Life According to Soni [Volume 1]

Samisoni (Samson in English) is one of my many highlights here in Tonga. He is a cross between an old man, a cutie-patootie and a little Buddha. The kid has spunk. Plus he is full of so much wisdom, lives completely in the moment (have you ever noticed that kids are really good at doing that?) and is always looking to help out. Somebody we all can learn from.

So let's see... what can we learn from Soni today?

Soni says... 

"I'm gonna work and have fun while workin'!" It's Monday morning and Soni walks right through the entrance of the school gate with his hands on his hips. The boy is determined. He sees me, gives me the cool-dude down nod, lowers his chin and in a low voice (by 5-year-old standards) says "Hello, Manatee." All business, he ducks into his classroom and appears in my doorway a few moments later. "Tafi?" (Do you want me to sweep?) "Io!" (Yes) I exclaim. Soni grabs the broom (that is roughly the same size that he is) and attempts to clean the classroom before more students arrive. He keeps his head lowered until the entire task is completed, even shoo-ing some students away as they attempt to enter.

"Just keep dancin'!" While I was getting a lesson put together, today I looked outside to see Soni by himself, dancing in the middle of the school grounds. There most definitely was a hiva lelei (good song) playing in his head, so I walked out to meet him, he smiled his partially toothless grin, grabbed my hands and we danced together.

 
"Play and learn!" Soni likes to point out different things to me and teach me Tongan words. This morning he made a city out of wooden blocks and taught me the different names of the blocks.


Thank you for being your awesome self, Soni. 

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[Side note: One of my dreams is to become a certified yoga instructor. I hope to study yoga in Guatemala after my service in the South Pacific is completed. Help me out and vote for me to win a scholarship? Click here. The contest closes October 31st. "Heart" my post by logging in with Facebook or by creating a free account. Don't worry, freeyoga.com doesn't SPAM you or sign you up for lame-o newsletters.]