We just got back from Tonga, where we have spent 3 wonderful days with our letter group and local people. The first day, we visited a farm with our group where we could see coffee, taro (potato style), bananas, coconuts, etc. The owner said they were not using any pesticide. Afterwards, we had one hour of free time where we all wanted to go to Internet or call home … but the connexion was quite bad. We returned to the Ship early to get ready for the welcome reception with the officials and some ex-participating youths. We all dressed nicely and had the opportunity the meet all of them. After the reception, the Canadian delegation had a rehearsal for its National presentation, which was 2 days after.
The second day in Tonga, we visited a primary school with 300 children; it was an amazing moment. They danced for us and we danced for them, as we had prepared a small presentation with 5 dances from all over the world with our letter group. These kids had a good memory for words and songs in different languages, I was really surprised - Bonjour, Bula, Hola - it was really funny. The school served a wonderful buffet and gave us tons of gifts. We felt really privileged as we didn’t know this would happen and we wished we had something to give back. After visiting the school, we went to a village where we have seen women making carpets. The villagers served us food, again, for the second time. Nobody was hungry but we ate as much as we could because the food was so tasty compared to the food on the Ship. They danced again for us and we performed our same dances again. Just after, we went to the beach and enjoyed our free time. We had a night out in a Night Club, from 8 to 10 (early night you say?)
Day 3 saw us waking us quite early - too early I threw up in the morning because of the lack of sleep i’m a having since a couple of weeks. We had a farewell ceremony in the Queen Salote Memorial Hall, which has last for more than one hour. It was nice though: songs, dances, humor sketch for awaress on HIV/AIDS made by youths, etc. We had the rest of the day to wonder around the city. We met really nice people in Tonga, really generous and funny.
I am now in New-Zealand until tomorrow.