Gallery: The Damage from Cyclone Evan

Getting involved in the cleanup efforts

I’m Officially a Peace Corps Volunteer!

On Tuesday, we had a small swearing-in ceremony at the US Embassy in Apia. I made it through training and am living my dream of becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer!

I should be in Savai’i on Monday. I’m excited to go to my permanent village and begin the next two years of my life. 

Peace Corps Samoa Group 84

Cleanup

Seven people from my group left for Savai’i today. I’m sad I wasn’t on the ferry with them, but soon enough I’ll be in my permanent village, starting the next two years of my life. I’m scheduled to leave Apia on Monday, which has been extended by 9 days due to the cyclone.

There are still a handful of us in Apia, all leaving on different days. To keep ourselves busy, we volunteered with Samoa Victim Support today. We spent the morning sweeping and shoveling mud (and who knows what else was in the mud) out of the office building. The mud was about one foot thick… it was hard work. I have an infection in my toe, so I’m sure working in the mud for numerous hours wasn’t the best idea. Cross your fingers that my toe’s condition doesn’t worsen, even though I’m certain it will.

By the time the mud was cleared, it was all over our clothes and bodies. To clean ourselves off, we hopped in the back of a truck bed that was headed to the sea. There was a large group in the truck bed; to make room for myself, I stuck my legs into a bucket full of mud that went knee high. Oh the things I’ve done while in Samoa! Haha…

Anyway, we went to the sea to wash off. It was a wonderful way to end a hard day’s/morning’s work.

A staff member from the US Embassy was taking photos of us working in the mud. Once I get access to them, they will be posted to my blog.

Tomorrow will probably be another day of volunteering. It feels good to lend a helping hand to my new home.

Cyclone Evan

On Wednesday night we were told about a tropical storm headed to Samoa. The next morning, a Peace Corps staff member knocked on our hotel doors, and told us to go to the store nearby, to buy food because the tropical storm had turned into a cyclone, and was expected to hit Apia in the next 7 hours.

Hours before the cyclone hit

Throughout the morning, the rain and wind picked up. Eventually, Apia lost electricity. I’ve never experienced a natural disaster before, so I didn’t know what to expect. I spent a lot of time looking out the windows, seeing the coconut trees blown around because of the high winds. I even went outside a few times to record videos and take photos. Eventually, the nearby river flooded, causing waters waist-deep (probably even higher) to flood the streets, homes, and businesses.

A man rescuing his dog

My roommate Kiri and I decided to keep our minds off of the madness that was going on outside, so we had a dance party in our room. Two guys from Group 83, joined us, along with some girls from my group. It was a lot of fun, and it was nice to not think about the cyclone.

The next day it continued to rain and the winds remained high. It was sad seeing the destruction that Evan caused; a lot of trees got knocked down, and homes were destroyed. Some families lost everything. Apia is starting to pick up after the disaster. People have been scrapping mud off the sidewalks. Others are cleaning up businesses, and cleaning up the trees. The Samoans appear to remain positive after the devastation that was brought upon them.

Because of the cyclone, we missed our swearing-in ceremony that was supposed to take place on Friday. We were looking forward to it because it was going to be at the Charge d'Affairs' home (US Embassy) and the Prime Minister was supposed to be in attendance. We’re having a small ceremony tomorrow. I’m excited to swear-in! I made it through Peace Corps training and a cyclone!

The Past 10 Weeks

When my group and I arrived in our training village, the entire village greeted us, and an ava ceremony was immediately done. After the ceremony, we were introduced to our host families. Once my belongings were placed in my room, I was fed. My host brother fanned my food, to keep the flies away. I didn’t want him to fan my food, but he insisted. That’s how most of my meals went: I sat and ate, while a member of my host family fanned my food and me.

