Tonga Time

School schedule last week:
Monday....classes in a.m.
school cancelled in p.m. due to heavy rain

Tuesday...school cancelled due to heavy rain and cyclone warning

Wednesday..school cancelled due to heavy rain and high winds due to cyclone near Fiji

Thursday...1 full day of classes.

Friday...classes in a.m. Planning meeting for teaching staff in p.m. (Planning meeting
cancelled because of funeral of ex-teacher in p.m.)

Total teaching days in week: Monday - 1/2 day, Thursday - full day, Friday - 1/2 day = 1 1/2 days.

Palangi lament: On Friday I spent the day sorting thru 30 year old newspaper articles which had been in a file cabinet in the back room of the library for....30 years! Hey, got them sorted out. Went upstairs to the office to see if I could possible get a couple of file hangers to use in the cabinet to take care of the rest of the articles. Waited 20 mins. for the secretary (the Keeper of All Supplies) to get off her cel...no luck! Finally resorted to raising my voice to get her attention regarding possibility of obtaining file hangers only to have her shake her head...no, they have no file hangers available. No one else around to ask....all at funeral.

Tongan funerals: The Tongans are pretty much all Christian BUT, they seem to have held on to the belief that the dead are still with us. The overall idea is that the dead person, relative, friend, acquaintance, is owed a certain type of "going away ceremony" and if not provided properly, will hang about and cause problems for those left behind. In addition, funerals are almost festive affairs where food and drink is plentiful...think Irish Wake. Anyway, when someone dies, it is considered the DUTY of the Tongan family to feed and house anyone, particularly relatives, who come to the funeral. They can spend thousands of dollars on these events...any large pigs in the immediate vicinity are particularly endangered as the pig is the centerpiece of most Tongan feasts. So, funeral = plentiful food and drink! Am I beginning to sound cynical?

It is hard not to be cynical when you think about the fact that out of a 5 day teaching week the students get 1 1/2 days! It reminds me of the fable about the grasshopper and the ant., the ant toiled all summer and put aside enough to get through the winter. The grasshopper did nothing but enjoy the summer days...not worrying about the winter. The ant lived through the winter and was around the following summer. The grasshopper was not! (Obviously a Northern Hemisphere tale).

What we have here is endless summer! NO WONDER EVERYONE IS A GRASSHOPPER!!

Sai pai...(roughly translated...don't worry, be happy)

Love to all...Penny

Penny