Things have fallen into place beautifully here. I could not be happier. Honestly, I think this is the happiest I have been in a very long time. The kids are settled, we have a nice routine, the town is easy/quaint and people are chill. However, I am getting ahead of myself.

As I wrote before, Ben goes to the Side school which is the English speaking school. The students are all Tongan, so English is their second language. There are 3 palangi children in the entire school. FYI: Palangi is what the Tongans/Samoans call westerners. It originally meant "from the sky" because when Cook etc. arrived the islanders thought he and his crew had come from the sky. It no longer holds the same reverence, I can assure you, but the name has stuck.
On Ben's first day of school he said that after we left he wanted to cry but was trying to take deep breathes and keep it inside, but "it just wanted to come out". He went to Ms. Tonga and told her he wanted her to call us. She hugged him and told him not to cry etc. As he was trying to gather himself, she decided this was an opportune time to introduce him to the class. As Ben said to me later, "Mom, I really think that was bad timing on her part because I was trying to get myself together". I agreed it was not great timing but I think it had the intended purpose, which was to take his mind off of missing us. I went to see him during his lunch break that day he was sitting next to his friend Luca chatting away. By the time I picked him up from school he was thanking me for putting him in school. As we walked back to the dinghy, people were coming out of their shops asking how his first day of school went. He was brimming with pride.

As I said in the previous blog, the schools here are very strict. First of all, Ms Tonga has forty nine students!! The fact that she continues to show up for work is a minor miracle. The other day when I dropped Ben off the boys were picking weeds and leaves along the fence of the school yard. Last Friday was planting day. The kids were all supposed to bring in plants to plant in the school yard. Wednesday is Ben's assigned day to clean the classroom.
The most noticeable difference is that the teachers here can/do hit the children. The children will get tapped with a ruler on the back when they do not sit up straight or hit on the head for talking. Ben told me when they do not listen they can get hit anywhere. This type of discipline is common and quite acceptable here. I have been told that they hesitate to hit the palangi students. My hope is that Ben does not give them reason to get hit. He is very aware of the disciplinary measures and wants to make sure he stays on the right side. I obviously do not want Ben to get hit but I also do not want him treated differently either. I think it is important that the kids do not see that the palangi kids are treated differently. However, saying that I don't think I would be very happy if he was hit because we do not hit the kids so I do not want someone else to either. Something tells me it won't be a problem.

Ben had a sore throat the other day, so after dropping Sam at his school I went to speak with Ms. Tonga to tell her. I asked for his homework assignment, this is when I counted the kids in class. Anyway, as we were talking, I told her that if she ever needed any help I would be happy to help in any way She seemed very grateful and as she was thanking me I suddenly had this panic that she might actually call me!!! I cannot imagine that many students but they were all very quiet and well behaved when I was there. I am sure if I do volunteer it will be an experience!! Yikes.

Sam's school is run by a Fijian woman, who is one of those teaches that is always smiling and enthusiastic. You can tell she genuinely loves children. Sam's preschool is just down the road from Ben's school and lasts from 8:30 - 12:00. They are working on their letters, singing songs and playing. Sam already has a little friend named Bianca that he showers with flowers and pictures. He wears a little uniform of white shirt and maroon shorts (which I need to have made and brings his backpack with lunch and water bottle.

Sam's first day was much easier than I thought it would be. We had been talking it up the entire week before so he understood that we would be leaving him there and picking him up later. When we dropped him off he gave us each a hug and then ran into the school and did not look back. His teacher said he played the entire time and did not get sad once. He freaked when I picked him up because he wanted to stay longer!! He loves school and bounds out of bed in the morning ready to go.

Although the schools are different from what we know, both kids are truly happy. The fact that they are surrounded by a different culture or language does seem to faze them.

On Thursday afternoons when Ben gets out of school we plan on leaving Neiafu and going to one of the thirty other secluded anchorages one to three hours away. We will use Friday as a catch up on Calvert's history and spelling. Ben is considerably ahead in reading so we still have him read his Jack and Annie books at night for twenty minutes before bed. Anyway, leaving the anchorage for the weekend is our equivalent of the NYer going to the country house, I guess.

As I write this we are in one of the secluded anchorages. We didn't get to leave town until Saturday (yesterday) because we had social engagements. The kids cried when we left Neiafu and now they do not want to go back tonight because they love playing on the beach here. Funny, you can never win. We spent this morning exploring an island whose inhabitants have moved out. It is very small but very well taken care of and even has a house with a few small outbuildings. The beach is pristine and the water visibility was 30-40 ft.. It was a nice morning of swimming and exploring and of course fort building.

Since arriving in Tonga O has been obsessed with the sails. We desperately need new sails, especially our headsail. He plans to repair the main for now and hope it gets us to SE Asia. However we definitely need the headsail NOW. He has spent many hours investigating used sails vs. new sails. He has received several quotes from sail makers and has made a few offers on used sails, but nothing yet. This has been his major focus since arriving, primarily because shipping to Tonga can be time consuming and difficult, and if we have to have a new sail made it can take 4 weeks just to make! Not to mention sails are not cheap!

Once we have the sail sorted out O and I are going to embark upon re-varnishing the interior! Finally we are in a place where we have the time and the kids are off the boat. I can't wait.
I just hope we have the right stuff as they lack a bit on the supply side here. The government is having a problem with the supply boat..First one sunk and the second one is not working so things are getting a little hairy here as far as supplies go. I thought that because there was a Moorings base here supplies and provisions would be plentiful but I was wrong. I wish I had stocked up a little better in Samoa making due with what they have is also one of the fun things about cruising The vegetable market here is FABULOUS!!!!!! The best I have seen since Panama. I have been getting arugula tomoatoes, peppers, small carrots, sweet potatoes, pineapples, mangoes and BASIL!! Granted some days are hit or miss but they are fresh and inexpensive. Ii am told that the tomatoes are about to run out so I stocked up and today am going to boil the skin off and make a tomato sauce to freeze. After dropping the kids off we like to go for coffee and then hit the market. We love chatting with the women and O flirts shamelessly but it is great fun.

I will sign off for now as this is long enough but will be writing about the Indian cooking class I took yesterday soon. Also, there are quite a few cyclones stirring out there that we have our eye on...ugh.