Dancing, School, & Fitness

Samoans are very talented when it comes to dancing. Below you will find a video I recorded of my students dancing last week. They were dancing, as a farewell gesture to the Year 4 teacher who was leaving the school.

Nothing new is happening in the village. I'm busy with my reading groups. I have 9 groups total. I work with each group twice a week, and I co-teach on Fridays.

Also, there's a fitness competition going on with the PCVs. Each PCV set a personal fitness goal. The individual who comes the closest to completing their goal, by the end of Term 1 will win. I hope I win! So far I'm at 100%!

The First Week of School

The first day of school is meant for the children to clean the classrooms. So that’s all they did the first day. My Peace Corps project is working with Years 2-6, in literacy. I will be co-teaching in all these classes, and working with Years 4-6 in small pullout groups. The first few weeks of school are meant for observations, so I can get a grasp where the children’s English is at.

On the third day of school, I was getting ready to start my observations, when I was asked if I could substitute teach Year 5 for the day because the teacher was absent. I agreed, but made it clear that I’m only trained with English and reading, so that’s what the children were going to do. They played spelling games, I read to them, they read to themselves, and then, they sang and danced for me. It was wonderful. I wish I had my camera handy.

Midweek, a student in Year 7 gave me a beautiful assortment of flowers. She said that her mother put it together for me. It was a nice surprise. I love flowers! They’re so beautiful, and smell heavenly.

Interesting fact: The rain causes the school day to be delayed, as well as an early dismissal. Samoa is currently in the “wet season” so this first school term will be interesting. 

Wedding #2

If you’ve been reading my blog, then you’d know that the first week in my permanent village, I went to a Samoan wedding. I went to another wedding last weekend. I was really excited about this one because I was personally invited. I invited my friend Kiri as my “plus 1.” 

The morning of the wedding, she arrived to my house by bus. I made breakfast, and then we got ready. My host parents told us that they weren’t going to the ceremony, only the reception. As we were waiting for them to knock on my house door, to tell us it was time to go, we noticed a line of vehicles driving down the road outside my house. It was obvious that the cars had just left a wedding. A few moments later, the cars were driving in the opposite direction, and parked in the area where my house is located. It turns out there was some kind of wedding event going on at my host grandmother’s house. I’m not sure what it was exactly, so I will say that it was a wedding reception pre-party. It was great fun, filled with ice cream, cookies, fruit salad, music, and dancing, of course! At the pre-party, the bride and groom had their first dance together. Then my host dad told Kiri and me to go outside to siva (dance). We started dancing, and before we knew it, we each had a dance partner: I was dancing with the groom, and Kiri was dancing with a groomsman.

My host cousin Natia and me

The bride and groom's first dance

My host dad lifting the bride

The reception: It was located a few villages from mine. It was very similar to the first wedding reception I attended, except no alcohol was present because the couple is Mormon. Each attendee received a lot of food; there was music and dancing. Then it was time for the wedding party to distribute cake. What I learned/was told from the first wedding reception: In Samoan wedding receptions only important people receive cake. The recipients of cake are the pastors/priests, village leaders, matais, and other special guests. Guess who received cake? If you guessed me, then ding, ding, ding, you’re correct! The announcer was speaking fast, in Samoan the entire time, so I was only able to pick up portions of what he was saying. Then I heard “Pisikoa” (Peace Corps Volunteer), and the next thing I knew, a bridesmaid was heading in my direction, with a giant piece of cake. It was a nice gesture, and definitely made me smile.

Beautiful Maid-of-Honor dress

Cake!

I’ve only been in Savai’i for 5 weeks, and have already been to two weddings. I’m guessing I will be attending plenty more weddings, over the next 22 months. 

Hitchhiking!

I hitched for the first time in my life the other day, and I did it twice that day! The first time I was with my friend Kiri. We wanted to go to a nearby resort, so we flagged down a truck that was heading in our direction. In the States, when you want a ride, you stick up your thumb. Here, you stick your hand out, fingers down, and then move your fingers into your palm. That’s the same way you flag down cabs and buses here, too.

Anyway, the truck stopped for us and dropped us off at the resort. A few hours later, we were on the bus, headed to my house. I needed to grab my belongings because Cyclone Garry was supposed to hit 8 hours later, and we wanted to experience/survive another cyclone together.

The bus dropped us off at my house. We grabbed my bag, and discussed how we were going to get to her village. Then I said, “Lets hitch again!” We started walking on the side of the road, and flagged down the first truck that passed us. The driver stopped, and asked us where we’re headed. Turns out he was going to the same village! So we hopped in his truck, and spent the next 45 minutes talking to a complete stranger.

Forty-five minutes later, he dropped us off at my Kiri’s house. As we were getting out, I handed him a package of cookies—our way of saying “thank you for saving us $50WST on cab fare.”

Apparently hitching is common here. Volunteers from previous groups mentioned that they hitched to get around.

Will I hitch again? I don’t know. I wanted to get the experience out of my system, and I definitely did! 

