Off On A Lark!

We like to visit the village school when we can and they love to see us. Palangi = a great excuse for the kids to show off, have their pictures taken and not be doing schoolwork. The teachers don’t seem to mind and we always bring pencils and paper as a gift. The typical class seems to have 20+ students of mixed grades. They learn the basicis, math, Tongan, English and science. The higher grades (8th+) go to Nuku’alofa in Tongatapu, Lifuka in the Ha’apai or Neiafu in Vava’u so they are often living away from home. The teachers are provided with accommodations on the schools grounds (which seem to always be next to the beach).

That thought makes me digress to another topic ‘The Beach’.
We think, sand, sunshine, suntans, swimming, snorkeling, collecting shells.
For Tongans it’s a place to tie up your long boat, to wade and collect mollusks to feed your family, to fish with a net at low tide and to swim on occassion (with all your clothes on if you’re a woman). The kids have a grand time jumping off the pier if they have one, after school and on Saturday.

Back to kids ... Here in ‘Uiha (ooo-WEE-ha) they were taking a break from studies when we arrived so we had fun visiting with the two teachers as well as the kids. We spotted a homemade Ukulele in one of the classrooms made of an empty corned beef tin with a light piece of wood for the neck. I’m sure the strings were old fishing line. One of the boys played a few notes for us but was quite bashful about it. I’ll bet he’d love to have a print of his photo that’s in our sailblogs gallery.