January 3, 2004: Headlines: COS - Tonga: PCVs in the Field - Tonga: Blog: Personal Web Site: Jim Jawn in Tonga: The blogs of a guy who quit his job, sold or gave away all of his possessions, joined the Peace Corps and moved to the tiny island Kingdom of Tonga. This is his (and only) his story.

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Tonga: Peace Corps Tonga : The Peace Corps in Tonga: January 3, 2004: Headlines: COS - Tonga: PCVs in the Field - Tonga: Blog: Personal Web Site: Jim Jawn in Tonga: The blogs of a guy who quit his job, sold or gave away all of his possessions, joined the Peace Corps and moved to the tiny island Kingdom of Tonga. This is his (and only) his story.

By Admin1 (admin) (pool-141-157-69-95.balt.east.verizon.net - 141.157.69.95) on Monday, April 26, 2004 - 5:15 pm: Edit Post

Jim Jawn in Tonga: The blogs of a guy who quit his job, sold or gave away all of his possessions, joined the Peace Corps and moved to the tiny island Kingdom of Tonga. This is his (and only) his story.

Jim Jawn in Tonga: The blogs of a guy who quit his job, sold or gave away all of his possessions, joined the Peace Corps and moved to the tiny island Kingdom of Tonga. This is his (and only) his story.

Jim Jawn in Tonga: The blogs of a guy who quit his job, sold or gave away all of his possessions, joined the Peace Corps and moved to the tiny island Kingdom of Tonga. This is his (and only) his story.

11.26.2003 - Nuku'alofa chillin
Yeah, I think chilling would be the most appropriate way to begin this blog. Right now, I'm back in Nuku'alofa, the capital of Tonga until I ship out to 'Eua. Actually, here's an interesting aside. Nuku'alofa litteraly translate into "abode of love", which is sweet, yet mysteriously baffling. I just don't understand.

I'm just getting back from Attachment or, as I like to call it "mini-vacation". Not many of the volunteers had anything going on because school is out or just about finished here, so it wasn't too busy. I hung out with a couple of youth groups here and there and managed to spend some time working on some computers in the youth center in Vava'u. So I feel like I did get some stuff accomplished. The general consensus I got from the volunteers was sort of "take it easy" vibe. Apparently, I'm going to working for 2 years and taking a little time to relax and enjoy Vava'u wouldn't offend anyone. I took that advice to heart.

Together with a couple of other volunteers and Lonely Planet Tonga Guidebook, we set out to do the impossible: see and do everything you could do in Vava'u. We failed miserably, but we drank a lot of Ikale ("The First Beer in the World" everyday) and we did manage to see a lot of stuff. We went to swallow's cave, which was absolutely awesome.

Well back to 'Eua. It's supposed to be awesome there. The people there are a lot more traditional than the folks in the westernized "abode of love" and that's where were having homestay. Homestay, for you folks listening to this back home, is when I actually live with Tongans, learn the language from them, do culturally appropriate yet sensitive and safe things with them, eat lots of traditional tongan fares and learn kung fu lotus style. Well I made the kung fu part up, but the rest is true.
3:15 AM - (0) comments
11.17.2003 - And then there was 21...
Today, we lost our first trainee from group 66. He was a pretty cool guy, my roomie sort of, and sort of left out of the blue. Sort of shitty to lose someone so quickly, but everyone here understands. Its a lot harder than just about any of us anticipated. Ka, if you're reading this, I wish we could have gotten a chance to know each other better, but everyone in 66 understands. We wish you the best of luck and hope that you keep in touch. Oh yeah, and enjoy some real American Cuisine and remind us of how it tastes and eat a huge red steak with real A1. Ummm.... A1 steak sauce... I'm pretty sure Ti's eating lulu tonight...

In other news, with the exception of losing one of the team, today was absolutely awesome. 1 PCV, 2 trainees and myself, the queen hummingbird of the Fakapikupiku tribe, hiked up the only national park in Vava'u (so far as I know anyway). The views were absolutely breathtaking and I'm might be going out on a limb here, but it could have been the prettiest vista I've ever seen. You could see pretty much the entire island of Vava'u from the 4 different look out points there. It was incredible. There is just so much blue here. Between the ocean and the sky, its just overwhelming. I took a Getty Image Collection worth of snapshots and as soon as I can get my hands on connection faster than 33.6, I'll share them with the world.

