I don't know about you, but I was almost able to get through this holiday season without participating in it at all. That was the plan-to all together ignore the Christmas season. It wasn't hard- I didn't go into any stores, I didn't listen to any music, I wasn't going to be able to see any family or dear loved ones...there was no Christmas tree, presents, Xmas card picture, snowmen, carols....none of it. And, much like the grinch, I thought that would keep Christmas from coming. Oh, I know that "Jesus is the reason for the season", but the traditions of Christmas, the culture of American December, the culture and traditions of my family...those were the things I was going to do without this year, and in doing so, decided I could forget about the whole holiday.
As it turns out, I couldn't.
I was cleaning the house when a knock came at the door. My "neighbors" , the Primary school, we're practicing Christmas carols to perform for the end of the year concert. The teacher couldn't remember all the words to "Oh Holy Night" and asked me to write them down. I sat down and started singing to myself, almost immediately lost in tears.
"long lay the world, in sin and error pining, till he appeared and the soul felt its worth....A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices..."
I'd forgotten that Christmas isn't about the traditions, the gifts, even the Christmas eve service...it's about remembering. And, I don't know about you, but I found that my soul, my heart, is doing okay without the gifts, the twinkle lights, the carols, and even the family traditions. But I need to remember. I need to be reminded that He came...he came because he loved. He came to save, he came to bring hope, he came to redeem. He came! Joy to the world, the Lord has come! That forever changes this world, and my life. And....I need, desperately, to be renewed by that truth.
Maybe you haven't been much in the Christmas mood. Maybe, like me, you've ignored the Christmas season this year, or maybe you've just begrudgingly participated. Maybe you've been crazily shopping and hanging mistletoe and baking Christmas tree sugar cookies. Maybe you've hosted numerous Christmas parties, have visited all your relatives, created the cutest shutterfly Christmas photos ever from a wonderfully unique idea you saw on pinterest.
All those things are fine...just ....remember to remember.
- Alissa
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Throws me off
This last week Mark and I have been spending the morning in Nuapapu and the afternoons in Matamaka. At both schools we are practicing Christmas songs with the kids and doing little activities.
The Matamaka PTA decided on Monday that they would coordinate lunches with a different family every day so we could get to meet the students parents, and more people in the Matamaka community.
Its been great getting to meet families one by one. Usually we meet people at times when we are hearing 5+ names at a time...it gets so hard to remember who is who.
While all of our lunch dates have been going really well, and all the experiences are interesting, one in particular I want to share. There is an Italian man living in Matamaka. He is older, but you'd never guess it. He has two children in the primary school and their mother (who is Tongan) is currently out of the picture. He is such an interesting dude-I honestly could have stayed for hours! He speaks only a little English, less Tongan than I do, and he's being living here for years. I was pleasantly surprised to find he used to be a cook, and his food was delicious! But what really won me over was the moment he put on Micheal Buble.
There are so very, so so very few moments here in Tonga when something reminds me of home...there's just not much ..overlap, ever. But in his house, which was more...well, westernized looking, eating anything other than root crop, and to top it off with Buble...gets me all confused. I honestly forgot for a moment where we were...moments like these are so weird, and usually strangely emotional. I blinked back a tear and preceded to thoroughly enjoy myself.
I've been making banana bread more often than normal (taking treats to our neighbors is one of our meet people tricks), and everrrry time I pull the loaf out, I remember that time I made chocolate chip banana bread at the blue house. Remember Elders? It wasn't cooked all the way and I dumped the loaf out all over the counter...then proceeded to eat it with a spoon. (sorry for everyone who doesn't care about this story). I honestly laugh aloud every time.
Anyways, it's just good to remember.
Lisi
The Matamaka PTA decided on Monday that they would coordinate lunches with a different family every day so we could get to meet the students parents, and more people in the Matamaka community.
Its been great getting to meet families one by one. Usually we meet people at times when we are hearing 5+ names at a time...it gets so hard to remember who is who.
While all of our lunch dates have been going really well, and all the experiences are interesting, one in particular I want to share. There is an Italian man living in Matamaka. He is older, but you'd never guess it. He has two children in the primary school and their mother (who is Tongan) is currently out of the picture. He is such an interesting dude-I honestly could have stayed for hours! He speaks only a little English, less Tongan than I do, and he's being living here for years. I was pleasantly surprised to find he used to be a cook, and his food was delicious! But what really won me over was the moment he put on Micheal Buble.
There are so very, so so very few moments here in Tonga when something reminds me of home...there's just not much ..overlap, ever. But in his house, which was more...well, westernized looking, eating anything other than root crop, and to top it off with Buble...gets me all confused. I honestly forgot for a moment where we were...moments like these are so weird, and usually strangely emotional. I blinked back a tear and preceded to thoroughly enjoy myself.
I've been making banana bread more often than normal (taking treats to our neighbors is one of our meet people tricks), and everrrry time I pull the loaf out, I remember that time I made chocolate chip banana bread at the blue house. Remember Elders? It wasn't cooked all the way and I dumped the loaf out all over the counter...then proceeded to eat it with a spoon. (sorry for everyone who doesn't care about this story). I honestly laugh aloud every time.
Anyways, it's just good to remember.
Lisi
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Packages
A few people have asked us about sending packages-what to send, when to send it, where to send it too. Well here you go:
Where: soo... I know I should have our address memorized, but I don't. However, it is on our blog on the tab labeled "keep in touch". Just don't forget to put our names at the top!
