What to say

I apologize if my posts this week are somewhat boring and repetitive. This week is pretty much the writing week. I'm hoping to finish up my rough draft by tomorrow and have Friday and Saturday free. I've decided that I really want to go to Manono. If I do that'll mean that I was able to visit the four inhabited islands of Samoa. How awesome would that be!

This morning I spent a few hours attempting to do work at the Kofi House. I think part of me was hoping that it would be something like Starbucks or Barnes and Nobles. Although the ambiance was nice and I did spent a substantial amount of money in the time I was there I dont think they really appreciated me taking up an entire table for three hours. I left around lunch time when it started to get crowded. It made me realize though that there arent really any spots in Apia to just sit and read or work. There are a few scattered picnic tables, but the rain made them out of the question today. And while there is a public library, the one time I was in there it was pretty hot and miserable. The only other time I tried to find someplace in town to do work I ended up at McDonalds. I wonder what that means...

Staring at the computer

I'm supposed to be working on my paper right now but I just can't get motivated to actually write anything. Maybe its because the room is cold, or maybe its just because I'm tired. Either way, I dont think sitting here is doing me much good so I'm going to go back to my room and try to get at least a little bit of work done there.

Today was a pretty boring day. I sat around and stared at my notes for a while, read a little bit, made a few phone calls, and realized that I really dont want to be doing work. No suprise there though eh? I think the best part of my day was when Heather and I went for a walk after dinner. I think we're going to try and go every night until we leave. It's a nice way to unwind and it gets us off campus for a little bit.

haha and I just found out that I am Lovett's new treasurer. What was I thinking???

Also, I realize that this is a random picture, but it was taken as I was walking through town the other day. This is the Catholic Church in Apia and the place where I usually go to Mass on Sunday.

Solosolo

The weekend was amazing. I love spending time with families out in the villages. Yes, I want my research paper to be done to the best of my ability, but I don’t want to look back on my time here and regret that I spent more hours in the library than I did seeing Samoa and enjoying my semester abroad. That’s actually been one of my pet peeves. Most of the other students spend so much time freaking out and stressing about their paper. I came here to get away from having to worry about my grades. Let me just give you a little example of what I mean, and please don’t take it the wrong way. I love everyone in the group, but its just frustrating that they are spending so much time worrying about their ISPs. So I turned 21 last week and naturally wanted to go out to celebrate. Almost everyone went to dinner, which was nice, but then everyone but two of the girls decided that they had too much work to do to hang out anymore. Ya know ok that’s fine. I had fun at dinner- but it was just a little annoying that they are putting that high of an emphasis on work. And its been like that for almost everything. It’s so hard to get people to go out and do things because they “always have work.” Their loss not mine though right? And yeah, I might regret this if I get a B instead of an A on my paper but at this point I’m going to say that I have no regrets about the time I’ve spent on things other than work.

Take for example Friday. I went to Palolo Deep to do some of my research. I think I might go back tomorrow as well. Palolo Deep is a marine reserve. Unfortunately it doest have any fales, but it does have some small shelters and a few picnic tables that were really nice for doing work. Oh and its only WS$2 = US$0.70. I spent a few hours sitting in the shade and coming up with my outline, and then decided to put on my mask and go for a swim to investigate what is supposedly some of the best snorkeling in Samoa. I made the mistake of going at low tide so I was pretty much belly dancing over the coral, but it was so worth it. After about ten minutes of fighting the current the bottom suddenly dropped off and I was staring at the most amazingly beautiful and untouched underwater aquarium. The bottom was about twenty feet deep, and completely lined with purple and green coral. Hundreds of tiny fish flitted about in the light streaming down from the surface, and even more swam around the rocks and coral at the bottom and along the side. In the middle were two long eelish looking fish. Were they eels or sea snakes? I don’t know, but they were really cool. One of the rainbow fish, for lack of knowing its actual name, took a liking to me and swam by my side for a little bit. He actually ran into my hand and then swam around behind me and bit my toes. It was so awesome, and for the entire time I was in the water I was completely alone. It was one of those moments when you stare at the scene before you and wonder what you did to deserve to see such beauty and know with absolutely certainty that there has to be an all-knowing God who created it because that cannot be chance.

