Closing Out Summer: Stonefish and Orchids

As the first day of Fall comes and goes, we're getting some relief from the heat with a few days of very stormy weather.  Periods of intense wind and rain with spells of relative calm, and then another downpour. 

Here at Tonga Tangos we've been continuing to adjust to our new situation, life without Kathy.  Here's how Lilo feels about her being gone: 
She's a very sensitive cat. 
And I miss her too, and while I'm not exactly hiding in the mat like Lilo I am having to work at getting out and finding ways to socialize. Kathy and I are able to spend some time every day doing some text "chatting" to keep up with each other's doings, and we keep hoping that Skype will actually allow us to talk, but that hasn't happened for a while.  Anyway, faithful readers not from our home in the Pacific Northwest please be advised that she is integrating nicely back into what she likes to call her "real life" and seems to be doing fine.

As for me, I continue to wonder at the ability of a Tongan institution that is basically broke and in debt to continue to function.  At my little university we are holding classes as usual; our students are attending in their usual fashion, and life goes on more or less as normal.  But now when the one copier we have runs out of toner and there is no replacement cartridge on hand (not an unusual situation), we now have the added problem of not enough cash on hand to go buy more. So it may be a few days before some student makes a fee payment and provides the cash needed to make the purchase, and in the meantime we are unable to supply the written materials for our instruction.  Staff and other faculty have only been able to take small draws against the salaries they are owed.  Yet they continue to come every day and teach. 

This pattern is not unusual in Tonga.  As an example I was discussing this situation with one of my PC colleagues the other day, and she was relating how a non-profit group she socializes with hasn't paid their bills for a few months now, yet they go on without any apparent worry.  That situation amazes her as much as much as mine amazes me.

There are many stories like this around Tonga.  People here have a different relationship to money, one that is very difficult for us Westerners to get our heads around. (Someday I might try to write about the sai pe--things are just fine, no worries-- attitude that suffuses much of life here.)

On the instructional front, I'm teaching a new course on Critical Thinking which is now required for all our students seeking a degree.  With guidance from my friend Cindy back home at Blue Mountain Community College and materials from The Foundation for Critical Thinking I am plowing ahead to convert these students with a lifetime of experience as rote learners trained to always supply the "right" answer into active inquirers who seek to question, evaluate, pursue evidence, and form reasoned judgments based on rational analysis.  It is a struggle, but there are glimmers of hope.

Here's Lilo again, telling me to stop "kai po"ing (hogging) the taro chips that I like to have with my daily beer; she has a way of letting her wants be known.


I've taken to going on long Sunday bike rides, usually with friend who is here for a few years working as a nurse.  She is a true Kiwi, quite the outdoorswoman, and Sundays are great days to ride because there is so little traffic on the roads.  So besides a really good dose of exercise, I'm getting to places on the island I haven't been to before, like Tsunami Rock, a big chunk of coral reef sitting a couple hundred meters inland that could only have arrived there courtesy of a tsunami wave.  One day we rode to the Abel Tasman landing site on the Northwesternmost tip of the island.  Here's a couple photos from that day:

I know this is hard to make out, just as it is in real life; it is a deadly Stonefish, that looks pretty much like the rocks and coral surrounding it as it lies perfectly still.  Stepping on one of these critters can result in serious injury, as there are deadly toxins in the base of its fins. We were lucky to spot it before it caused us any trouble.

Apparently someone decided they should make it easier for tourists to be able to get down into the water from the viewing platform, so this is the ladder they built.  Yes, it is every bit as steep and precarious as it looks.  But after riding the 20 kms. or so to get there in the summer heat, not getting into the water to cool off was not an option.  One of the benefits of cycling on a tropical island. 

I'll close this post with another benefit of living here: the gorgeous color that surrounds us; this orchid grows by my front porch.

Next post:  How I spent my school break exploring Vava'u.

CH-CH-CH-CHANGES, Turn and face the strange

I “retired” on September 30, 2009. Less than a week later I was a Peace Corps Trainee in Los Angeles receiving my orientation. Within two weeks Kathy and I were settling in with our host family in Ha'apai, Tonga, trying to figure out how to hang a mosquito net, where to brush our teeth, and how we were ever going to get clean in the rudimentary “shower.”

We did learn how to do all those things and much more (with a few health and culture challenges) and began our service in Nuku'alofa in late December. By the time our respective schools started (Kathy's in late January, mine in mid-February) we were fairly well acclimated and settled into our tiny little house and neighborhood. We attended the neighborhood church and some socials and settled into a respectful relationship with our neighbors.

As the year progressed we learned how incredibly difficult it is to be an “educator” in Tonga. There are teachers galore, and most are perfectly content to continue teaching in the manner in which they were taught. Once employed, few are interested in further professional development. Kathy was never able to gain the cooperation of her principal and the staff at her school to conduct the weekly workshops that were the basis of her assignment. But she continued to develop an engaging library program and to demonstrate many effective teaching strategies in the class 4, 5, and 6 classrooms. She insisted that the regular teacher be present during her sessions and to participate in the lesson, but few actively engaged.

After a frustrating first semester attempting to teach Economics as I had done for ten years at a community college, I completely changed my approach. Tongan students at all levels are used to teacher directed learning. They are excellent note takers. Those interested in a good grade will work to memorize the concepts so they can recall them back on worksheets or tests. But to have a discussion about the pros and cons of a position or to apply a concept to a new situation for most students was most difficult, if not impossible. I found that my second year Econ students could recall and apply little from the first year course they had taken the year before.

Despite all this, by the end of the school year Kathy and I each felt that we had had some success. Kathy in particular created some great learning experiences for her children, who seemed to appreciate the opportunity to express their creativity and develop their imaginations. But what weighed heaviest on Kathy was the lack of opportunity to do what she does best, and what she was recruited for by the Peace Corps; train teachers. She came to realize that this was not going to be possible.

So with that realization, and facing yet another medical evacuation to Australia to take care of an important but relatively easy-to-fix problem, she has ended her Peace Corps service and returned to the United States, where she is enjoying winter weather and figuring out what is next for her.

So here at Tonga Tangos, we'll be reluctantly losing Kathy's involvement in our blog. In case you are wondering our relationship is fine, we're not separating, and I have to say we miss each other quite a bit. But we are able to text chat most every day using Skype of Facebook, staying connected with each other's daily activities.

I'm continuing to work at my little university to see what kind of transformation may be possible in the wake of the founder's death last year. His children have inherited the university and not much else; the management model – autocracy – that has been the norm for the school's first 35 years is ill-suited to its current needs, and many of the potential supporters – former students and alumnae – have not been courted and some have been alienated. Time will tell; this is our week to register students and prepare for classes to begin next week, so we'll have a good idea of what 2011 holds in store very shortly. 

"Strange fascination fascinating me, Ah, changes are taking the pace I'm going through.

Time may change me, but I can't trace time."  (with apologies to David Bowie)