Learning Journal 11

Yesterday Joseph Ostraff came into our class and talked to us about Tonga. It was good to hear about how it will be once we get down there to Tonga from someone who has actually been there and not from articles from the internet. It kind of made me nervous when he told us that we are all kind of in trouble with our projects. I knew I couldn't go up to anyone and ask them why they are fat but he even said I shouldn't really go the route of asking them about physical activity either. A lot of his information was good though. He said that we need to ask questions that apply to us individually because they will be more willing to answer it. He also said to ask them more round about questions and they will tell us what we want to know. It made me think about questions like what is the ideal Tongan? What do they consider healthy and fit? What are their core values? What image is important to them? Thinking about these questions made me think about other things I haven't really thought about before. Things such as how they view obesity. Do they think it is unhealthy to be obese? Is obesity an issue to Tongans? Does it affect them in ways that prevent them from being happy? Is obesity or exercising a priority in their lives or are there more important things for them to think about and occupy their time? These are some of the questions going around in my head now. One thing I did really like that Joseph told us was to shift from being honored guest to part of the family as quickly as you can. The family will treat us like guests and won't let us do anything but if we push it and try to do things with them they will love us for it. Even when we do it wrong. I know when I get there I am going to try and do this with my host family. I really want to become part of the family and be treated like part of the family. He also told us to be willing to give up our identity while we are in Tonga and we will have an amazing experience.