Apex, Part 2

SUNDAY, PART UA (Tongan for 2)
I got home from lunch and tried to go lie down again, get a little more strength back before heading out with Lyndsey. But Instead there was Davida, here to come take me to his place!! I shook hands with him and he asked if I could come by, but I told him I was meeting with Lyndsey soon, and couldn't come, I would come by later around five if that was alright. We seemed to communicate ok, though it was awkward, I don't know where in yesterday's conversation there was a miscommunication about meeting for lunch. So he headed out, I laid down for a little while (or lied down, whatever) then went and waited at the gate around 1:30. Around 2 I came inside and read about how to hack playstation controllers to control robots. About 2:20 I got a little concerned and was about to call Lyndsey when she showed up. She is the one with the hippie van painted with flowers and pigs. I brought my computer and all the video devices, and we went to her house to pick up her kids. I asked why everyone says Bye to me when I pass on the bike. She said there were two words for "bye" in Tongan, one meaning " I am leaving" the other " I am staying and seeing you leave." Somehow this explains the "bye," but I couldn't figure it out. Something along the lines of they are seeing me pass them by. We get to her house, and she has a great group of kids. One of the daughters is off on a round the world cruise, Some kind of Children's UN sponsored by the Japanese. The other four kids are Evan (pronounced e-VAN) the elder brother, who I believe is just starting college. The other three are daughters, approximately 15, 10 and 7, though I don't know exactly and I am embarassed to mascerate their names so I will have to send them along in a future email. We had coffee and I showed them the video of my show at Tonic. Lyndsey wants me to talk to her class, and I suggested the video, but wanted her to see it before hand to see if would make any sense. They all liked it and though they don't know anything about Oklahoma or even the bombing, they understood all of the things I was talking about and asked very interesting questions. "When they claimed the land did they have to pay for it?" (No). "How much land did they get when they claimed it?" (160 acres outside of a city, a small city lot if inside). So we then went to the beach, with Evan driving. The whole family is very relaxed, playful with each other, and reminds me of the way my family treats each other. I now regret some that I did not take up her suggestion that I stay with them, but then again if I did I probably would not have run into Davida, and I also like the independence of having my own base station.
We drove to their favorite beach and walked down. There were 25 or so folks there. It used to be illegal to swim on Sundays- actually it still is- but they overlook it now as long as you don't do it blatantly from the piers in town. The beach was gorgeous, framed by coral formations. There was an inner area that was at most 4 ft deep, then there was a tier of coral outcroppings, some which looked like steps leading up to pools on top. Giant waves would come and crash over the outer coral, even slipping under and spewing up through blowholes. These were the largest waves I had ever seen (given my limited experience). I set up the video camera on some rocks and left it to get a wide panorama of the whole beach, then joined the kids at playing keep-away for a while.
(Right now I am back at the hotel and my feet are in serious pain. I bought a couple of sandals, trying to get something that looked descent, but they have rubbed the inner sides of my feet raw. Then I bloodied my feet today (I will explain in a few), so walking around has become a bit slower, a bit more painful.)
