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Samoan Soccer Federation

2012-05-08T20:36:00.003-07:00

Samoan Soccer Federation

I love networking. It is so great being able to meet new people and find ways to have them help me! It is also good to find ways for your friends to help you!

My friend Sarai works for the Samoan Football Federation (a funny name because they call it soccer here, just like in America..). She invited the students from my school for a day of learning skills and playing games at the soccer fields.

It was amazing the program they put on…especially since the National Under 20’s team assisted in teaching them. The kids had smiles across their faces the entire time as they ran across the field dribbling the ball between their legs. It was a complete real game, with kids being carded and ejected from the game for forgetting we were not playing a rough game like rugby, instead of the more tame soccer.

At the end the children were treated to ice pops, and shared a sour sop (so delicious!).

I hope we get to be invited out there again, because it really was a superb day.

Some Days....

2012-05-08T20:36:00.001-07:00

Some days….

Some days you love your job…and some days you just want to cry. I am really thankful that I have amazing students that are so lovable, otherwise I would be crying on a plane back to America.

My problem comes with my only teacher on staff (did I ever mention how much I dislike being a principal?). I noticed she was neglecting to do all of her teaching and I wanted to ensure that the students are getting a well balanced curriculum of English, Math and Samoan (it is difficult for us to get basic science and social science due to our limited resources). Upon checking up on her to make sure she was teaching what she needed to, she became offended and yelled at me in front of the children calling me bossy. I explained how I am her supervisor so I need to see what she is teaching, and she didn’t want to listen and kept bad mouthing me. The worst part of this incident is half the students were still there…and they were standing there with their mouths wide open because of what was coming out of her mouth.

It will get better, how could it not? I mean I have gotten used to so many hurdles in this job that this one I should be able to jump over.

Peace Corps Family

2012-05-08T20:34:00.002-07:00

Peace Corps Family

Being a third year volunteer is strange…I am still a volunteer but sometimes I feel like I am a part of something else. My Peace Corps family who I had being my strong support is now missing from my life. The nearest Peace Corps volunteer is now a 45 minute bus ride away, which seems impossible compared to Savaii, where I could run there in 30 minutes. All of the volunteers are away from the capital, leaving me alone all the time.

Just as my group was a close family, the group after me is a close family, who sometimes forgets me, their older sister. I don’t let it bother me too much as I have other things to preoccupy my time. Being in such a small country for several years I have met so many new people, even in cities where I was not living, so my new friends help me to keep my sanity.

Mapuifagalele

2012-05-08T20:32:00.004-07:00

Mapuifagalele

About a month or two ago the older students from my school joined the Baha’i Youth for a visit to Mapuifagalele, the home for the elderly of Samoa.

It was such a beautiful day as the children sang beautifully and reached out to others, when normally it is the other way around with people reaching to them. The girls all had tears in their eyes as they talked with the elderly and brought some of them up to siva Samoa, some with wheelchairs and all.

It was nice to visit Mapuifagalele because I do not know how regular their visitors are, and it is always nice to see someone new greeting you with love.

Mapuifagalele has beautiful grounds and it was nice to make a trip there.

Zumba and Pizza

2012-05-07T10:05:00.003-07:00

Zumba and Pizza

Being in my position at work, can cause a lot of frustrations as I try to juggle all of the volunteers, creating curriculum, paperwork, etc, but it also has its advantages. I have met a lot of amazing people due to what I am doing, and have had the even bigger pleasure of working with many of them.

Today is one of those days I get to work with someone really special.

Several days a week I do Zumba with the children so they can have physical activities, and Zumba is one that they truly enjoy. It is a lot of fun, for an hour playing music loud on my lawn, while the children take turns leading the group in dance.

Today, the owners at Giordanios Pizza are sponsoring pizza and Zumba day. It will be a lot of fun, I am really looking forward to it…especially because their pizza is so delicious!

I can't wait until the school day is over!

The Battle: Roaches 1 Lillian 0

2012-05-06T23:35:00.003-07:00

Roaches

Chasing cockroaches with a butcher knife is not as successful chasing them away with your foot or drowning them in the sink. Lesson learned…You win today’s battle cockroaches… but I will be more prepared for you tomorrow!

