A Little Piece of Home

A little piece of home
On Friday when I arrived in Apia, I was surprised to see a piece of America sitting in the harbor. The coast guard was in town. I never knew much about the coast guards, except that they look out for the coasts….and I guess Western Samoa is right next door to American Samoa.
It was nice to see a piece of home, and it reminded me of how I was when I first came to this island. They complained about the heat, and that was my first complaint. (Although they are stationed in Hawaii and I did not think that it was a big change for them..but apparently Hawaii is much cooler.)
I think I met all 172 men and woman onboard the ship as we shared our experiences. They asked about the best places to visit on this island, and I asked about all of the places they have travelled. We shared information about each other’s jobs, as many of us did not understand what it entailed to be serving in the Coast Guard or in the Peace Corps.
By the end of the weekend I was impressed with how they embraced the Samoan culture in their whirlwind of a trip. I know a big group of them helped out with Habitat for Humanity to help out in the tsunami infected areas, others embraced the culture with clothing. It was great seeing some of the men wearing the I’E faitoga (Samoan men’s dress skirt). I thought they looked great as they too are doing a part of our job. They are sharing the culture with their friends and family at home.
I really enjoyed meeting these men and woman and wish them the best of luck in their service.