Blog Redemption :)

Okay, you win. After all the posts and comments telling me to post, here it is. Peter, now it's your turn. Anyway, I am sorry I haven’t posted sooner. Or more often. It’s not entirely my fault…our computer wouldn’t let me post pictures, but I finally got it working. The rest of it is my fault. “April and Michelle” just isn’t quite the same without April… Well, now I’m out of excuses, so here it is: the one you've all been waiting for!

So, graduation isn’t exactly a recent event anymore, but it was a really big milestone in my life. In honor of that fact, I decided to kind of make this a recap of the last year of my experience as a high school student! (I’ll do a separate one for Graduation.) And sorry that the pictures aren't in order....for some weird reason, they didn't post in the order I had them in...but you'll just have to live with it, because I'm not going to start over:)

Seminary Graduation

Yep, I warned you they were out of order! haha I guess we'll just start here anyway. I'll post in more details on the actual high school graduation, but this picture is from seminary graduation. I don't remember how they do it in America, but we had a really nice program with our stake a week before graduation. I think I was the luckiest one---I even got a picture with our wonderful mission president and his wife!

Seminary Graduation Dance
After the program, there was a really fun dance. This is a picture of Leina, Latai, and me, after we'd been decked out! In the middle of the dance, all the graduates were invited to come stand in the middle of the tennis court so that people could come give us leis. If you think Halloween is cool, you should've seen how much candy I got from this!

Form 6 Picnic
The Class of 2008 sang three songs at graduation ("These Are The Days", "Graduation Day", and "O Home Beloved"). We practiced every day after school, and the Friday before graduation they announced that we'd have a picnic after practice. So, after a shortened school day and practice, we all headed to the very back of the rugby field, where we had a fun time just enjoying the food and playing together one more time...

Form 6 Ball
Or senior prom, or whatever you want to call it. They didn't want it to conflict with studying for exams, so they moved it to third term. Kinda crazy, but it was still really fun. My mom sewed the dress; even without the box of patterns she left in America! (isn't she amazing?!) I went with Manase Taumoepeau, and we had a ton of fun...or at least I did :)

Coronation of King George V
There were a lot of activities in town to celebrate the coronation, and marching was one of them. All the schools marched around town and past the palace. (That's our principal, Sione Tafuna, and the student body officers.) Most of the other activities took place at night so we didn’t get very good pictures, but they were a lot of fun. They even had a pretty cool show of fireworks down on the wharf. (For the record, fireworks are way cooler when they're also being reflected in the ocean.)

‘Atele Social
‘Atele is the all-boys government school on the island. As part of their graduation celebrations, they had a dance and invited about 30 girls from each of the other high schools. It was fun, but I have to admit that I like Liahona boys a lot more! :)

Marching for Parliament

Recognize the one on the left? Yep, that's April! Even though she's back in the states now, she was still here and got to march with us for the opening of parliament. The one in the middle is Erica McKee, President Eric Shumway's granddaughter who was here for a few months. And for those of you who are still confused...I'm the one on the right.

Speech Competition

(Leina, Me, Lute, and my teacher, 'Ilisapesi)

My friend Lute and I participated in a speech competition to represent Liahona. I won first place and received a $200 cash prize, as well as a cell phone, (cool, yeah?) and Lute placed fourth. (It was also really neat to find out later through Dad, who met one of the judges, that I didn’t win just because I’m a palangi. In fact, they decided at the beginning that they were NOT going to let me win, but I guess my charm won them over in the end :)

Sports

The track and field events are referred to generally as "sports". There are two days of sports at Liahona for inter-house competitions, and 3 days for inter-college competitions. It gets pretty hot and muggy being in the sun for 10 hours a day, but it's lots of fun to watch and cheer on the school. Unfortunately, Liahona broke its winning streak of 3 years....*sigh.* Oh well, we had to give the other schools a chance, right? And don't worry---we'll be back in full force next year!!

Back-to-School Dance

This picture was supposed to be at the beginning....and now it's at the end! It was the first dance of the year, welcoming everyone back to the world of studying, uniforms, and of course—school dances! Now it's behind me, but it's okay, because I'll stay green & white forever! Liahona 4 Life!!!

We would like a little more from Michelle!

Dear friends,

We all know that this blog has crashed since April left. Well, if this post gets over 15 comments in support of getting Michelle to post I will get her to post more often. I have continued my blog, but it is still whacking out. So, you have two days!!!!!!

CD

Whoa. Someone Really Needs to Post.

