The highlight of every week for me is Fun Football, an hour with the kids being coach. I usually get kids the kids who are 6-11 and they are just the right age. They aren’t the cheeky teenagers and aren’t too young you can’t do anything with them. I have fun with this age group.

Last Saturday was my last time with these kids since I’ll be leaving Samoa next week. It was always a fun tradition when I was a young player to play Butts Up with the coach as the target, so I let these kids do the same. For those of you who don’t know what Butts Up is I’ll explain. Every player has a ball and they all line up shoulder to shoulder in front of the goal. The coach, or losing team, stands in the middle of the goal, turned around, and rear end facing the players. The fun for the players is to see who can shoot the ball and hit the coach’s...seat cushion to put it nicely. Needless to say, I think that was the highlight of the hour of football for the kids, especially the ones who had good aim.

The Business House Tournament also finished up last week. The Peace Corps team didn’t win anything, but considering we always struggled with numbers and most of the players hadn’t played either in a long time or ever, I’m proud of the team. Well done team!

The staff here at FFS held a dinner for me on Saturday night. That was a lot of fun and I enjoyed dinner and cocktails with them. Although, I’m not used to cocktails much anymore since they are usually unaffordable on a PC budget and I am not used to sugary drinks...tummy ache. The dinner was a nice send off though, as was tea this morning. I will miss the staff and being involved in football in Samoa. It has been quite an experience seeing the administrative side of football and I am glad I had the opportunity.

I started packing up my room on Sunday. It finally hit me I’ll be leaving next week. I think getting on that plane next Friday morning will be a bit difficult. This has been home for 2+ years and even with all the ridiculousness of my time here in Samoa, a part of me will never leave the islands.

So this may be my last blog from Samoa, not sure after my sister comes Wednesday if I’ll have another chance to write again. I might continue the blog for a while after I get back to the States, detailing my shock and awe with re-adjustment. We’ll see...too far in the future for now. If this is my last blog, thank you everyone for reading. I have had a good time telling my misadventures as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

I wrote last week about the Futsal tournament being a big success and everyone enjoying the change of pace. Well, now I can be included in that group. Our head groundskeeper is the president of the Adidas Soccer Club and asked if I would play for them in the Futsal Tournament. I didn’t know if I would be allowed to play since I work in the FFS office, but the powers that be approved me playing because at the end of the day I am technically a volunteer and am not paid by FFS.

So after Fun Football with the kids on Saturday morning I headed up to the NUS gym, put on the uniform, and strapped on my indoor boots. I didn’t really warm up since I was a little late so my touch was off in the first half, but I eventually found it and had a good time playing. I kept trying to lead other players with passes and quickly found out that forethought in passing/making runs doesn’t often happen and my passes more often than not ended up out of bounds. We eventually worked it out and I had an assist or two. I’m not a shooter, even though in a small game like Futsal I should have blasted the ball instead of not shooting at all, but I tend to be more of a play maker and defender than a forward. I had fun nonetheless and look forward to the next game on Saturday.

There’s an article in today’s Samoan Observer regarding the Futsal action...photo credit: me! After my game, I was handed the camera to take photos. I really enjoy using the super nice camera, so I had no problem messing around it and pretending to be working.

I’m leaving the office next Tuesday since my Peace Corps service is almost up, so I’ve been trying to finish out projects and transfer files I have that the office staff will need next year. We are having a goodbye dinner for me on Saturday, so that should be fun.

On Friday, Vaigaga Primary School had a festival here at the FFS fields. We set up two rotations, one for the older kids, one for the younger kids. Again, I was in charge of one of the playing fields. This is much more fun than running the drills. The kids can be really funny when playing too. They all have a good time kicking the ball around and some are more serious than others, taking competition very seriously.

We had just started a new rotation of kids, so I handed the red bibs/pennies to a team of six and the others were in white t-shirts. The kids must have been Year 3 or so, around 8 or 9. The red team gathers in front of the goal, hands in, and cheer “Go Red!” Well, not to be out done, the team in white t-shirts sees this and they too gather around their goal, hands in, and yell “Go White!” I was cracking up. The games are only about 4-5 minutes before they rotate, but that group of kids was into it.

The Football Federation just started a Futsal tournament here. So Saturday after fun football with the kids, we headed up to the National University of Samoa gym to watch the competition. Futsal is such a different game from outdoor soccer. It is even different than indoor soccer where you can play off the walls and do a give and go with your self. In Futsal, there are out of bounds and you must kick the ball in while the ball is stationary on the line and you only have 4 seconds to pass it in. This caused lots of problems and teams were penalized often for improper procedure. The goals are smaller and only 5 on a team play at one time. The game is so fast paced, as in indoor soccer, but the ball is smaller too. It was really fun to watch the games and everyone seemed to enjoy the change of pace.

We just had special visitors from FIFA and OFC here. Reynald Temarii, OFC President and a FIFA Vice President, and three others from FIFA and OFC were here for a visit. They had an ava ceremony with the head of state, so all the stops have been pulled for them. It is a big deal though; the VP of the international soccer body came to visit, pretty cool.

My sister comes for a visit in a couple of weeks. I’m excited to see her since it has been nearly 2.5 years since I last saw her. So I’ve been busy making reservations and deciding on what we need to do before I leave; what kind of fun I’ve missed out on and not done in the past 2 years that I need to squeeze in now. I think I’m most excited for her to ride a Samoan bus...can’t wait to see that craziness. I’m a cruel sister I know, but I am the younger one and I’m sure all younger siblings will agree that it is our job to pester the older siblings; it’s what we do best. But in all seriousness big sis...I am very much looking forward to seeing you.

I was at work yesterday morning when the phone rang. I answered it and the guy speaking wanted to talk to my boss, who wasn’t in, so I told him I’d take a message and pass it on. The guy then says, “This is Misa Telefoni.” An alarm went off in my head saying...this guy is important. Misa Telefoni is the Deputy Prime Minister, basically the Vice President of Samoa. So that was pretty cool yesterday. I don’t think I’ll ever talk to someone that important in the USA.

The Peace Corps soccer team is still playing, just 2 more games left. We’ve struggled with getting numbers for every game, even had to play down a player on several occasions. Injuries have also taken their toll on the team. We are for the most part having fun playing, there are some teams though that really need to take it down a notch; this is after all a social tournament, not an official league or anything like that. I can be competitive, but I’m not out for blood like some teams are (or to give people concussions like one of our players received). I enjoy watching my teammates, some of whom have never played before or aren’t athletes, play soccer and I’m quite proud of our team. We have to work much harder to get numbers every week than businesses based here in Apia since most of the volunteers aren’t in Apia. We manage though and have a good time getting some exercise.

I promised one of the players who doesn’t usually play we would go for pizza after the game if she played; we were in desperate need of players so I had to do what I had to do to get players. So we went straight into town for pizza at Italiano’s. Afterwards, we went next door to On the Rocks to split a couple of pitchers of Vailima (the local beer). It occurred to me as we were sitting there just how great of a country this is...I can go to a bar in soccer shorts having just played a soccer game and no one thinks anything of it. Awesome! That is one of the things I will miss about Samoa, you don't really have to be dressed up to go out on the town here. That is perfect for me since I hate dressing up.

Monday was a sad day. Three of my fellow Group 80 members left the country to head back to the USA. It is weird to see your group leave, makes you wonder where 2 years has gone. It seems like it wasn’t that long ago we were newbies and just getting into the country, all of us still strangers to each other. Now we are really good friends and splitting up is hard. It is amazing how close people can become in 2 years in a foreign country. Their departure also means I’m the sole remaining member of Group 80 on my island of Upolu. There are still 6 on the big island of Savaii, but I’m the only one on Upolu...it’s an odd feeling knowing your time is coming soon too.

It isn’t that I don’t want to leave necessarily; I’m ready to go in many ways. However after 2+ years, Samoa is just as much of home as the USA is, so in some regards I’m leaving home too...I’ve gotten used to island life. But it is time for me to go and I know that; got to move on to other things and let life continue. I’m still not looking forward to taking the GRE and applying to grad school; something I need to start preparing for. But for now, I’m still on and island and going to faifai lemu (take it easy).

I wrote about how after the tsunami last year, certain people in my village chose to loot my house and steal anything which I might have been able to salvage. Well, this is a bizarre story of just how far my things reached.

Last Friday, one of the PC staff members had a dinner for Group 80 since we are on our way out of the country, three of my group are leaving later tonight. It was a great dinner…Mexican food: enchiladas, tacos, salsa, guacamole, and for dessert, chocolate cake, ice cream, cookies, and frozen bananas with chocolate…out bellies were delightfully stuffed. Well, I arrive at the dinner after the PC soccer game and see my good friend wearing a shirt which once belonged to me. This was pretty confusing since it had been nearly a year since I had seen the shirt. I told her “nice shirt.” She replied “yeah, I know…I’ll give it back but you have to hear the story first.”

Liz was in her village and sees a sole wearing a shirt she new didn’t belong to him. She asked him where he got it and he told her he got it at CCK (a local discount and thrift store) for $16. She told him she wanted the shirt and to come by her house later. He didn’t come over, but this being Samoa and therefore very small, she was able to track him down via her host family and recover the shirt, which she handed over to me.

The bizarre aspects of the story are:

1) Liz lives in Savaii…the other island. She also lives inland. So it isn’t like she lives in the neighboring village and the shirt washed up onshore. That is a plausible story. To get to her village from my former village is about a 6-7 hour journey if you time it right with buses (bus from the village, bus to the wharf, boat, bus to her village). So someone had to bring it to the village.

2) The shirt just so happened to be an original. My cousin owns a screen printing shop and made the shirt just for me as a Christmas present in 2008. There are only two of those shirts in existence; it isn’t like one could buy the shirt in a store. Liz knew it was mine because I showed it to her when she came for a visit.

I know exactly how the shirt got there. A former counterpart wife’s family is from my friend’s village. So at Christmas when they went to visit (he told me they were going to the big island for the holiday), they took a whole bunch of my stuff with them to their big island relatives. Which is frustrating considering I thought that maybe my counterpart was a friend and would give my stuff back; that didn’t happen because I saw my stuff in their house and was unsuccessful in convincing them to give it back after the tsunami and even tried after the New Year. Oh well, doesn’t much matter now, but it is impressive that my stuff ended up all the way in Savaii. Now that shirt has a really fun story behind it.

Last week was pretty fun. My office mates and I were out monitoring the “Just Play” program so we were out on the field all week. This made for an exhausting week, but much more fun than being in the office. Last Friday, we had a festival for one of the schools. We set up two playing fields big enough for a 6v6 game and two drill areas and then rotated the kids through so everyone got a chance to do everything. We had three or four groups of around 36 kids each. I was put in charge of one of the games; I could tell the kids were having fun as they were playing. One girl who had already gone through the whole rotation was being ball girl for me and asked if they could go again because she enjoyed playing so much. Unfortunately, the answer was no…they had to go back to school.

We monitored a few other schools in the afternoon. The kids really eat this up. For one thing, it is a treat to have good equipment in which to play. Another thing is we are letting them just play as the name of the program indicates. It’s not complicated or hard…all they have to do is kick the ball around. Sure there are drills and little games, but they get to run around and kick a football around…what kid wouldn’t enjoy that? I do have concerns about the teachers actually continuing the program after we stop monitoring, but at least the kids are having fun for now.

This past year, I was a member of the Football Federation Samoa Disciplinary Committee. We sanctioned players when they broke the Laws of the Game. Usually, this involved punishing them for fighting and attacking referees. Yes, attacking referees…you did read that correctly. I never thought I’d see a referee get punched…you just don’t do that in the States. I’ve seen it more than enough times here and it was considered a good weekend when a fight didn’t break out.

Sanctioning players was a little difficult since FFS didn’t have a Disciplinary Code; we had to use the OFC (Oceania Football Confederation, the boss of all the Oceania countries when it comes to football, like FIFA is the boss of all the confederations in the world) Disciplinary Code. Not everything in that applied here and there was lots that needed to be Samoanized (like putting fines in Tala instead of New Zealand Dollars). So that has been my other job for the past week, writing a code of discipline for Samoa.

It wasn’t all that difficult really; I mostly took what was in the OFC code and changed the NZD to WST and put in some other provisions which were applicable to Samoa. But it is kind of cool to be able to say I wrote it. When I came there was no FFS Disciplinary Code and now there is. It is going to be edited by the rest of the disciplinary committee and the normalization committee, so not like it is 100% all my doing, but still…I’m kind of proud that maybe after 2 years I finally have a lasting something (not many of the village projects were really successful in my book). So be ware all you Samoan footballers…there’s a new Disciplinary Code now, no more fighting!

As of today, I have just 30 days left as a Peace Corps Volunteer. It is still hard to believe my Peace Corps time is up. But I’m starting to get excited about being back in the USA. I really want a bagel, deli sandwich, real BBQ, and Mexican food. So I’m pretty sure all of that will happen the day I get back. I’m going to have to stay off the scales for at least three months after I get back…a sacrifice I’m more than willing to make for all that enjoyment in the belly.

Last Thursday was my birthday; the third I’ve celebrated since being in Samoa. I took the day off work to go into town and have a fun day of hanging out. I got breakfast at a new coffee shop/restaurant (a croissant with nutella is amazing!), then caught “Shrek Forever After” with a friend. A restaurant in town was having a July birthday promotion so I brought two friends along and got a free lunch and a glass of champagne. I was then convinced by my guy friends to shoot some zombies on Xbox…I am not good at this and pretty sure I shot my teammates more often than zombies. I went to dinner with eight of my friends at a restaurant that none of us had been to and that turned out to be quite good. After, we had a nightcap at Why Not to finish out the night. All in all a pretty fun day of not doing much of anything, as birthdays should be.The birthday celebration continued through the weekend. My birthday present to myself was a trip scuba diving. We went with Aqua Samoa out of the Aggie Grey’s Lagoon Resort. It was a fun trip, but the seas were rough. My air consumption continues to be really good; I had 130 bar (started out with 220 bar) after the first dive of 35 minutes and 110 bar after the second of 44 minutes. We saw a turtle and had a couple of cool swim throughs (bat fish were waiting for us at the end of the tunnels, which was cool). A day in the water is always a good day.The fun weekend continued with an overnight trip to Savaii. One of my Group 80 Savaii counterparts is leaving in three weeks to extend his Peace Corps experience in the Caribbean and he wanted to hangout this weekend, so I figured since I was almost all the way to the wharf diving anyway I might as well go hangout. There were six of us over at Lusia’s that night enjoying the evening. We had dinner and chatted, then went to the most fun night club in all of Samoa…Evaeva. Evaeva has a live band, a big dance floor, and the cover is only 4 tala…a bargain. Plus, it is always fun to see what kind of dance moves the ridiculously drunk soles come up with (mostly fiafia dance moves which don’t really go with the hip-hop and pop music and that makes it all the more fun). Evaeva is a little sketchy, not really a place a girl should go alone...always have a guy friend or multiple girl friends because drunken soles will want to dance and will “want to know you” but a lot of fun can be had out on the dance floor.In the morning, I walked over the watch the World Cup Final with Jim at Jet Over Hotel. They have a nice big tv and we sat right in front while enjoying breakfast. As I said at the beginning of the tournament, Spain won. I was hoping for the Dutch to win, got to love the crazy orange uniforms, but Spain was too much for them. It was boring in the first half, then picked up and became exciting. I was happy both teams were in it though because whichever team won it meant a first time champion, which is pretty cool.Getting on the ferry was a hoot. It was packed and a good thing the big boat was running; otherwise; I might have had to spend another night in Savaii which would not have been good. Queuing properly does not exist here in Samoa. To get a ticket at the window…massive hoard pushing and shoving their way to the front. To get in the fenced off aisle to get onto the boat…massive hoard pushing and shoving. Sometimes it’s a big pain to be squeezed in with mass amounts of people in the Samoan heat and no air conditioning…gross actually…other times the whole routine is kind of funny, all depends on one’s mood. Best idea is to just accept that this is the way it is nothing can be done about it so you might as well just go with it. And then comes getting off the boat and onto a bus where one has to sit on a lap…oh the ridiculousness. I’m going to be so used to having to push and shove in a line and sit on another’s lap I’ll probably try it in the States, much to the dismay of everyone around.Random story time: A couple of weeks ago I was out with my coworkers monitoring the Just Play program at one of the primary schools. As we were out on the pitch I could hear singing going on in one of the classrooms. It took me a while to realize what they were singing…Justin Beiber’s “Baby, baby, baby” or whatever the name of the song is. I’m not a fan of the annoying teen’s music and was quite saddened that had reached all the way over to Samoa and primary school kids were singing it in class as an assignment…not what the world needs.

Because the 4th fell on Sunday this year, we here in Samoa had to celebrate on Friday and Saturday (there’s a strict no fun policy on Sunday, not really, but Sunday is very much a day of going to church and resting, not much else is considered ok…aka no working or partying). So instead of celebrating our nation’s Independence Day on Sunday, we had 2 parties in the preceding days.

Friday night was the formal party at Sails, a nice restaurant right on the water. Everyone was dressed up in nice clothes, which for Peace Corps Volunteers is a rare thing. Even I was wearing a dress, which if you know me is really a big deal. I have no nice clothes here in Samoa so I had to have one made especially for this occasion. People were shocked to see me in a dress…I’m talking jaws dropping to the floor. It was a nice event complete with dancing, hors d'oeuvres, and free wine and beer. It was a classy event and fun for just the grown ups. And as what usually happens on a Friday night when lots of volunteers are in town, the party moved to V-Bar and Why Not when the formal occasion was over.

Saturday afternoon was the family event, a pot luck get together. People played Frisbee, croquet, and volleyball. Once it got dark, we lit sparklers and watched a slideshow with pictures of the US and fireworks (we can’t light fireworks here, so sparklers and pictures of fireworks had to do). There was a cake in the form of a USA flag and lots of food to go around.

Saturday night was the fa’amavae for my group, Group 80. We swore in as PCVs August 25, 2008 so we are officially done August 25, 2010. Some of our volunteers are leaving later this month to return home or transfer to other posts for a new round of Peace Corps and most of the rest of us late next month or early September, so this was our chance to have a party to celebrate us and say goodbye to people. It was a well done party (malo galue to the other groups for organizing it).