I came back and was then in a little bit of a rush to make it out to Solosolo where Niko and I spent the weekend with our friend Kareti. We met Kareti our first week here on one of our drop offs. She has wanted us to come visit her family for three months and we finally had the free time to do it this weekend. I spent most of my weekend with her older sister who is 22. It was awesome because they actually didn’t insist on treating us like guests and let us help with the cooking and watching little kids and stuff. Actually, all the little kids loved me. The first night I was there alone since Niko couldn’t make it until Saturday. It was so funny because they couldn’t figure out if I could understand Samoan or not. There were about 6 little kids from the family and neighbors shooting questions at me in Samoan. About half of them I understood and the other half were way over my head but they thought it was hysterical. Oh and then there was Maori dance practice which I took part in, which also cracked them up because come on- a palagi just doesn’t make that face. It was fun. I also said got to pray the Rosary with them- the first time I haven’t had to say it alone since I got here. The only problem was that it was in Samoan and I realized that I didn’t know how to say the Hail Mary in Samoan. I do now! I think the highlight of Saturday was going up into the mountain and picking flowers for the altar for Sunday. That and swimming in the ocean with a small group and taking oh about 100 pictures. Well, I didn’t take them, but that’s about how many were taken. No joke. Sunday was church and to’ona’i. I’m going to miss eating with my fingers when I get home. Seriously! It’s so much more convenient. And I know I’ve already said this but what were the missionaries thinking when they decided that clothes were somehow more appropriate. I was drenched in sweat the entire weekend. It was so hot and humid. I think the only time it wasn’t sweat was when I was in the shower and then the moment I stepped out it came back again. Aside from that however the weekend was awesome. Kareti’s mom works as a seamstress for one of the big hotels. Her dad is a retired boxer and carpenter. Unfortunately he got very sick and had to stop working. They used to have a booth in the market but once that happened they had to close up and that’s when her mom went to work for the hotel. He now stays home with the little kids. About half of her siblings are overseas. One of her sisters works as a secretary for the Minister of Education (the one I hung out with), one of them committed suicide, and the other two are younger than Kareti. Her 19 year old brother also lives at home and helps with the plantation. I was thinking about this over the weekend, but I think it’s the nurturer in me that finds something about these Samoan boys who give up everything to feed the family that is incredibly attractive. Anyways… and then there are the two adopted boys. One of them is actually her older sister’s adopted son. Altogether there are twelve kids, two of which are adopted. Before we left they gave Niko and I some of the wooden handicrafts that her dad had made several years ago. They are beautiful. Oh and they made me a beautiful pulitasi. How do you even begin to repay something like that?

Plans for the day

This morning I walked about half a mile down the street to one of the small faleoloa's. There's one much closer to campus, but the lady who runs this particular one is really nice. Plus I like her masi popo much better. (Masi popo is a square hard biscuit with just enough sugar to make it addicting.) I'd met and talked to her earlier this week while I was waiting to meet Kareti in the pouring rain. I wanted a package of the masi popo, which costs WS$1, but I only had big bills on me and she didn't have enough change so she gave it to me for free. I've gone back a few times since then to buy more because yes, they are just that good. This morning she also gave me two sandwhiches to try. They weren't bad- grilled tuna with cabbage and pumkpin/squash. I think that if you added cheese it would be pretty unbeatable. That's just pretty much how people are here. One of the boys is studying the faleoloas. Apparently its quite hard to run them successfully because they have such low profit margins and there are so many of them. Plus there isn't really a concept of saving here so when you have cash you spend it. You dont necessarily put it away to buy more inventory.

