The moment you
step out of the plane, your camera’s screen and lens fog immediately, due to
the humidity.
You witness
numerous chickens and one pig get killed for Culture Day. Those animals later
become your meal.
A young boy is
climbing a coconut tree, with a machete in his hand. Yeah, no big deal!
Showering
without flip-flops is a luxury.
Showering with
hot water is a treat.
You look forward
to Thursday nights because it’s Bingo night, and you know that there will be
donuts for sale.
You have to take
off your shoes before entering a doctor’s office.
Your host family
locks the back door of the house at night. That's the door you go through, to go
to the outdoor bathroom. It’s 2 am, and you need to use the bathroom. While
deciding if you should wake them up, you notice the bucket that has been in
your room since you moved in. Suddenly a thought comes to mind: “Is that why they
put the bucket in my room, so I don’t wake them up in the middle of the night?”
Strangers ask
where you’re going.
Church bells
(and by bell I mean an oxygen tank and stick) wake you up at 5am almost every
morning. The bell is a remainder to get up and pray and/or go to morning
service. You um, go back to sleep.
Your host sister
shows you a freshly caught octopus. That octopus becomes that night’s dinner.
You wash your
dishes after you use them, knowing that you’ll have to wash them again before
the next meal because they will still attract insects.
During your walk
to church, mud gets on the back of your white pulatasi. Once you get home, you
secretly wash it in the shower, and hang it to in your fale to dry. Why is it a
secret? It’s a secret because it’s Sunday, and any activity (besides going to
church, praying, eating and sleeping) is forbidden.
A mosquito flies
in your cup of coffee. You scoop it out and continue to drink.
You spray
Mortein (insect killer) to kill the ants. Moments later 200+ mosquitoes drop
dead.
While chopping
up an onion, a piece falls on the floor. What do you do? Rinse it off, and add
it to the chop pile. Food is too valuable here.
You’re
constantly checking your wounds to make sure flies aren’t feasting on them.
An ie lavalava
is used for a skirt, a blanket, a towel, a scarf, a tablecloth, a curtain,
etc., etc., etc.
While drinking a
soda, a wasp decides it wants to share. What do you do? Keep drinking out of
the straw, as the wasp is inside the can.
Your windows
have mosquito wire, but that doesn’t keep the mosquitoes out.
The bus gets so
full, to the point where people sit on strangers’ laps, and people stand, NOT
sit, on the bus entry area while the bus is going at full speed down the road.
I must add: the buses are door-less. If there’s an automobile accident, those
people would be seriously injured.
A cyclone hit
two days prior. There is no electricity in the city. People still need to have
fun, so where do they go? They go to the bar that’s powered by a generator.
You don’t shower
for 6 days because the cyclone caused water to be scarce. The water that’s
available is used for flushing toilets and drinking only.
Fifteen+ people
pack a truck bed.
You don’t have
silverware yet, so you make a spoon, using the metal lid of a can. It was a
good idea, until it sliced your lip.
While you’re on
break during training class, a chicken decides to lay an egg on your chair.
Your host family
tells you to eat more. You do, and then they say that you’re getting fat.
To prevent ants
from getting into your food, you use plastic containers to store your food. The
same type of container is used for hand washing clothes. Those containers are
multi-purpose!
You wonder why
your outer ankles are darker than the rest of your skin. You’re convinced
they’re just bruised, but after weeks of having “bruised” ankles, you figure it
must be something else. Turns out that the bruises wash away—all it takes is
some scrubbing (they were just covered in dirt, and insect repellent).
Ants share your
bed, and your counter tops, and your windows, and your water filter. They’re
everywhere.
Your clothes
have been outside “drying” for the last two days, and they’re still wet. Yay,
mold!
You discover
that lizards chirp.
You have an
infection in your toe for 8 weeks already, and it doesn’t look like it’s going
to heal anytime soon.
There are
visible mold stains on your clothes
Mosquitoes and
ants bite you daily.
You stack up
beer crates, using them as a bookshelf.
Samoans insist
you must change out of your clothes if they’re wet. They’re convinced you’ll
get sick… in 85-degree weather.
A lizard lives
in your thatched roof.
Your mattress is
3in thick. You can fill the bed frame when you’re laying down.
A McDonalds
meals cost $26WST ($13USD), but you don’t care because it’s the closest thing
to “American” food. Funny thing is, you hardly eat McDonalds at home.
The high-speed
internet is prepaid, expensive, and isn’t very “high-speed.” It often freezes,
while the usage ticker is still winding down.
A few of these were taken out of a previous blog entry. I thought they’d be a good addition to
the list, which I plan on updating periodically… After all, I’ll be in Samoa
for 23 more months… It’s bound to get LONG!