There was a really nice program as well…a slideshow of all of Group 80 in the field doing what we do, a talent show of singing and being musical, as well as the final act of Liz as taupou. Liz looked amazing…she did a great job! The taupou dresses in siapo (tapa cloth) and has a tuiga (traditional headdress) and does a siva samoa (Samoan dance). It was spectacular! The rest of the night was filled with fun I won’t go into on a blog open to the whole world, but we had a great time and it was a wonderful way to say goodbye.

The fun continued yesterday with a tour of the USCGC Kukui out of Honolulu, HI. The US Coast Guard was in town, coming from American Samoa on fisheries inspections. They came to the July 4th event Saturday afternoon and were nice enough to offer us a tour of their ship. That sounded like a pretty cool thing to do, so Sunday afternoon we did just that.

The mission of the Kukui is to maintain buoys and do some fisheries law enforcement. They’ve got a dive team, which I thought was pretty cool. We met Oscar, the man overboard dummy, saw their movie theatre (small but really cool), saw the captain’s chair and all his domain on the bridge, even sick bay and typical quarters for a sailor on board. They were even nice enough to give us official ship hats. It was a fun way to spend the 4th of July.

I was hanging out with other volunteers at Aggie Grey’s last night when they said something about me leaving in a month. I was quick to say it’s not quite a month…but then realized I will be leaving next month…granted at the end of the month, but next month nonetheless. That is a little scary and it continues to creep up on me. I’m leaving home just as much as going home. Adjusting should be interesting.

We kicked off a new program called “Just Play” on Monday. The program is to get kids ages 6-12 playing soccer in school. Our job here at Football Federation Samoa is to train the teachers on football basics so they can deliver the program as we monitor the progress and support them when they need help. The teachers get great materials too. Not only do they get a nice book detailing 12 sessions they can run, but also four ball bags each with two balls, a ball pump, a whistle, eight bibs, four cones, and eight markers. That is an amazing amount of gear and these schools are so lucky to have this gear for the kids.

The course is two days long for each group and we have two groups of 20 teachers and 2 volunteers from a community. We also had two Peace Corps Volunteers who attended the first session. It was nice to see them come from all the way out in Savaii. They enjoyed the course and got some nice gear to take back and run the program out in the rural villages where they live.

Colin, the technical coordinator for the “Just Play” grassroots program, flew in from the Oceania Football Confederation offices to instruct the first group and we here at FFS are now instructing the second group. The course is mostly on the field, so that has been fun being outside instructing people on how to set up a small training session, how to run drills and games, as well as how to effectively run the session.

Days have been long, but seem really short since I get to knock a ball around all day (what a rough job I have this week). Some of the teachers aren’t bad players either so the program should go well.

I was very excited to start this program because it is a true grassroots effort at trying to get a solid foundation for soccer here in the islands. We have some really good players in the National League, but only three youth teams and those are all U-15 boys. So there is no youth league for girls and nothing for the young kids (unless they want to get knocked around by kids several years older). Without a solid foundation, soccer here will not succeed nor grow. So I am excited to see if this program works and stirs interest in the schools so that maybe the Federation can start some new leagues.

I’m excited about the next six weeks as well because we will be out at the schools monitoring the program and helping the teachers deliver the program if they need the help. So I get be out of the office and still be working, which is always good (I don’t do well in offices).

A shout out to the US Men’s National Team...way to finish top of the pool and move on to the next round. I don’t know where I’m going to find a tv, but I will be watching on Saturday morning. GO USA!!!!!

So it turns out that Transam, the company the Peace Corps soccer team played Friday night and lost to, played with a player who is registered with the National League. Registered players can not play in the Business House Tournament and teams who play those players are given a default loss. So the Peace Corps team actually won the game last Friday night 3-0.

Our team practiced last night at Apia Park. We kicked a ball around for a bit and then scrimmaged some soles who were hanging around. It was fun playing pick up with random people; although the field was less than ideal, divots everywhere and grass was a really long which made things interesting (never knew where the ball was going nor if your pass would get all the way you wanted it to go). Samoan soccer, at least with these guys and in most of what I've seen in the league, is very much an individual game. Some of our guys were frustrated trying to get things working, only to pass the ball to a sole and never get the ball back.

We have practice again tonight. Some of our team is very pro-active in the practicing. I didn't want to be too hard with always practicing, but they are calling practices so it is clear they want to win. We have a few new players for our game Friday; hopefully a good result will come out of it.

June 11 to July 11 will be the most exciting month of this entire year…it is World Cup month. I would love to be in South Africa for this!

USA took on England for their first match in the FIFA World Cup. This is a re-match of the 1950 World Cup game where the US (at that time a bunch of nobodies) took on England (the creators of the sport we know as football) and played for a 1-0 victory. According to football legend, in England the result was reported as 10-1 in favor of England. People operating the wire thought the 1 in front of the 0 must have been dropped because there was no way the US could beat powerhouse England. They were quite disappointed to learn otherwise.

This time around the sides were a bit more evenly matched, but US was still a huge underdog. The USA managed a 1-1 tie, which in reality is just about as good as win (at least we got a point out of it). They didn’t necessarily deserve it and the US is lucky they have one of the best keepers in the world between the posts because if Tim Howard hadn’t come up so huge the game would have been 3-1 easy. Also lucky that Clint Dempsey’s shot (while not pretty and should have been an easy, routine save) found the back of the net. But it doesn’t matter how it gets there, only matters that the ball crossed that line. The US did a fairly decent job shutting people down (Rooney for one), but again are lucky Tim Howard is an American. But well played boys…GO USA!!

I was lucky to be able to watch the game since I don’t have a tv. It might have killed me otherwise not knowing what was going on in such a huge game. But our very nice charge de affairs let us have a sleep over at her house and watch the game. The house is so nice…full kitchen (we took advantage of that by fixing a spaghetti dinner), ac, couches and chairs, and best of all cable tv complete with ESPN and Discovery Channel. So it was a pleasure to watch the game in the company of other Americans and at such a nice location. I nearly had a heart attack when Jozie Altidore’s shot was deflected by the keeper and hit the post late in the second half.

The Peace Corps are celebrating the World Cup by playing in the Business House Tournament up here at FFS. We had our first game Friday evening. We lost, but considering most of us have little soccer experience that’s not to be unexpected. We really didn’t do too badly also considering the other team practices and have been a team for a few years and we are a rag-tag team with little experience. I played between the posts for the game and had a few good saves. I also now remember just how much being a keeper can hurt…hitting the ground after a dive seems to hurt more than I remember, reminds me that I had a 2+ year gap in playing. I’m not sore though so that is good.

A bit of randomness here: I was jogging a couple of weeks ago when I saw an owl flying overhead. I didn’t know Samoa had owls, but this one was beautiful. It was a white barn owl (Tyto alba).

Not much is going on at the moment, other than the usual shenanigans of course. My official Close of Service date is August 25th, so I’m counting down the days. I’m starting to get excited about going home, but starting to freak out about it too. I’m not sure I’m truly ready to be back in the US; I’ve gotten pretty used to life here in Samoa (even if it drives me nuts most of the time). My sister is coming down when I leave so that should be fun to be tour guide for her.

I went scuba diving a couple of weekends ago. That was fantastic!! We went on two dives with just a little bit of current, enough to feel it but not too much where it is uncomfortable. The current brought in all kinds of animals. We were swimming in schools of fish. We saw 5 turtles, a school of batfish, and 4 spotted eagle rays. I was nearly on top of one of the turtles before I realized it was below me. When we saw the eagle rays, four were moving in sync with each other which was really amazing to watch. I wish I had a video camera for that. One of the turtles ran head on into a stingray…that was amusing to watch, not what you would call graceful.

Up at the Football Federation we are starting a Business House Tournament for local businesses and organizations, so we’ve been trying to get that organized. It’s a half field, 7 a side, 10 week tournament so it runs right up to my last week here in country. I got a Peace Corps team together so I’m excited to start playing next week.

We are also starting a program called Just Play for the schools. We have 20 schools and 2 communities in the trial run and if it goes well, we will expand from there. The goal is to train 2 teachers from each school in the basics of soccer and then those teachers deliver the soccer program to the kids at their school. The schools get basic soccer kits (balls, bibs, cones, etc) to help them deliver the program to the kids. It should be fun if it goes as planned (but that’s the key now isn’t, making sure the teachers actually deliver the program).

That’s about it though. I’m getting excited for the World Cup, can’t wait to watch as many games as possible (even if they do start at 12:30 am). I don’t have a tv, so at the moment watching any of the games will be difficult, but supposedly the Federation is getting a tv so I’ll be able to watch in the office. GO USA!!

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!

A few weeks ago the Close of Service (COS) conference was held for the group I came to Samoa with 2 years ago…Group 80. This was one of the rare times since we swore in as volunteers and went out to our sites that all 11 of us were together in one spot. These occasions are always joyous and we enjoy hassling each other like the family we have become.

The conference itself was filled with Peace Corps business of assessing sites, what’s next as far as graduate school or jobs is concerned, re-adjustment into American life, evaluating our service and the Peace Corps Samoa office, etc. Really nothing all that exciting but some really good information came out of the meeting which will be very useful in the coming months. Oh the paperwork I have to complete!

The most important issue of COS conference is the feeling of being done and we begin checking out mentally. Once you hit the year mark, only one is left and the countdown begins. Now that we’ve had COS, the reality of going home finally sets in. Being done as a PCV is about 90 days away. The realization of two years having gone by is hitting us all and now is the time to start making plans to go home. This brings up the question of….ok, now what?

Some of us are extending here in Samoa; a few just for a few weeks or ‘til Christmas, but others for a whole year. Others are going straight back home the first day it is possible. And some of us have no idea what to do next. When should I leave? What am I to do when I go home? Should I get a job, which in this financial crisis is nearly impossible to get, or go back to school and get into even more debt than I am already in? Or should I be a lazy bum and not do anything until I come to terms with the fact there are now 3-D tvs on the market, Twitter is a huge thing (you have no idea how long it took us to even figure out what Twitter was in the first place), movies about teen vampires are popular, and everyone I know can update Facebook via their iphone, blackberry, or other mobile devices?

I kinda like the last option…hope you are ready for that Mom!

The other important issue of COS is the saying goodbye to the Peace Corps family. You get on a plane with total strangers and by the end of two years you have 10 brothers and sisters. It is amazing how close one can become in two years. We get thrown into this crazy situation and usually one’s PC brothers and sisters who are the only ones who understand where you are coming from when you tell a story or let out frustration. Saying goodbye is difficult.

Last night marked the first post-COS departure. I said goodbye to a good friend and she’ll be missed greatly. Briony, you are amazing and we’ll all miss you and your laugh which puts a smile on everyone’s face!

I have vacation days I must use before the beginning of June (PC rules say we can’t take vacation within the last 3 months of service). I wanted to go somewhere, just didn’t know where. Tonga, Cook Islands, and Tokelau all sounded interesting but expensive or not easy to get to. So I decided to take the quick, cheap vacation to American Samoa.

Day 1 - Monday

The plane you fly on is a 19 seater prop plane and it wasn’t full at all. I haven’t flown on a prop plane since I was a little kid and my dad flew a tiny little plane here and there. I got to sit right behind the pilots; with a prop plane that small I felt like Indian Jones in Temple of Doom, luckily the pilots decided to not ditch the aircraft and leave the passengers to fend for ourselves (although I would like to try skydiving someday). The flight only takes 30 minutes and the view is nothing but open ocean. I kept looking for something cool like a whale or dolphins, nothing but white caps. As we came into land I saw the gorgeous mountains. They are steep and dramatic, much prettier than in Samoa in my opinion. There is no fringing reef (or at least not much) around Tutuila so the water gets deep really quickly and crashes into shallow coves or right on to rocky out croppings.

We landed and took the five minutes to get through customs/immigration/baggage claim (it’s not a busy airport). I rented a car at the airport for my 4 days. Oh the feeling of driving! Such bliss!! I then started out on my vacation.

I remember growing up watching the old episodes of “Twilight Zone.” I very much enjoyed this old show and the crazy possibilities the writers always came up with. Going to American Samoa was just like an episode of the “Twilight Zone”…it’s America, but Samoa.

I drove past Carl’s Jr/Green Burrito, KFC, & Pizza Hut and noted those were places I must eat at before I left. I’ve never been to Carl’s Jr back in the States; they aren’t in my neck of the woods, but I’ve heard about them from other PCVs who have been. I ended up watching baseball on ESPN while eating a chicken burrito, yum! I drove past the movie theater, high schools, and Ace Hardware. I enjoyed seeing the yellow school buses (both regular size and short bus mind you). The thing which took me a minute to figure out was the buses which went all over the island. They are loud in speaker volume and in paint job just like here in Western Samoa, but looked odd. At first glance they are the same wooden buses as in Samoa, but the front grill was really low and I couldn’t figure out why. I then got a good look and realized the engines were those of Dodge or Ford trucks, the big Ram or F-150 types, and the wooden frame was built on top of the truck base.

I enjoyed driving down the single road to Pago Pago, taking in the coastline as we curved with the natural features of the rugged island. I got into the harbour and marveled at its beauty. Pago Pago harbor is a natural harbor, made from the collapsed caldera of a volcano. The water is blue-green/turquoise and boats of all types are anchored in the harbor. I drove past the US Post Office and police station, past the 2nd McDonalds on the island (yes, you read correctly, there are 2 McDonalds on Tutuila), the Bank of Hawaii, and several restaurants.

I’m not allowed to drive a car while a Peace Corps Volunteer unless I’m on vacation. So I haven’t driven in a while and it has been even longer since I’ve driven on the right side of the road. It is just like riding a bike though. I only had one issue and that was a roundabout. It wasn’t the roundabout which was the problem, it was the direction. I’m so used to driving left around them that if it hadn’t been for a sign indicating I should drive right around it I most likely would have gone left. But no worries, all was ok, no accidents whatsoever.

I drove all the way out to the eastern side of the island that day. I drove past the tuna canneries. The Star-Kist tuna cannery somewhat remind me of the Del Monte banana packaging plant in Costa Rica, not really impressive but produces a lot of goods. I drove through the tiny villages and noted all the western style houses, only a few open Samoan houses. The beaches were beautiful, palm trees and rocky shoreline. I drove all the way until the road ended, turned around and saw it all again. I enjoyed my first look at the islands.

Day 2 - Tuesday

I got up early and went to the National Park of American Samoa. I drove up the mountain and down at about a 45° angle, a little steep. I hiked a little trail which led out to really nice point with a great view. No one was around, just me and the birds. I was surprised to see a frog! There aren’t any frogs here in Samoa, but in American Samoa there are bunches. I was shocked to see it. It reminded me of when I went to Fiji with the girls and we were so enamored by all the frogs there that people probably thought we were weird for being so obsessed with the frogs.

I drove further into the park to do another hiking trail. This was a short trail and took me to a beach. The waves crashed on the rocky beach and to the left was a large rock face with a bunch of arches carved out from the waves. Birds were all around in the jungle above. There are so many white rumped swiftlets around. Driving through the village near this trail I saw people doing exactly what people do in rural villages here in Samoa…play cards, sit around and chat, and wait for buses.

I then drove to Cost U Less. Oh the wonderful smell of bulk goods, large appliances, and patio furniture!! Cost U Less is basically Costco or Sam’s Club. I bought some food and wished I had brought a bigger bag in which to take more back to Samoa. I caught a movie that afternoon as well, of course enjoying “The Backup Plan” with some “Raisinets.”

On the drive home I realized how much I miss driving. There is nothing like the freedom of being behind the wheel of a car, belting out (off key naturally) the words (or what you think are the words) to a song. One thing that struck me is the courteousness of the drivers; they let people out into traffic a lot more than in the US. That being said it is a good thing the speed limit is at most 25 miles an hour, pulling out into traffic when one should not is rampant, glad the brakes on the rental car were good.

Day 3 – Wednesday

I hiked in the National Park again this day. I drove up the Fagasa Pass and hiked up Mt. Alava. The trail was 7 miles roundtrip and I did it in 3 hours 54 minutes (including 40 minutes at the top for pictures, water, and banana chips). The trail was rated moderately strenuous and I believe that. At first it isn’t so bad, then come the rocky inclines which go on for a couple hundred feet. The views are amazing! If you go to American Samoa and enjoy hiking, take advantage of all the trails, you will not be disappointed.

I was the only hiker in the park that day (and yes I know Mom, I shouldn’t hike by myself but what’s a girl to do when she has no one to go with? I’m not missing out on a great time). It was just me and the birds, and the several lizards I startled by tramping through their turf. Lots of species call the mountains home. Most numerous are the white rumped swiftlets. I saw some pigeons and a couple of purple swamphens as well. I saw tadpoles hanging out in a puddle at the top of the mountain.

At the top of Mt. Alava, all 1,610 feet above sea level, there is a cable car station. The cable car no longer runs, but it is fun to see the wires and gears. There is also a tower for tv broadcasts up there too (that is still in operation). From the top, you get great views of the harbour, Rainmaker Mountain, and Mt. Matafao (the highest point on Tutuila). The view is breathtaking. Again, if you go to American Samoa and you like hiking/nature, hike up the mountain. It’s a lot of fun.

After the hike I drove til the road ended in Western Tutuila. Those roads would make any West Virginian proud…steep, curvy, mountain passes. I had a blast winding my way to no where. I went past more beautiful coves and rocky shorelines, past deep drop offs and very nearly ran into a school bus (had to back up so the bus could pull forward so then I could go forward).

I went past Leone and some of the tsunami affected villages. These villages still look pretty bad. Still lots of rubble and plenty of people are still living in tents or shacks. I hope they can get back on their feet soon.

I drove past a high school practicing football. And not the football I work with everyday, but good old American gridiron. I also saw a bus which was marine themed; I tried to take a picture, but could never get a shot.

Day 4 – Thursday

Last day of vacation. I ate a pancake breakfast at Sadie’s Café. The restaurant was nice, I recommend it. The pancakes were a cross between American and Samoan pancakes, kind of odd. They weren’t as light and fluffy as American pancakes, but tried really hard to be, yet looked more like Samoan pancakes. This probably makes no sense, but if you had seen them you’d understand. The half-breed pancakes were good by either standard.

I wasted some more time driving around and doing not much of anything. I bought some more stuff and managed to find a spot for it in my suitcase. I went to KFC for lunch and watched CSI as I enjoyed my chicken and more importantly…the buttery biscuit. I returned the car and sat under the “Big Ass Fan” I kid you not, this was the brand of the fan. I watched ESPN and awaited my departure. My Twilight Zone experience was coming to an end. But not before going through immigration and straight to the plane. No bag check whatsoever. This made me laugh. I’m not sure if TSA has jurisdiction in American Samoa, but if they do they probably wouldn’t be happy at the non-existent security screening. Even the little Fagali’i airport here in Samoa did a little inspection of luggage. Oh well, they know all people want to do when going from American Samoa to Samoa is smuggle in bulk goods from Cost U Less anyway.