I'm just finishing up a few things in the computer lab and then I'm going to go down to Palolo Deep Marine Reserve. Hopefully the sun will hold and the tide wont be too low because I would like to do a little snorkeling. I'm also going to have to do some work while I'm there, but if I stay around school I will be too distracted. Later this afternoon I'm heading over to Kareti's house for the weekend with Niko. I'll be back on Monday. :)

Thanksgiving- part II

Yep that’s right. Two posts in one day. I wish I had my memory stick with me right now and could upload more pictures but unfortunately that is in my room. We just got back from our Thanksgiving dinner. It was surprisingly very good and complete with turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and pig. Unfortunately there was no pecan pie. L I am now stuffed beyond belief and just checking my email quickly before I head to bed where I am sure I will sleep soundly.

Today was quite busy. We had a group meeting to go over logistics for our presentation and paper this morning. That was followed by an interview with the general manager of one of the private energy companies in Samoa. It was actually a really interesting conversation. Most of my interviews have been with people in government, which is all fine, but it was interesting to get the private perspective. Plus, he seemed to be incredibly intelligent and I learned something about LNG. I had a really short phone interview with someone else in the private sector and he told me that kasava, a popular root crop, actually yields more ethanol per hectare than sugar cane so that was interesting as well. After that meeting I walked about a mile down the road to my next interview, stopping along the way at the Samoan National Museum. It’s a three room exhibit in the upstairs of the former government building. It’s not too big and doesn’t have a huge collection but it does have some interesting pictures from a hundred years ago as well as a few items from other countries in the Pacific.

I came back and relaxed for about an hour and then went in search of the Tongan boys to play some tennis but they weren’t around yet so instead I tossed around the Frisbee with a guy from Tokelau and one from the Cook Islands. They are two of the only students still around campus, and they will be flying home soon as well. After about fifteen minutes of that we joined Dan and Jared throwing/kicking the rugby ball. I’ll be honest. I don’t think I’ve ever touched a rugby ball so I had no idea what I was doing. They then decided that it would be a great idea to play a game of touch since a few more people had come out by then. Of course, I had absolutely no idea how the game worked so when they decided that I needed to be the one who scored I was like umm…ok…It was fun however and I think I’ll definitely be out there playing with them come tomorrow. After rugby we showered and headed to dinner- which was delicious, as I mentioned earlier. And now off to bed. Hopefully the centipede that dropped out of my lavalava this morning as I went to get dressed has exited my room because that might be pretty bad otherwise.

Thanksgiving

I think that this is the first Thanksgiving in a long time that I have spent without my family. I think its one of those holidays that you just take for granted. Unlike Christmas or New Years it's not celebrated around the world...just in America. And actually, its funny. Back home Thanksgiving pretty much marks the beginning of the "Christmas/holiday" season. Sure there are decorations and music and Christmasy goods available for sale beforehand, but it really goes in full-force the day after Thanksgiving. That's when it becomes completely acceptable to go full force, which made it very strange when Christmas carols started playing almost a month ago here. We looked at each in confusion because, well...it wasn't Thanksgiving yet! I'll be honest, right now I miss watching the parade and football and smelling turkey cooking in the oven. Word on the street is that we'll be having our own "American-style Thanksgiving dinner" at one of the hotels. I guess we'll figure out what that means hehe.

Don't get me wrong though. I'm not trying to complain. I do have a lot for which to be thankful and I am going to miss this place like crazy when I have to leave. These next few weeks are going to fly by so quickly and I know there is no way that I'm going to have time to do everything that I want to do. I want to go back to Apolima and Savaii. I want to go to the Robert Louis Stevenson museum. I want to go back and visit some of the friends that I made while I was here. At first 3 1/2 months seemed like such a long time. Now we're down to the last few weeks and I dont know where the time went.

I have to be thankful for- food, shelter, health, ect... but the biggest thing is all my family and friends who have supported and encouraged me and put up with me for the past 21 years. I love you all!!! God bless.