Cyclone Garry

That’s right, Garry with two r’s!

Cyclone Garry is expected to hit the island of Savai’i in 13 hours. PCVs have been told that it won’t be strong until it reaches Upolu. I’m not sure what to expect because Cyclone Evan wasn’t predicted to be as powerful as it was, and it was quite destructive.

The Peace Corps country director has told Savai’i volunteers to stay with their host families, indoors, away from windows. So, that leaves my house out because it’s covered in windows.

Cyclone Garry will be in Savai’i for about 12 hours and then reach Upolu. Stay tuned…

Bringing a Little Taste of New Mexico to Samoa

Samoa has avocadoes. They’re huge… about the size of a squash!

Being from New Mexico, I relate avocadoes to guacamole. So, I bought an avocado from the market, and placed it in a paper bag so it would ripen. A few days later the avocado was ready.

I added tomatoes, onions, and garlic salt. Normally I add jalapenos. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any peppers at the market, so I added chili spice instead. Back home, I top off guacamole with lemon juice. I couldn’t get a hold of lemons, either, but it’s okay because the guacamole was AMAZING!! I ate the guacamole with salt & vinegar chips… It was a delicious treat!

So delicious

As I was mixing everything together, the smell brought me back home, and for a second it felt like I was in Santa Fe. It was a good moment, but also made me miss my family.

It feels good knowing that I can make guacamole anytime I want, especially during those moments when I’m missing home.  

As I was preparing dinner, the power went out. So I continued to eat the guacamole.... Like my candle holder?? 

Ants, Mosquitoes, and Spiders, Oh My!

Team work 

Ants: I have an issue with ants. This issue goes back to when I lived in the States. There’s something about seeing ants in the kitchen that really gets to me. Unfortunately for me, ants are EVERYWHERE in Samoa. And I mean everywhere. I understand they’re trying to find food to support their armies, or take back to the queen ant, or whatever. In all honestly, I don’t care what their motive is. They’re invading my space, and I don’t like it. I got upset when I first moved to Savai’i because I didn’t have food containers yet, so I put an open bag of crackers in a zip lock bag. It kept the ants out for a few days. Then one morning, I woke up, and the ants ate through the bag! I was so angry because one, they ATE THROUGH THE BAG, and two, they messed up my morning routine of eating crackers with PB&J. I’m not at the point where I’ll eat ant-infested food, although I hear that many PCVs get to that point.

I now have food containers. A few days ago, I woke up to find ants all over one of the them. As you’ve probably guessed, I got upset. What did I do? I put the container in my shower, turned on the water, and drowned the ants. Then I said a prayer, in hopes that the ants weren’t inside the container, attacking my food. What do you think? Did the ants get inside? NO THEY DIDN’T! I was so excited by this! Geeze, I realize that this section makes me sound like a crazy person! Ha.

It’s taking some time, but I’m getting used to the ants. When I see one now, I don’t bother to kill it (unless I see several in one area, or the ant is on my bed). Why don’t I kill the solo ant? It’s pointless to kill it because minutes later, another ant will appear, to take the dead ant (cannibalism?). I suppose it’s pointless to kill the group of ants, too. But for now, I can’t help it.

My PST village in Upolu had ants, of course, but they weren’t this bad. It may be because I didn’t have food in my room since my host family cooked for me.

Mosquitoes: The other night I sprayed Mortein (insect killer) to rid the ants. Seconds later, 200+

Mosquitoes dropped to the floor, hopping a few times, and then dying. It was a mosquito apocalypse. I know it sounds like an exaggeration, but it’s not. I have a picture to prove it. The strange thing is, I had no idea there were so many mosquitoes in my house. What’s scary to think about is they would have attacked my mosquito net, plotting a way to get in. And plenty get in. The nets aren’t mosquito proof. And yes, I am tucking my net under my mattress. Believe it or not, the mosquitoes can go through the net easily. I’ve witnessed it. Anyway, I swept the dead mosquitoes into a pile, and took a photo. During this time, I was barefoot. Of course there were smashed mosquitoes on the bottom of my feet. I took a photo of that, too, but it’s gross, so I’ll spare the readers.

There seems to be more mosquitoes in Savai’i, compared to Upolu. Maybe it has to do with the fact that my fale is so close to the water (it’s on the sea wall). In Upolu, my PST village was near water too, about a one-minute walk to the sea.

I even have mosquitoes wiring on my windows. But they get in. And they bite me. I’ve had about 30 mosquito bites at once. It’s difficult to get used to because I come from New Mexico, where I get bite once, maybe twice a year. Here, I’m getting bit several times a day. And yes, I’m putting on insect repellent, yet am still getting bit.

Dead mosquitoes

Spiders: I won’t go on a crazy rant about spiders like I did with ants and mosquitoes. All I will say is that there are plenty of spiders here. Since I’ve moved to Savai’i, I have found several small spiders, and three LARGE ones that were scary looking. They were about the size of a .50 piece. The latest one I found was larger.

It was a lot bigger in person