It's been a long time since anyone's posted here. Its seems to me like there's a shortage of pictures. Well, the story doesn't end here, folks. On Friday Dad, Danny and I took a two day vacation to 'Eua. I think it wins the prize for being the best vacation I've ever gone on, even though I didn't get my two talks done that I had to give today in two different Sacrament meetings. But we saw the biggest tree in the world, a beautiful rock garden and many humongous cliffs. Dad gave a beautiful mission conference for the 6 elders there totally on the spot, and he and Danny got to sit in the co-pilot's seat on the 10 seater plane (yes, it's smaller than the McBus) one way each. On Saturday we climbed--literally--down these cliffs to a gorgeous beach completely non-accessible to cars, and the hike happens to be rated the number one tourist hike in the Pacific. It was entirely fakalata. (For those of you who don't pay attention to the weekly word, it's really really cun/cool.) Dad doesn't miss a beat, either, and was able to give three short first-lessons on the spot. It was great. The tragic news, is that during one of the mini lessons, just as he was getting to the Book of Mormon, we looked up and noticed a beautiful sky show and took a break to take a picture. Sadly, at the moment of action, the camera slipped from his fingerest, and through the whole in the board walk and down to the rocks below. I heroically climbed down and rescued it, but we'll be lucky if it works again. I'm hoping the card will at least work so we can get a few pictures. It happened on Friday night, so we didn't get anything of the cliff hike, but if we can get just a few pictures, we'll definitely have to post them so you can see the beauty of 'Eua.

Oh, and just as a public announcement for those who are unaware...I will be on American Sod on the fifth of August, probably in the evening. Then the parties will begin.

The Urge.

Wow. I meant to post these forever ago....meaning back at the beginning of December when we took our family trip to Vava'u. But I lost the pictures and I just found them again! I think they are so funny! They're the signs on the bathrooms at the domestic airport. Sorry the quality isn't the best, but I think they're much more descriptive than most pictures. When is the rest of the world going to catch the creativity?

Late But Great!

I actually took this picture on our first day here in Tonga, so that was quite some time ago, but the Temple never gets old. Furthermore, I just think you're a lucky person if you can take a picture like this from your backyard!!!

Ha'afeva Comes to Life!

Well, I guess you probably wanted to see Ha'afeva, and not just hear about it. Unfortunately, I had dead batteries for about 7 or the twelve weeks, and there are also some pictures my companion got, as well as Mom and Dad. I'll work on getting those eventually. Anyway, there aren't a lot of scenic-type pictures, and they're not that great, either. But they mean a lot to me (probably because most of them are of the kids), so hopefully you'll enjoy!

This is Sister 'Aholelei and me sitting on the beach doing some studying.

Sorry, too we're too lazy to stand up. But his beautiful tapa cloth covers one wall of our house. The perfect backdrop, wouldn't you say?

Our District. That was our first conference, just two weeks after I arrived.

We went to Mele and Manu's bush to help out! But we mostly ended up playing marbles.

Wouldn't you just love to have something like this growing in your backyard?

Me, Vili, Kali, Siu and Mote playing marbles. They were good teachers.

This isn't the best angle, but these three girls win the points for being most afraid of me at first but loving me by the end. I didn't actually get to see them the whole second transfer because they went down to Tongatapu.

Maikale was the first person from Ha'afeva I met. Here she is, teaching me how to weave.

This is my first time to officially eat 'Ota ika--off the bones. 'Aho loves 'ota. She could eat eight or nine in a sitting.

Here she is, eating 'ota again. The best way to salt your fish is to just rinse them off in the sea water.

Nai, 'Aho and Mona eating fingota, another delicious raw something from the sea.

'Aholelei, me, Mona, and Nai again.

This is tuku misi. Sorry, the smoke makes it a little hazy, but whatever. That is a big pile of tuku misi. Paane is a little nine year old who is already proficient with a knife and preparing tuku misi. An interesting fact: He is indeed wearing an Olympus Titans football hat.

Sione Lose was lying on the ground one day, and this pig just came up to him and laid down next to him. I guess not all pigs are scared of humans.

Pita and Sione Maile making lolo tonga (natural oil, Tongan style). Sione Maile is squeezing the oil out of grated coconut, then they use the dry coconut for something. I didn't really undertand the whole process.

Sports (or track and field) is huge in Tonga. So to celebrate it, the Primary school had their own Sports Day, full of relays and fun games. It reminded me a lot of good 'ole field days back at Upland.

Tatafu and Kasanita

Me and Nifai. He's the Branch President's little boy who stayed next to our house. He's easily one of the cutest boys I have ever met. ;)

Tatafu and Mele

'Olivia and Filisi. Filisi can be attributed for giving me my first Tongan lesson, which included identifying things and spelling their names. Just more proof that kids are smarter than adults.