When: the sooner the better! Officially, we receive packages duty free for the first six months of living here. After that, we could (though it apparently rarely happens) be charged varying amounts of money depending on what's in the package.
What: the following would indulge us immensely:
Crystal light packages (I especially like peach tea)
Mio
Ground coffee (there's only instant here!)
Nuts-cashews, almonds, peanuts, anything!
Dried fruit-craisins, raisins, etc
Packaging tape
Dried chilis
Spices ( autumnal, Italian, Mexican)
Trail mix
Seed packets for herbs
School supplies like :
Pencils
Individual pencil sharpeners
Crayons, colored pencils, markers
Dollar store pencil bags ( I want to keep a bag for each of my students...they never seem to have what they need)
Any kind of sports equipment- jump ropes, balls, frisbees, little water guns, water balloon kits,etc
CDs of songs-Christian or otherwise
Coloring books-Scooby Doo, Disney, religious
Stickers
If you do send a package, comment and let us know so we can try and track how long packages take, etc! Malo aupito!
Where: soo... I know I should have our address memorized, but I don't. However, it is on our blog on the tab labeled "keep in touch". Just don't forget to put our names at the top!
When: the sooner the better! Officially, we receive packages duty free for the first six months of living here. After that, we could (though it apparently rarely happens) be charged varying amounts of money depending on what's in the package.
What: the following would indulge us immensely:
Crystal light packages (I especially like peach tea)
Mio
Ground coffee (there's only instant here!)
Nuts-cashews, almonds, peanuts, anything!
Dried fruit-craisins, raisins, etc
Packaging tape
Dried chilis
Spices ( autumnal, Italian, Mexican)
Trail mix
Seed packets for herbs
School supplies like :
Pencils
Individual pencil sharpeners
Crayons, colored pencils, markers
Dollar store pencil bags ( I want to keep a bag for each of my students...they never seem to have what they need)
Any kind of sports equipment- jump ropes, balls, frisbees, little water guns, water balloon kits,etc
CDs of songs-Christian or otherwise
Coloring books-Scooby Doo, Disney, religious
Stickers
If you do send a package, comment and let us know so we can try and track how long packages take, etc! Malo aupito!
Typical
Just cooking dinner and turned around and saw this in our doorway:
I wonder when we will stop being entertaining?
(this is nothing compared to the other day when I was working out. The kids were piled in the doorways and climbing on chairs to watch through the windows. Later that same evening I watched a young boy successfully accomplish a plank and downward dog...good to know I'm making my mark.)
Lisi
Pride comes before a Fall
Last Friday we went into town to celebrate Thanksgiving (more on that later), then stayed the night, and decided to do our shopping on Saturday before catching a boat back home.
I felt comfortable, settled, like I was living the "norm" as we wandered through the market selecting our produce, stopped by the ice shop to fill our cooler, bought some meat and dairy products... A cruise ship had docked sometime earlier and there were all these crazy old palangis running around everywhere like chickens with their heads cut off. It was nice to feel like I knew what I was doing.
We got home Saturday evening, enjoyed a few of our purchases then and on Sunday. This morning, Monday, we decided to have eggs and bacon and coffee with real milk. That's when it all started falling apart.
It seems that, though we had created a safe little carrying nest for the eggs we had purchased, a few of them broke...and then sat for two days...spilling and drying and stinking all over the other eggs.
Also, though we had attempted to seal the packaged meat we bought, the water (because, ya, the ice had ALREADY melted), was a brownish reddish smells-of-meatish-color. Disturbing.
Especially when there is cheese and butter and lettuce and the like sharing a home with that raw meat water. Soo...if that doesn't scream food poisoning I don't know what does.
And then, the generator ran out of gas (we just needed to charge our phones). And we couldn't get our water filter to filter the dang water, AND there were ants all over our house again. (don't even get me started on the swarms of mosquitoes that share this home with us, I will cry.)
And that's when I realized I don't have all this down yet. It is perplexing when simple meal prep and cleaning takes a good four hours because..everything is nasty. Perplexing and overwhelming.
Anyone have any suggestions for life without a fridge? About why mosquitoes might be so attracted to our home? Malo!
Lisi
I felt comfortable, settled, like I was living the "norm" as we wandered through the market selecting our produce, stopped by the ice shop to fill our cooler, bought some meat and dairy products... A cruise ship had docked sometime earlier and there were all these crazy old palangis running around everywhere like chickens with their heads cut off. It was nice to feel like I knew what I was doing.
We got home Saturday evening, enjoyed a few of our purchases then and on Sunday. This morning, Monday, we decided to have eggs and bacon and coffee with real milk. That's when it all started falling apart.
It seems that, though we had created a safe little carrying nest for the eggs we had purchased, a few of them broke...and then sat for two days...spilling and drying and stinking all over the other eggs.
Also, though we had attempted to seal the packaged meat we bought, the water (because, ya, the ice had ALREADY melted), was a brownish reddish smells-of-meatish-color. Disturbing.
Especially when there is cheese and butter and lettuce and the like sharing a home with that raw meat water. Soo...if that doesn't scream food poisoning I don't know what does.
And then, the generator ran out of gas (we just needed to charge our phones). And we couldn't get our water filter to filter the dang water, AND there were ants all over our house again. (don't even get me started on the swarms of mosquitoes that share this home with us, I will cry.)
And that's when I realized I don't have all this down yet. It is perplexing when simple meal prep and cleaning takes a good four hours because..everything is nasty. Perplexing and overwhelming.
Anyone have any suggestions for life without a fridge? About why mosquitoes might be so attracted to our home? Malo!
Lisi
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