My time in the training village was great. I enjoyed my host family. They spoiled me by giving me a lot of clothes. Total, I received 19 pulatasis from them. A pulatasi is a traditional Samoan outfit that women wear. They cost about $80+ tala (the cost of fabric and the tailor fees), so owning one is a big deal.

I didn’t have my computer during training, so unfortunately, I’m just typing things that are coming to mind. Below is a list of some things I saw/experienced:

• A 12-year-old boy climb to the top of a coconut tree, cutting down coconuts with a machete so we could drink the coconut water! It was amazing! I wish I had my camera to take a photo.
• Chickens running around the training fale (house). One even laid an egg on my chair!
• Pigs running around the training fale, eating trash out of the bins.
• Pigs and chickens roaming the sides of the roads, like cats and dogs do in the States.
• A freshly caught octopus, which later turned out to be my dinner.
• During our Culture Day, some people from my group had to strangle chickens, and one pig was killed. The animals were cooked, and we ate them.
• Taking a shower in a little wooden building, that was located behind my family’s fale. I LOVED when it was raining during my shower!
• Washing my clothes in a bucket, while sitting in my shower.
• A woman and her child showering in the open. They had on lavalavas, of course.
• An amazing Thanksgiving lunch at the Chargé d'Affaires home (US Embassy). I thought that my Thanksgivings in Samoa were going to be turkey-less, but I was wrong! We were fed a feast!
• Amazing sunrises and sunset! I’m from Santa Fe, which has some of the best sunrises and sunsets I’ve ever seen! Samoa competes with Santa Fe.
• Having 30+ mosquito and ant bites all over my body! I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the ants!
• Zumba! I never thought I’d go to a Zumba class while in Samoa, but I did! It was an hour and 15 minutes of fun and intensity!

A beautiful sunrise at my training village beach

 I even spent some time dancing. When we were practicing a Samoan dance for our swearing in ceremony, the music changed, and the song “Teach Me How to Dougie” played. If you know me, then you know that I love to dance. So what did I do? I dougied! The Samoans who were watching, got a kick out of it. A couple of weeks later, there was a fundraiser for the Methodist Church in my village. All the volunteers had to solo dance. In between our dances, there was group dancing. They played “Teach Me How to Dougie,” and I was picked to start off the dougie, along with a couple of other dances; that night was so much fun. It was probably one of the best nights I’ve had in Samoa.

During my solo siva (dance) for the farewell fiafia.
Also, I'm wearing a pulatasi.

Ice cream in Samoa is s big deal because it is so expensive. One day, Kiri and I decided to surprise our families with ice cream. Kiri’s brother-in-law drove us to a nearby village to make the purchase. We spent $45 tala (about $23USD) on a 10L box of ice cream for our two families. While the purchase was expensive, it was worth it because the looks on their faces were priceless! Between 10 of us, we nearly ate the entire box in just one sitting!

The first three weeks in the training village was dedicated to language training. By the end of this, I was mentally exhausted. But… the good news is: I passed my language proficiency interview. I even exceeded the standards. Am I fluent in Samoan? No. But considering I’ve only been in Samoa for 10 weeks, I’ve learned a lot and expect to reach fluency (or close to it) once my two years are up. After language training, our training was centered on technical training. Then had our teaching practicum (we each created 13 lesson plans and taught them) at a nearby primary school.

Somewhere in between all this, I was told where I’d be placed, once training is up. My permanent village is on the “big” island of Savaii (I’m not allowed to post the village name). My village is GORGEOUS! So is my fale! It is right above the seawall, and I can feel the sea breeze through my windows. My fale is like a studio, with everything in the open. I have a little sink for food prep, and an indoor toilet and shower, which is a big deal here in Samoan because most of these facilities are outdoors. My host family’s home is behind mine. I was supposed to move to my village two days ago, but am stuck in Apia because of Cyclone Evan. The Peace Corps staff is attempting to contact our host families, to determine if our villages are safe, and to make sure there’s plenty of water and food. If all is well, I could be in Savaii as early as Wednesday. 