So ended the “Twilight Zone” experience. I drank as much “Mountain Dew” and root beer that I could find, especially root beer, I’m kind of addicted…it’s like crack. Spending the US dollar but hearing people speak Samoan was odd. I didn’t notice as many lavalavas as here in Samoa, much more Western style clothing even out in the rural villages. People in rural villages still wave at a palagi driving by. Seeing a high school practicing football was just bizarre, haven’t seen football in person in a while. Sending a package from a US post office was a fun little experience too…I felt like I was home. Watching American TV was of course amazing! I ate a bagel with cream cheese!!

The experience was weird…Samoa, yet America. But I think it made me finally get excited about going home. Up until this point I didn’t think I was ready. I didn’t really want to stay here in Samoa, but didn’t want to go home either (that’s not really a good predicament to be in). After being in American Samoa I think I’m ready to go home. I’m going to freak out over really stupid things and get excited about things I wouldn’t normally get excited over, so much that I’ll probably embarrass whoever I’m with, but that is part of the fun too.

Tuesday concluded the 5 day coaching/women's development course here at the Football Federation. It was run by an Australian elite coach instructor who works for FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation. It was a really good course; I learned a lot. It was a great opportunity for people here to learn more about coaching and women's football, especially since it was free (just about all coaching courses have fees attached). I'm really glad I attended. I look forward to coaching at home.

I haven't played soccer since I graduated from college (university to those who call high school college). This means I've gone 2.5 years with out touching a ball, with exception of the high school alumni game I played in 2 years ago. Either way, it has been a really long time since I was out on the pitch. I was playing in soccer boots made for indoor soccer since that was the only pair of soccer related shoes I own.

Indoor flats + grass (especially wet grass) = not a good idea.

I slipped all over the place...a lot. I'm quite sure that having improper equipment is a major factor as to why my groin felt a little strained by the end of the course. Feels much better now with a couple of days rest.

We got some really nice gear for the course. Shorts, shirts, warm up suit (not going to do any good here in Samoa, but I'll wear it back in the US), and actual soccer boots. This will be nice for coaching the kids on Saturday mornings and any other kicking of the ball I do. No more slipping and sliding all around the pitch.

My job changed once again. I'm now in charge of competitions instead of media. Our former competitions manager decided to switch to media so now I get that fun. Problem is there is no current thought to getting a new competitions manager. While it is good experience, it's not really a Peace Corps job. I'm having a hard time getting that point across to my boss at the Football Federation. Developing football and doing grassroots programs = PC...not doing a job a Samoan could do. Oh well, make the most of it right?

Here's a link to the Samoan Observer article I wrote about the coaching course.

http://samoaobserver.ws/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21373:ffs-develops&catid=34:sports&Itemid=54

In Samoa, the long distance, silent conversations are quite common and usually involve lots of head nodding. People can be on opposite sides of a room or half a football field away and somehow still get the point across. It's quite impressive.

I was walking in town yesterday when I heard a "hey! hey!" I looked over and see this kid I know from Saturday football. He was about 1/2 a block away and I was walking across the street. He asked where I was going, I replied to the store to shop. He replied with a head nod and a smile, then said bye as he went his way. I said bye, then continued to walk down the street. It then hit me what had just gone on...a silent conversation from a distance. Granted is was no drawn out, in depth conversation, but it did get a laugh from a passing Samoan. I then had a smile on my face while walking down the street. I've apparently not lost all of my villageness and can still hold the silent conversation.

A bit later, I get stopped by a man. He shook my hand and said hello. He then asked if I liked it here. I said "yes, it is nice." He then cocks his head and says "Peace Corps right?" I smiled and said "yes." Then we conversed in Samoan. He asked what I was doing; I told him I work for the Football Federation and he asked some other questions. We wrapped up our conversation after a bit and I proceeded to the store. It did make me smile when I thought about it...he instantly knew I was Pisikoa.

My job here with the Football Federation of Samoa continues to evolve. Most of my work used to be on Saturdays. Saturdays involve me playing coach to the kids, organize/supervise ball kids for the games, help the referees if they need it, sometimes play 4th official, and pay the referees. I would help in the office during the week as well. I organized/filed all the referee reports, went through the reports and made a spreadsheet of top scorers, I helped a player with a visa so he can go to New Zealand and play, and various other random jobs around the office. Not really exciting, but what office job is?

Now I have a whole new area of work. I was appointed to the Disciplinary Committee as secretary. I, along with 2 lawyers, decide punishments for players who have received a red card. Many of the punishments are the standard 1 game suspension, but some involve multiple game suspension and fines. This is interesting to me. I do have a football background so I know what is appropriate in the game and what's not. I'm learning a lot about the ins and outs of football from a technical side. Everything has to be done a certain way and a decision has to be made following a certain set of rules. It's a good experience; I'm enjoying it.

I'm now the interim Media Officer as well. This is a whole new aspect of a job. I'm a marine biologist; I have no journalism or media background at all. Well, that's not entirely true. I was on the yearbook staff for 2 years in middle school, but as far as I'm concerned that doesn't really count. Now I'm in charge of contacting tv stations, writing press releases and articles, and taking photos. I like taking pictures so that part of the job I enjoy a lot, especially because the camera is awesome!

It is amazing at the variety of jobs I've done while in Peace Corps. I've worked with a marine protected area, written grants, organized a bunch of programs (sewing clinic, rubbish seminar, animal de-sexing clinic), etc. Now I'm doing a variety of jobs for FFS. PC always say be flexible and do the job which needs to be done, and I think I've accomplished that. It amazing the new skills and confidence I've gained.

I'm taking part in a course here at FFS about the development of women's football. This is exciting for me. As I think I've written before, I think I might go back to the US and do some coaching. So this course is a good experience for me. We had a little 4v4 tournament today. That was the first time in 2.5 years I've played soccer, aside from the high school alumni game I participated in before coming to PC. I'm a lot rusty and have the touch of a brick wall (course some of that can be blamed on me being a goalkeeper too). Maybe my the end of the course I'll be a bit more to form.

There aren’t many good lightning storms here in Samoa. If there is lightning, most of it is cloud to cloud, all you get is some rumbling. There is very little of the make you jump out of your knickers lightning which I find fun to watch. Of course there is always an exception to this. I remember back in February I think it was: I was sitting on the porch of the fale palagi my host family owned writing in my journal. It had been a rainy day with some distant rumbling. The 2 girls were hassling me as usual, asking all kinds of questions. All of the sudden a flash and a loud crack! The girls went running inside to the safety of their mom’s embrace. I have never seen them so scared. The lightning was really close; it seemed to hit the house next door. They kind of reminded me of the sheltie (Lily) my family had. Every time there was a storm she would run to my mom. If Mom was in the study, Lily would be under the desk cowering at Mom’s feet. Or if Mom was relaxing on her reclining chair, Lily would be up in the chair too, as far back and pressed as hard against my mom as she could possibly get. Many times my mom had to stop doing what she was doing just to sit with the scared dog we had. Poor pup. I grew up in the Midwest (St. Louis) which is in the region of the US known as Tornado Alley due to the massive amounts of tornados those states get, moved to Huntsville, AL which according to one statistic is the 5th most dangerous city for frequency of long track F3-F5 tornados, and then went to college in Florida and when you think Florida, think thunderstorms and hurricanes (along with sunshine, Disneyworld, oranges, beaches, and key lime pie if in Key West of course). I have many memories of tornado drills in school where we went out to the hallway and curled up into a ball with our hands over our necks and noses to the ground or crouching in the closet under the stairs while at home or hurricane parties and waiting out the hurricanes with my cousins in Florida. I’ve lived in places which get good storms so I guess I enjoy watching the raw force of nature. We had heat lightning in the clouds during the soccer games on Saturday. The games continued through the flashes going on above. I found this a little odd that flashes of death were going on above and we were still allowed to have a full set of games. I guess this stems from Florida which gets heat lightning all the time and I have many memories of being at soccer practice or a game and seeing our athletic trainers holding a lightning meter, measuring how far away the lightning was from the field. If the lightning was within a certain mileage (I think 3-5 miles), we had to go inside until ½ hour after the last lightning strike was measured to be with in that mileage. But that is Florida, the lightning capital of the US. Monday night we had a pretty good lightning storm. There were lots of flashes, but only rumbling, very few real cracks of thunder. Tuesday was a very wet day. The weather has been very dry the past few weeks and the islands were in desperate need of some rain. The soccer fields are looking brown and the water levels in rivers are low. As the rain came down yesterday, I thought I might need a canoe to run my errands in town as rivers were sprouting up where the water was running off. Luckily by the time the afternoon rolled around, the heavy rain was done and all that was left were sprinkles of drizzly rain. Today is looking better, cloudy, but still plenty of sunshine.

I wasn't robbed at gunpoint so don't worry. A Westpac bank in Vaitele (just outside of Apia) was robbed Thursday. It's the first bank robbery ever in Samoa. Here's the front page of the Samoan Observer from Friday morning.

And the link to the article:http://www.samoaobserver.ws/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20945:robbed-at&catid=50:headline&Itemid=62

Here's a few other links to articles:

http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/first-armed-bank-robbery-in-samoa-3455463

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10637344

In other news not nearly as exciting...at the football (soccer) games on Saturday I was the 4th official for one of the games. I recorded goals and substitutions. I'd never done this before so I didn't really know what I was doing, but it turned out to not be very complicated. Luckily the game wasn't complicated by yellow or red cards and no fights. So it was a good experience.

Before I forget, here are some pics of the new place:

First off, my little room. It's not much, but does have a ceiling fan and hot water in the bathroom.Next the kitchen, oven & stove top as well as a fridge. Lots of counter space too.

Mustn't forget the microwave. And yes, I do make popcorn in it. There used to be a toaster, not really sure what happened to it.

The washer is really nice to have. The spin cycle makes all the difference...dry the next day even when left indoors. Amazing!

This is a panoramic of the complex. The fields are in the backyard as well as the mountains. A pretty waterfall pops out when it rains.

So that is the living situation for the next 4 months. I'm never late for work since the office is above me. I have security guards who patrol the grounds and lock/unlock the gate for me when needed. So not bad. Can't complain about housing that's for sure.

I finally got more than one day for a weekend and it was spectacular. I had Friday through Monday off…wonderful! Since I work 6 days a week now, I don’t get much of a weekend. I do get a ½ day every week to take whenever I want to, so I took mine Thursday afternoon and started my Easter weekend early by meeting a couple of volunteers at the movies. Afterward I ran some errands, which surprisingly were productive and I got a lot done (this doesn’t happen very often because I always get distracted or can’t find what I need).

I met the people I went to the movies with at the Peace Corps office and they convinced me to go to Faofao beach fales for the weekend. I had been thinking of going to Savaii since I need a vacation off this island; however, since this past weekend is one of the most traveled weekends in Samoa I didn’t want to deal with the really crowded buses and boats. John had rented a car which made the deal even sweeter. We Peace Corps Volunteers have a fondness for Faofao as it has been a great place for us to get away when we need too. They take care of us at Faofao and we enjoy going. Faofao is in Aleipata, the area which was hit the hardest by the tsunami back in September. Right after the tsunami, we couldn’t even tell where Faofao had been even though we had been there several times. When the other PCVs told me they were going to Faofao and invited me, I was very hesitant to go. Back in December when my Mom and Aunt were here just driving through the area was really hard for me. I didn’t know how I would react if I went for the weekend. But I decided to see how I would do, knowing I wanted to go back sometime.

We decided to be true tourists that day and stopped at Togitogiga Waterfalls to go for a dip in the cool water. We also did the coastal walk there as well. I highly recommend this do anyone coming to Samoa. I had no idea it was as amazing as it was. The path to get to the car park is 4 km and is an adventure in itself. The 1.8 km trail takes you through a jungle of pandanus and overlooks the crashing waves. There is no barrier reef on this section of the south coast so the water is deep and crashes powerfully against the large sea cliffs. Natural bridges and amazing rock formations have been cut by the strong waves. There is also a lava field and blowholes at the end of the path. It is a pretty cool thing to do and I wish I had done it sooner.

I am very impressed at how well they have done getting Faofao back up. They have 6 fales built and are in the process of building more. They have a large dining/hanging out area complete with a bar which John’s students at Don Bosco built. The beach looks great as does the coral which was really surprising considering the destruction 6 months ago. None of the fales have electricity, which adds to the rustic nature of the resort. I don’t know if they plan on putting electricity in or not, but for now a kerosene lamp will have to do (or the light of your cell phone). Six of us went and had a very enjoyable time talking, swimming, walking the beach, reading, etc. The typical things one does while relaxing on a beach with friends. Benj found a kite surfing board so we messed around with that while swimming in the ocean. We had a perfect day for the beach too, sunny and warm (course that describes most days here). The sunrise Saturday morning was one of the most beautiful I have yet to see. We left early Sunday morning to get back to Apia; I could have used another day of that gorgeous beach, but we had to get back.

I was able to fix my bike and ride it into town on Monday. I had problems with the pedals locking up (it did go through a tsunami and somehow still works, course this is mostly thanks to Jim and Trent who fixed it up for me). I sprayed lubricant on it a lot and the pedals still locked up, causing me to nearly tip over when I rode it to the next village to shop for my family; luckily I was coming back from the shop and didn’t have far to walk back. Somehow yesterday they decided to be nice and not lock up; I’m thankful. It is 3-4 miles I guess from my house to the PC office. Going there wasn’t so bad, mostly downhill. I thought I would die going back since it is mostly uphill, but thankfully my heart didn’t explode. It turned out to not be nearly as bad as I thought I was going to be, even though not all the gears on the bike work. Running and biking are very different and I’m in ok shape running wise (not going to run a marathon or anything, but can run a few miles no problem), but didn’t know how biking would suit me. I didn’t use the bike much when I lived on the south side. Once, I did ride 12 miles (in the rain) to Siumu and 12 miles back the next day…that about killed me. But today after the bike ride, only my bum hurts from the seat. So now that I know I’m not going to die from riding the bike I’ll have to do that more often. No cars hit me either which is a big plus too.

As to be expected, life here in Apia is not the same as in rural Samoa. I lived with a family for 3 months of training, then on my own tua for 13 months, then with a family tua for 5 months, and now I’ve been on my own in Apia for 1 month now. I had very much gotten used to life in rural Samoa. Here are some observations:

1) It rains a lot less here on the north side of the island than on the south.

2) There are a lot of cars and they are all in need of a repair/I need to break into the car and liberate their subwoofers. I knew this before, but it is even more apparent when they drive past me while I’m running and I inhale so much exhaust fumes I know I just took 2 years off my life (I miss running in clean, fresh air) or they drive past my windows at all hours of the night with ridiculous bass one would not expect here in Samoa. It is kind of like the bus, you hear it before you can see it. Ear plugs are amazing!

3) I haven’t stepped in pig nor chicken feces in a month now – brilliant!

4) I haven’t eaten breadfruit/taro/ufi in a month now – I liked breadfruit, but don’t miss the others (a little dense on the starches for me).

5) I can buy steak in various forms (stir fry, sirloin, etc), ground beef (called ground mince here), and even boneless…yes, you read correctly, boneless…chicken breast from the grocery store. Best part is…the cuts are not 80% fat nor salted way beyond anyone’s sodium intake needs for at least a week like the meat you get tua…I’m amazed and enjoying adding flavor into my diet!

6) I bought lettuce! I think that says enough right there.

7) All I need to say is MEXICAN FIESTA NIGHT! Super excited for that!!!!!

8) Now that I work for the Football Federation, I have computer and internet access from 8-5 M-F. Pretty sweet!

9) I haven’t eaten Ramen noodles for breakfast in a month (nor rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for that matter). I’m a big fan of breakfast so Ramen for breakfast was slowly killing me I think, just not a breakfast food to me.

10) Sadly, I haven’t eaten papaya in a month either. I need to make a trip to the market and buy some.

11) I haven’t worn a puletasi in a month. Being a soccer office, dress code is relaxed. No need to wear a puletasi when casual clothes will do.

12) I have AC from 8-5 as well and ceiling fans are amazing.

13) Even though I’m in Apia, since I’m on a sports compound (no houses), I don’t hear dogs at night. I’m so glad to not have to yell at the dogs at 3 am for making too much noise fighting and…etc.

14) Unfortunately, I don’t speak Samoan quite as often as I used to so I’m pretty sure I will lose much of the language I’d picked up over the past 22 months. That truly is a shame.

15) Power still goes out at least once a week, but doesn’t stay out for hours and hours like tua.

16) I have not had issues with no water in a month…and it comes out of the tap clear, definitely not used to that (and it is warm!).

17) Running isn’t viewed as weird as it is tua. But then again, I do live on a sports compound so that might have something to do with it. People run in town on the seawall too, so it isn’t just that I live on a sports compound, people actually understand the benefits of exercise. People (soles & kids) are still cheeky about it though, disturbing me while I run with obnoxious comments. Oh well, just have to get used to that; I do stand out being a white girl after all.

18) I used a hole puncher today…haven’t used one of those since pre-PC.

19) In the month I’ve been here, I’ve had more centipedes than in my time tua. I have had 3 to deal with compared to just 2 tua: one fell on my while I was reading in bed, I stepped on another (lucky it didn’t bite me), and the third was monstrous and even though I sprayed it with Mortein, it still wasn’t paralyzed and crawled off to where I couldn’t get to it.

20) I read the paper everyday (the Federation gets the Samoan Observer delivered everyday). At least I look through it since most of the articles aren’t really worth reading.

That’s all I can think of for now; I know there are more differences. At some point I will get pictures of the new site up.

When you apply for Peace Corps, they tell you to be flexible and don’t have expectations. This makes sense; don’t get your hopes up for a certain country or job and then be disappointed when you go somewhere else doing something else.

