The Things I Eat

Vava'u is beautiful. It amazes me sometimes that I am here in this place where everything is breathtaking. I love the sunsets and the sunrises. I love the ocean, I'm learning to love the people. It's easy to forget how amazing something is if you are in it day in and day out. But I'm doing my best not to get complacent with it all.

I want to talk a bit about the 'things I eat' although this may not take long because the majority of the things are bread. Bread, rolls, buns, crackers. My diet is amazing. I learned working at the hospital a few weeks ago that Tonga is one of the top ten countries in the world for diabetes. In fact one of out every three people is diabetic and approximately three out of every four are overweight. It's easy to see why, so many people suffer from poverty and don't necessarily have the means to purchase healthier foods. You buy what you can eat and you eat lots when you have food. Combine that with a much less active lifestyle and you get a lot of people here in Tonga. I have however observed for myself that as the vast majority of middle aged Tongan women are overweight, the vast majority of Tongan men remain healthier well into their middle age. It's really interesting to see that gender difference.

Today I had the opportunity to watch some legit Tongan rugby games. It was a 7's tournament with all of the villages here. Our host Dad Ofa played and so that was really cool. I'm surprised they don't get injured more often with how brutal they can get. We were sitting the whole time in a sort of dug out with a few dozen Tongan men, Elise and I being the only white people and the only girls. I definitely felt out of place. But that happens a lot here so I'm learning just to accept it, the situation is probably only that uncomfortable for me. Anyhow I am running out of time on the internet so I'll end here.

In Tonga

I have thus far had difficulty maintaining my blog during this field study experience because of internet inavailability for the most part. However I hope to right now make up for lost time. I have officially been in Tonga for six weeks as of yesterday and I can't believe how fast it's gone. Although I suppose it also feels like I have been here for forever so maybe I can believe it. I am living on the island Vava'u in a village called Leimatu'a. The family I live with is LDS and has four kids all under the age of six, they are very nice people. The first few weeks really took a lot of getting used to, things here are very different from back home, the culture, the people, the way of life. But I'm learning to appreciate it and the people. At first it was a big shock, and I definitely have been going through some culture shock.

Getting my project up and going was much more difficult than I originally anticipated that it would be but I've been working on it. It feels as though I am having a culture experience with a project as almost secondary to it which may be part of the goal. Anyhow, it has great days and not so great days but I am able to appreciate how cool it all is.

Right now I divide my time between the hospital, I volunteer and observe there, the local primary school, and our family. Starting next week I am going to be conducting the interviews that I have spent so much time preparing and building rapport for. I'm excited both because I feel like I know have learned enough to make better decisions about the questions to ask and which people to interview. I also have observed a lot of their culture and can come to some basic conclusions for myself and my project although I recognize that three months really isn't that long. Even if it feels like a lifetime some days.