Friends of Tonga, a new organization by and for Peace Corps Volunteers who've served in Tonga, spotlighted me as their first monthly profile (Thank you, Friends of Tonga!), and here's the link:
As they say, I'm a returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV) from Group 5. I served from 1970-1971, in Ha’ateiho, Tongatapu where I taught at ‘Atele Si’i and at the Fasi and ‘Atele Teacher’s Retraining Center.
After Tonga, I used my Peace Corps adjustment allowance and traveled to Spain, where I stayed a little over a year, teaching at Mangold Institute in Madrid. After returning to San Francisco for nine months, I taught at a girls’ lycee in Medea, Algeria for two years, 1974-76 and then returned to San Francisco, where I earned my MA in linguistics, got married, and had a baby (who will be 40 this weekend!).
In 2008, I returned to Tonga for the coronation of he king and to see my village after almost 40 years. I was hosted in Ha'ateiho by ‘Ana Taufe’ulungaki , a lovely woman from a family of accomplished women, and I got to see many of the people I'd met in Tonga-- including Kili Silini, who was a particularly outstanding child at the time she had been my student.
Friends of Tonga asked about my bio and reported that I retired from teaching ESL at City College of San Francisco in 2014 after teaching there for 32 years, but before my retirement I taught and trained teachers on 4 continents--Europe, Africa, Oceana, and North America. (I could say 5 if I counted a methodology seminar I helped give in Japan).
Friends of Tonga asked about my bio and reported that I retired from teaching ESL at City College of San Francisco in 2014 after teaching there for 32 years, but before my retirement I taught and trained teachers on 4 continents--Europe, Africa, Oceana, and North America. (I could say 5 if I counted a methodology seminar I helped give in Japan).
As reported, my time in Tonga and subsequent travels had a profound influence on my life, and I've written extensively about my experience. My description of a typical day was used in a PC reading of journals in the Capitol Rotunda in 1988 and was later used for Peace Corps Recruitment.
I'm now working hard on a memoir I call “Everything I Should Have Learned I Could Have Learned in Tonga.”
Other things I've written are in anthologies ("An Algerian Wedding," "Crash Course in Spanish: Being Robbed in Chile," and "God, President Kennedy, and Me") and two Tonga-related pieces, "Under the Tongan Sun" and "Eco-Bore Takes the Good Old Days Back to Tonga are online.
Other things I've written are in anthologies ("An Algerian Wedding," "Crash Course in Spanish: Being Robbed in Chile," and "God, President Kennedy, and Me") and two Tonga-related pieces, "Under the Tongan Sun" and "Eco-Bore Takes the Good Old Days Back to Tonga are online.
When they asked me to participate in this spotlight, I was asked to share my favorite memories from Tonga and what advice I would have for future volunteers.
My favorite memory of my time in Tonga stars Kili, and I plan to post a separate piece about her on this blogspot.
But what Friends of Tonga reported was my dating life: After being told that PCVs wouldn't have a social life, I had a very active one. I fondly remember the men I dated and sometimes took he Tongan children along on my dates. Kili was one of these children. I loved the children and had a lot of affection and respect for the teachers I taught with.
But what Friends of Tonga reported was my dating life: After being told that PCVs wouldn't have a social life, I had a very active one. I fondly remember the men I dated and sometimes took he Tongan children along on my dates. Kili was one of these children. I loved the children and had a lot of affection and respect for the teachers I taught with.
I was really hard for me to think of advice to give because I'm of a very different generation, and I assume the PC in Tonga has changed a lot since I was there.
But I recycled the advice that the 1971 PC Tonga Staff gave our group: “Be sure to get off to a slow start” and “Be people-oriented rather than job-oriented or project-oriented.”
She also think it's wise to remember what we were taught in cross-cultural training: "It's a valid expression of human existence." However people choose to live their lives--spend their time and money, get married or not get married, have children or not have children, etc.--is "a valid expression of human existence." We don't have all the answers, but we can have respect for the varying answers people come up with to live their lives..
But I recycled the advice that the 1971 PC Tonga Staff gave our group: “Be sure to get off to a slow start” and “Be people-oriented rather than job-oriented or project-oriented.”
She also think it's wise to remember what we were taught in cross-cultural training: "It's a valid expression of human existence." However people choose to live their lives--spend their time and money, get married or not get married, have children or not have children, etc.--is "a valid expression of human existence." We don't have all the answers, but we can have respect for the varying answers people come up with to live their lives..
Of course I encourage volunteers to keep a diary and put dates--month, day, and year--on every page because I too often see "Tuesday" in the 28 diaries I kept--just the day of the week. But in this computerized age,I assume that photos and diary entries are dated electronically.
I would encourage PCVs to be grateful that they were assigned to Tonga even if they asked (as I did) for any French or Spanish-speaking country. I didn't know enough to ask for Tonga, but the experience was unique and I'm extremely grateful I didn't get what I asked for.
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