*PS- I am also thankful that the man in this picture lived. Last Friday afternoon after the trip to Apolima I went to watch them set up the wind monitoring tower. Unfortunately there was a cable in the way that was attached to the top of a telephone pole. Since there were no ladders around one of the electricians climbed the telephone pole as though it were a coconut tree. Keep in mind it had been raining all day and there was nothing dry in sight. When he got to the top someone threw him a hacksaw so that he could cut the wire. I was sitting at the bottom thinking "I am going to watch someone die today." When I asked what would happen if he fall the answer was for someone to jump up and down on the thoroughly saturated ground and reply "It's soft- he'll bounce." harhar*

No time

Well, I was going to post but they are shutting down the computer lab. This is getting to be extremely frustrating. Blech!

I just have to say

I am now 21!!!!!!

Rainy days

Welp, the rain has started back up again. Last night the thunderstorms were ridiculous. And now, 24 hours later there is still a steady stream of rain. I keep waiting for the sun to break through the clouds but it doesnt look like that will be happening today. It's rather depressing.

This morning Niko and I walked down the road to the Catholic school to go to the Thanksgiving end of year Mass. Our tour-guide from our second drop-off had invited us to go. She's also invited us to their class picnic on Wednesday but with the amount of work we both have to do it doesnt look like that will happen. However, we are going to be spending the weekend with her family in Solosolo so that should be fun.

And just for fun: you know you are on Pacific Time when you show up an hour late for a meeting and the person you are supposed to be meeting is two hours late and neither of you mind. You then turn around and are thirty minutes late for your next meeting and find that the other party only arrived five minutes before you did. :)

The kindness of strangers

This morning I went to Church at the Catholic Theological College that is a 15 minute walk from campus. Normally they have an English Mass but today it was in Samoan because there was a different priest. They also apparently have English Mass twice a week at 6:30am. I think I'm going to try to make it on Tuesday. What better way to start a new year? Hopefully I'll be able to make it but I wont know until tomorrow what the plans are for that day. After Mass one of the guys I met several months ago invited me to his families house for breakfast. He's from Tokelau, which has a population of about 1100 people. His dad used to be very involved with politics and the push for independence, but several years ago decided to switch gears and is now a cathecist and a teacher at the Theological College. The Islands are an interesting place. I had a fantastic and quite large meal, but they apologized repeatedly for it not being more because they hadn't known that I was coming. I really feel like these random experiences that I have are the ones that are really making this trip so incredibly rewarding. In Lotofaga I felt like everything was a big show, but not so today.

After breakfast Patriq walked me back to campus. Apparently it was a bit of a shock that I had come alone. I guess I can understand that but what else was I supposed to do? We came back and spent the next four hours talking with his cousin and throwing around a frisbee. It was great. We had a completely random conversation about dating and relationships and life in general here. I also made them sign my disk for me. I think Patriq's comment sums up in many ways the philosophy here "Give and it will come back to you."

On days like this I feel like I could stay here for the rest of my life if it weren't for my family and friends back home. I felt that way quite often in Apolima as well. It's a much simpler life here and at times it has led me to reflect on the purpose of life. So often in America we devote our entire life to making money and stocking up on material goods, but for what? What difference does it make at the end of our life? For that matter what difference does it really make during our life? Money cannot buy happiness. It's something that you can see even here. Those who are not concerned with money are happier, even if they have much less, than those who have more but who are constantly worried about having more. If material goods are what make one happy then is not that happiness relative because it is based on a comparison with others? More than ever I believe that true happiness can only come from peace of mind and is based on love of God. It is not something that can be bought or sold. It comes from within.

Before I sign off I just have to share two random comments that really my week while I was in Apolima. The first one was from my advisor. A group of us were in the truck driving from the wharf to the dam and he turned around and said "It is so nice that you are always smiling. How are you always so happy?" I guess I hadn't realized until that moment but it made my day because at the beginning of the semester I'd had some very downer moments and I feel like in many ways Apolima helped me restore some sort of balance to my life.

The second one is mainly for my parents. One of the consultants from Fiji, before he left told me to give his compliments to my parents. So Mom and Dad- I wouldn't be who I am without you. Thanks for everything!

