The Palangi Files

Tongans Beaten by Soldiers

2006-11-29T15:29:00.000+13:00

I don't know if this post Tonga MP says hundreds brutally beaten by soldiers is true or not, but I find this staggering. Can any of the recent posters validate this as true or not? Is this just some sort of scrap for attention by the democracy movement or are these soldiers really hurting people? Tonga is such a small place I can't imagine these soldiers hurting there cousins and family.

Malo,

Jim

Riot in Tonga

2006-11-22T06:17:00.000+13:00

This is a video of the riots. I know I haven't posted in quite some time and I'm not going to drone on and on, but this video shines a light on Tonga in a way that I find hard to put into words. I'm just glad no volunteers were hurt and I think this needs to be seen.

Eathquake in Tonga!

2006-05-04T04:56:00.000+13:00

Holy Cow! Tonga just had an earthquake! I just checked earthquake.usgs.gov and got the statistics, an 8.1 on the richter scale. That's a big ass earthquake. Man I really hope all those outer island volunteers are okay. I'm sure I'll find out.

My girlfriend called me up to let me know that it broke her mirror, the dishes in her cabinets, all of the glass that was out and around her house. Amazingly, the phone system worked so she was able to call and let me now she was alright. I'm sort of worried about the water rising and coming ashore. Tongatapu at its highest point can't be more than 30-40 feet above sea level and that is "the hills". I'm also hoping everyone is okay. The Peace Corps in Tonga has really had a bad break this year.

A volunteer was killed by a shark. Volunteers were stuck on kao without food and picked up by a Australian destroyer. Now an 8.1 earthquake. Tough luck.

Now its time for the remix...

2006-03-05T03:36:00.000+13:00

Was thinking about this site last night as I was getting on the on-ramp for the expressway and I figured I should start writing again. I miss it sort of.

So I was waiting at a red light last evening, I'm sitting in the right hand lane, there's a red corvette sitting in the left hand lane. The light changes from red to green and across the street there is only one lane so either my car (Ford Contour) or the Corvette idling in the turning only lane next to me is going to get into the single lane. Needless to say, my Countour doesn't have the oomph that a Corvette has and I lose. So as I'm eating this corvette's dust and he's doing like 50 down a 25 I slow down to the speed limit and just take it easy. A few minutes later, I pull up next to him and look over and sort of smile. You see in city driving, all the posturing is for naught because stop lights are the great equalizer. No matter how fast your car is everyone has to stop for redlights and all that muscle-headed dingleberry posturing is for naught. As a citizen, that makes me feel better. I don't know why exactly, perhaps its my personal preference for civility and order, but it does.

So where is my life at now? Well its 9:30 in the morning on a Saturday. Waking up on the couch a little groggy from the Guiness and boozing last night at my buddy's place in New Jersey, a couple of miles outside of Philly with a whole American Saturday stretched out before me and nothing but fun, family and friends planned. Its taken me a couple of months to get to this point, but I'm starting to feel more like I belong again. Its weird, I remember reading this book "So You Wanna Join the Peace Corps?" and the author in the beginning of the book said that its actually much harder coming back to America than it is leaving it. I remember thinking 'bullsh!t!'. But now that I'm here and living it, he's right on. I'm usually not into the fluffy, emotional posts so I'll keep it brief. PCV's coming back to America can be pretty hard so be prepared. I don't know why that's so, but it is. There, I said it.

So me? I'm in this in-between sort of life. My parents are looking to purchase a durable medical equipment company that they've been running for the past couple of years but need some help getting all of their ducks in a row in terms of finances and selecting a biller and vendor negotiating, etc. So I've been spending most of my time with them writing a business plan and getting things set up. The other part of my time is spent in Philadelphia reconnecting with my friends and family down here. Its been kind of hard because I really want to be in Philly and as much as I love my parents, I can't stand the place where they live. Its pretty far out there with not much going on in the wintertime and its almost an entirely different culture too. Its weird.