Lets see, hmmm... well saturday was my first unofficial snorkeling trip. Me and a couple of other trainees hopped on down to the Tongan Beach Resort. I know the website is crap and does the resort no real justice, but I'm throwing out some capitalism props to my homeys. They had one large piece of coral growing out in front of the hotel and it had the coolest fish I've ever seen. It was so neat just hanging out there. It was sort of like floating in a huge, non-agressive fish tank. I spent an easy 2 and half hours in the water, plenty long enough to ensure that my back looked like chuckie's in child's play 2 where they melted him into a tiny red thing at the end. (You know what I'm talking about). Yeah, it sucked, but I do have that cocoa butter that Pete and Nate bought me as gag gifts. I feel so sexy when I put it on my body. :P

Yeah, well enough of that weird borderline fakaleiti humor. I hung out with a few of the guys in the village that I'm staying in and had a good time. The whole nation of Tonga's males are like super human rugby machines. These dudes are just diesel. I mean all of them. Its a bit difficult for a fat palangi like myself to not be intimidated when I meet them, but GD if they're not some of the nicest people! I'm really, really looking forward to helping with what I can. I was talking to one guy that was making like $2 pa'anga an hour (About a dollar) doing construction work. He works 9 hours a day and for 5 and half days. He said he was interested in learning how to use excel and word and some of the other tools of the evil empire (just kidding of course, I'm a Bill Gates groupie too!). But said its $25 pa'anga per class. Which is way more than he can afford. I would love to able to set up some sort of alternative training program that's cheaper and better supplied and help train guys like that (particuarly if they're motivated) to help them make a better life for themselves. Well if I've gained nothing else from my attachment, an opportunity to hang out with some Tongan 20-somethings definitely made the trip worthwhile.

I wish I could show you pictures of the place that I'm staying, you, oh monkey-riffic reader would enjoy them. Alas, yea of the clan Mc33.6K, your speed has left me bamboozled, Arghhh... Actually, I'm wondering how the other guys in our group are fairing in the different island groups. Today was the first day that the other people made it to the Niutoputapu group. I hope their faring well...

Actually, for those of you interested in Tonga, I'll give you the brief geography lesson.

Tonga is broken up into 5 main island groups: The niua's, the vava'u group, the hapai group, Tongatapu and 'Eua.

The Niua's are by far the most remote of all of the islands and the most north. I believe their located about 300 miles north of the Vava'u island group and perhaps the most traditional of the Tongan islands. Supplies arrive on a monthly Tongan time schedule, about 12 times a year. Its very remote and very cool there.

The Vava'u islands are sort of the touristy islands of Tonga. Here, "Yachty's" from New Zealand (Kiwi's) and Australia (Wallaby's) take their yachts up for a sail along the pacific. This is where I'm staying. Here you can swim with the whales or go snorkeling. Or, in my case, help build a computer lab while your here...

The Hapaii islands are about 100 miles south (That's a complete guess). There's a volcano down there, I think. That's all I really know right now.

The capital, Nuku'alofa, is located on the main island of Tongatapu. This is where the king, as well as about 60,000 inhabitants, or 2/3's of the countries poplulation lives. This is also where the main ofici Peace Corps is located. The influences of western culture are readily apparent in Nuku'alofa, but its still pretty cool. This is the main export/import facility for the entire nation.

Finally, there is the island of 'Eua and the place where I'll be having home stay. I haven't seen it or flown over it yet, but its supposed to be breathtaking. One of the deepest parts of the Pacific Ocean flows along the eastern side of the island. It has a volcano or is near one (i forget). Its also the only place in Tonga that has a rain forest. I've heard that the people that live there are the staunchest supporters of the traditional Tongan ways. Its also supposed to have great hiking and beautiful birds. I'm mad pumped to check it out.

Well I've been writing for at least an hour now, so I'll finish with this. I absolutely applaud the Tongan's for the way the continue to maintain their oh so unique and special culture in the face of so much development. For example in high schools, most students are forbidden from speaking any language other than English in the schools. But, when you hang out with kids, for the most part unless you try to speak even a little bit of Tongan, they won't drop more than a word or two or English. Its pretty cool to see that. Actually, I'll delve into this topic a little bit more because that's kind of a lame example, but 33.6K is calling and I love her.

Peace Izzity Izout...

Semisi Jawn




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Story Source: Personal Web Site

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Tonga; PCVs in the Field - Tonga; Blog

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