I Visit the Palace

Finally. I’ve been in the country for over two months. I just got back my passport, with a multiple-entry visa good until March 2010. And, I’m one of a handful of palangi in the country. Yet, despite all that, I hadn’t yet been summoned to the Palace! On Friday, that all changed. After having biked past the Palace many times getting no more than a salute from the army soldiers who double as Palace guards (in full jungle camo, no less), this time the iron gate opened for me. I found out at a school assembly on Monday that I would be granted entry. In preparation for the new king’s coronation week (much delayed after 2006’s riots), my school had been assigned a very specific duty. We would take care of…hiko? Huh? “What’s hiko?” I asked another teacher, hoping it was something cool like feeding the princess’ white tigers. “Hiko is yard work, garbage clean-up.” “Oh.” All the same, I was excited. The new King would officially receive his crown soon in a coronation ceremony, and work was being done all over the country to get ready. For some reason, the assigned area of work for ‘Api Fo’ou (my school) was the Palace grounds. And not around the outside gates of the Palace. We would actually be working inside the grounds around the Palace itself. On Friday, I arrived in my shorts. It was hot hot hot outside, and I knew I’d be working outside, so it seemed natural. It wasn’t until we began moving through the gate that another teacher joked I might not be allowed inside in shorts. This was news to me, and there was actually a discussion in Tongan with the soldier working gate duty, “something something palangi?” “Palangi something something,” the soldier replied, and waved me in. Fifteen minutes later, I was back outside the gate. After entering the Palace grounds, I joined another teacher and a group of students who were working on deweeding the gardens. A few minutes later, two Tonga officers (in their jungle camo) approached me. One said something in Tongan, and I replied that I could not yet speak Tongan. “Um, go home please,” the other officer translated. Then, in full view of a thousand students who quickly stopped working to watch, an officer walked on either side of me as I was escorted to the gate. At the gate, I saw the soldier who had let me in, and asked him what exactly was going on. While he explained that I was not properly dressed, the school administrator argued my case in Tongan with the officers. They told me to wait at the gate. Soldiers came and went, talking with the officers and the teacher, always in Tongan so I didn’t know what they said, but I knew what it was about. Meanwhile, students from my classes and my Ultimate team continually approached the officers and pleaded. I caught words like “Taniela,” my name in Tongan, and “historia,” that I was the school’s history teacher, but they were waved off. Finally something was said to the gate guard, and he told me I would have to leave. I asked what I needed to come back, and he said I had to wear a “tupenu” and a “ta’ovala.” That’s a wraparound skirt, and a woven mat tied around my waist with coconut rope. They’re traditionally worn by Tongan men when meeting royalty, or on formal occasions, to show respect. They’re also two components of the school uniform, so all the male students were wearing them. All the male teachers, however, were not. The teacher I was standing beside when I was first approached by the officers was wearing jeans. The school administrator who talked with the officers was wearing trousers. So I asked, if I came back in pants, would I be allowed in? “No,” he replied, “only tupenu and ta’ovala.” Thoroughly dejected, I began to bike home. I saw another teacher sitting outside the gate, who somehow already knew what had happened. “Good luck for you,” he told me, “now you can go home.” But I didn’t want to go home, I wanted to work with my school at the Palace! As I biked past ‘Api Fo’ou, I became determined to get back onto the Palace grounds. I turned into the school, and found one of the deputy principals who was just about to drive to the Palace. I explained what had happened, and she called over a Form 7 boy (they didn’t have to work, because of midterms) who was my size. He got his extra tupenu and ta’ovala, and showed me how to put them on. Then I caught a ride back to the Palace. The gate guard grinned when he saw me approach. He swung open the gate and I walked back onto the grounds feeling pretty proud. It’s definitely an unusual outfit (wearing a mat?), so I hate to admit it, but I do look pretty damn good in the traditional Tongan garb. Evidently everyone knew the story of what had happened; the students were sitting, having just finished their work, and they were all turning around, the girls giggling and the boys giving me the thumbs-up. I was a determined palangi and I hoped the officers got a good look before we all went home for the day. Now maybe next time I’ll get to feed the tigers. Or they’ll feed me to them.