Last Saturday we said goodbye to our training village families. It was an emotional morning for the families and for us trainees.

I apologize for this post being all over the place. I experienced a lot in the past 10 weeks, and it would be impossible for me to blog about every single detail.

My next blog will talk about the cyclone.

I'm Alive!

Hello, everyone! I have a couple of minutes of internet. I won't have internet again until I have sworn in as a volunteer, which will be in mid-December.

So until then!

One Week Down, Only 114 to Go!

The first week of training has been great. Our group has definitely been spoiled in terms of food. Each morning the hotel we are staying provides us breakfast and we eat lunch at the training center. One night our group went to a restaurant for dinner, another night two of the guys in our group made dinner, another night we had a delicious dinner at our country director’s home (his wife is an excellent cook), another night three girls from Group 83 made us lasagna, salad, and cheese cake for our girls night, and last night there was a ton of food for the fiafia. Group 83 did some awesome dances, and then a fire dancer put on a show! After that, Group 83 and our group met at a bar, then we went to a nightclub. It was fun to see the Samoan nightlife in Apia, which is exactly how it is in the States. There was a lot of American music played, which I wasn’t expecting at all. Group 83 showed us a great time. I appreciate the break because training has been mentally exhausting. I’ve only been here for just one week, but it feels like a month. In America everything is so rushed. In Samoa, it’s a lot slower. People don’t seem as rushed here, which I love. So that’s probably why the days seems to go longer and why it feels like I’ve been here a lot longer than a month.

Almost every night I’ve been looking up at the stars. I love doing that at home, so it’s great that the night skies are clear here.

Today we move to our training village. I won’t have Internet while there, so this will be my last post for 9 weeks. If anyone from back home is reading this, I love you all and miss every single one of you so much. I really do. I will see you all in just 114 weeks. 

Thanksgiving in October

My final day in Santa Fe was perfect. I spent the day with my cousin Ashley and friend Marcella, enjoying the weather that fall brings.

That evening my family made a Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Missing that holiday by just a month is saddening, so to have my family go out of their way to make me a special thanksgiving dinner, verifies how blessed I am to have them.

That night I met up with my friends Andrea, Gloria, Justin, and Felix. We hung out in the downtown Santa Fe area, and later went to Dunkin Donuts, where we had a mini dance session. Yes, we really danced. I already miss all the random moments we seem to have.

The following day was the day I left for staging in LA. I said my emotional goodbyes to my mom, dad, two sisters, brother-in-law, and cousin. That was probably one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done because saying goodbyes to people I love is so hard. Luckily, my sister and niece had a vacation in LA, and ended up booking the same as me. It was great to know that I had a few extra hours with them.

While on the flight, there was a young woman, Sarah, sitting next to my sister Jess. After the two did some talking, it was reveled that the woman was also from New Mexico, and was headed to staging at the same hotel! She had been placed in Vanuatu (Samoa and Vanuatu had staging scheduled at the same time).

When we picked up our luggage and wheeled it to LAX’s parking garage, I noticed that the wheel on my duffle bag was about to pop off at any moment. I had a feeling that was going to happen. After a few moments of freaking out, I decided that I would buy another bag once we finished eating at In N Out. Luckily I had a few hours to do this. My sister, her boyfriend, and Sarah were such good sports, not complaining as we drove around the LA area looking for a reasonably priced bag, and eventually ended up in Santa Monica, where I found what I was looking. Sarah and I made it to the staging hotel with just minutes to spare. I tearfully said my goodbyes to my sister and niece, quickly checked into the hotel, dropped off my bags in my room, dressed into appropriate clothing, and headed into the staging event. I think I handled my first Peace Corps crisis well! And so did Sarah, since she was with me the entire time. It’s interesting how you can connect with someone who was a complete stranger just hours before, instantly feeling like you’ve been friends forever. That’s how it felt with Sarah. I guess that goes with almost all Peace Corps volunteers—we are all connected.