So I've got a couple more months with my parents then back down to Philly full-time to pursue my own goals. There's a bunch of stuff that I'd like to do that I need to sort through but if there is one overwhelmingly good thing that I can say about America it is this: America is TRULY the land of opportunity. Like no where else in the world as far as I've seen and probably my favorite thing about it.

So that's it. I promised myself that I wouldn't get crazy with my posts and have them drag on for a long time. I'm going to start re-updating the site with stuff that I find interesting now until I can move it to my new secret bat location with hidden un-3-dimesionalizer.

Oh and a word to Tonga... Thank you for everything. As much as I complained about being there in the day in and day out, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't appreciate my life as much as I do now, wouldn't be the person that I'm starting to become and certainly wouldn't have met my extra-awesome moa. There are things that I will never forget and things that I'm glad I've forgotten but all in all I regret nothing and I hope I helped a little bit.

Ofa Atu people that still sort of check out my blog..

PS - Check out the new TTI website! and some pics of the server room nice work Toti, Pila and Siua!

No seriously, I'm not dead

2005-12-29T18:10:00.000+13:00

I know many of you may believe it, but I am truly not dead. In fact, I'm back in the good ole' United States of America trying to get my laptop into writing emails and soliloquies. There is much for me to discuss, but to be honest, I think the days of the Palangi Files are numbered. I'll write more as soon as I am able. Hope everyone had a great christmas and ate some Jesus.

Misi.

Vesetapola 'i he Maketi - Vegetables in the Market

2005-12-07T11:18:00.000+13:00

This is like a live action market shot. This is a great picture because it covers pretty much all of the vegetables that I have eaten in the last two years in a single photo and it has a nice range of colors and some people in action, which for the most part, is a rarity in Tonga. Just kidding motion happens on the way too and from church.

Wading in the Tonga Tidal Pools

2005-12-07T11:15:00.000+13:00

This is a cool water/shadow photo that I really dig. Once again this photo is from 'Eua and once again, this is during the sunset.

Falelotu fakatonga - Tongan styled Church

2005-12-07T11:13:00.000+13:00

This is a little I think catholic chuch in 'Eua. What I really like about this photo is the way the sun is kind of pink and you can see the shadows of the church. I took this is a little snapshot, but I like it. As you may or may not know, Tonga may have the record for most churches per capita anywhere in the world. If I doesn't, I am positivie that its in the running for that record. This is one of the many.

A south pacific landscape shot

2005-12-07T11:11:00.000+13:00

And, honestly, probably my favorite photo. This is a nice little landscape shot that I took spur of the moment on a nice little walk in 'Eua. What I like most about this picture is the composition of it and the way the light and the darks go so well together. This is a picture of one of the coral tidal pools that are very common around the Kingdom of Tonga. Its also amazing to see just how darn close trees will come to salt water and to see them growin right in the sand. Also, sunsets in Tonga are one of my favorite things and I just happened to be at the right time and the right place with the right lighting.

Boats in Tonga - Pangai, Ha'apai

2005-12-07T11:06:00.000+13:00

Boats in Tonga. I really like this picture here because it has all these little things in it that remind me of Tonga in so many ways. This photo was taken down at the harbor in Pangai in Ha'apai right before I was leaving. This is pretty much the standard inter-island transport for much of Tonga. As you can see in the back there, they have a little metal tugboat, and that's probably the biggest boat in the whole darn island. Very fakatonga.

Kai Fakatonga!

2005-12-07T11:03:00.000+13:00

Kai fakatonga! This is a cute picture of some girls eating during the kaipolo or 'feast' at our school. The prison looking bars behind them are not actually the bars of a prison, but the entrance to the school library. As you can see, girls in Tonga love their food. I think these kids are adorable, especially the second girl there.

Re-introducing media in a way that only New York City could....

