Interview

I didn't know about the assignment until it was way to late to find a Tongan person and interview them :( So, I used a friend who served in Tonga on his mission.
The interview conducted was an informal, semi constructed question/answer session. I will outline the things he said about the culture.
FAMILY LIFE-
Men and women have different responsibilities. Men go to the bush and work during the day. Women take care of the home and the children and go to weaving houses during the day to weave or make gnatu. They make these in large groups and sell them to people for weddings, funerals, births and even to tourists. He mentioned that the women just sit there and discuss whatever comes to mind. It's their main source of social interaction. Something interesting he said is that entire communities raise all the children together and everyone is willing to punish, discipline, feed and shelter any child. They also tend to give their children to other family members who don't have any. This sort of communal child raising technique is extremely interesting. Comparatively, in the US, parenting is extremely privatized and women especially want to be the only ones to influence and raise their child. This sort of way is very ethnocentric and I would argue that if affects the child's ability to open up to other things. The Tongan people practically live the consecration not just in family relations but in possessions as well. My interviewee told me not to be surprised when someone asks me for something of mine. And of course, I have to give it to them. I was a little concerned over this, because it's just in my culture that people own and possess their items and that's that. It's kind of like a little child playing with his sibling, and one wants a toy but the other says "it's mine!" This is interesting because when you think about it, the toys probably weren't purchased by them, and I'm sure the toy actually belongs to the parents who purchased them, and even they would argue that the toy is for both of them. It's kind of a silly and selfish way to live, if you think about it.
I asked him about food, specifically if I would lose weight on the trip.
He said we would eat a lot of roots and probably some fruit, but not a whole lot of meat which is reserved for special occasions. He said I should expect to have diarrhea a lot. He said he gained weight on his mission, but I don't really like sweet potatoes or yams so I'm banking on losing some weight! He said the fruit was so amazing, especially pineapple when they are in season. He said they would eat it til their tongues were bleeding.
I asked him about differences between LDS families and non LDS families.
He said that there wasn't that much of a difference, especially considering even those that are not LDS are still Christian. He said the biggest difference was probably alcohol consumption.
He showed me his tohi a molomona and I read a couple verses out of it while he checked my Tongan pronunciation. He said it wasn't all that bad!
He also showed me his ta'ovala, which are the traditional waist mats that Tongan's wear to special occasions. I tried it on and I have to admit I looked good.
He told me some stories about when he was there, which were wonderful. But, concerning my project I've included what's important for living there as a guest and then what's applicable to my research.