Mona and Vili in back, then Vanika, 'Olivia, Filisi, Kali, 'Isisleli and Sofilisi.

This was the trip to Nomuka in the new mission boats to switch elders before transfers. The two other sisters are the ones who replaced me and Tatafu.

Me and Tatafu in front of 'O'ua. We went to pick up one of the elder's luggage, but we stayed on the front of the boat while they went to shore.

On our last morning, these kids came to deliver a beautiful turtle shell to me. Isn't that nice? I gave them balloons.

Our last night in Ha'afeva, we held our last Mutual activity, and we were joined by some younger kids, too. We played get-to-know-you games.
These are our actual Young Women: Nofo, Manatu and Peti. I'll certainly never forget Ha'afeva.

I Came in at the Beginning of Guava Season, and Left at the End of Orange Season.

Every missionary eats really cool things that usually sound pretty gross to the rest of the world. So here goes, again, in no particular order, and I'm not going to mention things that I'd already eaten in Tonga. Oh, and if you get queasy easily, I suggest you not read the details.
1. Moko Hunu. I'll start with the one thing I didn't like. It was ok the first time I ate it, but by the second time I ate it, I had to stop of fear of losing it all. I looked it up in my dictionary. I'll save you the meaning. Unless I get lots of requests to know what it was.
2. 'Ota. Fresh fish. I really liked fresh fish in Tonga, but I had only had it in salads and such...yummy flavors....In Ha'afeva I not only learned to eat, but love eating fish straight out of the water, straight off the bones.
3. Fish heads, raw or cooked, doesn't matter. I'd say that eating it raw it's almost not worth the effort because the head is so hard break open, but cooked it's really good, especially the lungs.
4. Fingota. I think it's.....ok, I'm not really sure what it is, but it's another raw thing, and it's really good. I didn't get to eat it that much though.
5. Tuku Misi. (Dear family members: Dad doesn't even want to try it....I'm one up!) The biggest it gets is about the size of a really small coconut, and it's blue and has white spiky thingies. Then you open it, and pour most of the goopy, yucky looking stuff, and scoop out about 4 small spoonfuls of orange, goopy, yucky looking stuff. But it's actually really good, as long as it's eaten with 'ufi (tuber plant, some sort of boiled tubers are eaten at almost every meal). I'm not sure I could do it without. It's also really salty.
6. Tuna. And you thought it only came in a can! Ok, it's really good, but it's really fatty. Probably 1:1 ratio. I can handle a little of it, but not that much! The meat is really good though. :)
7. 'Anga. Shark. This might be the yummiest thing I have ever eaten! It was so tender, and cooked in cury, and maybe because it was my birthday or something, but it was soooo good!
8. I ate all kinds of fish, but the two others I will mention are Pone, and 'Ume. 'Ume is the best fish, and it really is soooo good. Both are good cooked or 'ota (I believe the only fish that can be 'ota), although I prefer Pone for 'ota.
9. Sadly, I never ate jelly fish or sea turtle. I've heard turtle is really good, and as for jelly fish, I only wanted to eat it for the sake of trying it. (I've also had octapus, which is really good, but strangely, I never had it in Ha'afeva.) And then I ate lobster and crab often enough, not worth reporting more.
Ok, now for land animals!!! (or in some cases, sky...)
10. Lupe. Dove. Yummy. Delicious. Ifo.
11. Peka. BAT!!!
12. Kulii. Dog. Ok, everyone, I'm really sorry, but it's really yummy!
13. Kosi. Goat. It tastes quite similar to lamb, but really good.
14. Keke Faka-Tonga. Tongan pancake/cake. I'ts like flour and water and fried....if you like deliciously greesy foods, it's totally for you.
15. La'ipele. It's the leaves from the manioke/tapiocca (spelling?) plant, and I like it more than Lu, which is the leaves from the Taro plant. (Both plants are tubers) The Tongans just eat it with some kind of meat, and I really like it.
16. Also, as the title says, I ate a lot of guava and a lot of orange. Both are so delicious, and I'd never had guava before. I highly recommend them to those who get the chance to eat them. I almost love them more than papaya, but not quite. (That's my favorite thing here.) And Ha'afeve banana's are even sweeter than Tongatapu bananas! But that's how long I was there for, two fruit seasons!!
17. This one isn't about what I ate, but how I ate. I rarely used a fork or spoon, and today at lunch I think the ravioli we ate would have been much easier to eat with my hands than with a fork. I am very pro at that now.
I think that's about it. Really, I just know that I am a Tongan, and I was just born in America. And now I'm back to a city of cars and lights and roads and American food and it's all very crazy. Happy birthday Danny. (Hopefully we'll do a post later on that...)