When I got my invitation packet I was told I’d be going to Samoa to be a marine science teacher at a junior secondary school. Not gonna lie, I wasn’t really excited about that. I do not think I’d make a good teacher (even if it was marine sciece), but I decided it would be worth a try. I get into training and I go out to a village and become a jack of all trades, none of that involving being a full time teacher. My main project was the marine protected area: clam farming, fish houses, coral gardening, creating a species list and a promotional flyer explaining what a marine protected area is. I was excited about this. Getting to work in my field right out of college, snorkeling whenever I wanted to and that being work was fantastic. Other projects include: working with a government ministry to hold a sewing clinic to teach the women how to use the sewing machines we got through a grant from New Zealand Aid, obtaining books and computers for the primary school, holding a rubbish seminar to explain why trash should not be thrown on the ground, obtaining funding for a spring fed pool for use when the pipe water is contaminated or shut off, and holding a dog and cat de-sexing clinic. And now I work with Football Federation Samoa developing soccer in Samoa. All over the place with jobs I’ve done here in Samoa.

Sites have been very different; going from rural Samoa to the big city (ok, not that big but for Samoa Apia is the only city like urban area). As far as housing is concerned I’ve been all over the place. First, by myself but having villagers stay at my house to “leoleo” (protect) me, to totally by myself, then post-tsunami living with a family, and now a site change to Apia where I again live by myself.

It’s funny about my current job. I have, again, a jack of all trades position. I’ve done simple data entry into a database registering players for the National League, looking up drills and creating a packet of activities we can use on Saturdays for the Fun Football program for kids, designing a newsletter template and contributing to the newsletter, supervising ball kids and referees. I never thought I’d be working in a national soccer office, working with players on a national team. Pretty cool when I think about it. I never thought I’d be in any kind of soccer development role such as I find myself in currently. I thought maybe when I go back to the US I’d strap on the old boots again and see if they still fit after I hanging them up at the end of my last college game. I figure I’ll join a league, maybe do some coaching. Now that I’m involved with the game as much as I am, I realize once it is in your blood, it never leaves.

I only have about 4 months left here in Samoa; I’m a bit curious as to what else might be thrown my way. I can honestly say PC has been an experience like no other. I wanted a bit of adventure and I surely got what I asked for (I need to learn to keep my mouth shut). It has been the toughest 2 years of my life for a lot of obvious reasons and some not so obvious, but it is experiences like this one which show you who you are. I’ve learned a lot about myself, but that also ends up leading to more questions. Not really sure where I was going with this blog; I guess this is one of those stream of thought posts. Oh well, I should probably get back to work.

Even though I no longer live in Salesatele I do want to help them finish re-building the pre-school. The old pre-school was destroyed in the tsunami last September and the village is trying to get funds together to build a new school for the kids. It is being constructed in a better location out of the way of any future tsunamis which might come. You can donate at the following link:

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=491-015

Thanks so much.

Last week was a bit sad with saying goodbye to my host family. I had the best fa’amavae I could ask for however. Wednesday night we went over to my host sister’s (Anita) parents’ house for dinner. Her parents lived right next to me pre-tsunami and were always very nice to me, giving me bananas, cucumbers, etc. After dinner, they had the kids do a sort of fiafia for us. The kids sang whatever songs they could remember from the radio, pre-school, Sunday school, etc. One of Anita’s sisters was in from Apia and her son did a hilarious Michael Jackson dance. He was moving his hips, bending his knees, and had arm movements to go along with it all. I was cracking up, as was everyone else. We stayed really late into the night, but it didn’t seem like we had been there that long. I really like all of Anita’s family, so they are people I will miss.

We went back to our house and I gave my family going away gifts I had bought in Apia. We chatted for a while and played with the kids. In the morning, the PC office came to pick me and my stuff up. Unfortunately, the kids were off playing and Salesa (my host brother) was already in Apia so I didn’t really get to say goodbye to them. Anita got a ride to Apia with me and that goodbye was really rushed and abrupt as well. I did tell them I have every intention of visiting them in New Zealand after my PC service so perhaps that is why the goodbyes were virtually non-existent. I really do want to visit them in NZ and that is the plan, but one never knows what could happen. Oh well, I suppose this way was better than some long, drawn out, awkward goodbye. I will miss them however.

I’ll miss nothing but the same movie over and over again. The girls get into streaks of nothing but Cinderella, Miss Congeniality, or Harry Potter (not that those are bad movies, but everyday, multiple times a day is a big much, at least I have 5 Harry Potter’s to choose from). I’ll miss coming back from Apia (where I’ve been working over the weekend) and hearing little Charin say “Malo Ta’a” (ta’a means hanging out in a bad way, so she is basically saying Hello/nice job being lazy and not working). But that’s ok because I tell her when I wake up earlier than she does “Malo moe umi” or “Hello late sleeper.” I’ll miss getting off the bus and having the girls run towards me saying “Rita!” Of course, this is mostly because they know I always bring a treat for them.

Oh well, life moves on and we must adapt. I moved into my new house just Monday and started work at the Samoa Football Federation. I have a room with a bathroom inside and have access to the kitchen in the Federation offices. It is a nice kitchen too…fridge, microwave, oven, stove top, toaster! I can’t wait to bake cookies. I have access to the washing machine…used it last night, amazing! Most of my clothes were dry by this morning; it is amazing what difference a spin cycle makes. And I found out last night while showering….wait for it….hot water! Ok, all you Samoa PCVs (and other country PCVs who may be reading this as well) try not to get to jealous; I had to brag a bit. I have a ceiling fan as well…life is rough.

As far as the actual job is going: Right now I’m doing office work…data entry trying to get players registered on a database with the Oceanic Football Confederation (who oversees us and FIFA oversees them). I put together some training lessons for use with the Fun Football program we do with kids every Saturday morning. Office work isn’t my thing (I’m more of a hands on, get a little wet and dirty doing marine biology type gal) but I can rock a desk for five months…and besides, it relates to soccer so I’m ok with doing office work, for a bit anyway. Besides…I got some sweet gear for working here, so it has its benefits. I work with nice people too so it’s all good. I look forward to seeing what other tasks I’ll do. The job description has me doing a bit of everything really. Key aspect of Peace Corps is be flexible, so I’m game for whatever the job brings.

Friday night I received a text around 10:30 pm from the Peace Corps office which told of the 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile, stay tuned for possible tsunami warning. I got another text around 1:30 am saying there is now and official tsunami warning and the tsunami is expected around 9 am. This was followed by a phone call at 2:30 am saying the same thing. Well, given my recent experiences with tsunamis I was in no mood for another round. I was perfectly safe, staying with friends up a mountain, but I remember the aftermath of the other tsunami and didn’t want the country to have to go through that again. When you go through something like that it tends to stick in your mind forever.

At 4 am, the tsunami sirens started going off every 20-30 minutes. The sirens are only in Apia however. Pretty soon the sound of the sirens was followed by the sounds of church bells and conch shells being blown to alert people. Needless to say I didn’t really sleep much after that. Not only was the noise bad for a light sleeper like me, but I was still thinking about what would happen if another tsunami hit this island country 6 months after the first. At 6 am, my concerned parents texted me about the tsunami warning. Guess they didn't want another episode like last time of knowing I lived on the south coast of Upolu and not knowing for hours whether I was ok or not...understandable.

I heard from other volunteers who were around the town area trying to get uphill that everything was shut down. Not one store or restaurant open and no buses or boats were running as well. Police had barricades up which didn’t allow anyone to get into town and were directing traffic inland. Well, 9 am when by…nothing. Pretty soon 11 am rolled by and no tsunami so the warning was cancelled. I was relieved…a stressful Saturday morning however.

I had a meeting yesterday and have some good news. I have a job and a place to live! I won't be in the village anymore, but I'll take it. I don't have much work in the village anymore and not having a place to live is a bit problematic.

I'll be working full-time for the Samoa Football Federation on various projects and living in Apia. I'll be helping with a grassroots soccer program where we bring soccer to the villages and encourage them to play, youth programs, and technical aspects of developing soccer here in Samoa, as well as continuing to help with the Saturday soccer matches.

I'll have a pretty nice set-up for housing as well: microwave, full-sized fridge, toaster, oven, and stove-top...talk about getting spoiled. But after the ridiculousness of the past year and a half I'm ok with that. It will be a bit weird to live on my own again, but I enjoy cooking so I look forward to it.

I move out the same time my family leaves for New Zealand and will start the new job March 1. I'm excited for this new opportunity. I never thought I'd be helping the game of football in this manner, but I look forward to the opportunity.

So I'm glad it worked out well for me. I was stressing quite a bit Monday and Tuesday when I realized these next couple of weeks could be my last in Samoa. It hasn't always been rainbows and sunshine here but I wasn't ready to leave the mountains and coconuts just yet, so I'm thankful to be able to finish my service.

A couple of weeks after I moved in with the family I currently live with I found out they were planning on moving to New Zealand. This was bad. I was still adjusting to life post-tsunami and was starting to get used to living with a family. I told the office this and kept updating them on the situation as it developed. The paperwork, as the nature of paperwork, kept getting returned and delaying the process to where I knew they weren't leaving until sometime past the New Year. So it had somewhat fallen off the radar, especially while I was on vacation for 3 weeks around the holidays.

I got back from vacation and they were still trying to sort paperwork out. Ok, I have time I thought. Then it became "everything is good, just waiting to hear back from Immigration here in Samoa." This was problematic, meant it would be sometime soon. My family picked their visas up last week. The visas are valid until May 4th. So that means sometime between now and May 4th they leave. Not good. This means for the 2nd time in 6 months I'm homeless.

Yesterday, they got tickets from their relatives who were paying for them...valid for Feb 26th. I now have 17 days to find someplace to live. Really not good.

The village's plan for me was to move back into the pre-school. Well, it isn't finished. The outer walls are done and the roof, but no shower, toilet, doors, walls or windows...and no electricity. Again, really not good.

So we have 17 days to finish the pre-school. It is possible, but not likely since we have no money nor supplies to finish it. We are still waiting on two proposals to go through to get the funding to finish it. Not looking good.

But, the village is re-building some buildings near the church and the pastor's wife is going to talk to the matai to see if we can borrow some supplies, finish the pre-school, then replace those supplies when the grants go through. Problem is, I don't think they have the right supplies for this style of building (open vs closed house makes a difference in necessary supplies). Plus, getting things done quickly is always hard to do here.

So, the next week will be very interesting. If they can't complete the pre-school in 17 days (or even soon after), I might be moving to Apia. This depends though on if I can find a job and housing. Housing is the biggest issue, quite scarce in Apia. We are trying to see if I can work for the Football Federation more hours, but I doubt they have anything more I can do since it is a small operation and still in development. Or, I might be coming home, an option I'm not too fond of nor ready for.

So I have a very stressful week ahead of me, especially not knowing if this is the last few weeks I have in Samoa.

In the past year and a half I don’t know how many times I’ve asked if there is a waterfall or anything fun to hike to. Response was always no. My host family had some visitors from Australia in a few weeks ago and I came to find out there is a waterfall only 10 minutes from the house. So I convinced my host family to take me one day. It is an awesome waterfall!! The pool is so cool, refreshing, & deep. You can climb the rocks to jump from halfway up or from the very top (about 40-45 feet). It was a nice outing and I really enjoyed the fun change of scenery. I very much look forward to going back.

I finished the proposal for the new pre-school. Finally! It took a while to put it all together. I don’t know how many drafts of the budget we had to go through, but I’m glad it is all done. I’m not as busy as I should be since work has decreased a lot in the past few months so I’ve been looking for something else to do to fill my time. I found a new opportunity through my boss and Saturday was my first day.

I now help the Federation Football of Samoa on Saturday mornings with their league games. Mostly I organize and supervise the ball kids and I’ll be helping with the kids’ hour as well (coaching kids how to play soccer, should be fun). It is nice to be around soccer again and I realize how much I’ve missed it. Nice to have a day of all soccer again, just like the old days of soccer tournaments. I’ll be helping them every Saturday through the end of April, so I should get my fill of soccer.

I definitely needed a break from it after college, but a 2 year break was a little long. I look forward to joining a league when I get back to the US just to play again. There is a team here who wants me to play for them, so we’ll see if I do. It would be nice to strap the boots on again.

My Mom and my Aunt Sandra came down for a visit about three weeks ago and then we all went to New Zealand and Australia for a week each country. It was a great vacation; I needed a little break from tropical islands (not that they aren’t great, but a little change is always good).

Vacation started out really interesting and the end to the Samoa part ended in true Samoan style as well. I was waiting in the hotel for a car to be dropped off so I could go pick up my visitors from the airport. The rental company said they’d drop it off at 4 pm. So when 4:15 rolled around and no car, I called them. No answer. It was a Sunday…of course no answer, even if the advertisement says open 7 days a week until 4:30. This shouldn’t have surprised me. I called around to other rental places…few answered phones it being Sunday and the few who did either had no cars or wanted my first born for the car. So when the time came and I still had no car I jumped in a taxi and headed to the airport. I explained what happened and my mom and aunt didn’t seem to mind. We called other companies Monday and got a car. At least that worked out.

Well, trying to get the car back was fun as well. We had a flight out early Christmas morning, 12:15 am. We wanted to drop the car off Christmas Eve at 8 pm. We made sure this was ok and we weren’t going to ruin any Christmas Eve plans and took the car for our 4 days in Samoa. We show up Christmas Eve at 7:40 to drop the car off. No one is there. We call and call, no one picks up. We debate what to do…leave it here where who knows what could happen to it next to a busy road or take it to the airport. By the time 8:30 rolls around we decide if they aren’t home to take the car back, then we are taking it to the airport and figure it out later. We left a nice note and went to the airport. We called them the next day and they didn’t seem to mind at all us taking the car and hour outside of town to the airport when that wasn’t the agreed upon plan, but then again they weren’t home to take the car and this is Samoa where people are incredibly laid back. Adventure with cars…at least the driving on the left side of the road with the wheel on the left as well after not having driven in a year and a half went well.

Samoa Vacation:

Mom, Sandra, and I went up to Robert Louis Stevenson house. I’d been up there before for the 4th of July party, but had never been inside the house. The house is gorgeous and the grounds are even more beautiful. Well worth the time to check out if one is in Samoa. We checked the markets out and they were impressed by the variety of fruits and handicrafts one can buy. They enjoyed seeing the police band march from the police station to the government building to raise the flag. Not everyday some one sees this, unless you happen to live in Apia of course.

We went to Savaii and enjoyed Manase. Funny story: We didn’t have reservations for the ferry and were waiting in line. All of the sudden they had us motor up to the front, skipping at least 15 other cars, to literally squeeze in the back of the big boat. It was a tight squeeze and I was worried we were going to take the mirror off. The guys at the ferry are very good at giving directions and even the Samoans were impressed by the tight squeeze with no damage to anyone’s car.

Another fun Samoa story: I called the place we were staying three times for various reasons and confirmed each time we needed 3 places to sleep. We go to check in…only a double bed. Why does this not shock me either? We had to stay in a totally different room, instead of a beach fale right on the water. No big deal really, but kind of frustrating when I told them at least 3 times we needed a room for three.

We drove around Savaii and my mom and aunt enjoyed the beautiful scenery that is Samoa. We stopped at the Taga blowholes which are always impressive. We drove to Salelologa and waited for the ferry. I had to back into the little boat….that was a little scary, but again, those guys are good at directing the cars onto the ferry.

We drove to the resort on the southside of the island and finally got our beachfront fale. One can’t get out of Samoa without staying in a fale complete with mosquito netting. My mom and aunt found this cute, but didn’t want to make it a regular thing (understandable).

We had lunch the next day with my host family. We were all excited about this. My family has heard a lot about my most family and visa versa. My mom and aunt especially enjoyed the two girls, as usual they were showing off…funny kids. I took them to see where my house once was…I think they were a little shocked to see it in person; it is a little hard to believe. My mom and aunt really enjoyed driving through Le Mafa Pass, gorgeous scenery. They were impressed at the beautiful mountain scenery (even being West Virginians).

We headed to the airport after dinner in town and we eager for vacation in New Zealand, even if it meant skipping Christmas (crossed the International Date Line).

New Zealand:

We took a city tour bus we could hop on and hop off so we could see just what we wanted. First stop was Takaparawha Regional Park...gorgeous views of the city and surrounding bay and a beautiful garden in the middle. We stopped at Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World for some views of fish, sharks, and penguins. The baby penguins were so fuzzy and cute. The Auckland Museum had a great display of Maori and Pacific treasures as well as Greek and Egyptian artifacts. Last stop was the Skytower, 328 metres tall. Awesome views of the city and harbour.

Auckland was a cool city, very modern and clean. I enjoyed the shopping, sandwiches (hard to get good ones in Samoa), good coffee, etc. 1.5 years on tropical islands re-adjusts the perspective on things and going to a huge, developed city like Auckland was great.

Wellington was pretty too. We took another bus tour we hopped on and off. We drove past the Beehive and parliament buildings, botanical gardens, and some wildlife parks. Just not enough time for everything. We did stop at the cable car and took that down to the city center…that was fun. We of course did some more shopping. We went to Te Papa and enjoyed the Pompeii exhibit. They had some really neat interactive computer exhibits where you can look at 360 views of the excavation. Also a really neat 3-D movie.

Wellington was hosting the Unicycle World Champs so everywhere we went we saw unicycles. Big, small, kids, adults…so many unicycles!

We had dinner at a steak and seafood boat. I ordered a steak and a red wine; both were spectacular. The steak was one of the best I’ve ever had and my face apparently showed it. My aunt said I looked like a kid on Christmas morning. Good steak is hard to come by and expensive here in Samoa…so 1.5 years without a good cut of meat was rough. My tummy was very pleased that night.

We took the ferry over to the south island. Amazing! It is so beautiful crossing the strait. So many postcard opportunities. We then took a train from Picton to Christchurch. This too was amazing! Sheep on the hills, fur seals on the rocks, black sand beaches, so many birds of prey on fence posts and in trees. I was jealous of all those camping in such scenic areas. But the sleet would have made things not so much fun…although 1.5 years in the tropics, I rather enjoyed the cold when we got to hop off the train for a bit.

We walked around Christchurch and enjoyed the most English city outside of the UK. They had cute architecture and even the red phone booths one sees in London. We toured the cathedral and took a gondola up to mountain to take in the views. The Southern Alps were beautiful in the distance and the harbour surrounded by mountains was breathtaking.

Australia:

First stop was Cairns. I finally got my dives on the Great Barrier Reef. I’ve been waiting years to do this, a lifelong dream actually. It was spectacular. So much diversity and the fish are huge! Massive triggerfish and parrotfish, schools of fish surround you. We saw a rather large White-tip Reef Shark, 6-7 feet long. Tons of anemones with anemonefish and clownfish. Nudibranchs, soft coral, sea whips, etc. Oh, talk about a kid in a candy shop!