2005-12-07T11:01:00.000+13:00

New York is quite a bit different and bigger than Tonga. I just remember how overwhelmed I felt when I visited New York City during christmas with Petey and Nate. The world can be a very different, very large place. So can advertisements. And elves.

The Handicraft Girl at the Market in Tongatapu...

2005-12-07T10:57:00.000+13:00

This is a great picutre. I hate the fact that my camera is cheezy and always messes up the left and right ends of all of my photos, but this is a cool picture of one of the young tongan girls who both makes these handicrafts and runs her own booth at the main market in Nuku'alofa. She's got some of the nicest wall hangings out of anyone in my humble opinion. I picked this pircture because I really like the browns in it and I like the layout of it.

A young tongan girl and her young tongan brother...

2005-12-07T10:52:00.000+13:00

This is a picture of a couple of very cute kids from Caty and I's trip to 'Eua. I just thought that this picture turned out exceedlingly well and we met these kids on an awesome walk that we had and I had a good time taking pictures and making little movies of them. I liked it so I decided to include it here. Nothing really special about it except that its normal. I think that's the catch of this photo.

Coconut slathered Togan maidens and they fashions they don...

2005-12-07T10:50:00.000+13:00

This is another good picutre of some Tonga girls or 'tahine's dancing. I like the colors here and I think it came out well. This is also known as the tau'olunga and all of the girls in this photo are raising money for the school that I worked at. I wish my Tongan was a little bit better and I could name the cool dresses that the ladies are wearing, but I can't. Sorry.

The King of Tonga's church, Zion (Saione) or Jesus lives here...

2005-12-07T10:47:00.000+13:00

This is the main chuch in Tonga for a couple of reasons. First, it is the King of Tonga's main church and where he usually attends mass when he is feeling well and actually in the country (which is less and less frequent anymore). Second, its where the school that I teach at, Tupou Tertiary Institute holds all of their big masses for celebrations and graduations, etc. Third, this is the Free Wesleyan Church's Flagship Curch and as the Free Wesleyan Church accounts for about 65% of Tonga's Believers, I figured I should include it. One of my favorite things about this church is that it is probably the biggest church in the kingdom and the 'starship enterprise' of the FWC. However, like all things Tongan, it has its quirks. For example, in the two years that I have lived in Tonga, that clock has never worked. Ever.

Tamasi'i si'i si'i moe ako aho taha! The young boy and his first day of school!

2005-12-07T10:43:00.000+13:00

This is great! This is my neighbor's son getting ready for his first day of Kindergarten of 'kindy' as they call it here in Tonga. I like becaus Kalisi's (Chris's) face is priceless and he made such a ruckus when his dad was taking this photo. I don't take credit for this photo, but its one of my favorites. Give all credits to my homey and counterpart for this most excellent photo.

On the ambiance of Fafa. Island Resort in Tonga..

2005-12-07T10:40:00.000+13:00

So this is a great picture of the bed from fafa island resort. I like it because the picture came out really nice and beause it reminds me of one of the best weekends that I spent in Tonga. I like the symetry of this photo as well. Very palangi in a very tongan atmosphere.

Winner of the First Annual Peace Corps Tonga Photo Contest: A Tau'olunga

2005-11-30T13:30:00.000+13:00

Tahines preparing for the Tau'olunga

So this is the picture that one it. Actually, to be honest with you I didn't even submit it, Caty did. I did win though because, well, I'm a winner. I've got a ton of better pictures and I'm not sure this one deserved to win or not, but I do like it. Oh and mine are not nearly as cool as halfro's. He's got some sweet pics. If you click on it, you can get the full-size image.

The ta'olunga is the name of the traditional female dance in Tonga. Its not the good vibration, feel-good, booty swaying that you see in Hawaii and Tahiti, its much more reserved and subtle, but its very good none the less. Usually you'll see girls lathered up in coconut oil and dancing by themselves. However, during celebrations, like school graduations (from whence this photo came) they will perform in a group in unison.

