Temporary Tongan: I nearly ran over a Tongan Kid

I nearly ran over a kid this morning. I've been driving the TFA's truck - which is a huge white industrial ute about three metres long - home every night after training. It has been awesome to have as it gives me a bit more freedom to go around the island quicker and get off the bike. The one catch is that I have been acting as the team bus after training. All the boys get here by 3pm every afternoon (until next week when we go into camp for five weeks), however the buses stop at 530pm so we need to drive them home after training.

I have been zigzagging across the island (this is for Aidan - swerving to miss the potholes here has been a little like driving round Delfino Square while inhaling mint slices) with ten 14-16 year old kids in the back of the truck who think it is hilarious that a palangi is driving them home. I haven't really known what the speed limits are as the roads aren't clearly marked so I have been hovering around the 50-60km per hour mark and sometimes a touch faster when I am overtaking a slow car, most people don't go faster than 40km here and now I understand why.

I was driving to the fish markets before work this morning and going about 40km per hour as I had been told the night before that 40km per hour was the official speed limit for most roads here in Tonga. I was lucky I was only going 40km per hour as from pretty much out of nowhere a young kid (he couldn't have been older than about four years old) decided to leave his brother on the other side and run across the road approximately 15m in front of me. My heart was quite literally in my mouth as I slammed on the brakes, fishtailed to one side of the road and just missed him. I actually had to look over the front of the bonnet to see if I had hit the kid, that is how close it was. I cannot imagine what would have happened if I had hit him but it was pretty scary. The kid didn't seem to appreciate how close he was to potential death as he simply looked up at us in the car and walked away. All this while I was close to having a heart attack. I can only imagine what would have happened if I had hit the kid as:

1. I am a Palangi and unlikely to get much sympathy for hitting a young Tongan kid despite it being no fault of my own.
2. The only other person in the car with me was a Palangi and no one would have listened to him.
3. I don't actually have a Tongan driver's license yet. Stupid I know, work have said they will get one for me but I am just going to go and get it myself now.

So one small Tongan kid and I were pretty lucky this morning and as the first tropical storm pours down from the sky since I've been here (it took a total of 30 minutes for every road that I drove on this morning to be flooded. I have also just been told this is the largest storm of the year so far) I am counting my blessings that I am not holed up in a Tongan jail cell for hitting a small kid who needs to learn how to cross the road!

The other part of my job here is to supervise the local U10s comp. on Saturday mornings

In other news we have had a frequent visitor to our house in the past couple of weeks. One of our neighbours came round a couple of weeks ago to ask if he could borrow some money. At first this didn't appear to be his purpose for coming over as he was blabbering on about being single, living down the road with his parents and his job as a teacher. We thought he was just introducing himself to us when he asked to borrow 20 Pa'anga to 'buy some bread for his family'. Fair enough, we gave it to him and he said he would return it in a week.

A week passed and nothing, however last night he popped round again and proceeded to dribble on about the election, his family and how is house had been burned down. Again I thought he was just going to give us the money back when he asked for more money. Now Tom, Jess (my two housemates) and I get paid an OK salary as far as Tongan standards go (despite the fact I'll be eating Dorito sandwiches for the next month as I have spent most of my money at Billfish on Steinlagers) but this seemed like taking the piss. I actually ended up giving him 5 Pa'anga (about $3 Australian dollars) and said I will be down to pick it up today if he doesnt show up with the money.

I doubt very highly he will show up but as far as I am concerned we need to give him the benefit of the doubt. We had a conversation last night about what we should do next time he 'pops over'. My thoughts are if he actually returns the money I don't mind helping out a little here and there occasionally. But if he doesn't then he will be told to go back home and not bother coming round again. It's hard to read Tongans sometimes as they are mostly genuine, honest, lovely people. However I am getting the sense that some just see us Palangi as a walking Pa'anga. I don't actually mind that if I am a tourist on a short trip to Bali or Bangkok as we are there on holiday and to essentially spend money, but when I am living in the community I don't want to be taken for a ride.

That will do for now, however I am off to Eua (a huge eight minute flight from Nuku 'Alofa) this weekend and apart from the spectacular scuba diving and trekking on offer there I am most looking forward to going to the Mormon Disco on Saturday night. Apparently they hold the disco each Saturday but if a bloke gets a little too close to a female (not sure what happens when blokes get too close to each other) one of the minders flashes a torch at you and warns you to get away from the girl. Think myself and Tom will try and see how many times we can be 'flashed' before being asked to leave! Also, depending on how many likely gazelles are there I will keep this Mormon disco in mind for when Tommy O'Hara is here in a couple of weeks. We all know he has a terrific track record with Mormons, just ask him!