Social Situations

In class Wednesday we discussed the importance of preparing ourselves for social situations in Tonga. I have thought about these situations, but not in enough detail. I can imagine myself walking down the street, attending community events, and cooking dinner with a family, but beyond that I assumed I'd figure things out. However, I think there are many other things that should be considered. For example, it's important that as American foreigners, we still spend time with natives. In order to feel integrated into society, we can't spend time with only the Americans.

I want to discuss and explain a few of the social situations I may come across in order to evaluate some of the circumstances I might find myself in and how I will react. The first one I thought of was attending church. Church is a great place to interact with a lot of people. And, because we're all LDS, there will be a sort of mutual understanding. I think that conversation will flow a little bit easier; I can get to know the families in a friendly and simple setting.

The next one I thought of was grocery shopping. For me, I think this will be challenging because of my limited knowledge of the language. However, as a visit the store again and again, I can become familiar with the owner as well as the people that shop there. It also gives me an excuse to ask questions like, "How much is this? Is that expensive? What do I need if I want to cook...?" As a result, I hopefully will have made a few friends.

Another social situation that might come up is cooking with the family. Nick mentioned that usually the women cook inside and the men out. This gives me the opportunity to talk to the women about their lives. I can find out what their families are like, what they like to do, how they cook things, and what it is they cook. I just hope that I'll have enough questions and that I can understand what they're saying. Again, I'll have to be sure that I become independent of any other American visitors that are with me.

The last thing I wanted to mention was how I might explain to a Tongan what I'm doing there. I'll probably start by telling them that I'm there to study plants, but because this is somewhat ambiguous, I'll change it in a way that sounds more like, I'm here to learn about what you do with the plants you grow in gardens. In my life, I have not spend much time growing gardens, let alone using the plants for medicine or decoration. And even though plants are probably a more mundane aspect of the Tongan culture, there is still much I can learn.