The clothing they are wearing are comprised of all locally available materials like coconut leaves, banana leaves and some of the hundreds of amazing flowers that grow everywhere here in Tonga. Anyways, I do like this pic and am glad Caty submitted it. I won for the 'culture' picture. The Peace Corps is going to blow it up and put it around the office.

Wow. A legacy. Be humble.

I even have sunburn on my eyes!

2005-11-30T12:09:00.000+13:00

Close up of my eyes on fire!

Oh My God! My eyes hurt so much I don't even know what to do. So yesterday we went on a fishing trip. I put on some sunsceen early in the morning around 8:00 a.m. SPF 30, nothing less than that and reapplied it around 1:00 in the afternoon, but I could already tell it was too late. I've got the redneck tan like my house has a mosquito problem, Big Time.

So right now, I'm quietly crying and trying to keep my eyeballs as moist as I can because they hurt so much. I have never in my life heard of getting sunburnt on your eyes but then again you learn something new EVERYDAY! Today I learned that you can, in fact, get sunburn on your eyes. Oh Good!

Oh and the results on the fishing trip are a bit disappointing. We shoved off from the Nuku'alofa fishing club around 8:30 in the morning and took the boat out to Eua'iki and did some trolling for mahimahi. Toti, my neighbor, got a hit and managed to get int the drivers seat for what seemed like it was huge fish. Sadly, however, he girled out, and the fish maanged to escape the clutches of our 'barby' and tortures of a tequilla marinade. Everyone was sad. At the time, we didn't realize that it was going to be the only fish that we would almost catch all day.

So that was around 12:00 in the afternoon or so. We continued to drive around the islands for another 3 and half hours trying to catch some fish, all to no avail. Eventually, around 3:30, we decided to call it a day and head back to the wharf. Of course the boat ran out of fuel about 30 minutes from the dock. No problem here, we can use the Emergency motor and this emergency petrol that the captain has. Hooray! We're in business.

Until the emergency petrol runs out. And we're stuck floating in the main channel. For almost two hours. Without a paddle. So we wait for a couple of hours until the Aussie's can come and give us a tow back to town. They do and it takes another hour. So all said and done, we finish up around 6:15 p.m. So, to summarize: The 4 hours fishing trip took almost 10 hours, we didn't catch any fish and Toti can't catch a fish to save his life. Oh boy. Ahhh! Can't forget about the sunburned eyes either. Yes!

I did get to check of "Deep Sea Fishing' from my list of stuff to do and I did have a good time, but like everything else that I manage to do in Tonga, its fakahela. Wanton Lunacy or Craziness.

On Sustainability, Thanksgiving, Dentists and Fakamalo...

2005-11-25T11:09:00.000+13:00

So I'll start off with the good news, got back from the dentist this morning and had this email in my inbox:

Jim

I have done some changes to the postfix server.

I have received complains about this guy, who uses an email address from
gmail to send bad stuff to our students.

I have blocked that email address from sending mail to our domain. I had
to add some few lines to these files:
/etc/postfix/main.cf
/etc/postfix/header_checks

I have addedd this email address to the header_checks file and then tell
main.cf to look inside this file for headers to be blocked. I also added
my email address from myway.com for testing purposes, and it works!

I hope there is no side effect of the changes I made!

please check it out and tell me what do you think? and whether there is
any side effect!

malo
[your counterpart]

I'm so happy I could poop a deadly, duckbilled platapus! This is everything that Peace Corps volunteers dream of! Sustainability! Less than 1 year ago if I mentioned the word "postfix" to my counterpart, he would stare at me like I was made of kumala. Now, he's EDITING THE MAIN.CF FILE! This is AWESOME! I'm so happy I could crap a monkey. Literally, right here, a monkey would fall out of my highney. Malo, Sisu, Malo.

