samoA

thurs. oct 13

7 pm

as i eagerly await to hear of any news about my new niece or nephew!!! i can't stop thinking about humor. the country had monday off as a holiday as the sunday prior was "children's sunday". i decided to meet my closest neighbor (jenny) on my bike and head on to the beach. about half way between her place and the beach a dog ran out of the bushes barking at me. pretty used to this, i looked down and quietly muttered "halu" - go away. guess i should have said it louder as the dog took no notice of this and bit my leg. it hurt. but blood wasn't dripping so i kept riding. it quickly got pretty swollen and bruised, but i still had a great day off. the ride home i was clenching a giant rock, but thankfully didn't have to use it. it's not infected yet so i'm thinking things should heal.

today i decided to get back on and ride to the store a few villages away and get an onion and a coke. as i rode thru the neighboring village two middle aged women howled and barked at me. i stuck my tongue out at them and pretended to throw the rock i was carrying at them. on my way to the store, i realized that their behavior might be categorized as insensitive…but my new way of reacting to uncomfortable situations, laughing, made me not really care. on my way back home thru the same village about 10 people again barked and howled, including children and men this time. i laughed and showed them the even bigger rock i had this time. in short, i can't get a handle on my humor and sorry if when i come home (in 2 months!) i laugh at inappropriate times.

:)

A weekday in the life…

I wake up as the sun rises and roosters scream. Some children are already up and walking past my house on the road to school. I make coffee and get ready for school. I have time to listen to a few songs and eat an apple or banana if I was lucky enough to make it to the market the on the weekend. I carry my woven fan to shield me from the already hot sun, grab my school bag, and start my short walk inland. My favorite 2 year old yells FA (goodbye) ALLI! at me and waves. Then an old matai (chief) says to me:

Alu le aoga? (going to school)

ioe! (yes)

Manuia le aso (have a nice day)

Fapena fo'i ( same to you)

we say this every day. I walk past some taro gardens and palms. I say hello to the mothers as they walk past me. Most walk their kids to school every day if they are in a lower grade. They tell me good job for getting up early (and are usually making fun even though i am usually one of the first teachers at school) and have a nice day. I sign in for the day and finish my prep while I wait for the bell to be rung. Then the children sing a hymn and do a short prayer. I teach the year seven English lesson first. "Morning tea" is sometimes brought to us during this time. Which might consist of crackers and tea, cocoa, or sugared milk with lemon leaves, or a cup of noodles. After the lesson I check their homework and class work while their teacher does the other subjects, often stopping to ask me how to pronounce a word or tell me that she loves me. The kids have a recess and the teachers drink more tea. Then I do a reading lesson with the at-risk students, a different grade level each day. Following that I teach a reading lesson to the year seven class. Then I am pretty much done and make copies for people, plan lessons, or order the library books until its time to go. I walk home and my favorite child, Mena, greets me again. If my family is home they will usually offer me a meal which i devour. Then I turn on my fan and sleep on my floor through the hottest part of the day for 1 - 3 hours (I am very good at this).

When I wake up I read, begin planning the next days lessons, or help kids with homework. Then I take a walk on the road or back in the jungle or ride my bike a few villages over if i need something from the shop. As the sun starts to set I take a freezing shower and wash my clothes if I need to. Then the conch shell blows and I walk over to the main house to do a hymn and prayer with my family. Afterwards, we will sometimes watch the new zealand news and they will invite me to eat with them. I usually decline (unless I am craving coconut cream or I am out of food) and cook my own meal. I eat on the floor of my room (storage closet). Then I will finish up my school work and read or watch some media if I had met up with any other volunteers and exchanged any. Sometimes students will pop up at my window and need homework help. After all that I hit the lights and crawl into bed and tuck in my mosquito net and head to dreamland accompanied by the noises of dog or cat fights, roosters (they go off all day and night here…is that normal?), pigs digging around outside my windows, crickets, faint bass, waves, or rain.

I haven't been the "blogger' i thought i would be during this due to my location, but might i recommend this link for a more through description of life as a peace corps volunteer in samoa...rachel followingtheday.blogspot.com

missing everyone and blueberry pie

peace and love

sorry for gramatickal errorz

random jungle bits

6 may 2010

the end of the first term of the school year is arriving! we have a 3 week break coming up, most of it however will be taken over by meetings and training sessions. i had quite an interesting experience at school today. a few teachers were missing so i had the year 7 class to myself. tests had finished up yesterday, so after i went over the correct answers (scores ranged from 101% to 0% in the same class - my main challenge here) we had free time. i wanted to draw with the kids since usually when they are seen drawing they get beaten. we drew a picture of the village and then i asked some students to draw me common samoan tattoo patterns. there were spears, birds, woven mats, a heart that said 'i love you', and then i saw one kid had drawn a swastika. i was immediately concerned and wanted to know more about this. i asked the child what it meant and with my limited language skills, understood that 'this is one of the tattoos my principal has and that is stands for germany'. i crossed it out and told them it was 'leaga tele' very bad. i wanted them to really understand i was serious and struggled with how to explain it. finally i could manage to say that picture is the opposite of the heart. one of the children said to me in english, the heart is love and the other picture is not love. i said yes and not to draw it. it was a curious experience and i'm not sure how they even know about the swastika but i hope they remember what i tried to convey…

mother's day is approaching and it is a big holiday here. samoans love to sing and dance, so naturally the women of the church will have a song and dance service on sunday. all of the churches that i know of will be having similar events. since i live in the church hall practice has been outside my room everyday this week. the women amaze me with their energy and complete lack of shame in getting down with it. i will be dancing in one of the more traditional dances on sunday. the women have put me front and center and i'm sure it will be embarrassing and amazing.