Cairns is an interesting city, feels a bit like Key West (without all the Key Lime Pie unfortunately). The wharf is really cool, lots of little restaurants one can eat at and watch all the boats come in from their day on the GBR. There’s a little lagoon pool that overlooks the actual lagoon there, lots of people enjoying the warm, sunny weather. And they have Baskin Robbins….that happened, mint chocolate chip…awesome!

We moved on to Sydney after Cairns. We took a tour bus up to Blue Mountains. Gorgeous! We saw the famous Three Sisters rock formation and the valley in the Blue Mountains. Blue Mountains is apparently a combination of the Smokies (due to the bluish hue similar to that of the Smokies) and the Grand Canyon. I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon so I can’t vouch for that, but it does remind me of the Smokies. We enjoyed the walkway in the bottom of the valley as well as the skyway, which overlooked a beautiful waterfall and had a transparent floor, the cable car, and the world’s steepest railroad (you are pretty much going straight up the side of the mountain, not a usual flat track by any means).

We toured the Sydney Opera House; I love the concert hall, especially the organ. We walked trough the botanical gardens a bit and walked in Circular Quay (complete with street performers). We went to the Rocks, the birthplace of Sydney, and toured the small museum to get a better feel for how Sydney came about. The Rocks is a cute neighborhood, lots of old buildings from Sydney’s founding and quaint shops and cafés.

We even got to see Wicked at the Capitol Theater. I enjoyed the musical and realized how much I missed aspects of palagi culture. A night at the theater was great. We went up in the Sydney Tower before Mom and my aunt left for Hawaii. This tower isn’t quite as tall as the Auckland Skytower, but still impressive views of the city. I had 24 hours in Sydney alone and didn’t do much. Some shopping and walking around, wish I had made the flight a few days later to have more time to really do something. I enjoyed just relaxing and being in a big city.

I’m back out to the village today. Not sure what to expect. I’m sure the girls in my host family have missed me and were asking where I was the whole time I was on vacation (my host sister says they do this). But vacation is over and it’s back to work.

I haven’t been able to upload a new post in a while. I’ve been on vacation in NZ & AUS and I tried to upload a new one before I left, but a virus on the thumb drive prevented that. Anyway, here’s what I meant to post before I left for vacation. Pretend it is December 20th.

I’ll get a new post up about vacation here in a couple of days.

Pretty crazy couple of weeks

The village had prize giving for the primary school a couple of weeks ago. This is always an outrageous event; Samoans celebrate their kids passing and moving on to the next year much more than palagi. First, there are ridiculous amounts of food, which there was so much most of us took home as well to eat later. Then the kids get their certificates and prizes. The prizes are pots, pans, soap, coffee mugs, etc. These aren’t necessarily gifts the kids want, but are more for the family. The kids at the top of the class get the most and best prizes, but everyone gets something even if it is just a couple bars of soap. We have a small school, 70 kids, so there are only 7-9 kids per class. When the kids go up to accept their certificate and prize, the parents go nuts. The kid, teacher, and sometimes the principal or president of the school committee (the high matai in my village) each get a candy necklace. There is lots of yelling and cheering and some of the more outlandish parents dance crazy and say funny things.

There is a fiafia after the prizes are handed out. The kids dance and put on small skits and the parents give money. During these singing and dancing sessions, the parents go up and dance really crazily as they are giving the money. Some parents choose to find anything they can, usually the pots, pans, or soap they were just given, put the items on their heads or something else equally odd, and proceed to dance in a manner which would definitely embarrass any palagi kid if their parents were dancing like that. It is hilarious to watch the antics and crazy behavior.

Each class does a “aumai se tupe” skit. The kids come up with some sort of song/skit where they ask for money. Example: one of the years was singing about a car. So as a group they would sing about driving the car, then individually they ask their parents for money to buy a stereo, lights, a new engine, etc. The parents give them a few tala and the money gets pooled for the school committee to have a party.

It is fun to take part in this event just to watch the antics of the parents. Some of the people in my village….crazy! I really need to get a camera with video recording ability and record some of it…words can’t really describe the madness.

I went to the matai meeting last Monday. I had to “palu le ava” (mix the ava) for the matai. I’ve done this on a couple of occasions for the village. I’m not really sure why, I don’t really know what I’m doing, but it’s an honor really they would allow me to mix the ava for them. I went to the meeting to see what I could do about getting my computer back. I know someone has it because people have said they saw it on the steps of the church after the tsunami. I don’t really know why someone wants to keep it (other than to have a laptop). It most likely doesn’t work due to water damage and the shock of being thrown about in a wave and even if it magically did I have the charger for it so by now it is nothing more than a paperweight. I only want it to see if the hard drive was sealed well and perhaps I can get things, pictures, music, documents, etc. Luckily, I backed everything up before I came to Samoa so I still have everything pre-Peace Corps, but all the pictures and documents from Peace Corps and my travels to Fiji are gone. It would be nice to get those back. Anyway, I said my peace, cried to all the matai and taule’ale’a (untitled men), and got many “talofae le teine” which translates roughly into “poor girl” and is a phrase of pity. I thought the crying was a nice touch…they felt pretty bad afterword. There was discussion about the computer and they said they would find it. We’ll see if that happens, but at least they know I know they stole my stuff and I wasn’t happy about it. The material stuff (clothes, bags, water bottle, etc) is replaceable, doesn’t make me happy they took it all when I needed their help after I’ve helped them so much and continue to do so, but I’m over that now. But the computer? Why? It isn’t like they know how to use it anyway. Oh, well…I can only hope it returned.

Last Thursday the Ministry of Health held a fa’amalositino (translates as make strong body, means exercise or aerobics) competition in Siumu. The village women’s committee is a part of the fa’amalositino program so they went and I joined them. Naturally, we don’t actually do the exercise year round…only long enough to get the money from the government and then we stop. So about a week before the competition we started practicing. The first day it was in the evenings…that’s fine I can do that. For this whole past week practice was from 5-7 AM. So this meant I had to wake up before that to get ready and down to where practice was. The hours of 4 and 5 AM are reserved for sleeping as far as I’m concerned. This was a rough week. I’ve found out that when I wake up in the hour of 4 AM I’m quite grumpy, but I managed to get through it. We went to Siumu (bus left at 5:30 AM) and did our routine. The best part was the cd was damaged and kept skipping so we would get through part and then the music would stop and that would throw us off. It was bad, but we finished. We didn’t win the competition but still got the money so job well done.

Friday was the asiasiga, or visit to everyone’s house to check to see that their land was tidy, toilets clean and acceptable, and cookhouse up to standards. This started at 6 AM, so I got to sleep in til 5:30 AM! We had a little jungle hike at one point which was quite fun. One family moved way inland near the plantations after the tsunami. So we walked far inland to get to them and then cut across the plantations to get to another family’s house which is actually closer to the inland village of Siuniu. I’ve never been to the plantations in my village because no one will take me so this was the furthest I’ve walked inland. I had fun taking a little walk in the brush.

By the time 12 came around we were almost done and in the a’ai or village center. A family gave us all vai fala, or crushed pineapple with coconut milk. It was delicious! About halfway through I noticed a funny taste…someone had spiked the drink. Some of the women didn’t realize this until they had 3 glasses. None of us had really eaten anything except for a few biscuits/cookies at one of the houses and had been walking around for 6 hours, add that to the fact that Samoans don’t really handle alcohol all that well (what they call a strong drink, is quite weak to most of us PCVs, but they drink to get drunk, no social one or two drinks here)…you get some tipsy women. It was kinda funny, luckily no one got too crazy, but there was much laughing afterwords.

We finished around 1 and had a little rest. Then I played volleyball for a couple hours. Then we had ice cream and cookies (nice lunch) as part of the reward for all of us doing the fa’amalositino the day before. I went back to the house where my host sister convinced (more like forced) me to go to BINGO that night in neighboring Salani. I really didn’t want to play, but she wanted me to come hangout since it was my last night to do so (Mom and Aunt Sandra are coming for a visit and then we are headed to Australia and New Zealand). Playing BINGO is much harder when you have to translate the number before marking the paper. Way too much work, especially after the long day we had just had. That ended around 12 am and I had to get up at 6 am to catch the bus to get into Apia the next day. Friday was a long day.

Like I said above, Mom and Aunt Sandra are coming for a visit. I’m pretty excited to see family, especially it being the holidays, and to take vacation in a Western country. I’m pretty sure I’ll do some freaking out (I haven’t been to a Western country in 1.5 years…this could be interesting). I’m off to go pick them up at the airport. Driving for the first time in 1.5 years and on the left side of the road…oh the fun!

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

A couple weeks ago we had a visit from Jared, Ruth, and their son Hugo. They run a charity bottled water company which just launched in New Zealand. The company seems really cool. All the profits from the company go to fund small water projects in third world countries. They had a holiday planned for Samoa so they donated money to my village’s project and came to see what their money went towards. We gave them a tour of the village and went down to see the spring fed pool. The vaita’ele isn’t quite finished but almost. I think they enjoyed the visit and I know I enjoyed meeting them and getting faces put to e-mail addresses. Their son Hugo (1 year old) seemed to enjoy playing with the girls in the family I live with. The girls wanted to carry him around a lot; that was amusing.

How the vaita'ele is going to work is this: the covered part is where the spring bubbles up. The water flows out from under the concrete bridge and will form a pool. The concrete making the pool isn't finished yet, but soon. As you can see from the pictures the water still flows out in to the river. Soon enough though the concrete will be laid down to catch the water. Rocks will be placed on the bottom of the pool so dirt and sand won't cause the clear, clean water to be dirty and silty. I'm excited to see the finished product. It looks great already.

I showed Anita and the girls how to make homemade ice cream in a plastic bag. They enjoyed this easy treat. It’s not difficult at all: milk, sugar, & vanilla in a small bag, ice and salt in a bigger bag, and shake until it has ice cream texture. The girls were literally climbing the counters while we were making the ice cream.

Anita finished weaving her fine mat. It is huge 27’ by 14’. She asked for advice on how to do the feathers at the bottom of the mat. I was shocked to be asked this…what does a palagi know about fine mats? She took the advice I gave and I was glad to see it turned out really well. She should get a good price for it when she sells it.

We had our Thanksgiving celebration Saturday at the embassy representative’s house. The feast was supposed to be Thursday as Thanksgiving Day is the fourth Thursday of November, but since we are in Samoa and that day wasn’t a holiday like in the US, Saturday worked out much better. Oh, the food! Amazing! I enjoyed very much the turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, etc. I even made pear salad, a tradition in my family on Thanksgiving. I ate a whole plate full of the delicious eats, went back for seconds, and then of course had some pumpkin pie for dessert. I was stuffed, as one ought to be on Thanksgiving. I haven't eaten like that since...well, last year's Thanksgiving. It's not healthy to gorge yourself on food like that, but Thanksgiving comes once a year so you have to go all out. Food comas are expected on Thanksgiving and I could have taken a nap shortly after eating (course a lot of that is due to poor sleep the night before and missing my regular afternoon nap, but the food didn’t help). There was even football on tv. The embassy representative has satellite tv so before we enjoyed the feast we watched football. It was almost like being in the USA. Good day!

My grandfather has been a member of the Lion’s Club for decades. Every time I go up to my Grandma and Grandpa’s house in West Virginia I see the plaques commemorating his fine years of service. I knew Lion’s Club was international; I’d seen their signs in Costa Rica while I was there on a field biology course, but I didn’t know they were in Samoa. That is until they delivered aid to me Saturday afternoon. I got pisupo (corned beef), spaghetti, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, water, Ramen noodles, etc. We took some pictures and I told them my Grandpa was a Lion too, so I’m sure they got a kick out of that. I borrowed a camera from another volunteer to take some pictures and caught the kids being their normal, funny selves. Charin likes to sing for the camera while Alofa prefers trying to be the photographer, always curious as to what that goofy thing is I’m holding. I was able to get a funny video of Alofa and Charin fake fighting. If you tell Alofa to “fusu,” she takes a martial arts stance, bobs her head like a bobble head doll, and then attacks. It is so funny and I always get a kick out of it, never gets old. This family, especially the kids, is the only thing keeping me sane at times. Of course sometimes they compound the problem (you know how difficult kids can be and I still haven’t gotten used to the whole family sleeping right outside my door), but the majority of the time they make me laugh when I need to or in talking with the adults my apprehensions are relieved.

The bus continues to be an interesting experience. I thought I’d seen just about everything. In the States there are certain things you can’t do: bring a puppy or any other form of animal (exception of seeing eye dogs) on a bus for fear of biting or allergies, here not so much an issue, kinda of funny what comes on a bus actually; weed whackers, not really a good idea either; machetes are a big no-no unless one is a crazed killer or wants people to think so; and the whole sit on a strangers lap would never happen in the States (you know how we palagi are, not big fans of touching, we need our bubble of personal space). All this I’ve gotten used to as normal; there isn’t much that goes on concerning the bus which truly shocks me anymore. That being said, the other week coming back from Apia and just one village from mine, a fight broke out between two soles. “Great!” I thought, “I’m almost home and these idiots are causing trouble.” They started in the back and worked their way up front. They got up by me and I hunkered down as they shoved each other into me and continued the punching and wrestling. I really didn’t want to have to go back to the office the next day and explain why I had a black eye or worse. I found it very cute when the Samoan lady next to me put her arms around me and yelled to the boys “Teine Palagi, Teine Palagi!” That did nothing to stop them, but it was cute. The lady had a kid about three on her lap who was about to lose it when the boy were wrestling on top of me causing me to be shoved into them. Eventually, the bus driver and other men got them separated. The driver kicked one guy off and told the other to stay put; he didn’t want this continued in the street. From what I heard the fight was about bus fare. While money might be a big issue, $6 is not enough to warrant a bloody nose and several face lacerations. But, I believe alcohol was involved as well so that would explain most of the stupid behavior. Just another day on the bus.

Well, it took a whole month but I finally found her. I was sitting on the church steps last Tuesday, waiting for singing practice to begin, when I saw the little mutt sauntering down the road looking halfway lost as always. I walked down the steps and did the familiar whistle she knows as me. She stopped in her tracks and looked at me on the fist whistle, started wagging her tail on the second, and took off running towards me on the third. I think she was a little surprised to see me after a month. I’m pretty sure all the Samoans thought it was funny to see me and the dog. Oh well, I’m glad to see she is ok. She has been a bad girl though and is pregnant…again. I have to get her de-sexed but that isn’t easy without a car; that will happen after this litter comes though. Dogs are something not in short supply here and more dogs are not needed in this country. She followed me up the road after singing (waiting so patiently for me where the old house was until singing was over) and has stayed at the house since then; although, I had trouble finding her the past couple of days so I think she went back down seaward. I tried giving her a bath last Wednesday. As with most dogs, she wasn’t a fan. It was a short bath and she still smells like a dog, but I didn’t want to stress her out too much since she is pregnant. Pretty sure my family found me giving the dog a bath amusing.

Wednesday night there were some interesting sights in the sky. I saw two shooting stars. They both had green tails and lasted 2-3 seconds so I’m thinking they may have been part of a small meteor shower. They didn’t seem like regular shooting stars to me. The really cool thing was the aura or ring around the moon (also known as a halo). When the first shooting star caught my eye I saw the ring around the moon. I’ve seen rings around the moon before, but never this big. As I looked up I put my thumb on the moon and my index finger on the ring, 3 inches or so. I’ve only seen them an inch or less. Really cool to see. Pretty soon I had the whole family out there looking at it. That was funny because I told one person; they gave an exclamation of surprise and called another until the whole family was outside staring at the moon. They kept asking what day it was because since Wednesday was the 28th the next day was the 29th and the one month anniversary of the tsunami. They thought something bad would occur the next day. I kept trying to tell them the ring was only because of moisture in the air, but that didn’t seem to be a satisfying enough answer. Oh well, it was still fun to gaze at the moon with them.

It is funny how life comes at you fast. I went from living alone and by the sea to living with a family and in the jungle. I used to fix my own palagi food but am now given Samoan food. Although, we get a lot canned foods (beef stew, mushroom soup, baked beans, etc) as part of aid given to the other family whose house was destroyed and shared with me because they feel bad I was affected more than a lot of families and I haven’t been given aid. I told them I appreciate it, but it isn’t necessary; they send over stuff anyway. They aren’t used to the palagi canned foods so they give them to me. The girls in the family tried apple juice for the first time and made funny faces. They said it was o’ona or bitter. I had a box of raisins and we put them in the oatmeal along with chopped walnuts we were given as part of the aid. I thought it was fantastic and really added a lot to the oatmeal. Charin, the 4 year old, spit every walnut and raisin out; e le masani (she isn’t used to it). That was amusing.

I am working on a proposal to get funding for a new pre-school. Of course the other, which was my house, was destroyed in the tsunami. We should be submitting the proposal soon. We picked up three computers Friday, thanks to Jenny for giving us two of the four she requested and Sara and Cale for an additional computer to replace the whole order as well as for fixing them up and keeping them safe. I’m hoping to keep a little busier on an everyday basis either messing around on the computer or actually doing my job and teaching people how to use the computer. Work comes in spurts so it will be great to have something more often to do.

When I got back from Apia and picking up the computers Friday, I was called over to the pulenuu’s house. Three trucks from DMO, Disaster Management Office, were there. Apparently, they have been trying to find me for four weeks and the last time they tried to find me I was in Apia for the fiafia to welcome the new group; go figure, I was in the village all that time except for the time they came to deliver stuff to me. Well, my family can stop being mad at the village for not giving me aid (even though this didn’t have anything to do with the village, it was all DMO). I got a bunch of cereals, canned foods, noodles, rice, cookies, soap, laundry powder, a non-stick skillet, bowls, and a box of NZ Artesian water. Since I am now part of a Samoan family I shared. I gave my family everything since they cook for me anyway. They had me keep some things, like the toilet paper, toothpaste, two packs of cookies (in case I get hungry), and the bedding for when I need to change my sheets. We should be eating really well for the next few weeks. We have enough cereal to feed an army; the kids enjoyed it for dinner Friday night. I’m interested to see what else might show up, not that I need it or really want it, but it will be given anyway since I’m a tsunami victim. My family gets well fed; I’m ok with that.

