It’s been a while since I used my laptop since I didn't have an international converter. After doing some shopping around the stores, I’m finally charging it. The good news is that it hasn’t exploded... yet. I guess the cheap (3.50 pa’anga) step down transformer wasn’t such a bad buy after all.
The 8-hour boat trip from Tongatapu to Ha’api was fun, but pretty rough. Getting through the gates was a challenge in itself; God help anyone who falls down, especially if they’re small children. As soon as the gates open for boarding, a swarm of people beeline for the best seats on the cargo boat. In the shuffle someone had stolen one of the volunteers' digital camera. It was a good thing that I decided to lock up the zippers to my laptop.
Luckily two of the LCTF’s ran up ahead to the second story of the boat and placed down mats to claim the area as ours. Out of all the passengers, we probably had the most luxurious spot. The night was very cold and the winds were rough. Trying to find a comfortable area to sleep was a challenge in itself. I had a pretty comfortable spot, but then another volunteer took it after I went out for some fresh air. Oh well, I managed to climb onto some mattresses and sleep next to the wall.
We reached Ha’apai at around 3:00 a.m. Getting off the boat was another one of those surreal moments. I managed to stretch a bit, meet some of the volunteers stationed in Ha’apai (who happened to have some cookies prepared for us thx), climb onto the back of a long truck, and ride towards pitch blackness, all the while watching the lights slowly fading away. When I arrived, I was greeted by the mother Manusiu, the father Leki, the sisters Sela (3), Amelia(11), Saione (9), and the three brothers; Timi (15), Mahe (12), and Muli (16).
Here are a few funny stories that happened after the first day in Ha’api:
Someone had asked me if I was good with computers. I responded that I was reasonably proficient with them (my bachelors is in Computer Engineering). Since they saw that I had a laptop, they asked for some pictures from Washington of the Prince’s funeral. I told them that I needed the Internet to get those pictures. They weren’t sure what the Internet was and replied back that its okay that I wasn’t good with computers…
When I met up with my old roommate Jason, he told me another funny story. He went to the beach last night and picked up 5 shells. He lined them up in front of his window today and went to take a shower. After his shower, there were only 4 shells. He thought that maybe one of his host-family took one of them. He sat there for a few minutes wondering why someone would take shells from his room when they lived on an island with so many beaches / shells. He walked to the kitchen to get breakfast when he found his answer: one of the shells still had the crab inside and it was trying to get away!
Some of the other volunteers didn’t have so much luck with host families. One of the volunteers went to faikava (gathering where a bunch of male Tongans go drinking kava - a drink that tastes like dirty water/numbs the tongue). During faikava, his host family played a ‘practical joke’ on him by making him introduce himself to others in Tongan saying “Hello! You have big testicles”. He got a few punches thrown his way.
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