other than that, it is continually hot and humid. however, usually drink homemade hot cocoa everyday. i had the pleasure of learning how the koko is made and it is an involved process. it takes lots of time and muscle cooking and then crushing the seeds. it is so delicious though and may be adding a few pounds to my palagi (white person) frame. other foods i usually eat are fresh fish and taro cooked in coconut cream. i am getting quite spoiled living next to the sea and sometimes at night the crashing waves even wake me up. i am getting quite used to it though. i am also getting used to ants crawling on me at all times, termites, constant sweat, sleeping on floors while people blast music next to me, the most beautiful sunsets, and lack of privacy. : ) until next time…

simply having a wonderful xmas time

17/12/2009
the phrase island time is no joke. today exemplified that for me and it was one of the most hilarious life days so far. all i wanted to do today was go shopping for a few things in town, some hangers, a bucket for laundry, a blank cd, a christmas gift for my host family, some fruits, etc. i was told that the bus would come by my village at 8. apparently that was wrong info because after my cereal, yes cereal!!!, it was about 730 and i walked down the road to see the bus go by. the bus comes early sometimes. i tried communicating with some ladies that were weeding there front yard aka pulling the grass out(?). they said that that was the last bus until 11. i waited there a few minutes while they stared at me and decided to go back to my room. around 10 i went out again to catch the bus. i waited for the hour which was quite lovely. the bus stop stares straight out into the crashing waves of the ocean. the hot breeze made me tired but i stayed awake and the bus came at 1130. the bus was crowded of course but a lady let me sit with her. after she got off a new lady sat beside/on me. she was rather round and didn't mind really crushing me as the bus whizzed around the corners of the island. after about two hours i arrived in 'town'. i attempted to go to the post office. i asked a few people who seemed confused and finally got an answer, it was about 10 minutes away. i walked there in the scorching sun and found the post office, it was air conditioned. when i asked if there were other places i could put the mail to be sent out a 'mail box' she laughed. next i wanted to go to a store i took a taxi because i wasn't sure how far it was and melted on the ride there. after 2 minutes we arrived and after i explained my marital status, all that really matters here, i found a store with hangers. then i realized i had no idea when the bus goes back to my village. only that there is a 'last bus' and after that its a 70 wsdollar cab ride home if you miss it. i headed back towards town and asked some people when the bus came and where i could get it. they said i could wait there, at the bakery, and it would come at 330. it was almost 3 so i figured i should wait and forget about going to the market and other things. i waited until five and got nervous a few other buses went by but not mine. finally someone told me to go wait somewhere else and at 530 i saw my bus. the bus comes late sometimes, really late. it was the last bus of the day so it was as crowded as possible. i did get a seat however. on the bus, people hand out their belongings, babies to others to hold if they have to stand or there is no room. so as i sat ready to finally get going boxes, bags, a broom, and people piled up around me. i was sandwiched between my seat partner and a couple standing to my other side. with every turn i thought they might fall on me or that my spine might crack from the 45 degree angle i was sitting at. after about an hour they got off and i was relieved to straighten my back. an older man was standing near me so my seat partner asked me if i could sit on her lap to make room for him. i spent an hour there which was more comfortable then a wooden seat, but totally dangerous. soon the bus emptied out almost completely because my village is one of the last few the bus goes to as it is at the north middle of the island. i paid and some how got the circulation going to get off the bus and walk up the road home. all i had to show for my whole day were some hangers, but i had a nice day and i am maybe one step closer to understanding island time?…no way.

i'm heading to manunu, an inland village, in a few hours. we will each be staying with a host family for 4 weeks. my camera is broken so hopefully someone else will let me steal some pictures. we won't have internet there or many other things. we will have mosquito nets though. one of the girls got medically separated and left last night. it was very sad, but hopefully she will be able to come back next year.

the current volunteers and trainers had a big send off party ( fiafia ) for us last night. there was a ton of food, fire dancing, all kinds of other dancing, and a few other trainees, some trainers, and me sang a samoan song for everyone. it was very nice and i was able to make it through the whole thing even though i've been battling a cold. i hope it goes away soon. peace all!

Malo!

well, i finally have a chance to breathe… today we have the day off and have all done some shopping and got phones. tomorrow is a big holiday here called white sunday which basically celebrates children. we will all be going to church where the kids will run the service and at homes the adults make meals for the children.

the plane ride was VERY long, but i actually slept for most of it. we arrived as the sun was rising. palm trees, foggy green mountains, and thick, hot air welcomed us along with the current peace corps volunteers. we rode to our hotel where we have been staying for this week of training. our room actually has air conditioning but we use it very sparingly. on friday we will be traveling to our training host village. we will be staying there for a few weeks/months to start acclimating to village life. i will try and upload some pictures soon. TOFA!