First Month in Tonga

Hi all. Don't get too excited, it's Kaitlin's mom here (at Kaitlin's request) to update a little on happenings of the past month, to the best of my ability to remember what she has told me. I borrowed the picture from one of the other group member's posting. It is at the airport upon their arrival in Tonga. Kaitlin especially wanted me to explain that she has limited internet access where she is now, so has been unable to be in touch with anyone, but she misses and loves all her friends & family and is hopeful that once she is back on the main island, internet access will be move available to her and she can be in better touch.
Anyway, they landed safely on the main island of Tongatapu, where they stayed in the capital Nuku'alofa for 3 or 4 days before flying over to the island group of Ha'apai for their 12 weeks or so of language and other training. Kaitlin made it through her overweight luggage problem thankfully without issue. Someday we WILL be better packers! She did not even get charged from L/A to Tonga for having one overweight, which was very nice. The group has been split up into different villages. They train with their village grouping Monday through Thursday, then come together as a bigger group on Fridays. Kaitlin loves her homestay family, there are some children and grandchildren in the home, but I don't remember their ages. Mondays through Fridays are really pretty much occupied with classes, currently a big focus is on language skills, which her homestay family helps with. Weekends are free thus far. She attends church on Sunday mornings with her family and then they gather for lunch.
Kaitlin was very happy this past week. They had interviews for their placements early in the week and were notified on Thursday of where they would be assigned. Kaitlin was thrilled to get her first choice. She will be heading back to the main island after training completes in early/mid December. She has been assigned to a Wesleyan Church School in a small village to teach 5 & 6th graders (9 to 11 age range) English. Also, the Wesleyan Church Schools are planning a transition to bilingual education, so she will be assisting the teachers there to put that in place, as well as assisting in the library. But more details of her assignment will become clear as time goes on. Tonga has two schools, government and the Wesleyan Church schools. Anyway, she is, as I said, thrilled to have this assignment. She doesn't think that there has been a Peace Corps placement in this village, or if there has, there has not been anyone there for a long time. And it is about 30 minutes outside of a larger town.
She has had some beach time and snorkeling time and has made some good friends in the group. I think some of them will be within close (relatively speaking) traveling distance once she is at her village. The food has been fine although she has not been able to be strictly vegetarian. There are a lot of root vegetables, yams, etc and chicken, pork & fish. She has not had any illnesses, but has a cold right now. It has been somewhat rainy since they arrived, and of course humid, but she doesn't seem to mind that greatly.
We don't have a handle on how long mail takes, but her address right now is
Kaitlin Tufts, PCT
Peace Corps
PO Box 147
Nuku'alofa
Kingdom of Tonga
South Pacific
(You must include the South Pacific, otherwise it tends to end up in Africa)
She will have a different address once she is in her village, but any mail sent to the above address will eventually get to her. She will update her address once she knows it.
She does have a phone, but has not lately been able to buy more airtime for it due to difficulty in getting to the bank when it's open and then the store. There is no cost to her to receive calls and she is on a plan that allows her to call anyone in her group as well as the Peace Corps offices without charge, but she must of course pay for calling here. Her phone number is 011-676-77-85690. I use a calling card which puts it at .43 a minute. Although I haven't tried using Skype to call her cell phone, I checked the price on that and it is also .43 per minute.
From the East coast, there is currently a 17 hour time difference (they are ahead). But guess that will be 18 hours once we return to standard time. I am of course, not suggesting that anyone call her, just wanted to relay the calling situation. But if anyone wants to ever take the plunge, right now her weekends (beginning Friday afternoon into Saturday here) seem to work. She is in church usually until around noon on Sundays, and then lunch. Of course, any night owls out there have a few more options (that doesn't include me) :)!
Well, guess that's it for now. Hopefully Kaitlin will be able to take this blog up soon. She always has excellent information when she does it, and I would also like to see some pictures!

Los Angeles

Just a quick update! I've been meaning to write all week and didn't get around to it. Shocking, I know.