It is still really weird to drive past Poutasi on the bus. There is still a lot of debris. They had to knock another building near the secondary school down because of water damage. The area near the school looks pretty cleaned up; although just a giant field for the most part now, but just to the side where there are more trees there is a lot of tin used for roofing and wood scattered everywhere. It is a little unnerving to be on the bus and when we get to Poutasi everyone turns their head to see how the clean up is going. My village will change soon too. Those of us whose houses were completely destroyed by the tsunami aren’t returning to where we once lived. Many of the families whose houses were not damaged at all or only minor water damage sustained are starting to move up to the road as well. They are pretty scared to live down in the village center near the sea and I can understand their wish to move inland to be safer. I was a little unhappy to hear a matai knocked his house down just so that he could get aid. His house sustained no damage, yet he is taking advantage of the disaster. From what I’ve heard, this is happening all over Samoa and I’m sure it happens worldwide, but that doesn’t make it right.

The best part of my days, besides the nap which is a cultural requirement, is right around dusk. I love watching the bats fly around. The palm trees are mere silhouettes, the sky is shades of blue, pink, red, purple, and orange, and the air is starting to cool off from the warm day. The bats emerge from their mountain roosts and fly out in search of the evening meal. The bats are peaceful things to watch at the end of the long days.

I’ve been back in the village about a week now and am enjoying living with a family. I’m just off the main road now, so it is much easier to catch the bus. I don’t have to walk 15 minutes to get back to my house while carrying a back of groceries and after walking around all day in Apia. It is a totally different atmosphere than what I had before. Usually, only four people live there, but because of the tsunami we have an additional six people living there. We had another two as well, the parents of the people I am living with, but they are building a house just up the road and already have a small fale up where they sleep. The others will move out as well. They are re-building where the old fale was by the sea.

There are two kids in the family four and six, and for now a one year old and a one month old. It is fun to see the kids play. They do the funniest things. The family tells the one year old, Alofa, to “Fai maso” (flex your muscles) and little Alofa does a strong man pose, flexing her little arms and grinning ear to ear. It is so funny. The kids were playing the other day when Alofa got the best of the four year old, Karin. Alofa was terrorizing Karin who was lying down trying to watch a movie. Alofa comes running towards Karin so Karin put her foot up to try to stop Alofa. Instead of being stopped by the foot on her chest, Alofa acted like she was going to eat Karin’s foot. Alofa’s reaction to the foot on her chest was so quick; no time lost thinking at all. I cracked up laughing. I take the kids on walks and we watch movies together. It is fun to be around the kids.

Anita is the mom of the family. She is like a Samoan sister to me. When I lived alone, she would invite me to her house for dinner and to hang out, even gave me papaya and ripe bananas. She was the one who saw me not doing anything but sitting around after the tsunami and invited me for lunch at her house. She immediately started getting a room together for me. Anita takes care of me, but doesn’t overwhelm me which can happen sometimes in a Samoan family. She lived in town and was really good friends with other Peace Corps Volunteers, so she knows we palagi need alone time sometimes. Salesa is her husband; he said he would protect me from the cheeky boys. I really like this family so I’m glad to be living with them. They gave me a nice room in their house, even my own bathroom in my room (no more out house).

Now that I’ve been back for a week my things are starting to be returned. I was walking with the kids on Wednesday evening when one of the men in the village was waving for me to come over to his house. I went over and he gave me my dive watch and a pair of eyeglasses back; I was shocked. I know him and his family and they too are really nice so I’m not shocked they would be nice enough to give my things back, but just shocked in general I got things back. I’m glad about getting both back and especially happy to get the glasses because I only have one extra pair of contacts left. I have horrible eyesight so it is nice to be able to wear the contacts during the day and put my glasses on at night. This way I can save the contacts until more come by mail.

Taua, a matai who is a really helpful counterpart, has been going around finding out where my stuff is. I’m so glad to have him as a friend. I got a suitcase back, beat up pretty badly but who cares, a pair of shoes, my external hard drive and thumb drives (don’t work, but that’s ok), and most shocking cds & dvds (really scratched but appear to work). Not everything, but it is a start. I’ve washed everything, but I’ll be finding sand in all of these things for years to come.

The women on my Peace Corps committee and the pastor’s wife washed my clothes they found. I was shocked to see how clean they got everything. You can’t even tell the clothes went through a tsunami. I didn’t get much back, just 4 puletasi (what a shock those wouldn’t get stolen, but t-shirts which are clearly mine, like have things which say Peace Corps on it, I see kids wearing), 3 t-shirts (not the good ones I wanted, but I’m not in a position to be picky at this point), a rash guard, that is very useful to have back, and a few other random things. I was hoping for some other things, but I’m glad I got these things back. It was very nice of the women to wash everything for me. I’m glad I have good Peace Corps friends who gave me extra clothes they had. Whenever we volunteers get together, at least one person will be able to say I’m wearing their shirt.

So I’m glad to see that living in the village for over a year did make a difference with some people. I’m glad to have the women on my committee and Taua looking out for me. Now I have a family to look out for me too.

It is weird to walk on the paths in the village center and not see my house or be going home. I’m going to have to get used to not seeing the ocean all the time and not going to sleep or waking up to the sound of the crashing waves. It is odd to see where my house was; gives me a weird feeling. Not fear or anxiety, just weird not being able to go back to the way things were.

Despite the fact people looted the few things I had left after a tsunami destroyed my house, the stories of people rising to the occasion out shine the actions of the bad. It isn’t like looting is a Samoan concept; evil people worldwide take advantage of others’ misfortune after disasters. Ever since the tsunami people have rushed to help. As I was coming in on Tuesday a few hours after the disaster, caravans of cars were already headed over to the south side to help. Teams from New Zealand and Australia have come in to help in the relief effort. People are volunteering their time to help distribute food and clothing to the displaced families, while some are given the solemn task of looking for those who did not survive. Since Tuesday, Peace Corps Volunteers have come in from their villages to help out in Aleipata and Falealili, spending long hours in the sun helping those in need. Companies have donated time, food, materials, etc to help out the relief effort. A phone company gave free credit Tuesday and I think Wednesday as well so people could get in contact with friends and family. They also gave generators and cell phone recharging stations to Red Cross relief stations so people can charge phones and continue their hard work. A restaurant shut down to the public and cooked exclusively for relief workers. A telethon raised over $600K tala for the relief effort.

Many of the families do not want to leave their homes, even if all they have left is the foundation. They set up tarps and crowd as many people under it as possible. Efforts are being made to get tents and simple household items they can use to cook. Most of the clean-up is done and soon the painful rebuilding process will begin. Many on the south coast do not have the means to rebuild or are too scared to go down to the sea again. The south side looks like a different world. While driving through Lalomanu, it is hard to see where the beach fale resort was where I had vacationed just 4 months ago. Nothing is left of most of the area. All the way up to the mountain is nothing but destruction. Despite all this, people are going out everyday to help the victims. As much as we as humans can get discouraged by all the bad aspects of human nature, it is encouraging to see the good come out and the true spirit of humanity shine.

While I viewing my collapsed house Thursday with a couple of the Peace Corps staff and letting them check out my new residence, we decided to come back Friday with a team of volunteers to break my house apart and see what we can find and salvage. I told my village I'd be back, not to touch my house, we’d clean it up the next day. So Peace Corps comes out strong, 2 cars, 12 or so volunteers, prepared with gloves & hammers, ready to break my house apart (we also donated food and clothing to the other family). We get there, not only is my house already apart, everything is gone. Anything I could have salvaged was gone. Now I know a lot of my stuff was taken by the waves, but I saw things in the wreckage, just couldn't get to them until we broke the house apart. All that was gone. I asked about where everything was, including stuff I saw Tuesday and Thursday...response" Leai se mea" there is nothing. They said they found my computer on the steps of the church (I know the computer won’t work, but I want the hard drive to see if I can get anything off of it); I asked where it was…response “I don’t know.” This is heartbreaking, not because everything I own is gone, but because my house was looted by my own village.

I would have thought after a year of living in the village, going to church every Sunday, doing projects for the village (including getting them $4,000 tala worth of sewing machines), and just generally being around these people and thinking I might be a friend my things would have been returned to me. They found some things, like my backpack and wallet, but $100 tala was missing from my wallet once returned. Getting my things looted and stolen by members of my own community hurts more than losing everything I own.

I was very disappointed by the behavior of my village. I know it was probably only a few bad people in the village, but it still hurts. I’m going to do my best to ask around and see if things will be returned to me, but I’m not hopeful. Yesterday was a sad day. I had some hope of getting some things back, but my village took care of all that hope. Only two houses were destroyed, mine and another families’; one would think the village would rally and take care of us. I guess at the end of the day, no matter how much I do for the village, how many times I go to church with them, or how many hugs I get from the little kids, I will always be just a palagi.

Ok everyone here's an update. I went back today but so much damage I'm going to need some help as will the village because no aid organizations have come (they are focusing on Poutasi and Lalomanu who were hit hardest). So the Peace Corps Office has organized a work day in my village with the volunteers. We are going clean up the remnants of my house and see what we can do to help the village clean up. We are also going to donate what we can to the family who lost everything. I have some pics to show you courtesy of Casey letting me borrow his camera.

First, this is my house:

You can see a bit of the foundation next to the open fale which is still standing. The tsunami basically picked my house up and deposited it 10-15 feet in front. My toilet however was about 50 feet from where it should have been. No more papaya tree or garden of course. Below is next to my house. There used to be an open fale which looked like the one in the picture above except raised off the ground a few feet. As you can see, it is no longer there. The rubble in front used to be signs which told of our marine protected area. Looking today, the buoys are gone marking the boundaries and the men were trying to find our giant clams. We had over 300 clams we were raising to repopulate the reef. I'm curious to see the condition of the MPA when I go back.

This is leading into the mouth of the river. Trees are down and mud everywhere. I was just past this as the water came.

This river forms the eastern boundary of my village. The road into my village parallels this river. I was a few hundred feed from this river as the water rushed up it. You can see the damage done by the wave. The bridge this picture was taken on was wet after the tsunami from water rushing over it. This is what is left of the Salani Surf Resort. Salani is the village to the east of my village. The resort was destroyed but most of the village has survived. Some houses have collapsed, but the damage is not as extensive as other villages. No one in Salani died from what I have heard. I guess the rumor of a boy dying was false, thank goodness.

This was a damaged house in Salani. Most the village is ok, a few collapsed houses like this one. This is Poutasi. There used to be a school building running perpendicular to the building you see on the left. As you can see, the area is basically one big clearing now. Poutasi got hit hardest in the district. Poutasi is now a giant clearing. It is like after a tornado...not much left.

Better news is I now have a place to live. After the tsunami a family was already tidying up a room for me when the Peace Corps Office came to get me. They offered to house me for the rest of my service. I really like this family so I'm happy I'll be able to live with them. The mother of this family happens to be the daughter of the family who's house was near mine and destroyed. So we are all pretty close. I went out with the office today and we talked with a family. All that needs to be done is to fix the locks and windows and I'm ready to go. Hopefully by Monday or Tuesday next week I'll be back home.

I’m sure most of you have heard about the earthquake and tsunami that hit Samoa by now and am wondering how I’m doing. Well, here’s the story:

I was sleeping when the 8.0 earthquake hit. My house started shaking and things were falling off shelves. Books fell down, the phone mounted on my wall fell down, cans of food fell…I’m smart enough to know when things start falling it is probably wise to get out. So grabbed my phone and left my room. The shaking lasted a long time too, at least a minute. I texted a good friend here with the message of “shit that was big” when it was over. She agreed. About that time I got a call from the Peace Corps medical officer that I should probably move inland because the possibility of a tsunami. So I grabbed an ie and left.

I was walking on the road which parallels the beach when I noticed something wasn’t right. I could see structures like rocks and coral which I have never seen above water, not even at the lowest of low tides. This didn’t bode well. Then I noticed the really odd wave action, something just wasn’t right. I had just turned the corner of the road and was now headed inland, versus parallel to the beach as I had been just one minute before, when the waves hit the beach and surged up the road. At this point I started running, as did my village. As I was running I could hear the water surging up the river, tearing trees down.

I got up to the main road where most everyone was. The matai were directing everyone to head to Siuniu, the village inland. I could see the look of panic and worry as parents asked where their kids were, for they were headed to the primary school which is near me. The matai were organized and knew where to direct the parents to in order to find their kids. I went up to Siuniu and waited with my village. At this point we were getting reports of a school in Poutasi (a few villages to the west) collapsing and killing three kids. Everyone was on phones, calling relatives and friends in neighboring villages, trying to find out what was going on. Reports came that 50 people in Poutasi were dead, buried in the sand. A boy in neighboring Salani died. And 15 in Aleipata were dead. As far as I know at this point, no one in my village died. We are lucky.

Then I got a report that my house and another were destroyed. I wanted to go and see if this was true, but I knew to stay. I waited a few hours then went to see what the damage was. Sure enough, my house was flattened. The tsunami ripped the house from its foundation and deposited it 10 feet in front of the house, collapsed beyond repair. I could see all of my stuff waterlogged and muddy. I’m not sure what can be salvaged. I’m going back tomorrow to find out what I can still use, but I know most things will be trashed.

While that is unfortunate, at least it was just my house and not my home. The other family I feel bad for because it was their home. I had stuff there which will be expensive to replace, but it wasn’t everything in the world I owned, just everything I Samoa I owned. Most of my stuff is still back in the US. I feel bad for the other family who truly lost everything. I feel really bad about the three computers I had in my house for the school. I don’t think those will be salvaged, but another Peace Corps Volunteer already told me she would donate two to my school, so I’m happy about that. I also am upset that I don’t know where my dog is. I saw her after the earthquake, and then don’t know where she went. I hope she is ok. Animals are smarter than humans in many ways, so she probably left before I did, but I’m still worried. I hope I find her.

The Peace Corps Office came out and drove me to Apia. I could see the damage in the villages as I passed. Poutasi looks pretty bad; boats are inland, houses devastated, and the school collapsed. Their village is pretty flat on the seaward side, so the wave did quite a bit of damage. The district hospital there looked like it was spared, might have water damage though. As we were driving over Cross Island Road, many cars were headed south to help clean up and try to find their family.

Once in Apia, small aftershocks could still be felt throughout the day. Around 5:30 pm the tsunami sirens went off. Everyone headed up the mountains carrying what they could. It turned out to be a false alarm, but better safe than sorry. Most businesses were closed as people went to help.

Report is over 80 here are dead. If you want to help:

http://www.redcross.org.nz/cms_display.php?st=1&sn=13&pg=6341

I want to say thank you to all my fellow PCVs. I don’t think my phone was quite for five minutes yesterday morning. Everyone wanted to see if I was ok; thanks, makes me feel loved. When I got to Apia, a bunch of people offered up their house and everyone wanted to know what they could do to help. I appreciate the support guys. You guys are awesome! Also to everyone who posted on facebook and sent me e-mails, thanks for your support as well. And finally to Teuila; I was awake after the earthquake but not enough awake to be thinking about a tsunami. If she hadn’t called right after the quake stopped, I probably would have been at my house. If I had left my house just a minute later…well, yeah.

I gave a written eyewitness account to Sydney Morning Herald and a phone interview to NY Daily News. Here’s the link for the NY article:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2009/09/29/2009-09-29_tsunami_hits_american_samoa_.html

And the Sydney article:

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/i-could-hear-the-waters-rushing-up-and-tearing-trees-down-20090930-gcay.html

So that is all I know for now. I’m off to buy some new clothes because I have the clothes on my back and one spare. I’ll keep you posted on what goes on.

I was on my way to Apia via the bus last week and was traveling down Cross Island Road, or Tiavi as the Samoans call it, when the bus had a showdown with a cow. Cross Island Road is quite steep as it is goes right up a mountain. It would be a fun road to ride a bike down, a little unsafe with the twists and turns and blind corners (not to mention the crazy drivers), but fun nonetheless. We were coming down the mountain towards Apia when a cow ran out into the road. This cow was good sized too, definitely enjoyed the grasses which grow on the mountain slope and would have caused some issues with the bus. The driver slammed on the brakes as the cow barreled into the road. I look up, see the large cow, and think “Oh boy, this is going to be messy.” Luckily, the bus stopped in time and the cow crossed the road with no issues. The Samoans gave a “Malo fa’auli” or “good driving” to the driver. It would have made some nice steaks had we hit the poor bovine, but the Samoan cut of beef isn’t great anyway (hacking with a machete usually ruins the cuts of beef).

I am happy to report I finally got computers for the village. I’ve been working on this for nearly a year now and am happy my patience has paid off. A company in NZ donated a few hundred computers to Samoa. Most of them went to the Ministry of Education to be put in schools of their choice, but 30 went to Peace Corps Volunteers since two of my fellow PCVs were key in getting the computers here. So I applied to have a few of the 30 and was successful in getting three of them. I’m excited to set them up and start teaching people (I’m looking forward to exploring the Linux operating system as well; I’m usually a Windows gal). I know a few of the women in the village are eager to learn so they can get jobs in Apia and the kids want to learn as well. Teaching computers should keep me a little busier as well so I’m excited.

Funny child story: I was working around my house a few weeks ago trying to nail down some loose boards when two of the pre-school kids came over to swing on the swings (my house used to be the pre-school and the swings are still there). I was squatting down trying to straighten out a bent nail when one of the girls came up and started petting my head. It is odd to have a four year old petting your head, but they also like to rub my arms (Samoans don’t have a lot of arm hair and it is funny to them to see it). The girl continues to rub my head and then says “Manaia lou ulu” or “you have nice hair.” Ok, quite the compliment. I’m just amused the girl was petting my head, makes me laugh.

I learned an important lesson last night…a mosquito net not only protects one from vile, bloodsucking mosquitoes, but also from all the other things which lurk in one’s room and only come out when the lights go out. Last night was a pretty nice night, temperature was nice and not too many bugs were out. Since it wasn’t buggy, I decided I didn’t want to feel suffocated by my mosquito net as I slept and lit a mosquito coil to keep the few mosquitoes away. I was sleeping pretty well, occasionally awoken by the rat(s), which where eating my soap or the plastic off of something (I’ve found out that even though there is lots of food hanging from a number of trees outside, rats prefer to eat sponges, soap, & plastic in my room, go figure). All of the sudden I feel this thing land on my face. I shook it off and without thinking went right back to sleep. I’ve learned it is best not to think about what it was or sleep won’t come the rest of the night. I’m pretty sure it was a cockroach, but don’t want to think that hard about it. Other friends have had centipedes fall on their faces as they have slept (strangely enough once even while under the mosquito net). So lesson is: as suffocating as it may be, as mosquito net is good for more than protection against mosquitoes.

