Photo Blog November 2011

Since I only have a few weeks left, I wanted to take advantage of the time I do have here…and here is some of the fun happening on the South West of Savaii

Photo Blog November 2011 - School

 

Cat

Cat

For the longest time we have only had a male cat…..so when I came home and saw a female cat in a pot with a kitten I was puzzled…Where did this cat come from?

My prediction is:  my cat knocked up his girlfriend and he decided to bring her home to help take care of the baby….

But now the other question is, why is there a book in the pot with the two cats?

 

Halloween

Halloween

Jack-o-Lanterns were carved from papayas with candles inside, the mood was set for a nice spooky Halloween.

The Halloween weekend kicked off with a murder mystery party…..what could be better than that.  Although and my best friend and I had planned to host one when I was much younger, I had never actually attended one (Ashley and I never made it past the planning stages).  This party had well over 20 people, and although it was fun playing the part of someone else, it was hard to keep everyone’s new identity straight.  The night was a lot of fun, and I was not one of the 7 or so people to die, even though I could not figure out who the murderer was. 

The real funny part of the night that we had pseudo identities, and it was a costume party on top of that, so it really tripped us up.  There was a ninja Merlin, many vampires, a coconut tree, and much, much more. 

The next night we celebrated Halloween with all of the other volunteers from other countries and Samoans.  At the café we were at we had a costume contest, and somehow I ended up winning one of the prizes for best costume.  (I was the Statue of Liberty…I think I did a good job of doing the Peace Corps goals with that costume!)

It was impressive to see how much everyone put into their costumes.  There was a snowman, 4 legged woman, Minnie Mouse, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Palolo Hunter, Pebbles and Bam Bam, Cowboys and Indians and much much more.  It was great to see the creativity everyone put into their costumes with as little resources as we have.  

 

Drought to Rainy Season

Drought to Rainy Season

It is amazing how quickly the seasons change.  One day I am sitting here complaining about all of the fires and drought, and two weeks later I find myself getting a text warning about flooding due to the massive amounts of rainfall. 

The past few weeks have been full of rain, making me bring my raincoat wherever I go.  It has rained so much that the river in Samalaeulu returned. (The strongest river in Samoa that only appears about 3 times a year.)

Our water levels have not returned to a “safe level” yet to allow people in all villages to have piped water during more hours of the day, but if this weather pattern continues soon, we’ll get there. 

 

Oceania Cup

Oceania Cup

Two weekends ago I was in Apia for a weekend marathon of events, one of our staff members hosted a murder mystery party for us, then most of us were volunteering at an event hosted by Samoan Victims Support, there was also a Halloween party, and still if there was more time, a rugby tournament was taking place.

Family Fun Day through Samoan Victims Support was held at Apia Park, to ensure it was able to reach out to the most amounts of people.  Many people were volunteering at it, there were representatives from JICA (the Japanese Volunteers) AYD (Australian Volunteers), Peace Corps (USA Volunteers) and many host country nationals. 

I woke up and it was a day like any other day…nice and sunny.  However, that changed quickly… the hour leading up to family fun day was complete downpour and the rain never stopped. 

You would think this would deter people from attending this outdoor fun event, but it didn’t too much. Everyone was having a blast playing the different carnival games, relay races through the mud, eating, dancing and doing many many other fun activities.   There was a fire truck there to give the children rides as well as a police car.  All of the kids that stopped by my station had a blast as we used wire hangers to make gigantic bubbles.

As the day continued, so did the rain.  In many places on the grass the water reached well up my calf, which made me covered in muddy water.

When it was over, I decided why leave the park when there is rugby going on and I wanted to see Samoa win another cup.  My wishing came through as Samoa was dominating against the other teams from the Pacific coming out undefeated.  There were so many amazing games to watch because of the weather there was so much sliding and falling all over the field.  The Australian games made me laugh the most as they were covered in so much mud by the end of each of their games they came out looking the same as the other non Palagis from the Pacific.  In the end, it really made me feel pride for this country I have been in for the past two years.   (Of course I did cheer for my fellow Americans from American Samoa when they played….well except for their game against Samoa…)

 

Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?

Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?

If you ask kids in America, they will normally give you the joke response of, “to get to the other side.”  However in Samoa, where chickens cross the road sometimes more than people, children have a different response….Here are some of them now….

Why Did The Chicken Corss The Road 2

Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?

If you ask kids in America, they will normally give you the joke response of, “to get to the other side.”  However in Samoa, where chickens cross the road sometimes more than people, children have a different response….Here are some of them now….

 

Why Did the Chicken Cross The Road 3

Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?

If you ask kids in America, they will normally give you the joke response of, “to get to the other side.”  However in Samoa, where chickens cross the road sometimes more than people, children have a different response….Here are some of them now….

 

Palolo Day 2

Palolo Day 2

Since last year I went several times on the wrong day to kapalolo, I jumped at the chance to go again to make up for the previous year, and to get a different experience I went with different people to a different location.  This time I was going in my village.  It is hard to get to the ocean in my village.  I mean it is right there….but there are so many rocks on the hill and other obstacles to make it hard to travel. 

I was told to leave my telephone, what a use as a torch. This worried me because I have fallen walking to the ocean when it wasn’t dark outside.  Our first stop was to pick up the paopao (canoe) so that everyone would have a safe place to keep their buckets of sperm.  When we arrived, the paopao was broken.  The bottom that allows the canoe to float was split in two.  The men set out to find other pieces of wood to fix this and using vines from the tree to tie it into place.  It is always so amazing to watch how inventive Samoans can be. 

We then set off.  Although we walked on the slimy rocks next to the water the entire time, it was still at least a ten minute climb to get to the spot where everyone was.  When we arrived, there were several people in the water searching with their flashlights, similar to the previous day.  However, they were not given as colourful commentary.  We sat on the rocks hanging out until those in the water mentioned the sign of palolo swimming in the Pacific. 

One my one, the rocks emptied as people swam over to the coral to catch the palolo.  I waited until the sun was about to rise.  It was hard to find my paopao of people since the ocean was so crowded and it was still dark.  I spent a lot of time by myself in the water until I saw them.  I helped one of the young girls guide the paopao so it was easy for everyone to access, as I enjoyed the scenery. 

All of the people that I have come to love as a family were there in front of me.  There was the old man who runs the shop who made a little raft for his bucket out of wood and tied it to his stomach.  Another person came over to me with their bucket to offer me a taste.  One of the pastor’s mothers was perfecting the art of catching the little worms.  My brother was there with the mosquito net eating the palolo faster than he could catch it.  It was magical.  I decided I wanted in on the fun.

I still didn’t have a net, and even though I knew any of my students would have given me theirs, I didn’t want to deprive them of the fun.   I put my hand in the water and started catching them that way.  The little green and brown worms I was often able to catch, however I sometimes broke them in half (they still swim) or took all of their colouring off of their bodies.  I popped them in my mouth for an early morning snack and sometimes put them in whoever’s bucket was closest to mine.  It was a lot of fun.

As the sun rose and the whole scene became more and more visible, I realized I had to leave to get ready for school.  I swam back to shore with a big smile on my face. 

I learned later from someone at the market the previous day that someone was selling palolo in a small mayonnaise jar for $400! It is incredible how much it is worth.  I am really lucky to be in a village with such amazing coral that we have an abundance of it.