Husband and I had a super romantic candlelight dinner for Valentines Day… but not by choice. Our power and water were both out because this valentines day, we got a special present. A cyclone.

Yes, Cyclone Jasmine hit Tonga on Tuesday and although it was only a category one, it was overwhelming and nerve wrecking. The wind was STRONG and the rain was unrelenting. Town has been shut down for the past two days, streets are still under water, homes have been damaged. We feel blessed that we are safe and unharmed.

So, we spent most of the day doing romantic things like stockpiling water and helping our landlady hammer boards over our windows.

And cuddling our puppy who decided that he is not a fan of the cyclone.

Nerding it up at Friends Cafe over coffee. Making Valentines Day presents. Church. Watching 30 Rock and Mad Men.

What do you think?

And in other exciting news, my dad is coming to visit in 3 months!

Taking advantage of a sunny afternoon with a lazy bike ride along the waterfront.

Most days husband and I are covered in a layer of sweat, from this impossibly humid climate. Most days we are dirty, muddy, soaked from rain and plagued with mosquito bites. Most days we are attired in the coolest of clothes (not) that have permanent stains, holes or are all stretched out from our dodgy washing machine. Most days we hang out at home, watching our dog chase chickens.

Most days.

But then there are those rare days, when the heat drops just enough and there is a lovely cool breeze, that we are not perspiring like crazy. When we get to dress in actual going out clothes and I wear heels and lipstick. And we go in a car, not on our bikes, to a nice restaurant. On these rare days, we enjoy breaking taboo and holding hands across the table at the air conditioned restaurant.

And I take a photo on the rare days, to remind myself on the most days, to be grateful for the little things.

This photo of Piko and I is a little bit awkward. This was his attempt to lick my face.

Other recent awkward events in my life (thus proving that sometimes I don’t have my crap together…)

Flicking myself in the eye with my straw at a dinner with the Regional Director for Austraining ( i.e. an important lady). I don’t think she noticed. Or at least, she was polite and pretended she didn’t.

Answering the work phone in passable Tongan (enough to say hello, where I work and my name) and then having the person answer me in a string of Tongan words that I don’t understand. Having to ask them to speak English. Every. Single. Time.

Spending way too much time in Friends cafe. Hello again… for the third time today… no, I do have a life… yes, I do work sometimes.

Negotiating rain, pot holes, puddles, water on the road, chickens, pigs, small children and walking away pleased that I am dry and not covered in mud. Only to slip on a rotten, fallen mango. In front of a bus load of teenagers.

Having a mango fall on my head. Having a child run up and request said mango that hit my head.

Standing in line at the supermarket and having people behind you discuss what you are buying. Umm, I can’t understand your Tongan but I definitely speak English. Insert dirty look.

Meeting a nice English couple in town (yes, at Friend Cafe. I’m noticing a pattern here) and having them ask me what changes I’ve had to make since moving to Tonga. “Well, I’ve had to dress more conservatively” as I glance at the mini mini mini skirt the woman was wearing. Awkward for some. Put on some pants.

Not all days involve going to the beach, although some do.

My days are very different to how they were in Sydney. Here’s what last Friday looked like for me…

7am ish. Wake up. Let the dog in. Cuddle the dog. Have breakfast, brew coffee, read, shower, bum around.

8am. Decide what to wear. Remember that I have a presentation to give today, so dress very conservatively – button up shirt, tupenu, kiekie. Throw a necklace on so outfit is not so boring.

8:30am ish. Leave for work on bike. It’s pouring with rain so suit up in rain jacket and waterproof pants.

8:40am. Arrive at work. Absolutely soaked. Discover that the meeting is not at 9am, but has been moved to 11am.

8:45am. Try to find spare place to hang wet clothes. Try to find bathroom that’s open to change into work attire.

9am. Chat to co-workers. Discuss how we never have any idea of what is happening in the office!

9:20 am. Answer emails. Look over presentation. Talk to my counterpart about up coming training.

10am. Work on materials for upcoming training. Research on line and then edit/simplify/change language/add Tongan examples/rephrase/clarify.

11am. Get ready for presentation with National Forum of Church Leaders representatives. I’m a bit nervous as we are discussing an “introduction to counselling” course they want me to run with delegates from all church denominations across Tonga. The purpose is to get churches thinking about how to provide better emotional and social support to their community.

11:15. Waiting.

11:30am. Still waiting.

11:35. Discover that they are already here and have been waiting for me for 30 minutes. No one told me. Crap. Frantically gather notes and kiekie.

11:40am. Start meeting. Meeting opens in prayer and song, in Tongan. As usual I don’t know what they are saying or singing but it sounds very nice. I smile politely. As usual, it is difficult and itchy to sit in my kiekie.

I am introduced to the NFCL representatives in English and in Tongan. I make my presentation about my social work background, why I’m in Tonga, the purpose of counselling, the aims of this training workshop.

