Sunday, October 12, 2008

Sunday aka rest, eat and go to church

It's Sunday today, so there's nothing to do but go to church, rest, and eat. We went to our first Tongan church service, it was very interesting! It was all in Tongan so we couldn't understand anything, but I was thinking it's so great to be placed in a christian country where they have the same beliefs. The singing was really pretty, and everyone was dressed up - men in tupanus (skirts) and women in skirts/dresses with keikis (straw things hanging around their waist). My spelling might not be right on these.

Something we noticed today, a common Tongan greeting is to shake your hand and they lean in like they're gonna kiss your cheek but instead sniff you! Very funny. We had a few people sniffing us today after church! I've also been noticing all the different flowers everywhere and so many colors.

Then we had a feast - pig, chicken, potatoes, fish, fruit, at the directors house and they had a quick session. An interesting thing I thought he said was that it's not a waste of time just sitting - sitting with people and talking. It's pretty relaxed here, I like it!

Tomorrow's a full day, then we fly out on Tuesday morning for Vava'u for our 6 week homestay!

2 comments:

rdljnrisbrudt.blogspot.com said...

Hey Brett and Kate!

Glad to see that you made it safe to the island of Tonga. It is fun to follow your adventures in the Peace Corp. I think Tonga gets "Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it Holy". It sounds like Sunday was a very restful day.

Keep posting

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to say that Im reading ur blog, and its sooo interesting. They sniff you? Wow, that would be weird. And no napkins, huh? Goodness, would be weird adapting I would imagine! And having to learn the language and all that... feel like ur in school again? lol, jk. Very cool... and thanks for the updates! keep em comin! :)