Tonga: Culture, customs and cockroaches

I am in Tonga since one week. Time to check witch the rest of the world. The good news: There is no new WordPress update… The bad news: Girls in Tonga stay at home; Kitchen, cleaning and taking care of the kids… But Tongan customs go further (ask for details^^). Sunday is a strict rest day. No work, exercise or shopping. Only baker shops are allowed to open. I stay here with a Family, their two boys and x girls (where x is a big number). In Tonga I go to church and choir practice. I also slack a lot and not only on Sundays. Tongan families usually have some animals (pigs, chickens, maybe a cow, dogs and sometimes cats, lizards and lots of insects [one cockroach a day]) and fruit trees (bananas, papayas, mangos, …). Books or something to write can be pretty important if you don’t want to behave like a tourist (or Tongan) all day. You should also drink a lot, no tab water, but (boiled) rainwater… or sweet Tongan drinks. Since roosters surround my little cottage, I was usually awake around 4am (but could go back to sleep). So this type of local animal is not my friend! I cruise around the Island with the two girls who are closest to my age (one of them is my NZ contact, the other her cousin). Unfortunately they are very busy and I can not hang out with them as much as I would like to. It also seems to be impossible to visit one of the other Tongan Islands with them, because they are expected to stay at home, do work in the house and for other family members. We had a few sunny days, but cloudy days are not bad either. Even rain doesn’t bother me here (you will enjoy rain baths). Tongans usually don’t like to speak to much english, but I am learning to speak some Tongan…. more later…