Even more good news, I'm giving out an exam early for a student that is going fundraising for our school in hawaii his exam or sivi, early. Today, I took a look at his notes and noticed that they were are 1.) from the internet 2.) not from links that I sent this student 3.) Cross-referenced with my notes from class and 4.) Organized by major topic and technology. Sisu Suka! (Sugar Jesus!) I can honestly say, that I feel like I got some work done during my last couple of years and it feels pretty damn good.

Speaking of feeling pretty damn good, (you like that subtle segue? Nice huh?) Today is the end of the Year School Feast for the Tupou High School System! We've got lots of church and eating and church and eating and church... ... ... and eating and saying goodbye to staff that are leaving, which means me! The real Jim Shady. I'll stand up please! So today is my day to shine my big giant chance at the fakamalo. (Fakamalo, literally translated means 'like (faka) thanks (malo)' what it really means is long-winded, frequently rambling dissertations that thank God, Sisu and his cousin Holy Spirit for everything under the sun in a decreasing order of importance. There is also a floating fakamalo theorem that is floating around that states: "The closer your body is to food physically, the exponentially longer a 'fakamalo' will be.") Earlier this morning when I wasn't in such a darn good mood I was thinking of all these ways to subtetly make some stabs at a culture, that frankly, I find to be rather difficult to understand or appreciate. (Sorry, I know Tonga should be magical and delicious. Frequently, for me anyway, it is not.)

However, upon further review, I've decided to keep my fakamalo upbeat and to focus on my all consuming spectacularositicents. I'm tired of accetuating the negative and as of this morning, I can say concretely that Tonga is more technically ready now than it was two years ago as a result of my effort. That may not mean much to the bible-bangers but in good ol' Protestant Work Ethic U. S. of A. that counts for a ton. I feel good and I'm going to celebrate.

I'm going to takes hundreds of pictures and I'll upload them after I eat so much food I have a hard time standing up. 'Kai mate' or, literally, "eat to death". Kick ass!

Oh and things that don't kick ass: The state of my teeth. 7, that's right 7 f*$%ing cavities. I cannot believe it. I honestly feel that I take better care of my teeth now that I ever have. I'd like to compare my early charts with what's they've got now, but man I'm upset about that. Oh, and here is the good news, accoring to recent Peace Corps policy changes, the Office of Medical Services recommends that volunteers get as much of thier dental work done in country as possible. That's right folks! Good old Uncle Sam is recommending that I get my occlusions taken care of in a developing nation after two years of volunteer service. My guess is that its cheaper and easier to get the medical paperwork filled out. Well they can pucker up and kiss my big white butt. I'm going back to america and I'm getting these taken care of by a Licensed American Medical Professional. Just another one of the many things that I can't wait to contact my Senators and Congressmen about as I'm floating about jobless during the next couple of weeks. I'm sick of feeling like a second class American. Sorry for the minor dpression thier.

Finally, Thanksgiving. I miss everyone, I really do. Its times like today that make me more homesick then ever. I'm sure it won't be the last thanksgiving I miss with the family, but I sure hope so. Hope everyone is having a great dinner, playing fun games, watching football and "kai mate". Thanks for the emails and IM's peeps. Serioiusly. Alright, I promise I'll load everything up with lots of pics and multimedia this afternoon.

Ofa Lahi Aupito - Misi.

Some RAID 5 Linux jubilation!

2005-11-23T21:30:00.000+13:00

First, some apologies for the geek-speak...

About a week ago, while trying to cleanup my folders and hard drives assorted here throughout school I can upon a bit of a problem. I couldn't delete a certain file in my backup directory through my GUI. I loaded up my scalpel of administration (putty) and proceeded to throw away already duplicated directories and files. For those of you unfamiliar with the command, it goes something like this:

rm -rf [name of folder to delete]

Well ironcally, I had a folder named etc in the directory I was cleaning. And, can you see where this is going... I ran this command:

rm -rf /etc

instead of...

rm -rf etc/

Yeah. Its that little of a mistake. Well I deleted the linux equivalent of my registry, trashing all of my config files and causing our backup server to belch in disgust, throwing up and spitting out all of the schools movies and music. I'm talking almot 150GB's of aforementioned media. It was a crying shame. I actually cried. It was a shame.

