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.