Visiting Home

A trip Home
Since I had to come into Apia anyway, I decided a visit to my family in Manunu was in order. I did not expect so many falavelaves to occur at all!
Leading up to my visit I was a bit nervous as I had seen my little brother in Savai’i and I heard my brother that was closer to my age wasn’t living there. I did not know what to expect.
We took the bus to the bottom of the hill, and the group of us going to Manunu found a vehicle passing by that was going passed Manunu. (Not many vehicles go this route so it is always exciting when you have success with this.)
We were dropped off on the outskirts of the village and were impressed with the improvements to the village since we were last there (For me it had been almost 4 months). The once rocky road had become paved. It was not smooth blacktop, but the rocks were evenly spread on the road which was nice enough. (Cornia and I secretly wished this was there when we lived in Manunu as it would have made running a lot easier.)
When I arrived near the house my sister’s sibling were on the side of the road waving which was very impressive as they did not know when to expect me. They ran over to my direction, grabbed my hands and walked me the rest of the way home. I headed to the back kitchen and greeted my parents, and three of my sisters. I was told that one of my sisters was having a baby (I didn’t know she was pregnant) and that my brother had gone to Apia to be with her. We chatted up a storm as we munched on the cookies I brought with me for the visit. (They complemented me on how much my Samoan has improved since they saw me last. It is such a good feeling to hear.)
Corina, Leah and I decided the time had come to visit our favorite waterfall. It was nice stopping by each of their houses to say a quick hello to their family and I realized I had much more to say to them now that I could actually speak the language enough to hold conversations.
The waterfall looked as amazing as we remembered. Some of the Samoans showed off their skills by jumping off the high cliffs nearby. Someone brought a balloon there and the kids were passing it around like a game of water polo. I think the waterfall there will always be one of my favorite places to visit.
After playing in the water, Corina and I decided to watch everyone play rugby and volleyball. We sat on the swings catching up on life on our villages as we watched the amazing athletes triumph.
After awhile we started on the twenty minute walk home. When we got to the 3 corners (I am learning to say that more than intersection) for the road that leads to Manunu we saw that Dana and Matt had finally arrived. We made plans on our departure for the following day and headed home.
At home, I saw quickly that almost no one was there. A few people had gone to church, and others had made the trip to Apia to see if Ana had a new baby. I joined my sister Fili and headed to church (which is where we were watching the games being played.) The service was over, so I talked with different people from the area, and shortly after left.
At home I ate dinner (Avoiding the spaghetti sandwiches) and then travelled around the village to visit the families that I had grown to love during my stay in Manunu. On my way home I noticed a lot of people gathered around one house and I decided to join them inside. Since they had a TV, their house was like a movie theatre with a lot of people sprawled out all over the floor to watch a movie. It was a great sense of community and I missed all the people in the room dearly.
I was awoken the next morning by my parents who were heading to Apia to see if the baby was born. (Rumor on the auela was it was.) It was then time to get ready for church. Fili was going to join me, as I was nervous about timing so I did not know if I could successfully make the second ward that my family normally attends. It was nice to be back at the place where I spend my Sundays for my first few months of training. The people there had become like a family to me and it was nice to see them again.
After lotu, a lot of us gathered together for to’ogani. I saw with Leah and her mother and Leah and I reminisced about our first day at church in Manunu, where we also went to this to’ogani together. There was still time before our cab was tr]o leave so I joined my family at church for another hour before leaving.
The group of us Palagis came together and said our goodbyes to our families. Promised that we would come back whenever we could again.
On this trip I was reminded that some things never change. Some of the negative qualities people have, will always be there. My sister took my phone when she had a chance and transferred my money to her phone without me knowing. Many Samoans do not understand the concept of stealing, and it will be a long time until they do. But on the brighter side, the love people show you is always there and can only grow bigger.