Well today there is reason to celebrate! This man hath saveded me! One of the most annoying things about linux is finding answers on the net. Since there is so much software and so many versions of tools depending on your distro and how strong the pull of aquarius is when it crosses Saturn, there could literally be 100 different ways of solving the simlar problem. Its getting better faster and that's good news and when you do finally find the answer, it works generally works. Note to potential employers: I am a Certified Linux Software RAID Masta® now, having earned my RAID stripes through 4 days of intensive research.

Anyway, I'm pumped. I'll be bringing home a pretty sweet music library and can still share the library with all of the Peace Corps Volunteers here in Tonga. Word of advice to all future incoming volunteers. Include and MP3 Player on your Peace Corps Packing list and, if you can afford to, a laptop. Infinitely useful. Also, bring cool stuff for toti. He will be keymaster.

Komiputa palapilema? Mise Ey? Io!

PS - Code thatith truly saved me...
1 cat /proc/mdstat
2 sudo mdadm --examine /dev/hde1
3 sudo mdadm /dev/md0 -a /dev/hde2
4 cat /proc/mdstat

Well now I have to say something...

2005-11-16T08:51:00.000+13:00

As if getting a question about Fafa from Aussie Nicole wasn't enough, nor the great and wonderful Senifa, today I got a comment from Philly Nicole. I can no longer postpone a blog entry. I'm sorry that it takes me so long to actually get on here and to write a blog post. I do enjoy writing, but often times, it is painfully slow. I don't exactly know why it takes so damn long to write stuff, but it does none the less. I think it might be because the funny similes and the outstanding vernacular that I rock when I write take a LOT of energy sometimes. Its not easy being so funny all the time. When I think about the pressures of having to be funny, I get all nervous and put off updating the blog. So please, don't take offense if I don't hop on immediately and respond or whatever. I'm lazy and crack easily under pressure. Please forgive me.

Alright, so I'll give you the quick update on how things are going and then hit up the commenters with an obligatory "what! what!"

Fafa: Rocked like a mutha-hizzle! Hands down, the best two-nights and three days that I've spent in Tonga during my last two years here. My only regret about fafa is that I did not go there sooner. The place is pretty pricey on my shitty peace corps salary. Realistically it would take me about a year of saving up as Peace Corps volunteer and eating ufi, Otua's starchy gift of love, every night to be able to afford the weekend. The total cost between Caty and I for the whole weekend was $1200 TOP, about $600 TOP per person (for you math whizzes) or, even cooler, $300 US (still doing math there smart guy? $1 ~= 2 TOP) for the whole weekend. We brought our lunch for three days and some very good 'pouched wine' to supplement our voracious drinking habits because we wanted to feel just a little guilty for having a great time. Now, to the folks in the Developed World that may think, "Holy Mystical Poop! Only $300 Bucks for a reclusive, beautiful tropical resort island populated with midgets and a magical waterfall that shoots out margarita's all day long! What a steal!" I say to you, "SHUT UP!" When you're living peace corps poor, you moan about 10 cent raises in the price of $1.50 beers. To those volunteers that are like "Dude! You guys spent $1200 pa'anga in three days!" With a bonafide exclamation point at the end of your sentence, I say: "SHUT UP! It was worth it. Playa hate all you want. I use American cash supplements to make my two years enjoyable!" Caty and I had a bombtastic weekend and have been assured that they will name part of the island after us. We will be immortalized in song and interpretive dance.

