A few more pictures of my house and the outside and inside of my classroom!

Views of my house, the basketball court where KC and I play with the local kids, our church, and a view from my front yard!

August30, 2009--A quick update about the last three or four weeks.

I finished my time living at the high school in Nu’uli on Tutuila. For a week, KC and I moved in with friends (Kate, Ben and Thahn) in Leone, Tutuila. We had to wait there until we could book a flight out to Ta’u. The flights there are quite unreliable, and we ended up being bumped almost ten times before we were able to catch a 6am flight on Sunday, August 9th. A bus picked us up at the airport in Fitiuta on the Northeast corner of the island and then carried, Kaitie, KC, Dan, Zac, Josiah, Nathan, Sam and me to our houses. I am the only one of the eight of us on the island doing a homestay. I’m living in Faleasao on the northwest corner of the island with Aso (who seems to be in her late 50’s or early 60’s), her daughter, Lasi (who’s 26), Lasi’s son iedi (pronounced yekki) who is 3 ½, and Loa and Anne, Lasi’s granddaughters who are about 10 years old. Loa is in my fifth grade class, too. She’s one of the twelve students I have (6 boys, 6 girls). Life has been completely consumed with lesson planning, teaching and more lesson planning since I arrived here. Classes began on August 10th, so I had a mere 24 hours to prepare after my arrival. It’s been an adventure. I’m exhausted, and just finally able to upload some pictures and these posts to the blog. This is because there is no internet on the island except for one dial-up computer my principal has in the main office, which I am borrowing right now. It gets even more frustrating, though, because the internet is either too slow or too stupid to open up my blog page, so I have to email all of these updates to my parents- so thank them for any updates or pictures you find on my blog at this point! I miss everyone, and if you’d like more individualized updates, feel free to ask me for my email- it’s the quickest way to find out what’s going on in my life in more detail.

Manuia le Aso!!

August 20, 2009
I can’t believe I’ve been here for a month. Time is nonexistent. American Samoa is only just sinking in. Tonight, I walked back from Kaitie and KC’s fale in Faleasao. It’s about a five minute stroll down a dirt road back to Aso’s house where I’m living. The night was so quiet. The only sound I could hear was the constant hum of the waves crashing to my right. The air was warm, and a light breeze made the palm tree’s silhouettes dance eerily in the moonlight against the sandy road. That walk felt as close to an out-of-body experience as I’ve ever known… yet, simultaneously, I felt grounded to the unfamiliar earth that surrounded me. It was the first moment I really had the ability to drink in my new home. I’ve been surrounded by people for these past intense four weeks, traveling around the main island of Tutuila and now finally unpacking and teaching in Faleasao on Ta’u. Teaching has been wonderfully exhausting and challenging, and now that I am starting to get into a groove (planning my curriculum efficiently and organizing my classroom) I have some time to myself. I spend moments looking around this beautiful town I now live in and wonder how I got here…what’s my role here…who will I become here? It’s really sinking in, and I can’t wait to learn and grow here. I hope the few pictures I have of my fale, my school and the road that runs along my quarter-of-a-mile, 100-person town reveal the charm of the quaint Samoan village where I’ve become family.

Saturday, August 22, 2009
Today was long and full of mixed happenings. It began at 8 am when I awoke to the sounds of my host family installing a washing machine two feet from my bed between our fales (I live in bedroom separate from the house). I felt well-rested, though, so I decided to get up and clean my fale (which is a 12x12 room with a bed, table and then a bathroom off of it). It was really satisfying, and I’ve been happy with my swept floors and dusted tables all day. I went over to KC and Kaitie’s and hung out with them for some of the morning. We then took a 20 minute jog over to Ta’u and just kept walking for about an hour along the beach to this beautiful turquoise wharf. By the time we got back to their fale, it had been two hours and we were dying of thirst. We spent the rest of the afternoon indoors watching the show Weeds, and then I came back home and took a satisfying nap. Around 5, KC and I headed back to the office at Faleasao Elementary and planned our lessons for the week. It took only half as long as last weekend (5 hours…this is what happens when you have no Education training!)- so that is promising. Then, we headed back to KC’s for some cucumbers and tomatoes the boys (Dan, Zac and Josiah) had brought back from Fitiuta’s plantation- so delicious! It was the first time I’d had tomatoes since I’ve been in Samoa- I miss them so much- all vegetables in general. Tonight, walking home from KC’s house, I ran into Sonny (a local high school kid). He offered to walk me back to my fale, so I shared some of my fresh coconut in my fridge as a thank you. That’s the way of life here in Samoa- people don’t have much, but they give whatever they have to each other. I love the generosity AND the fresh coconut! I then retired to my little fale and read until it was time for sleep. Besides teaching, island life isn’t too tough…

A Brief Posting from the Tutuila Public Library

Island Time strikes again. Our flight will not be departing now until Saturday, which is fine by me. I get to have a few more days on the main island to enjoy the luxuries of restaurants, grocery stores and drinkable tap water (in Manu'a I will be drinking collected rain water...). On Saturday, the teacher volunteers moved from our encampment at the Vo-Tech High School in Nu'uli to our assigned houses. For outer island folks (like me!), we will be moving into our friends' houses for a week until we can hitch a plane ride to Ta'u. KC and I are staying with Kate in Leone, a beautiful village on the West side of the island. They are a ten minute walk to a beach called Sliding Rock, which I found out was named that for a reason. Another story for another post. Because Kate's fale does not have internet access, my posts will be short and few and far between. Luckily, the good ole public library has some! Today, I'm spending the earlier part of the day in Teacher Inservice, and then KC and I will be running errands for the rest of th day. I am also on the hunt for a Ukulele for one special lil person (I may just buy myself one in the meantime). All is well and hopefully I will have some exciting new pictures of my new home on Ta'u within the next few days.