Staging was great. I met the 12 volunteers in my Samoa group (Group 84), as well as the 30 people who are in the Vanuatu group. We turned in paperwork and were each given a debit card that had $120, to cover the cost of food for that evening and the following day. The next night we were back in LAX, eating our final meal in America, which happened to be pizza, of course!

We flew with Air New Zealand. For being a 13-hour flight, it was very comfortable.

There were about 80 movies to choose from, as well as TV shows and music. We were fed dinner and breakfast. I must add that the food was great, too… I was pleasantly surprised with how good the food was.

RANDOM FACT: Since we flew right over the international date line, October 6th is a date that did not exist for me! Samoa is 18 hours ahead of Santa Fe. Right now it is Wednesday evening, while it is Tuesday night back home.

We landed in Auckland, New Zealand, and had about 30 minutes to change our clothing. At staging we were told that we needed to look our best because media and Peace Corps staff would be greeting us.

It felt very surreal walking out of the plane, feeling the humid air, seeing the gorgeous surroundings, and seeing a group of people who were there to greet us and gift us with leis. I had been waiting for that moment for over a year. It felt so unreal—I was expecting to wake up from my dream at any moment.

After we picked up our bags, a few current Peace Corps Volunteers greeted us. One girl happened to be someone who I had been in contact with through Facebook. It was awesome to finally meet her.

A bus picked us up, and transported us to the hotel we will be staying at for the rest of the week. At the hotel the country director and other Peace Corps staff gave a brief introduction and then we were fed dinner. Guess what my first meal in Samoa was! It was PIZZA, and it tasted just like pizza back home.

Two days ago was our Ava ceremony. The 13 of us wore matching lavalavas (a skirt), and each recited a Samoan phrase. After that, we went to the area where the Peace Corps office is located, and had our first day of training. Today was another training session, and so will the next 9 weeks. We have a couple of tea breaks throughout the day. Who would have thought that I would be drinking hot tea in such humid weather? I am and it’s great.

Thanksgiving did not end in Santa Fe. It continues in Samoa. I am so thankful to be given this opportunity. I’m living in a beautiful country, while fulfilling my dream of becoming a Peace Corps volunteer. I couldn’t be more grateful.

Only Seven Days...

At this time next week, I will be headed to the airport with my family. In just seven days...

I have seven days to buy all the last minute items I'll need for the next two years...

I have seven days to pack and meet the 100-pound weight limit...

I have seven days to work on Samoan language lessons...

I have seven days to see as many family and friends as possible...

I have seven days to eat at all the restaurants I will miss...

I have just seven days...

Around this time last September, I was finishing up the application and the two essays that Peace Corps requires. I imagined being at the point I'm currently in: preparing to leave for Peace Corps service. Did I think it would happen? While I imagined it would happen, the truth is, it felt so out of reach at the time, that no, I did not think it would happen, at least so quickly.

While I applied one year ago, I received my invitation just nine weeks ago. Up until I received the invitation in late July, my future with the Peace Corps was uncertain. I didn't know if I was qualified or even good enough to get an invitation to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Getting the invitation was one of the happiest days of my life, thus far. I was one of the chosen ones. My nomination remained the same as my invitation, which hardly ever happens, and I couldn't be more thrilled.

I feel so blessed to be leaving for Peace Corps staging in just seven days, but I feel like I need more time to prepare because truthfully these nine weeks have flown by, and all I have left is seven days. Seven days is not enough time to buy all the last minute items I need. Seven days is not enough time to pack and meet the luggage weight limit. Seven days is not enough time to study the Samoan language. Seven days is not enough time to see all my family and friends. Seven days is not enough time to eat at all the restaurants I will miss.

