First Week in the Classroom

Well if any of you were curious, I did eventually get my luggage last Saturday! Thank goodness! I was ready to wear my own clothes again!  A lot has happened this week, far too much to write down so I'll just give you some of the highlights and some general info about my teaching placement.

We started our attendance in the classroom on Monday. I have already learned and experienced so much this week.  I am adjusting to change of age in students.  I am used to the oldest being 12 years old.  The age group I will be teaching here is from 15-17 years old.  They title the grades by form.  I will be teaching form 4 and assisting in form 5 for high school science.  It has been a very long time since I have studied or recapped on my high school science.  I find that I will be doing a lot of studying while I am here, so that I am capable of efficiently teaching the content for this grade.  

My cooperating teacher's name is Makeleta Latu Katoa. Some people call her Maggie especially around us Palangi (white people) but she usually just goes by Make (Makay - Long A vowel sound). This is her first year as a teacher and I find her constantly asking me what she can do to improve her teaching.  I just keep telling her that I am still a student and can't exactly give her feedback on her teaching.  You can tell her heart is really in it, but the teaching here in Tonga is much different than in the states.  The teachers are all very laid back and as long as they have gotten the information out they have pretty much done their job.  You can see that all the teachers are really friendly with the students and are trying to build good connections with them, but the students seem to kind of take advantage of this and they just do what they want.  Its going to be an adjustment for both me and the students when I am actually in front of the class teaching.  Anyway! Make is such a sweet person.  Every day she gives me food or something to eat for breakfast.  She invited me to her kids' birthday party this week. She has three kids and two of them have the same birthday! Her youngest boy turned two yesterday and her daughter turned 4. 

I went to her house with her family after school yesterday and left all my other Palangi friends behind.  It was a different experience for sure.  I basically hung out with her daughter Namelda all evening. She knew little english but continually grabbed by hand and would say,"Come wif me."  Then she would point to different things and say, "It's cool?"  hahaha cutest girl in the world.  She would just laugh and giggle but wouldn't leave my side!  We had an Umu which means pig roast.  I went to an Umu the night before but at this one I actually watched them cut open the pig and pull all is insides out... Let's just say I have had enough experiences here that I have moments of wanting to be a vegetarian.  I am a picky meat eater... I like all my meat clean with nothing on it that shows it could have been a living animal at one point.  I am slowly adjusting.  I had to debone a chicken the other night for dinner too...that one was a little rough! Anyway the party was really fun and I ended up being there majority of the evening.  And of course Make packed me a ton of food to take home to my roomies.  My roommates have realized that I am a good source of food since Make sends me home with food everyday. 

I am having an absolute blast here in Tonga! I will try my hardest to keep this blog updated! So much happens in one week that I will try to update twice a week if I can! Hope everyone is well at home! 

Below are some pictures I took on my phone of the Island:

This is the view from my apartment. Those are other homes on the compound that some of the teachers live in. 

This is the view of the coast as we were walking to the beach.

This is Alexa (fellow classmate) and I sitting on top of a rock we climbed at a hidden beach.