So here is my recommendation to anyone travelling to Tonga that has some scrill to kill (aka: money to burn! (in Tonga) (during vacation): GO TO FAFA ISLAND! Tell them Jim sent you and enjoy yourself! Throw stones in the ocean, get served drinks by midgets from the magical margarita waterfall and experience Tonga minus the crap that makes Tonga, Tonga!

Returning to America: That's right, the rumors are true, in less than 30 days, I bid farewell to this little "smaller-than-the-square-kilometers-of-memphis-tenessee-in-the-middle-of-the-South-Pacific" that I've been calling home since I got to HELL Tonga. Right now, I'm sort of a mixture of emotions and I plan on elaborating on this much, much more during my next couple of posts. But, as it stands right now, I will be arriving back in the illadelph at 2:30 p.m. EST on December 14th. (I actually ran over to the travel office right now to make sure that everything was cool *it wasn't*). Scratch that, my updated Itenerary now looks as follows:

SERVICE        FROM                TO                     DEPART  ARRIVE
-------------- ------------------- --------------------- -------- -------
AIR NEW ZEALAND - NZ 26
TUE 13DEC      TONGATAPU TO        LOS ANGELES CA         2100     1230
   FUA'AMOTU INTL      INTL
1 STOP                             TERMINAL 2             DURATION 12:30
   RESERVATION CONFIRMED   Y ECONOMY
   ON BOARD: SNACK
   TONGATAPU -APIA
   APIA -LOS ANGELES CA
   EQUIPMENT: BOEING 767-300/300ER


UNITED AIRLINES - UA 98
TUE 13DEC      LOS ANGELES CA      PHILADELPHIA PA        2315     0718
   INTL                INTL                            14DEC
NON STOP       TERMINAL 7          TERMINAL DOM           DURATION 5:03
                                           NON SMOKING
   RESERVATION CONFIRMED   Y ECONOMY
   ON BOARD: FOOD AND BEVERAGES FOR PURCHASE
   EQUIPMENT:AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A319

Therefore, I will be arriving back in Philly at 7:18 a.m. on Wednesday the 14th of December!. God, just writing that makes me feel better! Honestly, I can't wait to get home. I had all of these plans to go travel the world and do lots of fun stuff, but to be honest, I really, really just want to get home and see my friends and family. I especially want to spend Christmas with my family. A lot of people say two years goes by in the blink of an eye, and sometimes I can agree with that. I personally feel that two years can also feel like two frigging years. So those are the specifics of my traveling as it stands right now. I'm going to elaborate much more for the rest of the day on HOW I feel about my two years here in Tonga. I'll get more into that later on.

Apologies: Many of you may have read Senifa's (aka: Jen Across the Sea) comment that she isn't quasi-cool, but actually cool. Well I have some problems with this. On two to three different occassions, I've had conversations with Jen about the following topics: 1.) Inventive ways to make garlic bread, 2.) Why I rock and should go over and talk to 'that blonde chick' during King Tupou birthday party while it was obvious that I was uncomfortable and doing everything in my power to avoid uncomfortableness and stop the insanity 3.) how much better the english dental system is than the American dental system. Based on these three limiting conversations, I will let you, as readers of my blog make the call. Are any of those conversations cool? Actually, I'm just joshing. Jen wears cool like Tongans eat sipi. Its a fact. What this post should have actaully read is cool QUASI-OLD. I meant quasi old, not quasi cool! You can see from my thousands of typos and mispellings that frequently, I don't give the Palangi Files the type of love and attention to detail that it should receive. The reason why I say quasi-old is because of the fact that even if Jen is a little bit older than me, its so hard to believe because she has skin like a 15 year belly-dancers, eats her peas one at a time, and has a laugh as young as a First Sunday mass is long. Do you understand now? It was only a mistake! Forgive me grand inquisitess.

