A lot to do...

Well, all I really want to do is sit by a swimming pool and be able to go for a swim to cool down every five minutes! Unfortunately our hotel doesn't have a pool, it is morbidly hot and humid outside and I have so much to do!

Our boat leaves for Tokelau on Tuesday at 9am (NZ Wed 9am). Before then Matt and I have to go shopping for anything and everything we might need in Tokelau. I'm looking forward to buying a plastic laundry basket and filling it with fruit and veges to take back with us. If we buy any meat we need to cut it up into the right portion sizes, package it and bring it to the Tokelau Apia Liason office to be frozen for the boat trip.

We also need to organise a contact in Apia who will be able to purchase fresh fruit and veges for us in Apia each fortnight and who will ensure they get on the boat for us to receive at the other end! We need to buy fans and fishing line and God knows what else!

We have learned that having a water purification system would be useful, otherwise we can simply boil our water... It would have been nice to know these things before we left NZ, but there's no point worrying about things like that now!

We have learnt about some of the rules that each of the atolls have. On Fakaofo women are not allowed to wear shorts or trousers, they must wear skirts or sarongs. Each evening at 6pm a bell will ring, when you hear this you must head home for prayer time. If you get caught out away from home, you must stay where you are to observe this time quietly. If you are caught on the streets there may be a policeman who will ask you to sit down where you are.

After a while a second bell goes to let you know you are free to roam again. Eventually another couple of bells will go to tell people to go home at various different time. From memory, everyone needs to be home by 9.30pm.

We are currently trying to ensure that we live on Fenua Fala, not Fale. Apparently Fale is a concrete jungle of corrugated iron that heats up to form a heat trap. It would also be useful to have easy access to the school whenever I need it, so that I can get on with the copious amounts of work that I will be doing while there to help establish systems in the school for planning, assessment and reporting to the Taupulega (Elders/Government/Board of Trustees etc...) Not to mention specific teacher training... Hmmm... does this role sound like a deputy or principal to you?

Anyway, it has not all been work, work, work. Each afternoon we have had free to ourselves. Matt and I have been able to explore Palolo Deep, a great marine reserve in Apia, and Papa Seea, Sliding Rocks, a system of water falls up in the hills behind Apia. While there we saw some kamikaze teens doing some pretty amazing high dives and barefoot-snowboarding styles down the smooth, mossy water swept rocks. I was brave enough to have one go at sliding down, but the whole way feared for my life! Maybe one day I'll do it again, but I'm happy for that to be a little way off yet!

Anyway, I'd better stop procrastinating about going out into the heat of the day. There are lava lavas to buy and last minute comforts of home to buy!

Apia, Samoa

After arriving in Samoa at 2am we caught a taxi to our hotel. The heat was humid and a ‘cool’ 25 degrees… Over the last few days we have been slowly acclimatising to the oppressive humidity and heat, with lazy book reading, relaxing snorkelling and the occasional ‘slow dash’ to the shops to browse for items we might need in Tokelau.

The first item we have bought is an umbrella… I have never experienced as much rain as we have had so far in Samoa. Just when you think the rain on the corrugated iron roof can’t get any louder it goes up a few decibels! The rain is always a welcome relief, it freshens the air.

My favourite thing so far has been the snorkelling, followed a close second by Apia market.

For the past two days we have been to Vaiala Beach to fight the strong currents out to the reef. Once out past the strong currents it was so worth it! I can think of at least 15 different types of fish we saw, not to mention the electric purple starfish!

At the market it seems like every stall sells the same items. Taro, coconuts, copra, taro, coconuts, copra, bananas, taro, coconuts and copra! Each stall has a few people working on it and they all just sit about in the heat chatting. I can’t wait to go on our big vege buying shop the day before catching the boat to Tokelau.

Today we met the principal from Nukunonu. He suggested we get a contact in Apia to send us fresh fruit and veges on the fortnightly boat to Tokelau. He also told us that the women on Atafu and Fakaofo have created a bakery, so we will not have to bake our own bread! It is great to get tips from the locals, as up till now we have been the blind leading the blind!
I have set up a wikispace-wishlist so that you can all send us parcels of treats!

http://fakaofowishlist.wikispaces.com/

It may be wishful thinking, but here’s hoping!

This week we have a conference, but we have just heard that the people arriving from Tokelau will not be able to make it, so it will be postponed until another time… We will still have some meetings however, as there are some other new teachers starting, and there are some others from Tokelau who have returned from their holidays in New Zealand for the conference also.

Anyway, I’m off to look up some sites on things to do in Samoa! Happy holidays!

Signing our lives away!

