Saonoa's Plantation

KC, Julia and I met Saonoa (his name is pronounced S-ow-noah) the weekend Julia caught a flight back to the main island after her visit in Faleasao. Julia struck up a conversation with him at the Fitiuta airport on Ta'u. He has a beautiful plantation just a mile past the high school (about four miles from my village), which he invited us to come visit (these pictures are from us taking him up on his offer- he has such beautiful land!).

He worked building houses in California for a long time, but just last year, came back to live on Ta'u, his birthplace, and set up a plantation. He's an artist who likes to combine the practical uses of horitculture with the art of landscaping and craft-making. He showed us his hand-made trellises, his lovely hawaiian apples (w/ the consistency of pears and the tartness of an apple), and his stock of green bananas! He's a generous man who loves to sit around waxing philosophic with us. He showed Kaitie and Dan (below) and KC and I around his plantation last Saturday. He's been a great person to get to know here because he understands the complex relationship between Samoa and the United States and what it's like to bridge that gap and live in that borderland. I look forward to more visits and maybe even some gardening!

and we made a delicious brinner (breakfast for dinner!) at Julia and Jessie's house before our Monday depature...

oh sweet sweet sustenance...

KC and I visit the big island (Tutuila!)

KC and I had to take a trip to the main island a few weekends ago for inservice. Boy were we sad, grocery stores, our friends, football games, going out to dinner, internet access and air-conditioned fales. It's a tough life there, but we thought we could manage. We were there from Friday until Monday. Below are pictures from our weekend. To the top right is a picture of the Leone High School football game. Thanh, Kate and Julia all teach at Leone High School- so we were happy to show some Leone Lions Pride. Below are pictures of Kate and KC enjoying some refreshing beverages at a nice chinese food establishment we found. Julia and Thanh (the picture to the top left) are also extremely excited by their fruity beverages (understand that their excited faces are Zoolander Blue Steal model faces..i mean..i can't help that my friends and I are ridiculously goodlooking...). Next, we have two pictures of Kate, KC, Jessie, Julia and I at Bruno's Magic Samoan Circus...it was pretty magical...

Julia (from Leone on the big island of Tutuila!) visits the island of Ta'u!

Julia came to visit our beautiful town of Faleasao on Ta'u! The following pictures are of our (me, KC and Julia) epic hike to the third cove (To'a) north of our town. On our way home, we found a coconut crab (which I was apparently incapable of taking a picture of...it was speedy!)

From bottom to top: KC and I dodge sharp coral as we hike along the coast with our matching nalgenes; Julia (rock-climber extraordinaire) attempts to scale a large wall of rocks that leads to a cave; KC and I inch down a fairly steep precipice towards a glorious coastline (our cove destination!), Julia captures a candid photo of KC and I taking in the beautiful view after reaching To'a cove; and finally the elusive cocunut crab in it's natural habitat...they are delicious if you can catch them!

These are some pretty fantastic pictures of my family ("aiga") at our town dance (siva).

To the top left, KC is dancing with a young, untitled gentlemen who is line to become Matai! Below is my sister, Loa (right), with one of her friends, Sabrina. They are both my fifth grade students! The middle picture is of my older sister, Lasi (pronounced Law-see), and a random, adorable toddler from our town. The picture with me and KC at the Siva, below, also shows my host mom, Aso (to my left), Jedi (Lasi's 3.5 year old son) and to the right another random child from our town sitting next to KC. The picture at the bottom is of me, KC and our favorite favorite 2 year old neighbor, MJ, who we're pretty sure is the Buddha reincarnated. He is the most joyful, well-behaved child in the whole world. Everyday, he runs up to me and demands hugs and kisses. Even on the most stressful day here, (and surprisingly on this tropical island there are a lot of them), he makes everything better!

Pictures of my fale (my bedroom and bathroom). This is my own space, and then I share a ktichen and living room with my host family.

I found some long-lost internet acess on my island!

After a three-mile walk up a volcano, I have finally found internet access at the one high school on our island. My dial-up is too slow at the elementary school to update my blog there, but at the high school, some miraculous kind of internet is allowing me to update- so here are some quick, chaotic posts about the last...errr...four weeks of my crazy and adventurous life in AmSam. Mostly, I have a bunch of pictures you might enjoy.

The first few are of the inside of my bedroom and bathroom (connected to Aso's fale). I also have a picture of KC and Kaitie's house and their kitchen (where on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday nights, we make our own meals! We're working on a cookbook for 101 Ways to Cook Breadfruit... (I'm pretty sure we're at about 32). Remember- food on this island consists of breadfruit, canned items, hotdogs hotdogs hotdogs, corned beef, spam and then endless amounts of white rice. Needless to say, do not move here if you have dietary restrictions because when you're on an isolated island, shipping anything fresh is nearly impossible. Luckily, every once in a while KC and I get to eat a fresh coconut or papaya, so it's not all processed food all the time. But boy do I miss a good grocery store.