Apolima

I just spent the most amazing week on the island of Apolima. I was really excited about the possibility of going last week, but then everything was up in the air and I wasn’t sure, but then last minute Monday morning everything came together and I was able to go. I went with my academic advisor for my project, who also happens to be the head engineer for the power company in Samoa, and two consultants from Fiji. Over the course of the week about four other workers from EPC also showed up to help power up the solar system. It was pretty incredible. This small island of about 100 people went from having diesel generated power for a few hours a night to 24-hour solar power while I was there.

I don’t have a whole lot of time at this moment to talk about Apolima but I’ll give you the five minute spiel. Apolima is located thirty minutes away from Upolu by boat, which means its pretty much between the two main islands. We got to the wharf, got on the boat, and the first thing everyone started to do was bail water. This continued the entire boat ride. Believe me, I was wondering what I was on when I said I wanted to go. Riding over in a small boat watching the islands rise and fall with each wave made me realize that I was in the middle of the ocean in a tiny boat. The middle of the ocean! I really have a hard time fathoming the navigators who first discovered the islands, especially in small canoes. Can you imagine being tossed around by huge waves with nothing but water all around you? Getting into the island is also tricky. It’s completely surrounded by large rocky cliffs, with only a very small opening for boats to enter and exit. I don’t know how they did it before motor boats.

Apolima consists of ten families, about 100 people in total. There is no running water so the villagers catch rainwater and bathe in a small creek. We brought water with us but mainly ended up drinking coconut milk. I love the islands…and coconuts really are the tree of life. They provide food, water, shelter, tools for fishing and cooking, pretty much everything you need. While there we stayed with the chief of the village because his was the only house big enough to accommodate visitors. Only two people spoke English and the chief was not one of them. He actually dropped out of school at a young age. The education level on Apolima is much lower than in the rest of Samoa because it requires a boat ride just to get to school which makes the lifestyle that much more traditional. I had a wonderfully relaxing week. I spent quite a bit of time observing and watching the solar arrays being readied for use, but I also had a substantial amount of time to read and wander around- climb to the lighthouse, go swimming in the sea, visit with the two girls who spoke English. In the evenings after dinner they would crank up the stereo and everyone would dance. It’s so different than the States where most people will only dance when they’ve been drinking. Here everyone dances starting at two and they do it completely sober. I had a lot of fun and I think I’ve decided that I’ve inherited a lot more of the Latino rhythm than I thought I had. The food was also unbelievable. For one there was always so much of it! There was no way any of us could finish more than half of what we were served at any meal. Apparently the chief got upset because we weren’t eating more and was yelling at his kids for not making better food. I don’t know how it could have gotten better. Take for example Thursday- we had four kinds of fish, shark, chicken, pork, breadfruit, bananas, and cocoa Samoa. I couldn’t even try everything let alone finish it. The best part for me was undoubtedly the fish. There was also fresh oka. So so good. They’ve invited me to go back again before I leave for the US and I am going to do everything in my power to make it back.

Students

Sunday. I went to church in the morning with one of the Fijian girls- Teresia. I love the choirs here. It’s so inspiring. After Mass we got a ride back with a Nigerian professor. His wife, also from Nigeria just got back from Fiji where she is a student at the main USP campus. They have two little kids. On the way back we stopped by McDonalds to get ice cream. I think it must be a Sunday tradition. I’m not going to lie. It’s one that I kinda like.

Students here are not your traditional American students. Many of them are older. Some of them are working on their second degrees. Some of them have families back home that they have left while they finish their education. It makes for a completely different campus dynamic. It’s also interesting because I think they are also given much less freedom than at many schools in the states.