12noon. Discussion in Tongan.

12:15pm. More discussion in Tongan. I try hard to understand but catch only a few words here and there. Very soon I am lost.

12:30pm. Discussion continues. I start to discreetly write my grocery list.

Suddenly, we switch to English. I’m informed that we are no longer going to have a week long training program, with half day sessions for around 20 people.

oh?

We are going to run a 2 week retreat. We’re going to stay at a resort.

We’re going to invite up to 50 people, extending the invitation to all the church run schools to include their school counsellors. Apparently the school counsellors don’t have any formal counselling training. It is thought best to include them in this workshop.

You Hena, are going to put together all the training materials. We will contact the churches and raise money and invite all the participants.

Yes Hena? Sai Pe? (All good?)

12:45pm. I think at this stage I may have look shocked and failed to respond for about 5 minutes…

12:50pm. Ummmm, ok.

We set a date (late April), a working budget ($6000. Oh my goodness.), list the churches who should be included (all 13 denominations across Tonga) and arrange another meeting in two weeks.

Everyone is very pleased. I am still rather shell shocked.

1:30pm. I need some lunch to try and process this information. I head to Bread of Life cafe and eat a sandwich.

2pm. Continue to work on upcoming training. Discuss the changes to the NFCL counselling workshop with my counter-part. We brainstorm topics and activities and whether we think this idea will get off the ground.

3:30pm. The head of my department asks me to proof read and edit a funding proposal. I think it must have been “copied and pasted” as there are about 10 different fonts and sizes and changing margin size.

4:20pm. It is threatening to storm so everyone leaves in a rush to beat the rain.

4:30pm. Home to hug dog and husband. Hug dog first, as dog demands more attention.

5pm. Decide to go for a “rain walk” with husband as we’ve both been cooped up inside and need some fresh air. Decide not to take the dog; mud+ puddles+ walk would be too much excitement for him to handle.

6:30pm. Pumpkin soup for dinner.

7:30pm. Bike over to Elisabeth’s to hang out and watch movies and admire her cute baby. Start to watch Dorian Gray but it looks rubbish so we scrap that. Can’t decide on any other movie to watch (such a first world problem).

Settle on some stand up by Russell Peters.

10pm. It starts to rain again as we bike home. Puppy demands more hugs.

Got really sick of all this rain. So husband and I went “fakatongan” and “eva eva pe*” around in the mud. Just like everyone else in town.

Needed some new rainy day activities and have been messing around with watercolour paints.

Ran a “practical casework skills” workshop for my co-workers. We spent a day discussing how to write case notes and reports, keep case files, confidentiality and supervision. I was told that “we don’t do case notes because we are fakapikopiko (lazy).” Their words. But I guess it’s good they can self identify where they need to improve!

Realised that I have a very compassionate dog. I was lying down on my bed, not feeling well and Piko licked my feet to try and cheer me up. Gross and cute.

Made my own hummus. It took forever. But it tastes really good.

Have been eaten alive (ok, almost) by mosquitos.

Learnt that our tongan washing machine likes to eat pillows. Hand washing from now on.

Watched a lot of Mad Men and wondered why every single guy in that show cheats on his wife/girlfriend. Surely that didn’t happen to all relationships in the 60s????

Realised I have a naughty dog. He started eating the lounge chair on our landlady’s front porch. She hasn’t noticed so far…

*This means to just kinda wander around. To not really go anywhere in particular. So we just wandered around in the rain as we got cabin fever.

and I think it has! After two weeks of non stop rain (constant, torrential rain) and emails putting us on “moderate to high” alert for a tropical cyclone, it is finally sunny. I really hope I don’t jinx this…

Anyway, the internet is working at an acceptable speed which means I can show off more baby shower pictures.

Including the afternoon tea I made.

And some games we played.

An update on this post: since starting to write this, the torrential rain began again. Which means I will miss my Zumba class tonight. Boo. 

1. Tongan brass bands are awesome. And in abundance. There is always a brass band around, having a parade. I think this is the police brass band?

2. The fact that in Tongan, the word for volunteer literally means “to work for love.” Isn’t that nice?

3. Just how happy Tongan people can be in pouring rain. It looks likes its a cyclone, so it must be the perfect time to plant a new garden.

4. The fried chicken my co-worker ‘Afa makes. Like mini chicken schnitzels. So good. She always makes me extra.

5. Gecko vs spider vs ant. The showdown.

6. Opening our work meetings in prayer and song.

7. That taking a bath in the rain is such a legitimate past time, it has it’s own word. Faka’uha.

8. The excess of avocados at the market. 3 for $1.

9. Just how cute the little kids are on Sundays, all dressed up in party dresses and little suits and mini ta’ovala.

10. “Activate 105.” If you have a phone with TCC (being one of the two phone companies. Everyone uses prepaid) you can send a message to 105 with the word activate, which means for $1 you get five days of free SMS.