I'm in LA right now for staging. I got here yesterday and fly out tonight. We registered and turned in all our paperwork yesterday, and then had dinner with our country director. The country director is not usually at training but she was flying through and stopped to meet us. She gave us a lot of information about the country and the culture, and just really emphasized being open and soaking everything up. It was sort of overwhelming but I think that'll be the general feeling I have throughout the first few weeks, which is okay. Today we have an orientation of sorts all day and then our flight is at 1115 pm.

Speaking of flights, little concerned about the luggage. I was definitely significantly over the Peace Corps weight limit, oops. I packed a little last minute- and by that I mean when I packed, I failed completely so my mom and sister did it for me and managed to fit most everything in. Thank you! The real problem, though, was that one of my bags was over the highest weight limit for Air New Zealand, which is what we are flying to Tonga. So I spent some of yesterday at the hotel moving stuff between bags in an effort to make things more even. There are things I could take out and wouldn't mind doing so but I'm running out of time. I don't mind paying the overweight fee, as long as my bags make it on the plane! It really doesn't seem like I have that much stuff in relation to how long I'll be gone but I don't know. We shall see!

Little recap of before I left. Hannah threw me a surprise birthday/going away party on the 25th which was so nice of her! I was totally shocked. We had dinner at the Blue Elephant, went to Gypsy's for drinks and then O2 for dancing. Laura and Zack came up from school, Ally from Connecticut, Mike and Curtis were back for the weekend, Sam Lindauer came, and J and his girlfriend made an appearance as well. This was all on top of everyone who is in the area as of now (Hannah, Meg, Bria, Nicole, Ashlee, Allen, K-ris and gf, Craig, Chase, Max... If I forgot anyone I'm sorry!). It was really good to see everyone and I of course cried multiple times saying goodbye but I am so thankful to Hannah for planning it and everyone for coming, I can't even say. I have the most wonderful friends ever!

Then this weekend Justin and Bre came up so I spent some time with them. And Darian came home from school- we carved Tonga pumpkins which I have pictures of and will put up someday. They were pretty amazing if I do say so myself. Then we had a party on Sunday with the fam and friends. I saw pretty much everyone which was really nice! It was a good way to get to say goodbye. After that, the packing started. Yup, last minute. Typical me.

Also! Jeff got me the most amazing present ever. He got me a Nook, one of those electronic book readers where you can download a bunch of books and have them to read. AMAZING. And perfect for this, since I can't exactly bring a bunch of books with me (especially since I already have luggage issues, haha). I downloaded a ton of books to read and am so so excited. It was really thoughtful and generous of Jeff, so thanks again Jeff! I love it. And him!

Anyway, now all the preparation is done and the actual adventure starts! I'll try and get in touch when I can but if it is awhile just assume I made it safely!

Love everyone and will miss you tons!

Single Digits

Tonga in....9 days! And I'm already bad at keeping up with my blog. Oops. I've been meaning to write for a little while now but just haven't gotten around to it. Better late than never, I guess.

I leave in less than two weeks. I'm not sure I've fully grasped the situation as of yet, but maybe it is better that way. I am not packed, I have not purchased everything I need, and I have paperwork I still have to fill out. But it'll get done. I work best under pressure...I hope.

Instead I have spent time just chilling at home, hanging out with friends, and reading. I went to DC this past weekend to see my brother, Jeff, as well as some friends from college. Jeff and I went to King's Dominion (an amusement park in VA) on Saturday which was super fun. We also saw some track kids Friday night. It was really nice to get to spend time with Jeff and see him one more time before I leave. I feel very lucky that I got to see him twice in one month! He is my absolute bestest friend in the world and I adore him more than anyone else.