Ok this was another short post. The computer lab closes in twenty minutes and I want to give someone else a shot at the internet. Plus I now have a ton of work left if I want to get stuff done before leaving for Apolima tomorrow. Btw, I’m still super stoked about that…

Sliding Rocks

A group of us went back to Sliding Rocks today to go explore further up the river. The four guys on the group went, as did two Samoans and two Fijians. Last time most of us had been a little hesitant to slide down the nearly vertical ten foot drop of the highest rock, but today it was viewed as just a means to cool off after the hike up the mountain and before heading up stream. Most tourists and visitors come for the sliding rocks- several deep pools of water fed by small water falls. You sit at the top and *whoosh* the water takes you down into the water below. It’s lots of fun, but we wanted to go up further to another waterfall the Fijians had told us about. We hiked for about 45 minutes, following the river bed and climbing over stones and fallen trees. It was so unlike most hiking where you follow a trail. Here the river was quite literally the trail. At one point we came to a place where the river flowed between two thirty foot cliffs. It looked like a fun place to go bouldering. We reached the next waterfall, not nearly as dramatic, but covering a small cave. We didn’t slide or jump from this waterfall though because there was a rock in the middle of the pool. That’s why you go with people who know the area! There are no warning signs. From this waterfall the path got a little more tricky. The goal was to go as far as possible before it got to the point where it was just not safe to keep going. Mala, one of the Fijians, went to the river’s source last year. He said it was just a trickle, and we got pretty close. We turned back however because it would have required some pretty dangerous moves. The furthest most of us got was ten minutes past the waterfall cave. We pulled a superman climb to get to another big pool and then decided that we didn’t really want to do a climb that required standing on Mala’s back to reach the next foot hold. That’s when we turned around and came back. It was a lot of fun though. Days like this are among my favorite here in Samoa. They are so relaxing!

Ok so now I have to tell a funny story that just happened about two minutes ago. You might not find it as funny as I do, but it had me laughing out loud in the computer lab. I was copying some pictures from Sliding Rock off of Jared’s CD and onto my memory stick. I finished opened the CD drive and turned to put my memory card into my backpack. I looked up a minute later and the drive was empty. I was so confused. I looked at it for a second, looked around me at the desk, opened the CD case. That’s when I hear Dan cracking up next to me. He’d gotten me good. I really had no idea what in the world had happened to that CD!!! Anyways, enough of that.

I’m really excited because the trip to Apolima just might work out. If it does it would be awesome beyond description.

And now I just have to make one little disclaimer. I know I refer to a lot of my friends here by their nationality- Tongan, Fijian, Samoan are the three big ones. This was something we’d actually talked about in class a few weeks ago. Back in the States people are only given the chance to identify themselves as Pacific Islanders, but that really isn’t an accurate description. While its true that there are some similarities between the cultures and uniting gives them more of a voice in international discussions they do not necessarily view themselves as the same. Their islands might not be large by world standards but they have extreme pride in their national identity. And again, even though to an outsider all Pacific Islanders might look similar and indeed it is hard to tell some of them apart due to inter-marriage etc, you don’t really ask someone what country they come from. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked “Cant you tell?” They can see the physical characteristics that set them apart very well. That and I guess there is a difference in language and diction but ya know…

Note: in the time its taken me to finish typing up this entry I just got an email from one of the guys at EPC and it looks like Apolima might be a go!!!! AGHHHHHHH YES YES YES!!!!!! You’re probably wondering what in the world I’m so excited over. Apolima is a really small island between Upolu and Savaii. Only nine families live on the island and its really hard to get to and you have to have special contacts and it costs quite a bit of money to go out there and I’m getting to go with EPC and maybe help them with a project and this is like way super cool.

Short and sweet

Today was a long day. I spent two hours this morning waiting for the computer lab to open so that I could check my email because I’m trying to set up interviews for my research project. The internet on campus normally only works from 8-10am and from 4-10pm, so not being open for two hours would normally mean that I would have to wait until 4pm to check my email. Fortunately, for some odd reason, the internet was on all day today. Maybe it has something to do with being routed through Fiji where it is now Saturday? I don’t know. I haven’t figured it out.

The only good thing about waiting was that I finished reading The Little Prince. Several of my friends really like it so when I saw it in the SIT office I picked it up to read. I’d skimmed parts of it before but reading the whole thing…there are just so many things that ring true. One of my favorite quotes of all times is from that book: “What is important is invisible to the eye. It is only with the heart that one can see clearly.” Cela, if you’re reading this you should read it and then let me know what you think.

