Shopping:
Peace Corp Volunteer in Tonga

previous post | index | next post

Well shopping was a huge stress point for me. I have had fun shopping before, but this is something else. We had to buy everything for a house most had never seen with not quite enough money. I tried to hold back and let folks on outer islands buy stuff first because I am on the main island. After about four days of price shopping and not being sure what to buy I realized that all I had acquired was a soap dish, a strainer (note I had not yet bought a burner or a pan), a laundry basket and a mini wonder (it slices, it dices why the hell was this my first purchase?).

My two main shopping goals were a bike and a refrigerator. I also needed a stove and dishes and all sorts of small stuff. Finally I saw my bike. Melinda had bought a woman's beach cruiser. I am amazed how many bikes are men's bikes. Especially in a culture where women wear skirts everyday and men wear Tupenus (wrap around skirts) almost as often. So now I am the proud owner of a candy apple red women's beach cruiser with a rack on the back for stuff and a bell. Yea.

Unfortunately I pushed the fridge purchase to the limit so if I wanted it delivered I needed to buy it that day. When I went to Premas to get it, it was sold out. The same fridge was sold out at Lords Mobile too. So I went back to Premas to buy the smaller one. When I checked out they had over charged me so I pointed it out and found no they were actually out of the smaller one two, the third fridge left in my price range was the last of the three I wanted, the next shipment wasn't coming until Marchish and they don't do returns. Oh well I have a fridge and I need to start loving it. When I finished shopping on this last day I had to go back to the guesthouse and have a beer even though it was only 1:30. Oiaue!

previous post | index | next post

Home | Newsletter | Travel Tips | Contact Us | Site Map

content © 2009 Worlds Together Travel Network