Possum Tossing

That's right - you read the heading correctly - possum tossing. I know that most people don't like possum, but the people of Te Puke (pronounced Tee Pookie) really raised the bar on not liking possum. Apparently, they are a huge pest in the woods near the Kiwi orchards, so as a fundraiser, a couple of men go out and poison the possum. Then teams go out and see how many dead possum they can find - kind of a dark, twisted Easter Egg Hunt. That takes place on Friday and Saturday. Then Sunday morning, the local school has a fair, where the kids can sell the crafts and baked goods, and toss a possum. I didn't want to miss out on the action, so Emma, Cousin Andy, and I went to my friend Sarah's school and bought some baked goods, put our name in for a raffle, and of course, tossed a possum.

Cousin Andy, me, and Emma

The Possum Tossing Competition


I was so excited for a day in the country, I even borrowed a pair of gum boots. Here I am with just one trailer full of Possum.

Prepping for our own possum tossing competition


Emma had the best form, but not distance.
It was a great fundraiser (and funraiser for Office fans) - They make about 5$ per possum pelt for the elementary school, and there were about 6-7 trailers full of them.
So, it was a good day for the school and for possum haters, and I've gotten to do one more thing that I thought I'd never do.

School Holidays

I've been off school for the past two weeks - school holidays. Most of my friends went skiing and I started feeling a little sorry for myself since I can't do much these days while I wait for knee surgery. So, instead of feeling bad, I took off for the Kingdom of Tonga for a week or so. I checked out the prices to every Pacific Island and Tonga was the cheapest. I was able to relax for a week, sit on a couple of beaches and read and sleep.



I visited two different islands of Tonga - the main island Tongatoupo and the island of Eua. The people of Tonga are so warm and friendly. When my friend and I got to the main city, we had no place to stay and started looking around at different hostels. The first one we went to was full but the woman told us we could have her room and she would sleep in the living room. We told her that we had a tent and she let us camp in the backyard. I felt like I was a kid camping in mom and dad's backyard because we were right in the middle of the city. The couple who owned the place invited us in for dinner, let us use their kitchen and said we could stay as long as we want.

We toured the main island then headed off to the island of Eua to a "resort." The ferry ride over was probably the scariest thing I've ever done. We were in the open sea on a boat that might have been built in the 1920's and we were traveling through 15-20 foot swells. I tried to keep my eyes on the horizon but when the boat would crest the wave and come crashing down, I kept losing sight of it. The seats weren't bolted to the floor, so everyone kept sliding around, water was pouring into where we were sitting, and people were getting sick everywhere I looked. I still can't believe we made it. After I got off the boat and kissed solid ground, we (there were 3 of us) piled into the back seat of a woman's car, while 4 kids climbed around the front seat, and she drove us to the "resort." Here are some photos of where we stayed. The view was amazing but the resort was not your typical island paradise. The conditions on the island are very primitive and the people are generous but not wealthy so it was very simple accommodations with a great view. It was great.










The people on this island were just as friendly and warm. I was walking into town one day and tried to walk past the school. The school children saw me, came running out to the road and the next thing I know, I'm in the schoolyard with them, playing catch, teaching them American phrases while they taught me Tongan.

I'll be posting more photos and hopefully more stories when I get the rest of the photos from my friends. I will recommend visiting Tonga to those who don't need upscale resorts with hot showers and who don't mind roughing while getting to know beautiful and generous people.

4th of July on the 3rd of July

Happy Fourth of July everyone!!!
I couldn't let the 4th pass by without having our own celebration on this side of the world, so Kiwi and American friends came over and we had an American style cook-out. It wasn't quite the same as home, since it's the middle of winter and got dark around 5:00. We weren't sitting on a blanket watching fireworks, instead we were lighting them ourselves in the wind and rain.
But it was close enough.

Kiwis love dress-up parties. At first, I thought it was a little weird, but it's very normal here. It seems every party - birthday, anniversary, or going away, has a theme and everyone comes in costume. I love that men and women in main-stream society aren't self-conscious. I know I'm making a generalization, but for the most part, people here are okay with dressing up and trying square dancing at a 4th of July party. I sent the invites out, some people translated 4th of July party to mean "American" party, so about half dressed in western garb. The rest dug out anything red, white, and blue.


My friend Alice is in the Mad hatter hat - I'm not sure what look she was going for. I'm pretty sure she just grabbed anything red, white, and blue.

I had to make the traditional flag cake.

I even made sure we had country music playing. Here's Hilary and Sue trying out their line dance moves.

Kathy and me singing the National Anthem.

Lighting the fireworks in the wind and the rain. It was a bit tricky because every time I wasn't sure if the firework was lit but I kept running away as soon as the match was lit because I didn't want them to explode in my face. I was grateful when someone else took over.





We ended the night with everyone doing the Virginia Reel. I learned how to call the dance when I worked with Young Life - it's a talent that I've used quite a few times. Typically, I've had laid-back 4th of Julys. I go to a cookout in the afternoon, hang out with friends and family and watch fireworks. I don't think I've ever had a 4th of July like this one - this had to be most full-on celebration that I remember. I am so thankful that I've made the friends I have and they were all more than willing to join in the celebrating.

I hope you all had a fun time with family and friends and hopefully got to see some fireworks!