This afternoon I made some more phone calls to try to set up interviews and then went to UNDP to meet with one of the consultants there. I think I’ve said this before but people here are so friendly and eager to help. It’s such a small place that there are very few people who are not accessible.

Afterwards I came back and played tennis with the Tongan guys. I’m not that great but then again neither are most of them and they think its hilarious that a palagi girl is playing with them. Every time I walk by when they’re playing I get an invitation to play with them. It’s good fun.

Buying groceries

Today most of us went in to Apia to do some grocery shopping so that we didn’t have to live on biscuits and corned beef all weekend. I have a hard time in general grocery shopping for one person, but grocery shopping for one person for one month is going to be quite a challenge for me. As a group I’m sure we’ll end up sharing some things and cooking some meals together, but since we’ll be here and there it was much easier to just be responsible for our own individual selves.

I have to admit that I have not done much food shopping since I’ve been here. There hasn’t really been a need to. There are several places you can go to buy food in Samoa. The first is the small faleoloa. These are everywhere in Samoa. In fact, one of the boys is doing his research on the economics of them. There are at least four of which I am aware in about a five minute walk from the front gate of the USP campus. The same holds true in the villages. They can be right across the street from each other. I don’t understand how they manage to stay in business. The point however is that these faleoloas hold very basic necessities: a few canned goods, biscuits, cold drinks and Vailima, candy, and cigarettes. I think some of the ones in villages further from Apia might also sell frozen chicken and bread. I really haven’t figured out how they decide what to sell in them, but most of us frequent them to buy their biscuits or “pane keke.” They make good snacks. Most of these stores are either part of a house or just a small building and there is no need to enter them at all. You walk up to the counter and pretty much point to the items that you want because they are all arranged along the wall. Basically, they are pretty small.

The next place to buy food is the supermarket. There are a few bigger ones in Apia, and by bigger I mean they are somewhat like the Samoan equivalent of a super Walmart or Target. You can buy food and clothes and some kinds of other supplies in them. The two that I’ve been in are about the size of a big drug store. There are also some smaller supermarkets that just have food and they are more the size of a smaller drug store. I went to one of those today with Mirna and Michaela. We walked through the isles and it was somewhat of a challenge to decide what to buy. They don’t have a lot of things that we take for granted back home and many of the “Western” things they do have are extremely expensive. We decided that we are going to be making lots of stir frys so we bought marinades and spices and rice. We also bought the locally popular cereal- Wheat Bix, which is also the only cereal that costs less than WS$20. Unfortunately they don’t have milk in Samoa so our options are powdered milk in a bag and milk cream that only needs to be refrigerated after it has been opened and has a shelf life of six months.

The third place to buy food is the market. It’s where you can buy all your fresh fruits and vegetables. They really don’t have many in supermarkets except for imported fruits like apples and pears, which are not sold in the market. I enjoy going to the market. It’s fun to walk through and just see table after table lined with tomatoes and papayas and squash/pumpkins and bananas and cabbage and cocoa and green beans and cooked taro with palusami. The fruit/vegetable market is always open and people even sleep there. For some reason it is one of my favorite places in Apia.

Now that I’ve talked about shopping in Samoa maybe I should say a few words about stores in Fiji. First let me just preface that by saying that I only went into two grocery stores and a few other shops so I am by no means an expert but the stores there have a very different and distinct flavor. For one thing they tend to be about five times too small for the amount of stuff they contain. Whether it’s a grocery store or a clothing store they are crammed pretty well. The aisles are narrow; things hang from the ceiling; and there really appears to be no rhyme or reason as to why things are ordered the way they are. They had a much more crowded feel than stores in Apia.