Evan then told me about the pool atop the coral. you can sit in there as long as you duck whenever a wave comes, or it will throw you out of the pool and down the "steps" of coral behind it. It happened to their cousin and her back was all cut up and bruised. I wanted to get a nice shot of the coral pool and the blow holes so I moved the camera, then went back to swimming. Again, the water is a great temperature. It is not cold at all, nor is it so warm you don't feel comfortable in it. Evan suggested we go up into the pool, and explained before we went how you have to brace your feet on one side and grip the coral with your hands when the wave is coming. So he and the eldest sister ( I am going to call her Gna'u, because I believe that is her name, again forgive me if we learn later I am chewing it) and we crawled up to the pool, they much more gracefully than I. The waves hit quite hard, you do have to grip fiercely to hold on. While we were there Gna'u swore she saw a sea turtle in the waves. I didn't really believe it because the surf seemed so fierce I don't know what a turtle would be doing there. But eventually we all saw it, round and brown and about 2 feet long, swimming against the waves. Evan suggested we dive past the coral. I asked about being slammed into the reef, and he explained that you just swim out far enough away from the coral, then wait for a calmer time and swim back, climbing back up the coral wall. Against my better judgement I joined him, diving in past the reef and swimming out a ways. Then of course, with my luck, a series of MONSTEROUS waves start piling through. Literally 5 feet taller than anything so far. Gna'u is watching them and keeps waving for us to swim farther out, then ducking as the waves crash over her. At one point I swear I must have kicked that turtle, because I was up on a wave and felt something solid on my foot as I swam. As long as you ducked under and swam against the wave, you were fine, but they just kept coming and coming. It calmed down once and we swam back, but I wasn't fast enough so we had to swim back out. We swam through another series of waves, and mind you, I am a descent swimmer, but not a great one, and I now started to get concerned that we might not get a long enough calm for a while. The next calm was enough for us to reach the coral and start climbing, but a wave hit us then and ripped me off the coral. Evan had a hold on me and though I was dragged across some of the face of the coral, I was able to regain my grip. We then had enough time to to crawl out and back into the pool. I told them I thought maybe I should head to the beach, so at the next break I scurried my way back down the steps. It was then that I noticed that I was sliced up the back of one leg, across the front of the other, The bottom of one foot, and the ends of my stubbs were bleeding and the tip of my left index finger was one big bruise. Evan later told me that the area we were in leads to a cubby under the coral that is "somewhat" difficult to get out of. Nice. I went to the beach and Lyndsey told me about the fact that some of these blowholes are large enough and create enough suction that you can be sucked down into them, thrown out into the open sea, then sucked back through the blowhole in a cycle. She saw someone who was caught in one of these loops and had to struggle for a long time to get out of the pattern. Nice to hear this after the fact, eh?
Sat awhile and talked to Lyndsey about my project and her life. She has lived all over Polynesia and New Zealand, the kids having moved probably 15 times. I think their father was (is) Tongan, but I don't really know. That was the impression she gave me originally, but whenever the kids speak of the Tongan customs, they refer to "they do this or that." Maybe since the family has moved so often they always consider themselves outsiders, I don't know. They lived for a while in another country which is just one island (I will have to find out later the name), and when they moved there you could rent a container and ship everything over, including their van. But by the time they were moving out, the shipping company had stopped servicing that Island, so they had to leave everything. They lived for about a year in Ha'api, farming, living in basically a grass roof shack, no electricity or water, etc. Trading crops for fish. She seems to have had a fascinating life. Probably the fact that they have moved so often has made them into a strong tight knit group of people, with a lot of respect for each other.
I went swimming again and eventually we headed out. You can't buy petrol on Sunday and their tank was nearly empty, but they wanted to show me one other place. Near the shore farther on there is this giant hole, with a natural bridge that is quite broad, so it feels like a separate hole from the ocean. You look down and about 60 feet below you can see the waves crashing in at the bottom, all white foam and rocks. Supposedly a few peace corps volunteers have died there. They also told me that farther down the beach there used to be a bright red car upside down in the ocean. A fellow bought his fiance a new red car. She caught him cheating on her, so she took his car and pushed it off the cliff. It is one of those stories that you go, "yeah, right," but I believe it since all the kids swore that as recently as two years ago you could still see the car.
On the way back, Gna'u wanted to drive. She doesn't have a license, but is learning. So Evan squeezed over and she started driving. We go around a corner and she does it blindly and ends up driving on the wrong (american) side. Luckily it was a Sunday in Tonga, but it was actually dangerous and put me a little on edge the rest of the trip. Evan asked me about my hand so I start telling them about the injury, and what it is like now. "Couldn't they reattach the tips back on?" "Was there blood spurting everywhere?" "Was it painful?" But Gnu'a was being a little too interested and we were passing other cars now and people, so I was stalling on the answers until we were away from other obstacles. They got me home, I rearranged my stuff and confirmed that I was flying out on Thursday, not Friday. Got back on my bike and headed over to Davida's place. By now it is about 6pm. I see the pig van sitting on the side of the road, with two of the girls sitting in front distracted, so I ran my bike into the front of the van as if it was an accident. Startled them and we laughed. Told them I couldn't go to Ha'api, and would love to hang out with them some more. I then headed to Davida's, and went to the dock where the father was sitting.
