TO MARKET, TO MARKET….

Saturdays are our shopping days because that’s the day of the FAIR! We have found if we can buy it at the FAIR the price is usually a bit better than in the small little stores downtown.  Tonga is for the most part a "Cash Society." Because family members in the states send goods to be sold here we’re lucky to get some American brands—even “Kirtland” from Costco.  We’ve also learned that if you see something you can use, buy it immediately because it won’t be there again!  Last Saturday our purchases included salsa, the big box of Quaker Oatmeal, chili con carne, cream of chicken and mushroom soup, Hunt’s Pasta Sauce, Welch Grape Jam, a couple of Christmas gifts, and I got a muumuu.  I believe most people buy their clothes, lots of food items and miscellaneous items at the FAIR.  They also sell lots of things to eat—We bought muffins from Nia, a Tongan lady who is Principal at Havelu Middle School. We haven’t been brave enough to try some of the barbecued or other baked items.  Just so you will understand why we're so concerned about finding the best price, here's a  few prices of grocery items:  The Big Quaker Oats = $35 Pa'anga (Tongan Currency) = $20.29 (US); 1 can Cream of Mushroom or Chicken Soup = $4 Pa'anga = $2.30 (US); Large Jar Welsch Grape Jam = $15 Pa'anga = $8.61; Brick of Cream Cheese (about the size of 3--8 oz.) =$22 Pa'anga = $12.63 (US) daj

Our Wheels--actually could seat 12--we share with 2 other missionary couples!  Driving on the left side of the road is still a challenge--especially on the narrow streets downtown.  

Sister Szoka, Sister Fellowes, Elder Fellowes, Elder Szoka, Elder Johnson, and Sister Johnson is holding the camera

We Arrive at the FAIR

See all the Clothes for Sale--I bought a MuuMuu today


BEACH FISH MARKET

Not far from the FAIR is the FISH MARKET where we can purchase fresh fish that were caught during the night or early morning.  We bought eight red tailed snapper fish. Elder Johnson would hardly even watch me do the cleaning! After cleaning them I decided that they will have to be very good before I will go through that again!  I like fresh fish but it’s such an ordeal to get them ready, especially when I had to "saw" the heads off with a bread knife because we don't have a decent cutting knife.  We had two of our eight fish for dinner last night and after peeling off the skin they were quite good.  I just cooked them with their skins on but realized they should have been scaled first (I used to scale white fish as a child.) Six more are in our refrigerator freezer.  Tongan alternatives to fish are chicken, pigs, beef, and even cats and dogs. I don’t plan on trying the latter two, however, the younger missionaries eat what is put in front of them.  I understand that on some days they sell big pieces of yellow finned tuna--those fish are 6 feet long!  I hope to try that next time.

The Bag of Red Tailed Snapper is at the upper right, by the boy's arm--$20 Pa'anga

Choose Your Fresh Fish--Caught This Morning!

A Happy Fisherman Selling His Catch

Fishing Boat--may have been the boat that caught my Red Tailed Snappers!

PRODUCE MARKET

There is one big outdoor covered produce market downtown which you can go to most any weekday as well as on Saturdays, however, on this shopping trip we just stopped at a little market along the road--all locally grown.  I got 3 pineapples (the best pineapples I've ever tasted are grown here!), 9 tomatoes, one huge head of lettuce, 6 cucumbers, a bag of onions, a bag of apples (actually--from New Zealand), 5 green peppers, and a breadtree fruit (they tell me it makes delicious French fries).  All that cost $26 Pa’anga, which would be about $16 US money.

Look at those Bananas!  I have to buy about 10-12 bananas at one time.

My Two Friendly Ladies--They are always so nice to me--note that they pile things up and you buy the whole pile of produce--not just 1 or 2 pieces

ONE MORE STOP

We were lucky to get to the little store where they sell Lite Milk because it closes at noon.  We bought 6 liters of Lite Milk as it will keep on the shelf and we refrigerate it just before and after opening it.  Eggs are not refrigerated here before they are purchased so we go to the place where they come from in hopes they will be the freshest.  We buy a large flat of brown eggs.

My Produce for Today!  (after washing in bleach solution--all clean and pretty now) They put all the produce into little plastic bags.

FINALLY HOME WITH ALL OUR PURCHASES!

Look at the size of this Pork Chop!  I folded it in half and put it into a ziplock bag (which we must wash  with lots of soap to re-use it)--You can see the stack of chops that went into our freezer!

Yes, they're all dead and just waiting to be CLEANED--not fun!

Close Up, each has quite a personality.

I made it--They are all CLEANED!  My neighbor requested all the HEADS FOR HER KITTEN!
We had fish that evening and they had a great taste.

OUR SHOPPING SPREE COMES TO AN END AT HOME—after another 1 ½ hours!

On Saturday morning we left to go shopping at 8:30 a.m., got home at 12:00 noon and finished putting things away about 1:30 p.m.  Upon arriving home I washed all the produce in a bleach solution for several minutes, scrubbed some of it, let it drip dry on the dish drainer, and then put it into the refrigerator.  I even washed the eggs in bleach before putting them into our refrigerator.  That with cleaning the fish and cleaning up the messes afterwards took me 1 ½ hours plus the 3 ½ hours while we were out!  And they tell us that everything closes down the week before Christmas and nothing opens again until after New Years so we’ll need to make sure we get everything we need stockpiled.  Yes, this is an adventure in a DEVELOPING COUNTRY, to quote Elder Johnson.  Some call it a 3rd World Country.  Yes, I agree, it is developing! daj