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Thursday, June 21, 2012

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.

1 comment:

  1. So insightful. Thanks for clarifying everything. Hahahah don't take me to jail.

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