The Pig

So I went outside one morning to feed the dog, a pretty pathetic breakfastbecause I was too lazy to go get a can of fish so it was leftover cabbage and rice doctored with soy sauce, and she almost fell for it. Anyway, I go out and I look down from my top step and…AH! A Rat! A rat! Kill it, kill it…Wait…wait, nope…pig…baby…aw cute.
I held little piggle wiggles in my hands, pitiable because of his small stature and obviously he was scared witless if he’s letting me pick him up. I fell in love with Wilbur immediately, and quickly weighed the option of housing him, but decided against keeping the bundle of oink. I don't feel that I would make a very good PigMomma, and it would be inevitable that he would lose his cuteness as he gained weight and flavour value. So I had one of the boys who was waiting for the school truck, to take him next door, maybe he was adopted after, I'm not sure where he came from…but certainly don’t want to know where he is now.
Speaking of pets, having a dog around has not only added safety and extra companionship to my life here, but also classic comic entertainment. Sini is definitely clumsy like her owner, and it's much funnier watching a dog jump head-on into (yes 'into', not 'over') a fence, than it is actually running into something myself. Don't feel sorry for her, when little Wilbur was at my door step she tried to bite his head off. So she deserves a good smack every once in a while.
In addition, she's very playful with rats…yea Sini likes to make friendly with them; she needs to be more on disposal duty, but whatever… A note about a difference in culture…one must cry at everything…every event, every function, usually during the welcome speech, the prayer, speaking in general, and/or the fakamalo (big thanks)…yep a crying competition can break out at any time and place, whomever busts out with the most emotional presentation of what they want to say seems to be doing well in the meeting…yes I mean a meeting of any sorts, business, school, etc. Most recent, I was at a PTA meeting where the parents (and I mean Mothers) gathered with us to discuss raising money for a computer, copier, and printer. I thought I was following along pretty well (because it was in Tongan), but then a woman starts talking…then tears, an obscene amount of tears, the kind that I last saw at a Putu (funeral). Then another starts…same thing…I'm not sure who won, but it's not the first time I've seen crying integrated into a speech. I'm starting to think if you want to be taken seriously, or want people to at least pay attention to what you're saying, you need to cry…wail even…I had like three things I wanted to talk about and was skipped over…I'm going to start crying to get my way…that's it, I'll just pretend I'm 5 yrs old again when my mom wouldn't let me get my preferred bag of chips at the grocery…then the PTA will hear what I have to say about recycling cages and tutoring…it's called adjusting to the culture. Speaking of Putu's (funerals) there was another one a couple of days ago (4th since getting to site), this time it was my neighbour whom I thought was Ema's husband…he was actually Ema and Loce's brother. But I NEVER saw him out, probably saw him 2 times the entire time I've been here and Loce never talked about him and Ema can't really hear, so we definitely don't try to break language barriers…so I don't feel too bad about my ignorance to the details about him. But it was sad and I wore black for a couple of days, because it's faka-tonga (like Tongans) and respectful, and Ema and Loce have been really nice...weird, because they've picked through my trash before… and one of them was standing outside peeing as she was waving and saying goodbye to me…but nice ladies. Being that Tonga is one of the last monarchies, I think it'll be interesting to see the party they throw for the king's coronation in August. I'm going to go to main island for it and stay a couple of weeks to work with the Ministry of Health on developing community health education projects, hopefully getting into diabetes and such…looking at what I just wrote, it sounds a lot more big time than what it really is I'm sure, but I want you folks to think I'm doing awesome stuff with my time here and not just teaching kids how to say 'see you later alligator'... Anyway, after that stint the plan is to go to New Zealand for a week, so I'm pretty excited for that, I've met a Kiwi or two and they've pumped it up to be pretty cool… and hey we've all seen The Lord of the Rings…