birthday fun

My birthday
In Samoa, birthdays are usually not a big deal. The only ones who make a big deal about them are those that are palagi. This is probably because everyone is looking out for each other to make sure they do not get homesick. Just like we don't want our fellow palagi friends to go home early, Samoans are the same way.
The normal birthday celebration that I have noticed for a Samoan is acknowledging the birthday, possibly singing “Manuia le aso fanau” and the rest is just a normal day. I have never seen a gift exchange here. So naturally that is what I was expecting for the day.
My little sister is always trying to make sure I am as happy as possible and was trying to find the “perfect birthday gift for me, and did not want to accept that being a part of their family was the perfect gift. She asked if I wanted one of their new kittens, I told her Albert and Sativa would get jealous. She offered a phone card, i told her I didn’t want her to spend any money on me. She settled for drawing me a picture and making mea paper airplane. This was a great gift as the drawings were cute and the paper airplanes reminded me of Jen and her making birthday samurai helmets for people.
At school I headed to my year seven class. The children all jumped up and screamed, “Surprise! Happy birthday” to me. They told me that their gift was to be on their best behavior. They certainly were.
After school that day I decided I wanted to do one of the things I enjoy the most, swimming. After school I headed to the ocean and went for a swim. My sister was going to come with me, but she ended up staying at school late. I didn't mind because I just wanted to go out and swim. On my walk down hill, everyone was asking me where I was going, and I think my village was nervous about me going by myself, as shortly after I was inside the water, a little boy showed up to watch me from the beach.
I brought my goggles and had a good swim, chasing fish and realizing how much I want to learn how to spear fish. It is such an amazing world under the ocean. I think it would be great to learn a new activity in the ocean.
The waves were strong, and getting stronger. I knew that I had to begin to head back to shore to avoid being stuck in the ocean for longer than I wished. I began swimming back, and quickly saw that all my work wasn’t being rewarded as I was staying in place.
During one of our safety and security sessions we learned about safety in water and I remembered that I had to swim diagonally. It still took a long time and a lot of effort, but I finally made it ashore. Me and the little boy played in the sand digging holes and making sand walls to protect the walls (eventually the tide got so high that we lost all of our amazing new creations).
That evening my family got together for their evening prayer and were thankful that they got to spend this special day with me and prayed for the health of my family both in Samoa and America. It was real sweet how much I am included in everything that happens in their family. For a treat my family cooked barbecue chicken and this amazing potato dish. I learned how much I really missed eating potatoes!
My brothers and a few others in my village wanted to have a little get together for my birthday. I was excited for the idea of hanging out with those people, however the rain started, and then it became dark. I could not find my birthday party for the life of me! I wish I had some kind of excuse for not being able to find it, but I texted the people there and still could not find it.
Birthdays in Samoa are different than America, but just as special. I had a great time with the people in my village. Birthdays are a time for the people that you care about to come together and spend time with you. It was nice to start my 27th year in my village because this is the only full year that I will spend in Samoa. It will be full of adventure and learning experiences and I am thrilled about it.