Well, our contracts have finally arrived, they've been signed and we'll be posting them back soon. We fly next Friday to Samoa for 11 days before going on the long boat journey to Fakaofo.

While in Samoa we will be organising our Tokelaun bank accounts, gettings visas and making sure our freight gets on the same boat we do. We're excited about seeing the sites around Apia, and attending the week long Principals' Conference. It will be great to meet some of the other Volunteers and put faces to names.

The boat trip to Tokelau is likely to be very crowded; with school holidays finishing soon and the volunteers and other staff from the school all needing to return to the atolls.

We really hope that we haven't forgotten anything important in our boxes that we shipped off earlier this week! By the time we get to Tokelau and realise, it will be too late... at least for another six months when we'll have our first break in Samoa.

Over and out for now... the next post will be from Samoa!

Getting closer...

Well, the Xmas holidays have started! Last week I resigned from my job. It was a bit sad, but lessened by the fact that I'll be keeping in touch with so many people and my class can keep in touch through this blog. We had a lovely end of year lunch, with great food and many kind words said.

In Tokelau, if a couple want to live together they must be married. We are awaiting confirmation on whether simply being engaged will be enough, or if we too will have to get married. This meant that on Thursday night, along with celebrating the end of school, we were celebrating my 'engagement' to Matt! There was lots of dancing to be done!

Over the past two days I have cleared out my classroom. This took a lot longer than normal due to the fact that I didn't want to store useless resources that I hadn't used in the past two years. Lots of recycling was done! As I locked up the school for the last time I felt very positive about my time at the school and how good it was to leave on such a positive note and to be off on such a big adventure with VSA.

Now we just have to get through Xmas, pack up our house and make sure we don't miss our flights to Samoa in January!

Last week at my NZ school (hopefully!)

Last week I was allowed to tell my class that I'm off to Tokelau. There were some disappointed, yet excited children, with so many questions. I could only answer their questions based on what I've heard and read online, no doubt my knowledge of the place is truly lacking and I'll laugh at how little I knew before departing when I get home again!

Here is a card that one of my students made for me. I love it!

Donated Mac's

I have of course been suffering already from the thought of having to return my Mac to the school I am leaving soon. My Mac and I have been inseparable since birth... it's birth, back in March! Our relationship is a beautiful thing! It got me to thinking...

In Tokelau I will need a laptop to help me organise my lessons and assessment. My class this year have loved blogging and having a real audience for their writing. I thought, 'Why not set up a class blog in Tokelau, and get the students communicating with schools in New Zealand?!' It would give the students in Tokelau such a wider view of their world. They are currently so isolated, but over the past few years have been brought online.

I have emailed Renaissance Education (RED) to see if they would have some Christmas spirit and donate some ex-lease MacBooks to each of the three schools in Tokelau. I hope to hear back from them soon with a positive result! Fingers crossed...!

Do any of you have any ideas about the possible use of ICT on a small remote tropical island?!!

Busy times...

It is the end of a very hectic week! Along with thirty portfolios on the way, we've also had to juggle blood tests, chest x-rays, dental appointments, full medicals and copious vaccinations at the travel doctor. I'm so lucky my principal was happy for me to take any time I needed to squeeze in these appointments to my week.

The week before last included three day in Wellington attending the VSA pre-departure briefing. Was so amazing to meet all of the other VSA volunteers heading off to other amazing places such as Tanzania, the Solomons, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Cambodia, to do equally amazing jobs: Landscape gardeners, teachers, youth workers, librarians etc.... Was great to meet the UNIVOL volunteers, graduates from Otago University heading off to Tanzania and Vanuatu. What a great opportunity for them!

At the end of each day we were all inspired and exhausted! There was so much to discuss and think about: international development, capacity building, how to keep ourselves safe from all sorts of creepy crawlies, snakes, malaria and other diseases... luckily many of these aren't on Tokelau. We do however, have to try and de-mosquito our home... we will be exposed to the beautiful mosquito that carries dengue fever. We also discussed some of the many situations we may find our selves in such as civil unrest, cyclones and any other potential disasters that mean we may have to evacuate. I think we feel as prepared as we can at this stage.... Mental note: must remember to findout cyclone emergency proceedure when we get to atoll!

Any spare time I have is spent getting quotes from jewelry suppliers and researching Dremel tools. I'm pretty excited about the opportunity to spend less time running the treadmill in the rat race and nurturing my creative side. I can't wait to learn the Tokelaun art of weaving.

All going to plan, this coming week we will get the all-clear from both of our medicals. I'm just pleased that I passed being able to touch my toes! I just can't wait to find out what our living situation will be like!