Returning to a Tradegy

Returning to the village.
I left for the pasi o va’a at seven in the morning, ready to catch the ten o’clock boat. Being a Tuesday I was hoping there would be a ten o’clock boat. The schedule for the ferry used to be different on Tuesdays, but ever since the new boat was introduced, the schedule changes more frequently than expected. Often a boat will just not show, which makes the waiting game not as much fun. I never seem to be on the loop of when boats decide not to show up (which causes the busses also not to show).
When I got to the wharf I was excited. The new boat was waiting for us. The new boat has been running for the past few months, and I haven’t been fortunate enough to ever get it. I have heard stories of the amazing air conditioning on board, the free tea and coffee and the movies. To make it even better, I have heard that there is plenty of seating so everyone I have talked to never gets stuck sitting on the floor. I have had dreams of going on board this ship. Finally ,I thought, my dreams were about to come true. (Is it bad for my dreams to be full of ferry rides? Maybe I should start getting my dreams a little higher..)
Sure enough, those dreams were tampered. Right before ten, the little boat showed up. The tiny one that made me so sick from the rocking ocean inside the tiny cabin. The only seats available were sitting on the floor and the ride ended with me sicker than can be. I was not about to sit inside that cabin again.
I solved that problem by sitting on the car deck next to the cars. The ride started with a smell of diesel in the air. It began to make me nauseous as I thought back to my recent trip of the bus with both the driver and many passenger smoking. After a few minutes that felt like forever, the smell finally ended. I began to feel better and took a nap on the wooden boards of the deck.
I took my time getting off the boat since for the first time I was not rushing for the bus, which leaves as soon as the boat docks. I had to make a quick trip to the post office to pick up a package in Salelologa. The post office is only open week days, which is during school hours. So it is impossible for us to go to it, unless school gets out early enough for the bus.
Like most places in Samoa, the Post Office enjoys a nice long lunch break, so when I arrived during the lunch break I was a little upset. I wasn’t going to let it bother me though. I found some couches by a hotel and took a nap. I awoke to my friend telling me people were talking about us. The fact is, it didn’t bother me. Samoans will find any place to sleep, and the fact is in the past few hours I have slept out on the boat, and in a hotel lobby and I felt it was completely natural.
After my nap, I headed back to our little PC office in Salelologa, ready for nap number three. However, the office was crawling with volunteers from another group, waiting for a bus, (We all didn’t realize that since the next ferry was not to show up, there would be no bus.) and finally giving up to wait for a cab. I was still exhausted, and since there were no benches to even sit on. (The office really is tiny.) I decided to head over to my favorite store for relaxation.
The Digicel store has some of the best workers in Samoa. They are really friendly, let us play DJ to their music, and often let us use the internet there. When you add to the fact that they also have air conditioning, it makes it the best place to hang out in Saleloga.
I finally had my piece of mind when I saw the 2 o’clock ferry roll in (It was after three), which meant I can finally roll into my village. I was looking forward to seeing the friendly faces of those on the Salega bus, and was happy when I finally did.
Close to five, I finally arrived at my village. It had been about ten hours of travelling (which includes waiting and napping) but I was still exhausted. I was too happy to be home that I didn’t notice the police cars on the street as I headed home, and my sister had to give me a heads up as soon as I came home.
There had just been a tragedy.
Another one.
Another car had ran over a person.
Another death.
A little four year old boy died.
My sister points out where she saw the brain out of the head.
I start to feel sick to my stomach.
Why does this keep happening in my village? I have only been living in my village for half a year and two people have already died from being run over in my village.
The buzz was throughout the village, and it was intense.
What a scene to walk into when I had been gone for weeks prior.
I needed to clear my head, so I joined my family on a trip to the stores to find food for dinner. It was nice to be in a vehicle again. Zooming through the villages past many of my students who looked excitedly as I waved at them. We finally headed home.
I was ready for my well deserved shower. And the water was out.
It did not bother me much, I used a bowl and the barrel for water to wash myself and it still felt great.
Shortly after, the power went out. And stayed out for hours. My family searched for candles and finally we had light.
It had been an intense day of travel, and events in the village. No matter what they threw at me, I was still thrilled to be at home, catching up on life with my family. The truth is, as much as I enjoyed my freedom in Apia and elsewhere, I really do still enjoy living in the company of others. I do wish the mourning family the best, as I come back to life on the Southwest side of Savai’i. Life here can’t be beat!

