Back in town

I’m back in town for a little while taking a breather from my site.

On a good day, Tongariki is great. Even if all I’m doing is drinking kava with my uncle or posing for pictures while holding various dead animals (true life), it’ll still be awesome. Kids, you want to lick Crystal Light packets and look at all the pretty colors when you spit in the well?  Auntie, you want to play a joke on the baby by giving it your breast—with no milk? Well, okay then. We can be doing something that’s out of my comfort zone, and I just think, I love all of these weirdoes and the weird things they do.

 But on a bad day, Tongariki is the worst. It’s like I live in a fishbowl and someone is tapping on the glass. I’ve got the same complaints as a lot of other volunteers—no privacy, no control over my schedule, no access to most consumer products, difficulty in transportation and communication. To mangle Tolstoy though, perfect volunteer experiences are all alike. Imperfect volunteer experiences are imperfect in their own particular special way. My struggles come with the territory, blah blah—but man.

Now that I’m in for a little bit, I’m going to try and write a bunch of blog posts and set them to auto-update. I’ve got some great photos from spel, New Yam parties and hanging out in the nakamal, my library opening, etc., not to mention the rest of the photos from when my parents came to visit. (I haven’t even written about going to Fiji or New Zealand yet or about what my parents did and how their visit was so wonderful! Oi.) I’ll do my best to get this blog a little more active, anyway!