White Sunday

We have had a lot of training sessions…most of them long! We started learning the language. It is pretty cool… although it is difficult to remember all the vowel sounds. My first group teacher is Joe…which is kinda funny because there is no J in the Samoan language. We asked him what his Samoan name is and it is Iosefa. I guess they are pretty close.. but it made me start thinking of a few of the Samoans I have met…quite a few have “western style names” such as our amazing leader Henry Paul (HP). He said he got his name because his parents really enjoyed the singers Peter Paul and Mary.
We also had to get more immunizations….o what fun! I got my first ever flu shot and typhoid. As expected, I do what I normally do…and get nauseous! Martin (Samoan name Matini) was sitting next to me and I made him look after me. I am sooo happy that I roped him into it because I was not feeling too hot. And after shots we got the pleasure to learn about diarrhea….What an interesting topic when you feel horrible (I’m kidding!). We did learn about a few new diseases that are not found in the States.
After that wonderful lecture many people had to switch rooms because the volunteers that were staying at our hotel were finally going back to their home country…and they wanted us all on the same floor. I am happy that I was one of the very few that did not have to switch rooms at all.
Later that day I learned that there were two Phillies fans in my group. So we shared evil eyes during our upcoming lectures as we flaunted out hats…I do believe the Rockies one looks better!!!I have a bet going with both of them. When the Rockies win this series I get taken to lunch by someone and another person has to wear a Rockies hat for the week…. If by some strange phenomenon the Rockies lose… I have to take someone out for lunch and wear a stupid Phillies hat… Go Rocks!!! (By the way I am really bummed out about the snow out of the game… I think that would be an interesting way to play… I mean if the Broncos have to subject other teams to that kind of weather…why can’t the Rockies?)
We ended the week of our group discussions with a pizza filled girls night. We learned about dating Samoans….only the term dating does not really exist. It is really a courtship... (Don’t get any ideas mom!) So if you hang out with a person of the opposite sex a lot you are preparing for marriage. Apparently marrying someone from the States is considered an amazing find…so we should be expect for village women to try to set us up with their sons..weird.. After the discussion we went out with a few of the volunteers to a bar called Bamboo across the street. One of the volunteers knows the owner and the bouncer of that bar and told us that we should make friends with every owner and bouncer of any place we go to ensure there are no problems. It was great to hear their perspectives on life and about half an hour after we arrived the boys came to complete our family outing.
This morning we went out around town because most of the restaurants and stores would be closed Sunday and Monday for the holiday..White Sunday I think it is called. We went on a mission to find the cell phone store, buy veggies because we are having our own version of Stone Soup on Sunday night, and find a three prong converter. I don’t know if it was just because of the holiday weekend or if it is a weekend ritual, but everyone was out around town. There were people on the streets selling everything and some of the stores were so crowded that it overflowed onto the streets. I ended up buying two cabbages (kapisi) from a really nice woman on the streets who helped correct my Samoan attempt to say cabbage. We went to the bank to exchange our money. I learned later that my group went to the bank that had the best exchange rate (all the boys learned this the previous night.) We went to a book and stationary store to buy index cards and other items to help us study and learn the language just a little bit better….hopefully! We also went to Digicel to find out about cell phones and they were sold out of all of their cheap phones. I don’t think I need a cell phone that much to buy a super expensive one! We walked around practicing what little Samoan we know, and every Samoan that I have encountered is super patient and willing to help out with our quest to learn the language. They are willing to help us when we falter and translate things they say when we give our confused looks. The people in this country are truly amazing!
My mission to like tea and fish is going pretty well. I have been drinking tea every morning. It is not that bad without sugar but it reaches its best taste when I add one spoonful of their delicious sugar. I have had fish a few times. I have been adding hot sauce and other sauces to try to get rid of the fishy taste….It has been working okay… I am actually going out for dinner at a place called Seafood Gourmet pretty soon…so I am looking forward to trying more of it.
Speaking of food, I feel like I have been in heaven every morning with the amazing food they serve at breakfast! I have become in love with papaya (esi). They also always have two of my favorites, mini bananas and toast! I don’t know what it is about the butter they have here but it is so addictive! If you are ever travelling to Apia I fully recommend the Pasifika Inn based on their free breakfast!
Just to let everyone know I lost my memory stick for my camera in my computer…and can not figure a way to get it out… as soon as the mail comes from my loving sister in a few weeks I will put pictures on!
Today was a holiday…it’s called White Sunday. It is a holiday pretty much for the kids…which I think it pretty dang awesome. From what I understand…the parents wait on the kids and do everything for them. We went to the Catholic church for their Samoan mass. It was so beautiful seeing all the young children lined up to go inside the church. All of them were dressed in white. Many of the boys had these cute little red bow ties. They also had these amazing flowers around their head like a crown.
When Mass was starting, the alter boys walked in first, followed by the parade of children. There seemed to be hundreds of them. During the mass, two groups of children took turns doing a dance with songs. It was an amazing experience to watch them. Later on, when they were doing the wafers, the choir was singing and there was this stunning female who was dancing in what looked to me like one of the mats we sat on during the Ava ceremony. She had a lot of red flowers and had something that looked like a machete in her hands to dance with. There were two boys on the side wearing their lava lavas and an awesome necklace doing a dance as well. After Mass was over, the children were given candy leis, and Rachel and I decided to stay a little while to see how the English mass would be different….and it seemed VERY different… at least to me. We did not stay the whole time but it reminded me of a mass that you would find in most Catholic churches in the US. The children did also parade in for the holiday. They had these cute little pictures they made with them for the holiday.
We decided to leave after 30 minutes to walk down the road to see what the other churches were doing. Some of them were decorated with balloons, others with amazing colorful signs. Throughout our entire walk back to the hotel it was full of amazing songs by these cute children.
I hope everyone in the States enjoyed their White Sunday as much as I did!