Blood Failure

2012-05-06T22:57:00.001-07:00

Blood Failure

Every month the Australian High Commission put on a 3k and 5 k fun run/walk. It is a lot of fun and they get local volunteer organizations involved. This past month, it was the Red Cross. After the run/ walk they would have a blood donation day. I decided, what the heck, I haven’t done so in awhile…let me donate.

After getting my exercise, I went to the join the line on donating blood. The line moved in no order that seemed to make sense, but after registering, I was told that it was great that I was donating because they needed B+ blood.

What was strange about donating was they have pamphlets (in English only..) telling you who is eligible to donate blood, and who is not…but they never ask you the questions. They don’t test your blood ahead of time, don’t check your blood pressure, it is a get right to it deal.

When it was my time, I warned the person with the needle that sometimes they have difficulties with my veins so I showed both of my arms to see which was better. He picked the one that was more convenient for where I was sitting. After the needle was in for awhile, he took it out and I had the worst pain ever! He apparently got it wrong and my vein was now swollen and full of pain. He immediately went to the other arm and started successfully the new needle.

I began to feel faint. I knew I should have said something but I was too weak to say something. I just tried to concentrate on being awake. I woke up with about people around me putting wet cloths around my head and my neck and someone trying to feed me chocolate milk (disgusting!) They had stopped the donation when I passed out.

I felt like a complete wuss. I have donated blood so many times in America, but for some reason, my body wasn’t up for it that day. So many people were looking at me all worried, especially a few who told me it was their first time donating. I tried to tell them that it was a one time thing, and it normally is not that bad…but I don’t know if they believed me after seeing my ordeal.

For the rest of my Saturday, I dealt with a horrible pain in my right arm, which continued a little bit into Saturday. On Monday, my arm was slightly blue in the area of my bad vein. (I would expect black and blue…but it was a cool blue color…) I am hoping that it goes away and that is the end of my blood donation drama.

Maybe I just have to wait for another time where they check blood pressure first to make sure I am completely healthy and ready to donate.

One Room School House

2012-05-01T10:30:00.000-07:00

One Room School House

Usually I can get by at school without a problem. Sure we teach 8 lessons at a time, but there are usually two or three of us to teach making the impossible possible. One day things felt doomed.

How did people do it in the olden days in one room school houses? One teacher with so many levels… it just seemed like an impossible task without help.

But this day I was in that situation. My other teacher didn’t show up, and my volunteers were all sick. I was alone. Luckily my older students feel confident working on their own with the small directions I give them, which made things possible as I was able to have more time with the younger students who need more constant supervision.

The day felt like the longest day of my life, but I survived my one room school house.

Teaching at this school is giving me so many new experiences I never thought I would get….

Sudden Dose of Reality

2012-04-30T20:54:00.000-07:00

Reality

Some days I feel as though I have a normal life, working, enjoying time with my friends, etc….and then reality sinks in.

I was working on something for the NGO that I am a part of….helping to create a tee shirt and using the internet to help design it when one of my girls came into the house. She asked what I was doing and I had her assist me with colours for the shirt to make it look more fashionable (our spelling work for the week) and then began to tell me about her day.

My student had spent the day at court because her trial was going on, and she mentioned that she saw the man that raped her and she was so angry. She didn’t want to look at his face or have anything more to do with him. She said that when the judge asked to point out the man who did this act to her she closed her eyes and pointed. I asked her if she knew this man before the sexual assault and she explained it was her father.

Oh man I though…..No wonder this poor girl is constantly acting up. She must be so confused with her life and who she can trust.

I try my best to treat all of my students like normal students….but some days they just need that extra bit of love and you can only hope that you are there for them when they need you most.

Dog Bite

2012-04-27T20:23:00.000-07:00

Dog Bite

While my computer was out of commission, I ended up getting another mark on Samoan Bingo. (I already had boils, fallen off my bike, bitten by a centipede, fallen asleep on a strangers floor…etc) This time I had my dog attack….I actually had two within a week.

The second one wasn’t so bad. While I was walking, the dog bit my heel when I lifted my foot. It didn’t leave any mark, so I was not too worried about it. In fact I don’t think I told anyone about it.

However the first dog bite, that one startled me. I don’t know if you have ever been bitten by a dog…but while it happened to me, and even after, my body went into a little shock.