Taste of Home

Taste of Home
After travelling around Apia and Tutuila for the past few weeks, I finally recieved a taste of home. It is funny how what I consider home. I used to think of home as being in New York, Colorado, or even Wyoming...But now I have this deep craving for my little (although it is really big) island of Savai'i.
The past few morning we have been going for runs around Apia, and it was real refreshing to see someone with their mosquito nets up, taking naps in their fale. I crave seeing this as it is a piece of my home, Savai'i.
This mornnig on the bus, it was refreshing to see the bus driver help load a bus full of packages onto the bus, as well as more people than a NYC bus driver would know what to do with. Rachel and I immediately got into the spirit but lapsitting, and dancing to the amazing Samoan music blasting from the radio.
We hopped onto the ferry with the hundreds of other Samoans and took a nap right on the deck of the va'a despite the drizzle. On the boat several people came up to us that knew us and it made us really feel as though we belong here. It is our home as people come up to us speaking in a language that I understand offering giant hugs and kisses in the process.
When we got to Salelologa, we both breathed in a sigh of relief as we knew that tonight we would finally be sleeping in our own mosquito nets, watching our families cook on the fire and just embrasing the amazing culture of Samoa.
Savai'i is my home. It has a different feel that Upolu and I love the sense of pride I feel when I meet others that feel the same way about my home.
After a long vacation it is good to be home.

Manu Samoa 7's

Manu Samoa 7’s

“Welcome Home Heros” and “Welcome Back Champions” signs were hung about the streets of Apia. The whole country felt like it was crowded in the tiny streets of Apia to celebrate the Manu Samoa 7’s World Championships in rugby. Being a person who wants to embrace the culture, this meant that I had to be there as well.

Samoa is a tiny country, but living here at times it feels like it is bigger than America. However when celebrating an occasion such as this, in which the Prime Minister considers the day a national holiday, it makes you realize how small the country is.

Everyone was decked out in their best blue clothes, and instead of the parade marching through town with people on the sidelines watching, everyone was joining the parade and marching alongside. It was an amazing site to see.

The National Anthem along with other Samoan songs were song by some of the group marching, while the Digicel people were pumping some of Samoa’s best hits from the radio.

The parade ended at the Government Buildings. In which there were many celebrations for the team.

It was such a beautiful site to see, and makes me feel proud to be at least at temporary Samoan citizen.

Mc Donalds-An Expensive Treat or Plain Old Fast Food

McDonalds

Apparently a lot of the Peace Corps Volunteers have been jumping on the “I love McDonalds” campaign. A bandwagon which I plan to never jump on. (Seriously.) Around Apia I keep seeing the McDonalds take out bags floating about, and people telling stories of ordering a quarter pounder without cheese (Apparently it is impossible, they always want to give you a double with cheese.) and just sharing how much they crave that taste of home.

Some of my friends who had vowed never to eat McDonalds have caved in and began eating it weekly while staying in Apia. I hope they don’t get me to convert and go back on my plan of not eating McDonalds.

The McDonalds here is not a cheap easy option to a meal. First off it is expensive. One of my Samoan friends had mentioned to me if your boyfriend takes you to a McDonalds, it means you guys are soon to get married. (I then asked her if her American boyfriend took her there, she laughed and said he has the same American views I do on McDonalds.)

Another problem with the McDonalds here is that they run out of the items on the menu constantly. I am told that when they run out of they golden delicious fries, they just go to the local shop and buy fries to replace them. Another day they were out of the smoothies, and I have heard plenty of stories about them running out of beef.

Yesterday Matt, Rachel and I were strolling on the seawall and Matt was telling us about his craving for McDonalds growing. He then made the bold statement that nothing beats a McDonalds breakfast. This made Rachel and I stop in our tracks. There are a million things better than a McDonalds breakfast, and we start naming each one of them for about half an hour. (A dangerous game since you know you will not have any of these delicious treats for a long time.)

Granted Matt has been in this country for a year longer than us, but I do not think he came into Samoa thinking that McDonalds breakfasts are the best. I hope next year I don’t begin arguing with a newbie from group 83 over McDonalds being the best.

Everyone around the country considers McDonalds a treat. It is an expensive restaurant, and everyone considers it so. I guess with being here only 8 months, it hasn’t warped my views of what fast food really is, and what a nice restaurant is yet.