After hanging with Jeff, I met some friends Sunday for a picnic. I got to see some TriDelta girls who live in the area which was amaaaaaaazing because I miss Delta and those girls so freaking much, it is unbelievable. I saw Smullen again while in DC, so that was nice too. And I also got to see LSG, Lea, and Kev! Kev flew over from Indiana to be with us for a few days which was incredibly nice of him. We stayed at Lea's Sunday and Monday night, before heading to Baltimore late Tuesday night and staying a hotel there for our early flights. I honestly can't say how happy I am that I got to see the three of them. We had great meals, wandered around DC, went to coffee shops and bars, snuggled. Nothing too exciting but that's how we roll. Just spending time together. At one point we were in Laura's apartment with Kev, Lea, and I dozing on the couch while Laura did work at the table. The set up of the room was even similar to that of Newell 26 and everything was the same as senior year. It was perfect. When it came time for Kev and I to leave, we all just sat at the table at Laura's in silence. It's weird to think that we might not see each other again for a very long time when being together feels so natural.

When I came home Wednesday we went out for dinner for Nicole's birthday- we actually got Nicole, Bria, Hannah and I together at the same time! Amazing. And Ally is coming home this weekend so that will be awesome and we will for sure get the five of us together. Can't wait!

So while it was really good to go to DC and see everyone, it was also kind of sad. I couldn't help but think about how that is the life I'd be living if I weren't joining the Peace Corps. I'd for sure have found a way to be in DC. I'd be near my brother, track kids, Deltas, and my very best college friends. It would be amazing. And even if I weren't able to be in DC and had to stay home for a bit while job searching, I would have my best friends since elementary school right there with me. But, on the other side of that, it also reminded me that I am so genuinely lucky. I have the most amazing friends in the world. I don't have to worry about losing touch with them or having our friendships fade before I get back. In a sense the people that I am sad about leaving are the same people who let me know that it is okay, and even wonderful, to go.

I don't mean for any of that to sound as if I am doubting my choice to join the Peace Corps. I'm most definitely not. It is what I've wanted to do since junior year in high school and that hasn't changed. It was just interesting to have a little snapshot into the alternative path my life could've taken. And who knows, DC might be where I end up after the Peace Corps (if all goes according to plan) and some people will still be there. Best of both worlds, baby. But that's not for awhile and I certainly don't want to wish my time in Tonga away.

All in all, I'm very excited to go. Now, about that packing and paperwork...

Invitation!

So, as most of you already know, I recently received my invitation to serve in the Peace Corps. I leave for the Kingdom of Tonga on October 5th, where I will be a Primary School Teacher for the next few years. The departure date is coming up pretty quickly and it was a bit of a surprise. My application was originally under consideration for positions departing for Sub-Saharan Africa in November. Late on Sunday the 22nd, while I was visiting camp friends in Westchester, I got an email from Placement asking if I would be okay with being considered to head to the Pacific Islands in October. I was a little hesitant since it was sooner than expected, but then again, it was the Pacific Islands... After talking to my mom and tearfully telling Jeff that I would only consider it if he promised I would get to see him before I left, I emailed back and said I was willing to be considered. The next morning when I checked my email, I had a response saying thank you and my invitation was in the mail! The actual invitation packet came on that Tuesday, the 24th and I said yes on Wednesday. To Tonga I shall go!

It feels a little weird to actually be preparing to leave for the Peace Corps. Up until my junior year of high school I had fully planned to be a preschool teacher. Then I did a project on the Peace Corps for World Lit/Geo and decided that's what I wanted to do. So for six years I have planned on this part of my life and here it is. I opened my application in October 2009, submitted it in March of 2010 (okay okay, so I was a BIT of a slacker when it came to the application), interviewed in April, got nominated in May, medically cleared at the end of June, and invited in August. Quite a process, although once I submitted my application it did go more quickly than I expected. Now there is so much to do before I go! It is a little overwhelming, but exciting nonetheless.

I will try and keep everyone updated about my experiences getting to and living in Tonga. For any of you who experienced my epic blogging failure while in Trinidad, I promise I will be a little bit better this time around- although, to be honest, that isn't saying much. You'll still have to be pretty patient!