There is a band of children in my neighborhood who I have become extremely close to over the past two years. Now that I am getting ready to leave, their once sporadic knocks at my door have become increasingly more frequent. I had eight separate requests to come in to read, color, help do laundry – anything to get inside the palangi’s house.
If I wasn’t so close to finishing my time in Tonga I think I’d find this annoying, however, I love these children and thinking that I will be leaving them in a few short days breaks my heart – I want to spend as much time with them as possible before I go.
My desire to spend more time with the local kids was evident last week when I decided to host my first sleepover in well over a decade - complete with movies, popcorn, and nail polish. If that isn’t sharing American culture, I don’t know what is.
The kids have been receiving a lot of my clothes as I have been cleaning out my house in preparation for my return to the states next week. Giving away my belongings is a way for me to show my appreciation to the people who have spent the past two incredible years with me in this lovely village. It makes me smile to think for many years to come the kids in Leimatu’a will be running around in my clothes; Colby-Sawyer College, Google, and the Gap are certainly well represented.
I’m not as much of a packrat as I used to be, however, I did come across some interesting items while cleaning out my house this morning. I am a huge fan of theme parties. Last year when I was in Australia I took the opportunity to stock up on novelty items perfect for some fun times in Tonga, a pack of “party mustaches” being my most precious purchase. Low and behold this morning I found the comical items, with such incredible names as “The Hero”, “The Weasel”, “The Sheriff”, “The Bruiser”, and “The Hollywood”. The distribution of the party mustaches are a component of my informal English language teaching – the word “mustache” will not soon be forgotten in Leimatu’a, that’s for sure.
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