have had a record string of about 4 days with no interruptions to the water supply. Cooler weather is also now the norm, particularly in the evenings and morning before the sun rises at 7am. Last week we went to a Quiz night at a Billfish, in Nuka'Alofa. While our team of five (the maximum allowed per team, without penalty) were keen our enthusiasm did not reflect in the final results unfortunately. It was the Tongan round and the mystery location (Osaka) despite many photos we were unable to identify it. Still a fun night. It's monthly so we will try again in June to do better. Form 5 (Year 11 age group, but academic standard slightly lower) had their first National exam on Friday. It was an Aural with the passage recited over the radio for all of the country. It is still to be mark...

Never a dull moment in Tonga. Well the week started as usual but by Tuesday morning we woke to the most violent thunder, wind and rain. So much rain that the boys remained in the school chapel until it quietened down (2 hours later). Now of course houses, class rooms and the grounds are absolutely awash. And as you can see the cows are enjoying added freedom. It may also be a respite from the bugs who I hope go elsewhere to shelter. The school's first round of inter school rugby matches started last Friday. Certainly a crowd to rival any GPS game and a lot more pomp and ceremony; including prayers, blessings, long talks and a fantastic emu parade at the end where over 300 boys cleaned the grounds. They won, beating their nemesis. As they train 5 afternoons a week and every morning except Saturdays and Sundays good results are expected. I have embarked on updating/upgrading the museum. (Cleaning out all the bugs, painting and reorganising). It is quite a treasure with an ...

Since our return we have had heaps of rain. No big deal I guess we live on a Pacific tropical island. But the bugs that accompany the rain are truly legendary, hence the image to illustrate, and that's just one corner. Now that we are into the swing of a new term planning for the next holidays has begun. We are heading to Honolulu for two weeks. However in the meantime there is lots happening. The much delayed celebration of the schools' 152nd birthday, with the King and Queen of Tonga in attendance is not the least of it is we have the launch of the Form 1 International class (the reason we are here is to teach this class). So a full 'show off' is needed. Luckily I am teaching them Romeo and Juliet, should come across quite well, not a full performance but some recitations. I'm finding that the blog can't represent really what it's like living here. It is truly a crazy mixed up place; like no other in my experience.  Water supply is still a...

After a busy two weeks in Sydney we are back in Tonga. The school campus is very quiet as the boys and perhaps many of the staff won't be back until Saturday evening. Cows checking out our washing! It was delightful to be home with family, see friends, visit Newington to get some supplies for Tupou College. On return we had a couple of days back here before school restarted. We found some groceries, reorganised things and got stuck into bingeing on various TV shows we had either dvds for or things that had been down loaded onto a usb drive. I’ve included a short video of the house. As it’s rained quite a bit, I’ve not taken many pics. Although the weather has cooled, or the humidity lessened making it quite pleasant. Although we’ve finally managed to get a gas bottle and connect the barbecue the cows still visit and attempt to get up close and very personal, often as close as the back door.   Water supply has been very sporadic, the water cooler doesn’t provide en...

Week 7 Another busy week. Aside form teaching we had Parent Teacher meetings/Visit by HRH the Tongan Princess, who is also the Tongan High Commissioner in Australia and a play preformance. That was all on one day. To further create a full day the play we have been working on in Form 1 English we performed not only for the boy's parents but for HRH Angelique also. Parent Teacher meetings were held in the Hall and ran from 5pm until 8:30pm with a short break for the play performance, but an early finish due to a black out. Ten minutes per family was a long time after only 5 real weeks of teaching and my limited (zero) Tongan language skills. But the view from the venue was terrific. Te sun sets over the staff cottages on the farm road. Talking to parents as the sun set and coolness descended was quite a pleasant finish to the day.

Crazy heat still going, the change is expected in June!! As we begin to wind down for a short break we have reports, parent teacher meeting (3 hrs for one class) and a delightful (I hope) production of a play version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We wrote it ourselves, have cobbled together costumes, many of the boys wearing my skirts or sarongs. Will post pics next blog entry. Techo problems with the latest images. I have volunteered to begin to explore the closed rather decrepit school museum. Apparently ot has an array of artifacts and other stuff which has not seen the light of day for years. The end game is to have a little tourist attraction but in the meantime a little project and I will engage a group of boys who can use it as their 'community service'. Also more on that next time. But things are moving on with the restoration after the cyclone, a large water tank is now located adjacent to the water tank tower so service should improve. Weather has o...

Now there really is news!! After 21 days we have power, well most of the campus does. Our temporary house and our real house both do, unfortunately the class room and staff room I use, don't. Our cottage is about to be cleaned thoroughly (debugged) and a move is afoot. I have four boys, mops, buckets, disinfectant etc etc and lots of surgical gloves and we will give it a clean to be remembered. Last night sleeping with a fan was certainly a real treat. And more importantly reading at night, what luxury. Still poor Tonga it has been a really difficult time and initially 80% of the main island of Tongatapu lost power. The clean up continues with rubbish everywhere and not enough man power to do it with any great haste. For the non-Newingtonian teachers/Staff I have added my report for their school newsletter In February, our world was turned upside down – literally – when Cyclone Gita hit Tonga. The night of the cyclone we stayed at the principal’s large, safe concrete...

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!

  Finally teaching the year 7 boys, they are referred as International Form 1.  We have a purpose built new classroom with some of the mod cons. The two huge wall mounted fans are great and the tiled floor a real bonus. The boys are lovely (17 so far) and from a real mix of backgrounds; born and raised in Wyoming USA, Auckland NZ and  one of 12 kids, one of 6 girls and just he the only boy, one of 7 boys etc etc. Quite interesting. They are currently doing the Myself and Me unit  (thanks Newington) and writing an autobiography so will be interesting reading. Really delightful boys some rather quiet and reserved, others quite outgoing and all very polite and well behaved.

School is actually about to start. The boys are all here in situ but classes actually commence Wednesday. The boys return early to settle and it is their responsibility to establish the facilities, resources for the term.  They are currently on full clean up mode. Unfortunately they weren't here when the sheep escaped on Sunday and decided to visit and demolish my flowers. Tonight we have an introductory evening with the parents and boys of the new year 1 (year 7 in Australia) International class. That's our responsibility. First visit to 'Tonga' Bunnings, pic to follow. Meals are ok we are getting stacks of deliveries of fresh fruit, vegetables, milk, eggs etc, had duck egg scrambled eggs for dinner, we'd been out and had a big lunch.