So, I started this post at like 11:30 and it is now 5:45. I blew almost 6 hours away today doing absolutely nothing. I'm drunk with nothing its so lovely! So I decided to include a picture that I think is pretty damn funny. As you may or may not know, Tongans love candy and sweets, but hate paying retail. Many of the local chinese copyright infringers have decided to captialize on this obscruity by introducing "Olio: The Occident's Favorite Cookie®"Anyone think that might be copyright infringement? I do! While the packaging may be very similar, there are some slight differences in product consistency, with the biggest difference being that, well, Olio cookies taste like sh*t and Oreo cookies are the best cookies in the world. The funny thing about the cookie picture there is the spelling. There is no 'R' in the tongan language, so 'R's are generally substituted for 'L''s. Pretty market specfic huh? Someone is making a killing selling these to JUST tongans.

Its actually taken me about 6 days to write this friggin post so I'm going to hastily finish it. Apologies. For some reason I can't seem to stay on topic.

Aunt Nancy! You are a rockstar! Thaks for being so awesome and I'm actually quite looking forward to a bit of snow although on my list of things that I will miss, tongan winter weather is right on up there.

Philly Nicole, I'll be home before you know it! My email address is my psuedonym at the name of this website dot com. Sorry for the sneaky post, but the second I add my real addy, I know I'm gonna get popped big time with SPAM.

Senifa, I truly am sorry. Can you forgive me? PS - The last post was nice! Malo!

Kali, its stuff like your comment that makes me glad I'm over here. I don't hear it enough, really and thanks for the support. Sorry we didn't get to meet up. I could have been a contenda... ;P

Caty's peeps. Welcome to the jimsphere aka - palangifiles.com. Fear not the ramblings. I may even let Caty guest write if she promises to be marginally humorous. Seriously though, stop kidding.

Billadelphia! Can't wait to rock some breakfast with you buddy! Keep me posted and dood! send me an email. How are things?

Round of applause for the Shaffers on the purchasing of a new house and the eating of an enitre block of welfare cheese in one night. Incredible.

Pete, since you can't read, you'll never understand what these things are. I still think you smell like britian.

And for some more shocking news for you to consider... Tonga was recently named the fattest country in the world by the WTO. The fun never stops. I'll try to write more later.

Oh yeah, for you linux fruit cakes out there... I'm in a bit of a "pickle" if you will, having recently trashed the /etc directory on my backup server here at school. If you like me, speak geek, understand this sentence: "Software RAID 5 configuration and performace is VERY compeitive with traditional hardware based controllers" and love me, Check of I need help post here: rm -rf /etc and reconfiguring software raid 5

Lole Heads! OR pictures of tongan students covered in candy

2005-10-12T22:31:00.000+13:00

This is one of the COOLEST PICTURES EVER! I should have posted this a while ago. This is from the graduation for my Level 5 studnets. The weird colored things around the guy on the right's neck is 'money' if you could call the Tongan Pa'anga 'money'. All that other stuff around their necks? Anyone at home able to guess? If you guessed Loli or, as we palangi's call it, 'candy', you'd be correct! These are some of my favorite and best students. Man do I love this picture. Oh, as an aside, my old Peace Corps rockstar neighbors, Mark and Erin, yes, Canopy did graduate level 5. Apparently, "grades" and "passing" aren't that important for the students of TTI. In any event, Canopy (medium) felt Loli love and had a very nice day. So, Sugar D., there's your money shot.

A Tongan weekend getaway to Fafa Island Resort...

2005-11-04T09:10:00.000+13:00

Yeah! Just wanted to rub everyone's noses in it at home. Going for a nice little romantic getaway to Fafa Island Resort off the coast of Nuku'alofa. Here is a couple of pictures of said tropical paradise...

Just lovely...

Wow! That looks really, really relaxing huh?

So I'll meet you at the bar and we can exchange tropical fish snorkeling pictures right?

That's right all you fools suffering in the chill november air, commence the playa' hating! I'll be back in three wonderful, relaxing days and catch up with what's been going on (or not, rather!)

Ofa Atu!