Here is how it went down…

I was walking down a street I normally walk down by my house during the day time. I guess the dog saw me and liked me, so decided to leave a love bite. He did not bark or anything, which normally gets me nervous around certain dogs. He was very quiet during the entire process.

I limped home, not too worried as it was only a few small places where the teeth marked the skin.

I limped around the following days, taking the bus well more than usual, and then my leg started to give me more pain. So I decided to play the game show is my leg infected from the dog bite, or is it something else…Many people chimed in, and suggested I see the doctor…but being a stubborn girl, I thought I was okay. The pain went away about a week and a half later, so I think I won the game show.

Unlike my bike accident(s) and my boils, the dog didn’t leave a visual scar on me…so I will not have a permanent reminder for when I travel back to the US on Samoan dogs.

Lesson learned: The quiet dogs are the ones to fear.

Principals

2012-04-26T22:36:00.000-07:00

Principal

I have to say…I need to give more credit to all the principals out there. I am only in charge of one teacher and an ever changing enrollment of never more than 30 students, and I find some days wayyyyyy too rough.

It is so difficult to find the right line between being a friend and being a supervisor. You need to have the respect of everyone, and that is something that can be so hard to gain. Confronting a teaching on their mistakes is so difficult to do, and going through with enough follow throughs to ensure the error is corrected feels like a never ending job.

I think what makes what I am doing even more difficult (besides having kids with emotional problems) is I still have the cultural barrier. Although I understand many things about the Samoan culture, there is still something blocking me from being as effective as I can be. I am not exactly sure how I can overcome this obstacle.

After this treacherous week, my hats off to all the principals out there- kudos on surviving on one of the most difficult jobs.

Back to Blogging

2012-04-23T19:07:00.001-07:00

Back to Blogging

Wow does this feel nice again….I just received my computer wire and so I am back on a computer again. It is so nice to not have to borrow computers and search for computers that have the programs I need….I now have it all again right here where I need it.

Let’s see…how can I catch up on my life…

In the past month since I have been blogging, I have spent a lot of time working. Way too much time if you ask me! The school and the girls have taken over my life. We spend several hours in school, then several days a week we do Zumba on my front lawn. It has been a lot of fun, and you really grow to love all the children in my school.

For birthdays, I believe that these kids need something special to celebrate since they don’t have their families around them. To make the day a little special, we have started to create homemade birthday cakes for the kids. This means I have several kids in my kitchen learning about measuring, reading a recipe, and how to use a palagi oven.

On top of my normal work, I am on the executive committee of the Samoan Victims Support Juniors which keeps me extremely busy. I am working on a project proposal right now that will hopefully take place in the upcoming months.

I was also just asked to work on a project at the Attorney General’s office.

Besides all of that workload….I am still attempting to train for the half marathon that will take place during Independence Weekend (June 1^st) and doing what feels like a billion other things as well.

So I apologize for my silence. I promise it won’t last!

Postcard Project 2012

2012-04-23T19:07:00.000-07:00

Postcard Project 2012

Last year because of all of you I had a successful postcard project which taught my students a lot about the outside world. They learned about each of the different continents, oceans and what people like to do in each place. There was so much language and cultural information shared-it was incredible.

With having a new group of students, I am hoping I am able to do this project again. My students this year are not your average students. Some of them were taken from their families because of physical abuse, others for sexual, and others for about a million other reasons. They are aged 5-20 and are at a variety of ability levels (which makes grouping them for lessons always interesting!).

I know they would love hearing from you, and responding back.

If you can help out with this year’s postcard project I would really appreciate it.

Just send a postcard of where you are, or where you are from with any information on it. It can be about what you enjoy doing there, a history lesson, about the nature, about your family, the possibilities are endless as they all have great English lessons to attach to them.

When sending a postcard, you can put your return address on it, or email it to me at Lili.ann.watson@gmail.com

My current address is:

Lillian Watson, PCV

Private Mail Bag

Apia

Western Samoa

Hope to hear from you soon!

Lack of Writing

2012-03-19T09:20:00.002-07:00

I am sorry that I have not been keeping up with this blog as well as I would like to. The wire on my computer decided to end its life, making me unable to turn on my computer. Hopefully in a few weeks when I have a new wire I can get back to writing more regularly.

