Grant’s Blog

My daughter spent two years in the Peace Corps. Her assignment: the Kingdom of Tonga, a series of islands way out in the South Pacific. Today being such a beautiful summer day here in the northeastern USA, I thought it better for me to knock down an ice cold Mojito than write my own blog entry. Sarah Kate being a far better writer than me, everyone wins.

One of her early Tongan stories follows.

Today we had “Water Safety Lessons” at the Tongan Naval Base. It was way more fun than it should have been. We started off in a little harbour. The head trainer for the Tongan Navy was our swimming instructor. First we had to get in the water, yikes. The ramp was covered in sea slime. Ha ha, we had to have guys helping each one of us in the water, and still half of us slid/fell into the water.

Once in the water we were told to practice floating. Apparently we aren’t very good at floating and breathing at the same time. Then Willy (the Navy trainer) threw us our life jackets and after much struggling we all managed to get them on. I was giggling so much I started choking on water, but don’t worry, I practiced my floating techniques and persevered. Then we had to all get out (again, with the aid of two Navy men) and got onto a big warship. Once aboard, they told us to jump off. I was pretty nervous, but after wussing out twice, made the leap. After some more tests, they had us all get onto a little boat. Again, that consisted of a lot of giggling and much flailing about in the water.

Then the Tongan Navy took us out of the bay and into open water. They told us our final test was to swim from the boat into the harbour. Just so you know, I am really scared of deep water. Especially deep water with sharks in it. I was one of the last people in the water, but I was one of the first to shore. I swam so fast! You should have seen me. I was using swimming strokes I didn’t know I knew.

Our safety officer, Toma (former head instructor of the Tongan Navy), said he was really proud of us and our swimming skills, and as a reward let us go into town. I have got to tell you, I am looking forward to tonight’s feast. Really there isn’t an official feast planned for dinner tonight, but to me, every Tongan dinner looks like a feast.

I have another water story. Last night, I went to the beach with a bunch of the other volunteers. Two of the volunteers brought some puppies with them. They belong to their Tongan host families, and they were completely covered in fleas. We were told that washing them in the ocean helps kill the fleas. The fleas were so big we could actually pick them off. We picked off hundreds, but I don’t think we got them all.

While we were doing this, one of the young girls brought over a huge bright blue starfish. I didn’t think it was real at first. It looked like it was made of plastic! I had the chance to hold it, and amazingly it was real! It was so beautiful! The little girl threw it back into the sea. A little while later a saw a tiny fish that was just as bright blue as the starfish! I was in such a good mood after that!

Thanks for reading.

Grant

Since graduating high school, I’ve spent the majority of my life on the East Coast, far away from my hometown of Wichita. I recently returned for my 40th high school reunion. My first.

It was a great trip. The trip back home taught me something important about myself. As anybody who has endured my previous blog submittals knows, I am a little heavy on the “I know what’s best for me” frame of mind.

I’m blaming Kansas for this. Check that, not blaming, crediting the frontier mentality.

Unlike where I now live, the Midwest is more producer than consumer of goods: food, energy, manufacturing. Not only is this fact evident – grazing cattle, pumping oil wells, grain silos – it affects (so I believe) people’s outlook. Mine, 40 years removed, included.

Kansans inhabit a land of initiative, pride and self-reliance. Values I admire. Back East we too often default to a “things are bad; I need somebody to pass a law and make things better for me” viewpoint.

Maybe my hardheadedness is misplaced, perhaps others do in fact know what is better for me. But I’m not letting go. I continue to believe that the individual knows best.

Thanks for reading.

Grant