Fa!

Teaching, snorkeling, adventures and more!

Because internet access is rare AND my very own computer bit the dust, my opportunities to add to my blog are few and far between. Since I have a moment, some sweet sweet internet access and a friend's la computadora, I will take advantage and try to catch everyone up on the past few days of AmSam happenings.

This weekend, I was able to snorkel for an afternoon with Kate and KC. We walked for 45 minutes to one of the prime snorkeling locations on the island. Airport Beach has incredible coral reefs with marine life that pales only to the great barrier. The water is transparent with a soft, turquoise hue. We were in a quiet cove that resembled a pool more than the Pacific Ocean, though only 100 yards away there were 15-20 ft waves crashing on the other side of the reef. We were protected by a wall of volcanic boulders, which allowed for the calm waters and visibility to the ocean floor- which where we were was only about 20 to 50 feet. Inside these coral beds, there were more species of fish than I am capable of identifying, but the few I did know were some beautiful zebra fish, a giant blue starfish! and the biggest stingrays I've ever seen, with tails measuring over 6 feet long. It was terrifyingly awesome- and no I did not get Steve Irwined. I don't have my own snorkeling equipment (mask, snorkel, fins), but Kate let me borrow hers. It was probably the coolest afternoon of my life (though I feel like I could say that everyday here so it might get cliche real quick). 

Yesterday (Wednesday), I had my first teaching practicum, which consisted of me teaching a classroom of elementary school kids a lesson about Action Verbs in 10 minutes. Probably the longest and most terrifying ten minutes of my life. Teaching is impossibly hard. I respected my educators before this experience, but after this year, I will kiss the ground they walk on. You have to be an actor, entertainer, expert, authoritative dictator, friend and parent all at once. My lesson plan was simple- introduce myself, ask anyone if they can define an action verb (no student could) and then explain the definition. I then had the students play action verb charades and hopefully, by the end of the ten minutes they would be action verb experts. It did not quite go according to plan- BUT I think I was able to teach some of them something haha. Not bad for my first try I suppose. I have probably the least amount of experience here- many of the volunteers have education degrees, masters degrees in their field or both. I continue to have faith that they saw something worthy in me b/c apparently there were 1,200 applicants for these 33 positions. We shall see...

Next Thursday, we are supposed to fly out to Ta'u (I say supposed to b/c apparently it is common here to book a flight one day and fly out three days later...we call it Island Time or 'I.T.' for short). Classes then start the following monday. I was told by my principal on the phone yesterday that I should be teaching fifth grade. I think that's a good age, so I'm excited about my placement. I also found out that I will be living in a home-stay with a local mother and her daughter. The mother, Aso, is apparently the person to know on the island, so hopefully we'll get along just fine :). 

My adventure from yesterday is quite blog-worthy. KC and I had the day off after we taught on Wednesday, so we decided to find some trails to hike on the other side of the island. We hopped on a bus (which will take you almost anywhere on the island for a dollar) and ventured towards Pago (pronounced Pongo) harbor. Note: We had no idea where we were going or what we were doing= best way to have an adventure. About halfway there, the bus driver told us that he couldn't go any further, and so we realized we had to now find another bus. After trying to figure out what the bus driver was saying (he really only spoke Samoan w/ some very basic english) and which bus to catch next (he also insisted I take his phone number and call him on Friday night...note to self: Palagi (pronounced palangi..means white) women are quite the catch). Luckily, a really nice local guy, Henry, decided to help us find our next bus. He also then insisted we go on HIS hike, which ended up being a 45 minute 90 degree vertical climb to the steepest point imaginable. Samoans are the nicest, most generous people in the world- but they are also very set in their ways. So they will be glad to help you, but it will be the hike THEY want to take. At least I got a good workout in and saw a breath-taking view of Pago Harbor. Henry also taught us some more Samoan words, some oral history and we learned he was Matai (which is like being a Prince on the island). His family is very well respected, and he will inevitably be a Matai leader one day. The Matai system is tribal and is incorporated into their island gov't. It's part of the historical chief system that's hundreds if not thousands of years old. He also bought us our bus fare back and showed us a great local spot to eat (we had delicious tarot covered in coconut and banana chips). My group of friends might even hang out with Henry tonight if we all go dancing. Henry is enlisted in the army and will be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan this February. Almost every single family on the island has someone serving in US military. It's incredible how patriotic this island and how they can sacrifice their lives for a country that won't even allow them to vote in the presidential election. 

Well- sorry for the long post- I try to keep them short, but I've learned so much in just one week- it's hard not to share it all! Fa Soifua <3

Just a few more pics from my week...I couldn't help myself

My new AmSam friends!

Above are pictures of me and some of my new American Samoa Teacher friends/colleagues out to dinner with the Samoa DOE. We had some delicious fish, pork and vegetables at a Samoan Cafe in Tafuna. To my right is KC (who will be living on the outer island with me) and Jessie. In the middle photo from left to right is Brigit, Kate and Julia. The very first photo is a picture of my delicious dinner- mmmm Samoan food. My favorite so far has been poke (pronounced pokie), which is raw tuna marinated in coconut milk- amazing. The food is so good here there is even a Samoan word for food coma: "moi." They don't mess around.