'Api Fo'ou...this is the name I'm proud of!

So begins our school's theme song, which I will gladly sing for you if you butter me up with copious amounts of wine.

Well, I'm coming home to Canada in three weeks. School's basically finished here, just external exams coming and little more then informal study sessions until then (which the students LOVE, because they don't have to wear their uniforms - take that conformity!). I'm just working through my "things to do before I leave Tonga" list, which is mostly eating various animal species that are illegal to eat in Canada but perfectly acceptable to consume here.

I've also got a new internet connection (long angry story) that is WAY more stable then what I used for the last year and a half. AND, I've got about a thousand photos of Tonga, thanks to the information sharing network put in place by the Patriot Act. As a result, until something really fancy happens, I figured I'd do a few photo posts.

I thought I'd start with something that I probably don't write about often enough, considering I go there and work for AT LEAST 50 minutes a day (at most, four hours): school! Some of the pictures were taken by a shutter-happy "shackle dragger" (Australian) who volunteers at the school with me.

This is from about a third into my first year in Tonga. I took my Form 6 students on a field trip to the Paepae 'o Tele'a monumental step pyramid. In true Tongan fashion, they all rode in the back of a pick-up truck. Of course it rained the whole way there and the whole way back, but they were just happy to get an afternoon off from school.

Basket weaving! Yes, it's on the curriculum, up there with other such useful classes as Communications, Art History, and Care of Magical Creatures.

Inter-College sports, where we DOMINATED on the field, though the other colleges ran circles around us in "school spirit." A boy's college made matching hats out of palm fronds, then some of them dressed up as girls and danced around like maniacs. No competition.

Proof that cyclone season is no deterrent to AFC's sports training program. the ball floats instead of rolls, and the game continues (the game being, thanks to massive Mormon influence, netball).

The yearly march downtown, for the opening of Parliament (such as it is). Our brass band lead the way. We had a week of marching practice that I knew would benefit from some intensity, but I didn't know how to say "drop and give me fifty, you maggots!" in Tongan.

Waiting for the reagent to drive by to open Parliament, the kids show how much they love to pose for the camera, with no fear that it may steal their souls.

The school's coolest girl (last year's head girl) naturally posing with the school's coolest boy (who asked me to stand in for him while he went to the toilet).

This photo was taken today! This is my Form 4 Gym class, the only intermediate class I taught in my whole time here (I'm a senior teacher). I typically joined in whatever sport I taught (including three weeks of Ultimate Frisbee!). Highlights included racing them all in a lap of the track, learning to skip double dutch (well, trying to learn), and playing about nine weeks of volleyball (can I blame Mormons for that?). It was MASSIVE fun.

Truly the highlight of my time in Tonga was the school, which is fortunate because it's the whole reason I was sent here! Teaching in Tonga is a joy, and for the students learning is a privilege, which made for a great combination.