Projective Vomiting

2012-03-19T09:19:00.002-07:00

I have recently learned how to create projectile vomiting. Eat old eggs. I don't really reccomend it!

Dogs

2012-03-06T17:31:00.001-08:00

Dogs on the Road

Walking on the road in the dark can be scary in different areas for different reasons. In some countries you might be scared of theft, here you don’t have that problem as much, but you still need to worry about one thing. Dogs.

During the night (and often during the day) dogs rule the roads here in Samoa. Throughout the night they sleep in the middle of the road (I must admit, they have it right to stay warm). They can get angry with you for disturbing their peaceful sleep, even if it is by walking slowly and quietly next to them. This could turn into a chase where the human is running away screaming, “halu” (Go away) at the top of their lungs (This is often the case for me…) or you need to bring things to defend yourself from this vicious enemy.

Some people walk or run with umbrellas to ward off the dogs, others bring golf clubs, but the most common is rocks. It is easy to pick up a rock to throw at the dogs to tell them to stop it and leave you alone.

I am not advocating that injuring dogs is the right method for safety, but what are you to do when you are being chased by several dogs just for using “their road” and you have nothing to defend yourself.

Being On

2012-03-06T17:31:00.000-08:00

Being On

The hard part about being in Apia is that you always have to be “on”. You have to remember you are always the center of attention and all eyes are on you at all times. Watching how you dress and how you talk seems to be taken to another extreme than in the village, which is strange because you are living in a more liberal world.

While everyone else can get away with wearing certain clothes, as the sole Peace Corps Volunteer in Apia, wearing shorts or pants will cause everyone to talk. My first day back I tested the waters by wearing shorts (as I really didn’t want to unpack my things right away) and I had a few people talking about how I was dressed inappropriately (the shorts were almost to my knees, so a tad too short).

Presentation is still important. While I was in the US, I decided to cut my hair short. It is short enough that it was difficult to pull back in a ponytail without missing about half of my hairs. I tried wearing my hair down one day, and it was immediately put up by another who began to criticize me.

The media is also always around, and you never seem to know when you might be on television or in the newspaper. One day I got a text message saying they were glad I was back and only knew because I was on television. I never knew I was going to be in the media.

Another difficult part of always being on is you never knew who you would meet or see. I have often run into people who are of importance, and they always seem to be everywhere. Representing yourself, your country, and your host job agency means you have to stand with pride everywhere.

It has its advantages being on, as you are able to meet some of the most interesting people in the world and often get invited to do things you would never expect. But are there really enough hours in the day to do everything?

In the village you also had to be on….but it felt like you could hide a little bit more. Less often people outside the village will see you so you do not have to deal with pressures when you are outside the village.

Some days if feels as though there is a big sign over my forehead saying, “look at me and judge me as much as possible!” This is something I won’t miss when I arrive back in the United States.

Hot Water-Friend or Foe?

2012-03-02T08:07:00.000-08:00

Hot Water

The problem with hot water is you can easily forget hot to be used to it. Showering with hot water used to be such an enjoyable experience. However, when you have collected so many cuts, blisters, rashes and whatever else around your body-hot water showers can be painful!

One of my Peace Corps sisters is ill, so I was asked to stay with her to make sure she has everything she needs. Shopping for food and drinks to whatever little errand she needed. Because of this, I spent the night at the hotel, which meant my first hot water shower since leaving the States in January.

Maybe when I am in the US I am not as much of a klutz to make hot water showers become a haven in which you want to spend your morning and evening…but here because of all of the abrasions on my body-it kills!

Boys

2012-03-01T23:10:00.000-08:00

What I learned about boys

This is what I have learned about boys from my time in the capital.

· It is not strange for a boy to compliment another boy’s body.

· Boys can walk around in short shorts and then comment and complain when they see a girl in short shorts.

· When a boy wants to borrow gym shorts from a girl, he will complain about them being too long.

· Boys have big muscles because trees are hard to climb.

· When boys go out sometimes they like to have a dress code amongst friends. i.e. wear a white shirt and black bottom.

· Boys also have big muscles from the big baskets they have to carry at the plantation.