The next seven days will be filled with many tears, as I say goodbye to those I love. I know they will be very emotional goodbyes because these last few days have been emotional as it is. I find myself getting teary-eyed for the littlest thing someone tells me, even if it's through a text message. It's safe to say that I'm an emotional wreck, and it isn't fun.

Many people have asked me if I'm making the right decision. While I'm sad to leave for two years, I'll be back. Joining the Peace Corps is a dream of mine. I've jumped through many hoops during the application process, and I'm finally at the finish line. There's no way I'm quitting now. Quitting would be the easy fix to all the sadness and other emotions I feel at the moment. I'm sure these feelings are normal. I'm leaving for two years, after all... So yes, I am making the right decision.

I only have seven days to get numerous things done, but it's also exciting to know that in seven days I'm meeting the other people in Group 84. I couldn't be more excited about that. I couldn't be more excited to start this once in a lifetime journey, in just seven days.

Staging Materials

I woke up to a staging email from the Peace Corps this morning. Turns out I have to be in Los Angeles on October 4, not October 5 like I originally thought. I'm excited, but also sad to have one less day with my family.

I called Sato Travel to make flight arrangements to staging. I'll depart from Albuquerque, New Mexico on October 4 at 1:00pm, and will arrive in LAX at 2:05pm (02hrs 05 mins).
The email also includes:

• Samoa Reporting Instructions - This attachment has information on the hotel we will be staying at during staging, the staging event schedule, and the flight itinerary.
• On October 5, my group (Samoa Group 84) will depart from Los Angeles, California to Auckland, New Zealand (13hrs 00min). On October 7 (yes October 7. It's only a 4 hour layover, but because of the time change, we lose October 6 altogether) we depart from Auckland, New Zealand to Apia, Samoa (03hrs 40mins). Total, I'll be traveling for almost 19 hours! What a long journey it will take to get to Samoa!

• Instructions to Read the Welcome Book, Volunteer Handbook, and Peace Corps Approach to Safety and Security. I also have to complete the Pre-departure Online Security Orientation.

• Baggage Advisory - I'm allowed two checked bags. The baggage should not exceed 100 pounds total with a maximum weight allowance of 50 pounds for any one bag.

Hopefully two years of my life does not weigh more than 100 pounds!

At LAX, I'm planning on meeting two girls who are in my training group, and we will go to the hotel together. I'm so excited to finally meet the people who will be such a big part of my life for the next to years!

Only 24 days!

This just got so real!

With love,
Angelina

Pre-Departure Materials

Last Friday, I was on my final vacation with some friends, when I received an email from the Country Desk Officer, notifying me that I will be getting two CDs in the mail. One of the CDs has language lessons and the other has several documents that will help me prepare for my Peace Corps service. The email also reminded me to submit my no-fee passport ASAP (I've already submitted it), and to complete my Pre-Departure Online Security Orientation prior to staging (I still need to do).

Today I received the two CDs in the mail. I am excited to learn a little bit of Samoan before I actually go to Samoa! I'll keep you all updated on how that goes.

With love,
Angelina

Welcome!

Hello! My name is Angelina... Welcome to my blog where I will document my last two months at home, preparing for my departure to Samoa. I will continue blogging throughout my service. 

Since this blog is centered on the Peace Corps, I will give you a brief overview:

I applied to become a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) in the end of September of 2011. Around the time I applied, I wanted to start a blog that documented my Peace Corps application process, but decided against it because I didn't want to jinx myself, as silly as it sounds. Well... last Wednesday I finally received my invitation to Samoa! After reading what was required of me, I accepted my invitation two days ago. So here I am, wishing I had started this blog one year ago.

The Peace Corps application process has probably been one of the most trying experiences of my life. While it has been frustrating at times, I have learned the true meaning of patience.

In the near future I will post my application timeline. I already have a tab/link for it above.  

Well that’s all for now because I am sleepy. Goodnight, folks! 

With love,
Angelina

UPDATE: My Application Timeline tab has been updated!