Back to the rat…a few months ago I had a really weird experience involving my sponges. I’m a really, really light sleeper, just about everything will wake me up. As I was sleeping, the rustling of a plastic grocery bag woke me up. I got my flashlight and looked around my room to see what was making the odd sound. I had sponges in a plastic grocery bag and they were all the way across my room, halfway under my door like they were going out for a stroll at 2 in the morning. I thought that was a little odd. I got out of bed and put them back in my little kitchen area. I went back to sleep. I woke up the next morning and put my feet down. As I get up out of the mosquito net, I looked down. What was at my feet?….the sponges. This was before I knew I had rats so I was very weirded out. I thought I must have a ghost who had a traumatic experience with sponges so it was trying to get rid of them so as not to relive the awful memory. Ok, not really…this was the first clue that I might have some resident rats. Since then, I’ve caught one in a trap, but they still run around in my roof and have a lot of guts to come down in my room. I also now have my sponges in a bag hanging from a nail.

Some better news is my village has three computers waiting in Apia for us to pick up! I’m very excited for this; I’ve been working nearly a year to get computers. Thursday we’ll pick them up and as soon as I get everything set up and loaded on the computers I’ll start teaching lessons. Some of the women keep asking me when we will get computers because they want to learn so they can get a job in Apia, so I’m happy to now be able to say Thursday. This is a major step in getting the library/computer center set up. Back in March, I requested books from an organization in the US and told a bunch of other volunteers about the organization. Other volunteers got their books in a month, but after six months I still had no books. I put in another request and I’m hoping in a couple of weeks they show up. It is a little ironic I found the organization, requested books first, told other volunteers about it, and am the only one still without books. Oh well, that’s they way it goes. If I’ve learned nothing else while here at least I will truly know that patience is a virtue.

Well, Samoa had the historic road switch last week and as far as I can tell it went off without any real problems. There was some minor protesting (a village in Savaii put rocks in the road so cars couldn’t pass), but that was all resolved quickly. I got a ride into town on Friday and driving on the left didn’t seem odd, but traffic on my side of the island is quite light. When I got to town though and saw all the stop lights, intersections, and roundabouts I thought it was weird. I have to pay extra attention when walking around now so that I don’t walk out into traffic. Oh and the big shipping container is off the reef in Apia now (see previous post for story). It was sitting at the wharf last time I was in town, didn’t look so good though, still keeling to one side. The little fishing boat is still stuck on the reef; it might be permanent.

I had the most uncomfortable bus ride back to the village last week as well. Apparently, there is only one bus for the whole district that has the door switched to the proper side so passengers don’t exit out into traffic. This makes for extremely full buses. I was waiting with some others in my village for the bus at the bus stop by the fish market when the bus arrived. There was a mad dash for the bus as it pulled in. It was kinda funny to see a swarm of people walking very quickly, nearly running to get to the bus. We all piled on and so began the process of sitting on laps. I ended up on a guy’s lap, which is not really a good thing considering how cheeky Samoan men are and I try to avoid this as much as possible, but what was I supposed to do when the bus had at least 50-60 people on it (keep in mind the proper amount is 33)? I couldn’t even see the door, driver, or out the front window and I was only a few rows back. Since the bus had so many people on it, driving up the mountain nearly killed it. The bus somehow made it up the mountain, not quickly as it took me almost two and a half hours to get home, but indeed it survived.

Church is an interesting event here in Samoa. I live near the church so every Sunday I wake up to the sound of the church bell ringing, announcing there is one hour until church begins. Wake-up really isn’t a good term because usually I nearly jump out of bed I am so startled and it isn’t really a church bell it is an empty gas tank. It goes on for five minutes and during that time I’m holding my fingers to my ears so that I don’t go deaf. At the end of the service the church offerings are announced. Anyone who donates to the church has their name read aloud and how much they donate. This past Sunday was really cute. I was sitting in the pew listening to the endless names and amounts when I heard “Aliitasi Onofitu, 20 sene.” The whole church burst into laughter; not because it was only 20 cents, but because the donor was a four year old. I guess she decided the church needed a little something extra this week.

I went out to monitor the MPA a few days ago. The village is raising clams and they are getting quite large, some at least a foot long. I saw some really cool fish out there as well. First, a Snowflake Moray Eel, pretty cool to see just sitting there letting me take as many pictures as I wanted. I saw another eel briefly which I swear had a head bigger than my hand, but it shot into a crevice before I could get a good look at it. I also saw a Scorpionfish. This is why walking on the ocean floor really isn’t a good idea, highly venomous (lots of pain if you step on it). I also saw a juvenile Oriental Sweetlips. The juvenile of this species swims really peculiarly, undulating rapidly more like an eel. I was perplexed when I first saw the fish as to what it was, I was hoping for a baby shark, but no luck. I even saw cuttlefish in the MPA a few weeks ago. This is why I became a marine biologist; I get to snorkel around all day in the South Pacific and technically be working…awesome!

Funny story while in the MPA: I was swimming around seeing what I could, when I felt something take a little nibble. It wasn't a real bite or anything, just a little peck of a nibble on the back of my knee, but enough to creep my out a bit. I turned around to see what it was, but couldn't see anything. So I turned around and started swimming again. I felt the same little nibble. Now I was curious to find out what little thing was trying to eat me. I looked around for a while, seeing nothing but regular reef fish who I knew didn't want to have me for lunch. I kept searching, when I spotted these little fish poking their heads out of holes in the coral. They were aggressive for their size, only 5 in or so. I could identify them as blennies, but didn't know the species. They were funny to watch because they had more guts than some of the bigger fish. They would poke their heads out of the holes and when you weren't paying full attention to them would swim out of the hole and attack. I got back to my house and looked them up. They are Piano Fangblennies and feed on the skin and scales of fish, or in this case human skin.

I woke up early Sunday morning not to the church bell announcing church will be starting in one hour, but rather to my house shaking at 4 AM. I’ve gotten used to the 2-3 second tremors as part of life in Samoa and on the Ring of Fire and I woke up to the shaking thinking it would stop after the usual 2-3 seconds. However, this time not only did it not stop, but it intensified as the shaking was due to a 6.6 magnitude earthquake with an epicenter 110 miles West of Apia. While the earthquake Sunday morning was by no means a big quake (no damage here), it was the strongest I have ever felt. It is unsettling to wake up to your stuff dancing on your bookshelves. I heard the rumbling of the Earth and the clatter of my books on the shelves. I have about 30 feet before a small cliff and the ocean. When the rumbling didn’t quit but became stronger I was a little anxious I might have to bolt out the door, but alas the 10 seconds of fun ended & I went back to sleep.

Diving was fun a couple of weekends ago. We dove the Rock & Apolima Gardens. The Rock is supposedly the best dive in Samoa. We had a pretty good dive as the weather was perfect for diving. We saw a 3 foot White-tip Reef Shark, who wanted nothing to do with us and bolted the second we desended, a massive Humphead Wrasse, which can get up to 7.5 feet and this one was probably that big, & a school of 13 barracuda, all 3-4 feet long, which circled us for a while deciding who they wanted to have for brunch. I guess they didn’t fancy any of us because they soon swam off to see of there was anything better to eat elsewhere. Apolima Gardens was a good dive as well. We saw two turtles, which came within 3-4 feet of me (up close encounter!) and another Humphead Wrasse, this one was only 5-6 feet though, small fish. The coolest part of the trip was the odd noise we heard on the second dive. It was low, almost like a foghorn. I thought something was wrong with someone’s gear. It wasn’t until we ascended did the dive master say the noise was whales. Awesome! Humpbacks are the most common whales seen here in Samoa, so most likely those were the originators of the sound. It didn’t sound like the typical high-pitched sound of Humpbacks, but perhaps the call was not of the mating purpose (as the high-pitched sounds are) and the low-pitched sound was another sound in the whale’s soundtrack. Not a bad day diving at all, but then again any day diving is always a good one in my book.

If you have been keeping up with my blog I just posted about the road switch and added a link to a Wall Street Journal article. Recently, PASS had a motion to the high court trying to stop the road switch. They lost, so Monday will be a very interesting day here in Samoa. I had planned to be in Apia to watch the fun, otherwise known as complete chaos, but since the PM declared Monday and Tuesday holidays (meaning no buses) that means I would have to come in Saturday and stay in until Wednesday and that is just too much time to be in Apia doing nothing. I will just have to listen to the radio for anything interesting happening. I’ll let you know if anything interesting goes on. I’m still curious to see what happens with the buses after the road switch holidays because they are planning on protesting. They have a just cause since cutting a new door will take $50,000 Tala and takes two weeks or so for each bus. Savai’i will have a really hard time getting their buses cut because only one place can do it on Savai’i and cutting new doors for all the buses there will take 2 years. Meanwhile, they aren’t supposed to drive with the doors on the opposite side as they are now. I’m really unsure what is going to happen. It is going to be an interesting week next week; that is guaranteed.

There is an odd sight in the wharf in Apia this week. A large shipping container is stranded on the reef, keeling to one side and seems like it might become permanent. It was headed to Tonga and is carrying cement so it isn’t like it is a light load. The tugboats trying to pull the ship free couldn’t budge the ship, so for now it is an interesting sight in the capital. The funny thing is a small fishing boat is now also stranded. From what I heard on the radio news was the fishing boat didn’t know the shipping boat was stranded so it headed in the same direction, only to find ground. I’m not sure how the boats are to be freed.

Front thumbnail on Yahoo and printed in the Wall Street Journal...awesome!

Shifting the Right of Way to the Left Leaves Some Samoans Feeling Wronged

Government Calls Traffic-Rule Switch 'Common Sense,' but It Sparks Road RageBy Patrick Barta APIA, Samoa -- Sometime in the early morning hours of Sept. 7, residents of this small Pacific island nation will stop their cars, take a deep breath, and do something most people would think is suicidal: Start driving on the other side of the road.

Samoa is about to become what's believed to be the first nation since the 1970s to order its drivers to switch from one side of the road to the other. That's spawned an islandwide case of road rage. Opponents have organized two of the biggest protests in Samoan history, and a new activist group -- People Against Switching Sides, or PASS -- has geared up to fight the plan. The prime minister who hatched Samoa's scheme, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, refuses to do a U-turn. Road-switch opponents are just trying to rattle the government, he says. He has compared a prominent opponent of the switch to a local "avaava" fish -- a sea creature that swims in shallow waters and eats garbage, an insult in Samoan culture. For full article, click link below.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125086852452149513.html?mod=yhoofront#articleTabs%3Dcomments

I have a good project success occur just recently. I am working to get funding for a vaita’ele for the village. A vaita’ele is a spring fed pool used as a source of clean, freshwater for drinking & cooking as well as for bathing, & laundry. The pipe water in my village comes from a river in a nearby village. When heavy rains come our pipe water is so brown I can’t see to the bottom of a small bucket. We have the spring cornered off with cement, but this area is so small it is unusable and the freshwater runs off into the river unused.

So I applied to Appropriate Projects to fund the project. Returned Peace Corps Volunteers run the organization with the aim of helping current PCVs fund small water projects. They put the projects online and ask people to donate money to fund the project. We don’t need much for the project, just cement and paint. We have a carpenter and plenty of labor can be provided by the men in the village. I figured this would take a while, but with in a week they said they would fund the project. Awesome! No village is complete without a vaita’ele.

So if anyone is feeling charitable and wants a tax break, please feel free to donate to the cause (http://appropriateprojects.com/node/28). It doesn’t have to be much; any amount will be put to good use. I have a fellow PCV here in Samoa doing a composting toilet project and I’m sure she would appreciate some help in that effort as well (http://appropriateprojects.com/node/27).

The big thing going on in Samoa right now is the road switch. On September 7th Samoa will switch from driving on the right hand side of the road to the left hand side (apparently in the 60’s they switched from the left to the right). I listen to the radio a lot and have heard some very interesting news about it.

According to a fellow PCV, $3.5 million Kiwi dollars has gone into this project. Some of this spent money has been spent visibly (signs, tv advertisements, etc), but that is a lot of money and I’d like to know where it has all gone. The roads have been painted with new lines, speed bumps put up, and signs have gone up about keeping to the left of the centerline (most of those signs were covered, but a few of the bags were ripped off and the signs were legible). Commercials are on tv and signs are strung up in Apia demarking the day of the switch. Money was given to bus owners so they could change the buses’ orientations for driving on the left, but I doubt this will actually happen.

A big court case about the switch is also taking place and I’m sure much of that money has gone to this. There is a large group of people who are against the switch. Two villages have already said they will stop cars driving on the left hand side of the road when they move through those villages as their form of protesting. An organization (PASS – people against switching sides) has taken the action of the government to court. The group has a valid point; people can’t wake up one day and magically drive flawlessly on the left hand side of the road. The government is giving two holidays for this event (September 7th & 8th). The government’s reason for the switch is “to give all Samoans the equal opportunity to drive as many come from overseas (mainly AUS & NZ) and by driving on the right hand side they are at a disadvantage.” The decision should be ruled on sometime this week. I’m not sure what will happen if the group wins and the court says the government shouldn’t switch the road.

Second, the switch will start at 5:50 in the morning. At that time, police in Apia will stop all traffic and the cars will sit for 10 minutes pondering the upcoming switch. At 6 am, the cars will move to the left hand side of the road and then will pause for another 10 minutes of contemplation. At 6:10, driving will commence. This is going to be fun to watch, a total disaster, but fun nonetheless.

I had originally said I’m staying out of Apia during this time, but the closer we get and the more that occurs with it the more I want to be in Apia at that time. One word…roundabout. Oh yeah, I’m sitting on one of the benches near the government buildings and the biggest roundabout in country September 7th, 8th, & 9th just to watch the fun. Should I be working at that time, probably, but I have those government holidays so I might as well enjoy them.

Life in Samoa, as in any South Pacific country, moves very slowly. Patience is a virtue everywhere, but even more so here. I’ve learned not to push too hard for anything, because it will happen in time just maybe not this second. There is taimi palagi (western time, 5 o’clock means 5 o’clock) and taimi Samoa (5 o’clock is 6 or 7 o’clock). I learn to just chill, things will happen when they happen. When the village has a tausala (dance to raise money), I ask the start time and then show up an hour or two later when it actually does start. Things like this you just get used to. The 10 o’clock bus comes sometime around 10, but maybe not until 10:30. So you just wait. I almost missed it once because it came at 9:50; I was so shocked it was actually early.

It is funny what Samoa does to people. I have always been pretty laid back, but have had my times of complete neurotic freaking out over little things that don’t matter, that is just human nature. Now in Samoa, I am even more filemu or take it easy. Things that I should do now turn into “I’ll do that later” or “whatever, doesn’t matter.” I’ve gotten into the carefree, easy going Samoan lifestyle. That has been good and bad.

My shower faucet broke within the first month of me getting to the village. I could still use it there was just a little trick to it. Same thing with the sink faucet, still usable but you had to remember which way to turn the handle or water would go everywhere. Every house (even my little hut on the Pacific) has its kinks. Well, over the course of the past year, the faucets have gotten worse and worse, finally ending in me having to use a wrench to turn my shower on. When I have to ask myself before I shower if I have my wrench, I think it is time to change the faucet.

So I asked my PC committee if they could help me install the new faucets when I got back from Apia. They said they would be there that evening to help. Ok, I get back with the faucets and wait. No one comes. Ok maybe tomorrow. Nope. So I ask again. “Ok, tomorrow” they say. Nope. In the course of a month and a half I asked committee members seven times for help and still never got anywhere.

So, that was the time for being a teine palagi (white girl), forget the patience and just do it myself. I went to Apia, bought a hacksaw, PVC pipe glue, & seal tape. People laughed when I told them I was going to fix my pipes myself or said I was so talented and had many skills (both with the tone I was crazy & didn’t know what I was doing). Thing is, piping here consists of PVC. All one has to do to change the faucet is cut the pipe and add the new faucet, not complicated and takes about five minutes. So I’m sure Dad is proud that I fixed my own pipes.

My computer has been out of commission for a month now (the computer doesn’t recognize it is plugged in anymore). I was freaking out a little when I realized it was slowly dying, but now that I don’t have it there really isn’t anything I can do, so what is the point of freaking out about it? It was nice for entertainment purposes and for little things like work (reports, who wants to do those anyway?). I can always come into Apia to use the Peace Corps office computers for work & e-mail (as I’m doing now).

Reading has become the entertainment. I already read a lot, but now it is the main form on entertainment. I had forgotten how nice it is to sit down with a book and just read. I have always enjoyed a good book, but back in the US it is sometimes hard to find the time and energy for your brain to process the words on the page. When I tell people my computer is broken, they give me a look of “wow! That sucks, how are you passing the time?” This is a somewhat sad reflection on our over-stimulated society. I thought I would miss the computer more, but it has been a nice break. That being said, I will enjoy having it fixed so that I can watch movies or tv shows from my hard drive, or more importantly write grants and reports. But for now, lying in my hammock with a good book is just fine with me.

Another thing you get used to include sitting on some stranger’s lap. That is not something I thought I’d ever say is normal and not odd. Some would say “Didn’t you ever sit on Santa’s lap at the mall? He was a stranger.” While this is technically true the man dressed as Santa was a stranger, but I thought he was Santa and when you are a kid Santa is no stranger; he is SANTA, the man with the ability to fly around the whole world in one night stopping at everyone’s house & delivering joy wrapped in red & green.

Anyway, as I’ve posted before the bus can get really full. The capacity for the bus is only 33 people, but a full bus is more around 50 or 60 people. How is this accomplished? A very involved process of shifting and sitting (really, it does get involved just sit on a bus at peak time and you will see just how involved it can be). In the front of the bus sit the old ladies and matai. If a young woman is sitting up there when someone older gets on and the seats up front are taken, she will move to the back of the bus. A young man (sole) will automatically go to the back of the bus.

I usually sit in the middle of the bus, although the palagi seat is in the front I try not to occupy it seeing as how I live here and am not a tourist. Middle is good for me; too far back and I’m stuck with the cheeky boys. I don’t realize how full a bus gets sometimes as I see people get on and disappear behind me. It isn’t until I look back that I see everyone is sitting on each other’s laps and pretty soon I am going to have to as well.

The involved process of the bus comes from the delicate positioning of everyone to sit on each other’s lap. There is always a sole that helps the driver. He is in charge of helping people get their stuff off the bus and is also the director of the sitting. As a bus starts to get full, he will tell people to move and who’s lap to sit on; he will move cargo around so people can sit on it. It really is funny to watch sometimes the effort and intricate process of bus riding.