Let me talk a little more about their household. They have two houses, both ramshackle but sturdy. I believe all the men sleep in one house and the women and children in the other (have I already said this?) They seem different from the town houses as everything is a bit more trashy and dilapidated. Everything around seems either of use or once was of use, but it is strewn about and not cleaned up. There is a large pile of coconut husks against the "Barn." There are dogs, cats, pigs, and I even saw a bold rat at one point chewing on something along the edge of the water. Though the houses are rough, inside the men's house is a compliment of large fridges and freezers (for the fish I guess), as well as a new washing machine and other equipment. Davida's youngest son, Bi'a (pronounced BYE- aye) has both ears deformed, and he has finger- and toenail polish on. It makes me wonder if he is a fakaleiti. A Fakaleiti is a boy brought up as a girl. Sometimes it is decided by the child (when they are a little older), sometimes it is decided by the parents because they don't have any girl children to help out with the women's work. I have seen some Fakaleiti around, but not that often, and most of my knowledge comes from websites, etc. I may be reading into a kid's interest in having his nails painted, as otherwise they treat him as a boy. But he definitely is given special attention, more than the other kids. He is the only one who hangs out with the adults on the dock, and Davida fawns on him, explaining things to him and holding him. He is real sweet and stares at me alot. He knows no English and I know nothing that he keeps talking about, though I did notice that he likes to yell out his own name, especially after someone has called for him, and this sometimes becomes a banter back and forth, saying his name over and over.
So I sit with Davida's father, another older man of unknown relation, and a younger man who turns out to be Davida's daughter's husband. They bring me out a large plate of yams, fish, and beef chunks wrapped in Taro leaves. I know that the Taro leaves are one of the crops that Seisei cultivates. It is delicious. I try to ask them how it is cooked, but am unable to get it across. The yams look NOTHING like American yams. They are white and fiberous, but not as hard to eat as cassava. They also give me a bowl of orange mush, which turns out to be Po'yo, or to us Papaya (though again, it is a little different in taste and texture). When they serve me food, it is usually just me or just me and Davida eating. There is a strange hiearchy of eating here that I will have to explain later, maybe in another addendum. It is a massive plate, and as I am digging through it, they bring out two more plates, one of more fish and another of breadfruit, that they offer me. I show that the plate I have will fill me, but they still insist that I eat more. Bi'a is talking alot and pointing at me, and Davida is explaining something to him. I eventually offer the rest of the po'yo to him, which David feeds to him. Once the father understands that I can't eat any more of the fish or breadfruit, he starts to dig in. I explain that I can't go to Ha'api, and they understand and it is fine. The father tells me he is going to San Jose in August, and wants to keep in contact with me. I just looked at my schedule and it turns out The Builders Association are going to be in California at the same time, so I have to make an effort to meet with him then. It looks like the timing will work out well, because as of my schedule stands we will be done just before he arrives.
We sit after eating and have some more sweet tea. At this point most of the conversation is in Tongan, so I just sit and try to figure out what they are discussing. Eventually after three cups of tea and it being dark, I suggest I head back to the guest house. Father suggests I go fishing again with Davida tomorrow, and I say that I would like to try to organize the interviews on Monday, maybe we can go Tuesday or Wednesday. I intend to ride my bike home, but when I get out to the drive way, Davida has my bike in the back of the truck and drives me home. We again make plans for fishing, and also tomorrow. I am to come by for lunch, then Davida has some plan for me and him to go riding on bicycles somewhere at 4p.
As I have been here at the guest house writing this, I was approached by one of the other guests, asking what I was doing. I told him, and he told me that he was the graphics surveyor for an archeological dig. His name is Jofe, and they are all from Australia/NZ. They are surveying an ancient burial ground and his job is to develop a three dimensional model of the site. It sounds very interesting, maybe at some point I can go out there and see what they are doing.

OK I have ranted on for a very long time, I apologize. I expected today to be a low key day, but instead it wasn't. I have no plans for tomorrow except with Davida. There is also the 100th anniversary of a college here, and they are having a four day feast. If I can make it I will go there in the evening. OK. Good night, more tomorrow.

Cheers,

Joe