All Banged Up

Cuts and Bruises
When I left for Samoa was I all in one piece? I really don’t remember back then. I cannot think back to a time where I was not covered in bruises, cuts and blisters all over my body, seriously.
It is not as though I am completely careless as other volunteers are covered as well, so I feel good knowing I am not alone with my infected cuts and random injuries that make you walk with a limp for sometimes weeks at a time.
This doesn’t stop us from participating in life. We still do everything as if we were all in one piece. You can find my fellow PCV siblings running around the seawall in Apia, trying to show off their amazing basketball skills at the different Morman churches, rocking the volleyball court in the villages, creating their own dance parties wherever we go (The busses really do play some of the best music of all times.) as well as much more.
I feel like as soon as one injury heels, another one (or ten) appears.
I remember in the movie Forest Gump, Lieutenant Dan tells Forest to take care of his feet since they are the most important thing to take care of.
I wish I was able to listen to that advice because it is so important, but being in Samoa laziness kicks in. (A fact that probably frustrates my amazing medical officer.) I know that I should take better care of myself by wearing shoes that are actually closed toes, but I find the heat of Samoa too strong for wearing both shoes and socks. Wearing cheap sandal constantly, leaves your feet open for disaster and I do not think there are enough band aids in the world to take care of all of the cuts on my feet.
Back in April I got a blister on my ankle which continued to explode over the last two months, and although since I arrived in Apia and back to civilization it has gotten better by my ability to finally take care of it, it still is not completely healed.
I have several other blisters coating my feet and it is amazing that I am still able to put sneakers on through the swelling-ness.
Is being cut up all the time part of the experience of living in a developing country? If it is. I still think it is worth all the scars. My body will heal, but the memories or Samoa I know will last with me forever!

Training for the future

Training for the future
After completing my first race, I am hooked.
During the race I remember thinking, why am I doing this? I am not a runner so why am I trying to turn my body into something it isn’t. I think that is why I began to give up towards the end and keep going with a walk run, instead of my constant jog. When I arrived at the finish line I still had plenty of energy left, which made me regret not taking the race more seriously.
Now that I have a better understanding of my capabilities with my sneakers I am ready for the next race to see how far I can challenge myself. The next one will be about 64 miles of a relay race around the island of Upolu in August. It is broken down so we do not run it all at once which makes me feel as though it is completely doable.
This week we discussed our plans and I think we are trying to have two teams, a boys and a girls team and it sounds like many people are interested in joining our teams, which means that we might have to have time trials to make it.
Now that I have my goal, I am going to really push myself to wake up in the dark to go for short runs in the dark. (Carrying rocks to defend myself against whatever creatures may try to attack before the sun rises.)
In a few months you will be hearing about how beautiful an island Upolu is to run around because I will do better training and make the Peace Corps relay team.

Running in Style

My first race
I was never a runner. I never saw the purpose of running anywhere. I always thought the only reason people run, is in case they wanted to steal stuff they could run from the leoleo (police).
However, when I arrived in Samoa, my new PC family members had a few runners among themselves, so I began training with them in the morning. During our two months of training, we woke up extremely early and enjoyed running on Apia’s amazing seawall, or up in the hills of our training village. I realized that running might not be that bad.
We heard about the 10 k that was coming up for Independence Day and decided to sign up for it.. We tried training for it, but because of my massive blisters from running in my village (and me not taking proper care of them) I had trouble running with shoes on for over a month.
The week of the race, Rachel and I decided it was time to train. We decided that training should consist of finding outfits that made us look like we were fast. We found fast colors of an e’I (running in skirts is amazing) and decorated a t-shirt. I only ended up putting up a few mile long runs for training.
The day of the race we were pumped, ready, and looking good.
The sun had yet to rise and we were prepared for whatever the day had in store for us.
It is not a big city race like in other places around the world, so we had to compete with the traffic, boys yelling to hit on us, and cab drivers offering us a ride to the finish line.
I did the first half of the race running as best I could, but by the second half my energy was spent. So when I saw the signs that said “Alu Lemu” (Go slow-meant for the cars) and “Speed Kills” I decided I would listen.
Even with my breaks I finished my first race in 6th place. I was so proud of myself and next year, hopefully with real training I will make it in the top 5.
All of us volunteers met in the office afterwards and had an amazing breakfast by cooking a few dozen eggs and then relaxing in the office.
The race was hard, and I had my doubt about entering it, but I am thrilled I went through with it.

On a side note I was told our fast outfits we made, did make us the best dressed of the crew. A few people made sure to come up to us to tell us!