Tooth Nightmare

2012-02-29T23:46:00.000-08:00

Teeth

Being in Samoa, you sometimes have weird nightmares. For example, one of my Peace Corps friends had a dream about a tsunami coming and somehow the country director called upon her to evacuate everyone from the area. These dreams are scary because we often wake up and wonder if we have something we really need to do urgently.

My latest nightmare goes a few steps back. While I was still enjoying the amazing American healthcare (I say this because being insured and not having to pay any copayments is such a great feeling!) I went to the dentist. It was recommended to extract my remaining wisdom teeth (Yes at my age, I still am waiting to be wise). However, the powers that be decided that that I should wait another year until I reside permanently in the United States.

About a week after arriving back in Samoa the pain started. “My teeth are coming in and there is not enough room for them,” I complained to anyone that would listen. “It is probably just food stuck in your mouth,” I was told in response. I accepted that maybe I was wrong…

Being in Samoa, you never look in mirrors, and for the first time I actually own a mirror that is bigger than my bike mirror. It may seem strange to people outside this area, but when you get used to not knowing exactly what you look like, however you get used to it. When I finally looked, I saw a little white mound emerging in the back of my mouth. I am not crazy! Or a ridiculously messy eater who doesn’t know how to take care of her teeth!

A week later I had my nightmare….I had looked in the mirror and two wisdom teeth were coming in, the one in the bottom was white like I previously saw, but when I angled my head in the mirror, I saw a black mound coming through. My new tooth was coming in rotted to the core.

I was so disgusted; I didn’t know what to do. And now since then, I keep trying to strain my head to make sure my teeth aren’t turning black.

I am not the only one who gets scared by rotting teeth here. I think it is an epidemic amongst Peace Corps volunteers. When you see so many rotting teeth all the time, you begin to think of it as a contagious disease that you will somehow get. I cannot tell you how many times someone has complained to our medical officer because they are afraid of teeth rotting from seeing black, yellow and missing teeth all day long.

There really isn’t an excuse for it as going to the local dentist is pretty cheap. However, like many people around the world, many Samoans only go to the doctor or dentist when it is an emergency. This is why most people only go to get teeth extracted as they wait until a problem worsens and there is nothing a dentist can do to save that tooth.

At least it is just a tooth nightmare, and not real life yet….since I haven’t caught the rotted tooth decay disease…and hopefully I won’t!

Boys Club

2012-02-29T23:43:00.000-08:00

Taxi Stand

While I was living in Savai’i I never joined the “boys club” of those sitting on the road (or standing, depending on the village) to ensure everyone is observing the evening curfew or prayer. I was always a little intimidated.

I did get a chance however to join the Apia version of the boys club-hanging out at the taxi stand. I sat there for about an hour and it was such a fun time and I understood why people become taxi drivers.

Some taxi stands have billiards tables, others have television sets…the one I had at had one taxi with a really nice stereo system.

Sitting there on the bench with all the boys talking, and some of them trying to include me as well, it was just a fun time.

The women’s version of hanging out is sitting around weaving mats. During that time they gossip, probably a little more than the men, but are usually without other things to entertain them (music, billiards, ava…etc)

I am not quite sure which one I prefer. I like how the taxi stand has an end to hanging out, as the taxis need to go pick up passengers, instead of when you are at the woman’s committee house, where you can easily find yourself there all day unless you come with an excuse to leave.

What would you do?

2012-02-27T23:38:00.000-08:00

What would you do?

Well I heard it straight from a Samoan’s mouth…what I am doing is wrong and disgusting.

What happened was a fly fell into my drink. I did the sensible thing and scooped it out and continued drinking…then a fly fell into the Samoan’s drink….and he refused to fish it out or drink it! When I asked why, he said it was because flies carry diseases and he didn’t want to get sick. Although the reasoning made complete sense to me, I still considered it wasteful to waste a perfectly good drink because of one measly fly. I mean flies are everywhere, you can’t really stop them from landing on your food, unless you have an amazing person to fan the food, how is a drink much different?

I brought this up with some of my fellow family members, Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCV) and asked them what they would do. They all responded the same way as me as they said it seemed wasteful.

