The Tongan Concept of “borrow”

The Tongan concept of “borrow.”

• If a possession is left outside and unattended, it may be “borrowed” indefinitely (without asking the owner).
• If someone admires one of your possessions, you should give it to them. (To be fair, if you admire something that belongs to another, they need to give it to you).

Yesterday, after taking our clothes off the line, we left the pouch of clothespins on the line.  Within a few hours, the pouch had been “borrowed.” This afternoon, when we are in town, we will buy another box of clothes pins.

I hope to buy a bike this week, too. (and a sturdy chain lock). Because we’ve heard that bicycles are “borrowed” frequently.

We leave our car locked. (I haven’t heard of anyone “borrowing” a car, yet. J )

If you were wondering, when we leave the clinic, we put the computer (that is used for digital x-ray), my laser, and my loupes, in a locked closet. I keep the key. Fusi, my Tongan nurse, evidently also embraces the cultural concept of “borrowing.”

Speaking of nurses, I am supposed to have an actual dental assistant, but she hasn’t showed up for two days.  Evidently, this is another Tongan norm.  She may wander in today, or later in the week, as if nothing is amiss. I’ll keep you posted, but in the meantime, I’m having dental school flashbacks, to the last time I worked without an assistant (45 years ago).

Update on internet in our house.  It was supposed to be up and running on Monday, and then yesterday, for sure.  The Mission Nurse (whose husband is the I.T. guy, and who live next door to us) will check again today.  The person doing the scheduling at TCC (Tongan Communications Center) wants to come to the clinic for treatment.  I think Sister Kapp is going to use that as a bargaining chip to get our internet installed. We’ll keep you posted.

On the way back from dinner last night, we stopped at Ping’s, a roadside Tongan version of 7-Eleven.  (I’ll take a picture, because words are inadequate.)  We had run out of food for lunch today. Ping’s didn’t really have anything, so I just bought a liter of Coke, breakfast biscuits, and three Cadbury chocolate bars. I thought we could eat the biscuits with chocolate sandwiched in between, and wash it down with Coke. (Mom was not enthusiastic about that).  Anyway, as I was paying for it, the mission president’s wife stopped by to make a purchase. I am sure she was not impressed with the dietary choices of the mission dentist.