Typical Day

My internship started May 13, 2015 in the middle of the week. That week on a beautiful Friday morning at MEIDECC, the whole building seemed deserted at 8:50 AM. As one sat there thinking that perhaps it was a public holiday in the Kingdom of Tonga. I had arrived early as usual and sat down on the assigned desk to collect what the first three days of working in Tonga was like.

I looked around and there was no one in the section where I was working, the ministry of information. The next room separated by walls was the ministry of energy, and again no one was there as I got up to peek through the door. All the executive offices of the chief executive officer of MEIDECC, director of energy and director of information were also empty.

The next section again separated by a wall was the corporate affairs of MEIDECC was completely empty. On the very far corner to one’s surprise saw the two receptionists for the entire seven ministries. I quickly walked over to inquire about the building’s quietness. The casual reply with confidence of course was that Friday morning the staff would arrive at 9:00 AM. Sure enough, at nine o’clock almost everyone showed up to the office, this is a typical Friday morning at MEIDECC and their normal time of attendance. One was taken by surprise of the easiness, casual appearance and the tardiness were not even an issue.

Tongan time is known throughout the Kingdom as pretty much the normal practice.