Being a volunteer here we have eaten what feels like every insect under the sun as it somehow falls into our food. We continue to eat it, because otherwise who knows where our next meal will be. It isn’t as if the insects really add a flavor to the food and you usually can block it out of your mind. By the time you are here for a long time, you never question the disgusting (or even spoiled food) things that might be entering your mouth.

One on the RPCV’s told me that he has been disgusted with the amount of food that falls on the floor and is just thrown away. It is still perfectly good in his eyes and it just seems wasteful.

Maybe after several years in a different country with different standards of what is “right” and “wrong” we have become a little warped…

But tell me….

What would you do, if a fly landed in your food or drink?

Some Days...

2012-02-27T17:56:00.000-08:00

Some Days…

Some days it feels like everything that can go wrong does. I know working with troubled kids means that your days will be different than others, but for the most part, school runs smoothly. The children are below average, but again so are most of the children I taught in Savai’i.

Today started like any other day. Some of the kids were good, some of the kids were anxious throughout the day (I think this is due to this being their first school setting). Then at interval, while I was running around doing a few errands and the other teacher was busy with some children, two of the girls left. It is rough because our school has several entrances, and we cannot guard them all at one time. Sometimes the children, even though they came from a really abusive situation, they start to really miss their families, and who can really blame them?

I am hoping the girls are found, but most of all are safe because I would hate for them to return to any situation that brought them harm.

To make my day a little worse, I received a message from my first host sister. Mom has just passed away. I knew she was sick because she went to New Zealand for treatment, but I was unable to see her in the month that I have been back.

It just seems like some days anything that can happen does.

Plantation

2012-02-27T17:46:00.000-08:00

A trip to the Plantation

The day started with me helping out with cooking. I was scraping (I guess in the States we would consider it shredding…) the coconut to help make coconut cream. When asked if I wanted to go with the boys to plantation, I jumped at the chance. Today’s mission: to collect firewood.

We started out with our two baskets and quickly chopped down a tree to get an amo (the stick to help you carry the baskets on your shoulders). When only one was chopped down I kept pestering to get mine too. I was told not to worry about it…but I really wanted to help…so I kept looking for big tree trunks to carry around myself. I soon learned what was good firewood and what I should just throw back into the woods.

I helped carry the baskets of firewood for a little bit when they were half full and they were heavy! I tried the trick of alternating shoulders by rolling the log back and forth, but I was struggling. I was happy to give it back and find a new log to carry around without the baskets.

When the baskets were full, we began heading back. All of a sudden, clunk, clunk, clunk! One of the baskets broke and probably one hundred pieces of wood fell out. With nothing else to do, we doubled up the baskets, and used my lavalava (thank goodness I wear shorts underneath!) to make a second “basket”. During the entire hike back from the plantation, the wood showed signs of breaking the other basket bade from coconut leaves. I was really nervous because there were no other lavalavas and I didn’t want to lose any more clothes! When some fell out I quickly picked them up, and by the time we reached the car, I had my giant log and at least 10 other pieces of firewood.

It was a day I will never forget because anything that could go wrong seemed to. But all in all, I still had a whole lot of fun!

Funny Chokers

2012-02-26T20:34:00.000-08:00

Funny Chokers

The Laughing Samoans came back, and this time brought with them the best comedy show ever. They were by far so much funnier than last year (and as a double bonus, I had the pleasure of meeting them when they came to visit my school children). This year I was sitting in a row of palagis, and the fact that all of them were doubling over laughing made me pretty sure that the comedy wasn’t just me being used to Samoan humor.

One of their skits was about a Samoan and a palagi dating, it was really funny to hear the “palagi” and the Samoan tell it how it is in Samoa. At one point he told the “palagi woman” that her salary is theirs, and his salary is for his family. It seems so true as most Samoans overseas find a way to give as much money as possible to their family in Samoa….I know it is true in many Pacific countries, but here it is a major source of the economy.

They also told jokes about the World Cup, such as the lack of supporters from Samoa that came out to greet the team at the airport, since most of the Samoan team resides in New Zealand anyway.

They also had their sing-along’s and their “series” such as, Island Time and the two children.

If you are living in the Pacific and the Laughing Samoans are showing “Funny Chokers”, you need to go! It was incredible…words can’t describe….and I know I did a pretty bad describing how amazing it was.