A full bus is one where not only does each bench have two people, but those two people also have people on their lap (or sometimes one, single person will have two little kids on his or her lap, ultra space saving there). The boys and girls in the back are the first ones to start sitting on laps and the process works up to the front, up until the old ladies and matai (they don’t usually have people sitting on laps, kids maybe, but no one my age). I’ve had to sit on many strangers laps and as uncomfortable as it is (on most buses a bar sticks out to support the back of the bench and that bar always will jab straight into my thigh) it isn’t really odd anymore, just a part of life.

I’ve gotten used to other ways of Samoa as well. Eating off of a leaf is again not odd. I eat to’ona’i (the meal after chuch) with the matai or one of the women’s groups in the village. The meal is served on a leaf as that is tradition. I’m not sure when that became routine for me. I was eating to’ona’i the other day and realized I was eating off of a leaf. Made me wonder when it became something I didn’t notice anymore.

Being touched all the time is routine (although it still bothers me most of the time). I’m not big on being touched; like most palagi I like my bubble of personal space. That bubble doesn’t exist here. In church, people reach over me for a songbook and rest their arms on lap while someone hands it to them. The bus, as you can imagine from above, has no allotment for personal space. Samoan handshakes last the whole conversation. During singing practice for the church choir, we sit really close together and usually are squished together even if there isn’t anyone else on the bench. Yes, we have to share songbooks, but that doesn’t require us to be squished together. Why we do this in a country as hot as this I will never understand, especially when there is room on the bench to scoot over. Something one just has to get used to.

When thinking of Samoa, something that does not at all come to mind it circus. I had heard rumors of such a thing, but never thought of it as actually being true. I figured it was just like the rumor of a bowling alley. I heard about it, said “that’s awesome, where?” and was then informed it was no longer in operation. Now why did you get me all excited only to crush me with disappointment? However, on Friday night I was present at just that very thing. Not only was it a circus, but it was the Magic Circus of Samoa.

There were jugglers, trapeze artists, a contortionist, a human fountain, clowns, Batman & Robin, motorcycles in a globe, Spiderman, and more. It was a cute little circus and actually felt more like a circus than others due to the fact that it was outside and under a true big top rather than in a convention center or arena. Felt more like the traveling circuses of old. This circus has a training center here in Samoa, and I must say they really are quite good. They travel all around the South Pacific; American Samoa, New Zealand, Tonga, Tahiti, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, etc. No animals, except for a small dog, but transporting elephants, horses, etc would be quite the feat here in the South Pacific as everything is in the middle of nowhere.

The evening started out with three Chinese boys spinning in round hoops. Now this looked more like fun than anything else. Next came the 12 year old contortionist who sat on her head. That just seems painful. There were unicycles of all sizes and shapes. I thought unicycles were of single shape, only variation was height. Well, someone somewhere created a zig-zag unicycle. In the shape of a Z and boy did it take some balance to ride. One unicycle was 3 meters tall and person jumped roped over a unicycle (not the 3 meter high unicycle, that would have been super impressive). There was a magician, not the greatest, but good effort. Batman and Robin made an appearance as well. There was an apparatus with two cylindrical, open cages which rotated on an axis. Batman and Robin rotated the apparatus; kind of like a hamster wheel only the cages were fixed and moved around the axis. Again, looked like fun to me. Batman took some risks though and started running on the outside of the cage, a little dangerous, but not as dangerous than when he jumped rope on the outside of the cage. That was impressive. Nothing in Samoa is complete without Siva Samoa, and sure enough there was Samoan dancing. Trapeze artists flew through the air and I was impressed by the double switch where one guy was holding on to another guy while a third guy flew from a trapeze and switched places mid-air with the second guy being held by the first guy. If you can follow that I’m impressed because that is not explained well. One of the Chinese guys balanced six chairs and did handstands on them. Spiderman walked the tight rope. A guy threw knives (impressive, but needed to land closer to the girl for it to be really impressive) and another did a headstand on a trapeze.

Now the other act I haven’t mentioned yet was the human fountain. A lady from India figured out that if you chug a bunch of water your body doesn’t actually like that and you will regurgitate it back up. Not really all that impressive, in fact a little gross. The really gross part was swallowing four live goldfish and having them come out of the fountain. The circus had to end with a bang, and that meant putting five motorcycles in a globe and having them go really fast. This is extremely dangerous and was cool, but Ringling has them beat (if I remember correctly Ringling had six and went much faster with all six in). However, for a small time, traveling circus I was impressed.

It was a fun night and I was impressed by the talent from all around the world. There were some Samoans, as well as people from India, China, Hong Kong, Kiribati, etc. The circus was an unusual treat for a night in Apia.

I was sitting in my house Friday night preparing dinner and thinking about what movie or tv shows to watch for entertainment that evening when I heard the sound signifying singing practice. I had no idea why we were having it so late as it is usually held at 4:30 in the afternoon on Tuesdays & Fridays or recently on Saturday and Sunday. I wasn’t keen on going but someone came by and convinced me to go so I did. When I got there, barely anyone was there but this isn’t unusual (we have cancelled practices due to few people before). As I was talking with someone the words maliu (funeral) and oti (dead) came up. I inquired as to what she was talking about and she was surprised to hear that no one had told me we had a funeral in the morning. I said “oh, ok good to know”. . .it was 8:30 the night before and I was just finding out, great. At least it was better than the other two funerals I have been to here, no bus at 6 am going to Apia to pick up the body. We waited here for the church service instead. This is sometimes the problem being the palagi in the village and living by yourself, you don’t get told much. Even for Peace Corps related things I am usually the last one to know about things. Oh well, that’s my role in life…walking around confused all the time.

Some random things about life in Samoa:

I’m not sure who exactly is in charge of the movie control board, but it must be a man. The movie “Milk” was banned here in Samoa, because of the gay theme. However, the movie titled “Lesbian Vampire Killers” is allowed. I’m not sure how you can ban a movie because it involves the subject of homosexuality, yet you allow another movie with the word lesbian in the title. How does that make any sense? I guess I can just chalk that one up to being a palagi and I’m never actually going to understand Samoa.

What is especially confusing about all the dislike in Samoa about this movie is the fa’fafine aspect of Samoan culture. According to the dictionary we were given during training, a fa’afafine is an effeminate man. Division of labor in Samoa is very strong. There are things the men do and things women do and that is not to be mixed. Sometimes when a family doesn’t have enough girls to do chores, they will raise a boy as a girl and he/she will do the girl’s chores. The little boy will be dressed in women’s clothing and will be called a girl. When older, some fa’afafines abandon the women’s clothing (at least on a daily basis) and go home to a wife & kids, while others continue the cross dressing lifestyle and have relationships with men. In most cultures, a man having a relationship with another man is classified as a homosexual relationship. However, in Samoa that is not classified as gay (which is probably good because homosexuality is illegal here). Some teacher PCVs have said when teaching they get answers of there being 3 sexes, male, female, and fa’afafine. There are many fa’afafine pageants and competitions in Samoa and the Pacific and if walking around late enough in Apia one can see them on street corners strutting their stuff.

As much as being a fa’fafine is ok by most Samoans (although there are some who look down on them), they seem to get picked on a lot. During the sewing clinic in my village, one of the teachers was a fa’afafine. She was picked on a lot it seemed, but she gave it right back too. When on the bus, the fa’afafines get picked on. They seem to have developed a thick skin to it all though. Trying to get the best of people is sort of a Samoan thing, which is why we palagis get a lot of teasing, but to me it seems the fa’afafines get picked on a whole lot more than other people. All part of the fa’aSamoa I guess.

On another note: There are no helicopters in Samoa (rumor has it there may be one, but this is just gossip; general consensus is that there isn’t one). I was sitting in my hammock reading one day last week and heard this awful racket. At first I thought it was the little boat from Salani taking surfers out to the surf spot. As it became louder I could tell it wasn’t the boat and began wonder what on Earth was attacking Samoa. I then saw a helicopter fly by. I’m pretty sure my jaw dropped to the ground I was so shocked. The real funny thing was the little annoying dog which won’t go away pretty much did the same thing and seemed really confused as to what that weird flying thing was as she watched it go by, never taking her eyes off it until it was out of eyesight. I began thinking, especially a couple days later as it went by again, what is this thing doing here? I then hypothesized that it must be for Survivor: Samoa and getting aerial shots. I guess they will airbrush my house out then. I’m contemplating putting up something really annoying and seeing if I can find it on their footage. We will see if the boredom comes to that.

I left Fiji on the 5th of July and, due to the International Date Line, returned to Samoa on the 4th of July. I got about 2.5 hours of sleep the whole night and that was from sleeping in a chair at the Peace Corps hostel because all the beds were taken by people coming in for Independence Day celebrations. Jenny and I weren’t all that happy coming into the hostel at 5 in the morning, wanting nothing but a bed, and seeing them all taken. Oh well, such is life; que sera sera and all that.

We had a really fun celebration for the 4th up at Robert Louis Stevenson’s house. A Navy ship was in town for the Pacific Partnership Program, where they hold health clinics for humans and animals as well as helping with infrastructure projects. We had a little softball game against the Navy and might I add a job well done by our boys in the 14-4 win. I was supposed to play but seeing as how I had very little sleep I decided I didn’t really feel much like actually using energy that day. So I kept the official score, complete with marking singles, doubles, outs, etc. I never learned official scoring, but I kept semi-official score and that was a fun skill to learn. We had a fun evening of chit chat with the Navy guys about their jobs here and where they were going next, as well as really good food. We had real hot dogs, none of that chicken frank stuff you get here, baked beans, potato salad, chili for the hot dogs, and free wine and beer. Quite a few people were in attendance besides us PCVs & Navy personnel including the Samoan Prime Minister and Head of State, Miss Samoa, and of course the master planner of the event, the Charge de Affairs. A small Navy band played music and we danced to the live music, enjoying being able to dance to something other than Samoan music or hip-hop. We lit sparklers, ate ice cream, and enjoyed the night.

My birthday was a pretty chill event, which is what I wanted (anything other than sitting in my room alone the whole day; I didn’t really want to do anything in the village because they would make it a big spectacle and that was the last thing I wanted). I went to Apia and went out to dinner with some of the PCVs who were in town. I had said a few weeks ago I was going to save up my money and buy a steak for my birthday and that is just what I did. I enjoyed it too. I had already given myself a pretty big birthday present in the trip to Fiji (best present I have ever given myself and it will be hard to beat), but I felt a steak was a worthwhile present on the actual day of my birth. It was quite nice to have cake on my birthday as well (thanks guys).

Most of the other PCVs are older than me by a couple of years; I’m second youngest in country and was the youngest until Group 81 came last October. It is funny to hear everyone’s reactions when they find out how old I am. To most of the volunteers I’m but a baby as they are in mid to late 20s. Acutally, we have a young group here in Samoa as the average age for PCVs is in the 30s. Even the Samoans think I’m too young to be here and away from my parents. They don’t really understand that as a 23 year-old I wouldn’t be living with my parents anyway, but that is a cultural thing I’m not sure they will ever really understand. I’m pretty used to being the youngest or close to it though. I was always the youngest in school and of my best friends I’m the youngest by months. So another birthday gone and one more to go before I leave (I hit the hat trick and will celebrate three birthdays during my 27 months of Peace Corps service).

I got my first vacation/trip off the island and it was fantastic! I went to Fiji for a week with my four fellow Group 80 girls Karin, Jenny, Liz, & Briony. We had a blast. We flew into Nadi early morning on Sunday, June 28 then rented a car to drive down to the Coral Coast to stay in a resort there. We all commended Briony on her skill of navigating roundabouts and driving on the left side of the road and right side of the car; she received only a few unpleasant honks.

Our first looks at Fiji told us it was nothing like Samoa. The mountains are bigger, there are rolling foothills, and even pine trees. Nadi seemed very dry, even for the dry season. Fields of sugar cane lined the roadway. There is even a little train to take the sugar cane stalks from place to place; I’m assuming to a sugar cane plant which makes sugar out of the sugar cane. We stopped at Sri Siva Subrahmaniya Swami Temple right in Nadi town. This might seem out of place in a South Pacific country, but Fiji is nearly 40% Indian due to British colonization. The temple was very colorful and ornately carved. Indians were having meals blessed and praying with the help of a monk. We admired the paintings on the ceiling of Shiva and all the stories they told. As we ventured further into Fiji the coastline became less arid and more mountainous and beachy. The roads were roughly the same as in Samoa, winding and littered with potholes. The beach at the resort was pretty, especially at sunset with the rocks and palm trees. One of the funny things was the coconut catchers on some of the palm trees. Large metal baskets were raised just under the coconuts and would catch any coconuts before they fell on guests’ heads. The baskets could be lowered to collect the coconuts as well. Bats flew around catching insects and attacking fruits. It was nice to relax and be on vacation. That is until about an hour after dinner and I got food poisoning. That wasn’t so much fun.

The next day we went to the art village in Pacific Harbour. I wasn’t 100% yet, but even with nausea and a light head I wasn’t going to miss vacation. The crafts were interesting to see. There were kava bowls, masks, pearls, and even cannibal forks. Yes, you read correctly, cannibal forks. The forks with four prongs in a square shape were used to cannibalize enemy tribes after they were defeated and poor missionaries who failed in their task of converting the natives. There were Indian bangles and carved tables as well. We drove back to the resort for some beach time. At least for the others; I slept the whole rest of the day, hoping I would feel better in the morning.

We drove to Suva Tuesday to the Raintree Lodge up in the mountains. It is a cute little hotel with a restaurant on a little lake converted from an old quarry. We finally were in a real city; first time in over a year. There are coffee shops which serve real coffee, amazing! There is a six screen movie theater, malls, department stores, and a KFC/Pizza Hut. There are dvd stores which sell pirated movies for just a few Fijian dollars. The advantage to pirating all the movies is you can create collections of dvds and have them all on one disc. For example, they had Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Band of Brothers, action collections, horror collections, Disney/Pixar collections, and even a Josh Hartnett collection. There are big buildings, a flea market selling sulus (Fijian word for an ie), a regular market selling food (much like our market, but bigger and with better quality foods being sold), and best of all a whole floor of the market devoted to nothing but kava and spices, but mostly just kava. The Fijian word for kava is yaqona and is supposedly stronger than Samoan kava. Suva is a large, bustling city, but as a typical South Pacific country, all is closed at 4 or 5 pm.

Jenny and I hiked in the Colo-I-Suva National Park just a five minute walk from Raintree Lodge. This was a really fun hike. Some of the trails were a bit rough and a little Indiana Jonesish, but that was what made it fun. There were little waterfalls and pools to swim in, which are never complete without a rope swing. It was overcast and a little chilly to go swimming in the pools, but on a hot day a swim in the mountain pools would be refreshing. I recommend going to the park if you are in Fiji.

I got my ziplines and diving in as well. Jenny and I went back to Pacific Harbour Thursday so I could dive on Friday morning. We stayed in an awesome hotel called the Pearl South Pacific and got a great deal (otherwise $384 Fijian dollars, or about $140 US, a night wasn’t going to happen). This hotel was fabulous! It was stylish and modern; if it wasn’t for the gorgeous view of Beqa Island I would have forgotten I was in Fiji. There was a spa, pool, pool table, amazing restaurant (the pork loin was amazing), and best of all a tv (with more than 3 channels even). Jenny and I don’t have tv here in Samoa and even if we did there are only 3 channels. The hotel had satellite so they got lots of fun tv. We watched Blue Planet all night and it was amazing! As we were checking in, I overheard someone talking about ziplines. I inquired at the hotel tour desk how I could sign up to go and she said another group is leaving in 5 minutes if I wanted to go. I got my shoes on with no more questions asked. I didn’t even know what room I was in, but I knew I could figure that out later. I had a lot of fun ziplinning. I could tell the Fijian staff really enjoyed their job. There were 8 lines and we went around twice. I’m a big sucker for this adventure type stuff and zip lines in the jungle and over rivers can’t get much better.

Briony and I were going to do diving together, but since I got food poisoning the first few days were out and she left our group to go to a friend’s wedding on one of the outer islands, we had to dive separately. I went with Beqa Adventure Divers in Pacific Harbour. We dove in the Beqa Passage between Vitu Levu and Beqa Island. These were the two most amazing dives I have ever been on. We saw two White-tip Reef Sharks, lionfish, ribbon eels, clams, nudibranchs of several colors, huge anemeones, shrimp, lobsters, and all kinds of colorful fish. Our first dive was Carpet Cove. This was a deep dive down to 104 feet, 4 feet past the limits I’m supposed to go but no worries. There was a wreck we dove first, admiring all the shrimp, coral, and fish which had decided that was home. We then moved up to about 50 feet and dove some pinnacles. The coral was amazing...wire coral, soft coral, hard coral, sea fans of all different colors. I now know why Fiji is the soft coral capital of the world. The second dive was E.T. and the coral was even more amazing here. There were huge swim throughs lined with sea fans waving hello. The sea fans on these pinnacles were huge, at least 4-5 feet. I’m a big fan of diving in Fiji now and am already planning the next trip.

Fiji is very different from Samoa. Houses are not the open houses you see here, but closed houses due to the cooler weather and many had chimneys. Most of the houses are scantily built shacks of wood or corrugated metal, which shows the level of poverty to be greater there than in Samoa. The traditional bure is seen occasionally as a family’s everyday housing, but seems like it might be more for meeting houses as I didn’t really see too many of them outside of resorts. Fijians look much different than Samoans, a little surprising since the islands are very close. Samoans are Polynesian while Fijians are Melanesian. Fijians are darker skinned and have a different facial structure. Landscape wise is very different too. Nadi is drier than the mountainous Suva. In Samoa, there is just one line of mountains, but in Fiji there are a few rows of mountains, followed by rolling foothills. There are 322 islands of Fiji, with Viti Levu being the biggest. Samoa has two main islands, two smaller islands, and a handful of uninhabited islands. Temperature in Fiji this time of year is great, mid-60s at night to 80 or so on a sunny day. It was overcast a lot while we were there so we were chilly and had to wear long sleeves, but we enjoyed the change. We didn’t feel any repercussions from the coup and the non-democratic government at all. Life seemed to be going on as normal in Fiji.

I’m pretty sure I’ll be going back to Fiji sometime in my lifetime. I loved it and had a great time. I would love to be able to get out to some of the other islands and explore them; I’ve heard they are even more spectacular than the main island of Viti Levu. Only a week in Fiji was not enough.