Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Internships and Interviews...oh my!

This week those of us in the business program here have been sent to different organizations and businesses to observe and help with some of their programs. My group was sent to Vava'u High School to prepare students for an internship program. The first 2 days we had to prepare them for the interviews with the businesses and the 2nd 2 days is training to help them when they are at their sites. Sounds easy enough....but not here. Most of these kids have no work or interview experience. They won't speak up in class. Ask them why they want to have an internship and they may or may not answer and it may or may not be a one-word answer. Maybe all high school kids are like that. There is a high premium on being humble and modest here. That's great, except when trying to sell yourself in an interview.

Luckily, after 2 days of working with the students I did notice a marked improvement in a few of the students, particularly one of the boys that 2 of the organizations want to hire. So, it has been frustrating, but I guess we are encouraging some improvement. Perhaps it was worth it?

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Late night Niafu

I went out to some of the bars/clubs in the main town here with my host sister and one of her friends last night (and I brought another PC friend for good measure). It's the first time I've been out at night with members of my host family. It was pretty fun but different than being out with palangis (word for white people here). First, splitting the bill is not really a Tongan practice. Usually someone just picks it up and pays it, so I had to keep that in mind when ordering drinks. Also, women in Tonga don't typically drink alcohol and might be looked down on when they do. Seeing how I was around numerous Tongan women from my village at one point in the night, I realized my decision to purchase a beer might not have been the best one. I just made sure that was the only one I had in their presence.

Luckily, western style dance is basically accepted here. The songs might be very dated at re-made pacific-island style and the dancing has to be somewhat subdued (not such a bad thing), but I do have a lot of fun dancing to it. We started at a rather deserted bar that employs a bartender who just so happens to be the most attractive man I've met in Tonga. Then we moved to a few other bars that had a nice mix of palangis and Tongans dancing, so that was fun. I get tired of the locations that are over-run with palangis (there are a lot of those in this town). The last place we went was the most sketch. When we got there, it was basically deserted. Finally, it was 2am and the place was still deserted so my friend and myself started pressuring my host sister to get a taxi to go home. At some point in this process, a bunch of men and boys from my village started piling in and many were clearly drunk and kind of pushy. It was at that point that my friend and myself became very uncomfortable and demanded we leave. I felt bad being demanding but I also think trusting instincts (and a tired body) can be important. Anyway, interesting experience...but fun.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Thanksgiving!!!

Even though I'm in Tonga, in the middle of the South Pacific, I had an amazing Thanksgiving! Turkey, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, delicious stuff altogether (and enough alcohol...). Add a live band and dancing with an ocean view and who needs a US Thanksgiving? Though, I do miss spending time with my family and board games....

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Site Placement!

So, I learned my job placement for the next 2 years and I'm excited!!!I'll basically be living in or very near to the capitol and workingfor the Ministry of Training, Employment, Youth and Sports. I'll beworking with the Employment division with maybe some work with theYouth and Training sections too. This ministry just started last yearand I'm their first volunteer so it sounds like I'll be doing a lot ofgroundwork to figure out what the employment needs are in Tonga. I'mgoing to be designing and conducting surveys, running workforcepreparedness and skills training/workshops, and participating incommunity employment consultations. Most of the work will be withyouth (defined here as age 15-35). Part of what I might be doinginvolves setting up a system for registering under-employed andunemployed youth to track them for training, internships, andemployment. I'll be getting to do a decent amount of outreachtraveling to villages throughout my island, so I'm really excitedabout that too! They were looking for someone with strong reportwriting and public relations skills and survey experience. I think Ihave most of those, so I feel pretty confident! I've always enjoyeddoing career development activities for myself and for my friends so Ithink this is a really good fit! Since I've been in Tonga, I've beenreally interested in what seems like a lack of employmentopportunities for youth and the number that feel they need to look forwork abroad. It seems that this job will allow me to not only learnthe true extent of the issue but also figure out how to address itwork towards that. I think it will be awesome working for a newministry as well. Anyway, I'm really satisfied and excited about thisplacement! Also, I'll be living in a "family compound." I'll have myown small private home but it will be owned by a family who will liveright by me, which is also perfect since I wanted some privacy but really didn't want to live alone. All in all, I'm very happy with this!

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Studying abroad...?

I'm for the most part enjoying my time in Tonga, but I guess I'm finding it kind of difficult to process the experience. Right now I'm a trainee. That means I'm not yet considered a full-fledged PC volunteer. There are 33 trainees in our class. I attend classes on the Tongan language, culture, health, safety, and business and organizational development (my field of service). Throughout that time, we live with host families. This feels very much like the study abroad experiences that I've had so far. I'm sure that all will change in December when I begin at my post and there aren't so many PC people around, but for now it's an odd feeling. Not at all what one imagines when they think about "Peace Corps." Of course, those preconceived notions can be harmful. The "I want to save the world" notion is particularly so. In Tonga, the motivations of the people are so different from western motivations. Last night I was talking to a young man who is putting off representing Tonga to play tennis abroad so that he can stay home with his sick father, even though the father is telling him to go. Family trumps work, money and personal success here in many senses. I'm acknowledging that promoting business development here might butt heads with a lot of cultural norms and I'm finding myself having to ask what the real needs are here. Tongans might not want to advance in business if it is going to have any sort of detrimental effect on their family and I certainly don't want to be promoting practices that discount that. Balancing these cultural views and what might be some necessary steps for development will be the challenge. Attempting this balance is much more doable than "saving the world."

Another challenge for me is accepting a role of less independence here. Because youth (defined loosely as one age 16-maybe 35 or until they are married) here often live with their parents until they are married, it is natural for my host father to be protective of me. I, however, am not used to having to tell someone where I'm going and explain what I will be doing there. Additionally, as a women, there are even further constraints. I must be careful how I behave around Tongan men and my host dad has placed rules on some interactions. I think my own personal rules would be strict enough but his are a bit more so. However, it is clear to me that the host family cares for me and I know that my host father has my well-being in mind with his rules. It's a trade-off I am willing to make. Adapting to a culture becomes much easier when you've developed a respect for that culture and a connection with the members of it. In a few months I may very well be living alone and then I think I might wish I had someone under the same roof looking out for me.