Changing topics for a minute I just want to say a few words about the public library in Samoa. Michaela and I went before we went to the store. It was nothing like libraries back in the states. Total size wise it was probably about the area of the Nederland public library but divided into two levels. Other than that, the two don’t even compare. For one thing it was hot in there. They had a few fans but we were still dripping within minutes of walking into the building. There were computers, but they were all covered for some strange reason so we had to use the card catalog. It’s been a while since I’ve had to do that. Also, as with most stores you are required to check your bags at the door when you enter because there are no security systems. We spent about an hour there because Kalia wanted to look for some books so I wandered around and looked at what they had. Most of the books appear to be from before 1995. They had a huge selection upstairs of UN documents, but again the most recent ones were pretty ancient. There was a random collection of periodicals- everything from several copies of “Seventeen” from 2000 to a 2003 copy of “The Economist” to a huge stack of “Korea and the World” journals. I think the library at USP, while in no way up to par with libraries back home, is at least a little more current on more things. They also have a room packed with books and newspapers called The Pacific Room. If I have to go back to do research that is where I will be because…it has A/C!!!!

On our own

Today marked the end of our classes and the beginning of our research. We had our final this morning and I’m just glad it’s over. It was all essay questions. Only four of us finished in the allotted time. I just need to vent right now and say that it’s really annoying when people go over time. Ya know, I could have written a lot more but I very purposefully set time limits for myself and followed them. Oh well. It’s over and I’m glad. I’m just a little nervous now about the research. We have a little over three weeks to do some original research and write a 40ish page paper. It’s just a little bit intimidating when you think about it. I’ll probably spend the next two days setting up interviews and developing my outline. Once I have that I know that things will go more smoothly but right now I feel like everything is one jumbled up mess inside my head and I have no idea where I’m going. The hardest part is not knowing what kind of information I’ll be able to obtain or what resources I will be able to access. Aside from that however ISP time should be just another adventure. Breakfast was our last meal here. For the next thirty days we are on our own. We’ve received a meal allowance that would allow us to go out every meal but I think the challenge will be shopping in the market and cooking using the few resources that we have available to us. We are allowed to stay at USP unlike many other SIT programs that require students to find their own housing. I think a few of us will be doing a little traveling/staying with families during ISP time but is seems like most will be sticking fairly close to campus.

One of the boys turned twenty today so we’re planning to go out tonight to celebrate. Most Samoans do not eat out on a regular basis and you can tell that by the small number of restaurants that are open in the evenings and on Sunday. The ones that are almost all cater to palagis/tourists. Our standard place is Italiano’s- which serves pizza and pizza. It’s not bad and its definitely the least greasy pizza parlor but its not deep dish gourmet either. We’ve gone their quite a few times in the past two and a half months, mainly because its convenient and we all know it. Personally my favorite place is a more locally popular restaurant called Seafood Gourmet. They have a really good seafood salad that is absolutely loaded with chunks of crab and other stuff. Mmm.

Cell phones

I feel like I’ve reached such a road block in terms of what to say. We haven’t covered anything new in class since the test is tomorrow, and there hasn’t been a whole lot of excitement around campus. I’ve been spending most of my time in the computer lab sorting through pages and pages of development reports on energy development and electricity in Samoa and the Pacific in general.

This morning we had to do an audio-visual presentation, which was basically our opportunity to be creative and talk about some aspect of the culture. A lot of people loved it, but I really don’t like having to be creative so I didn’t have as much fun with it. I ended up doing a skit with one of the boys on cell phones. When we were in Hawaii I was talking to one of Jackie’s former students and she said that cell phone coverage in Samoa was about to hit something like 90% by the end of September. Well, they may not have been quite on schedule but this week a new cell phone company has rolled out a huge advertising campaign. Digicel is now the private competition to Samoa Tel, the government run phone company. There was a very critical editorial in the Sunday paper about Digicel because their advertisement targets youth and individualism- a cell phone for everyone, whereas with Samoa Tel their advertisement was geared towards “Family First.” This particular author saw them as attacking the very root of Samoan culture. I didn’t go into Apia yesterday but apparently the advertising was everywhere and people were lining up outside stores to receive their free phones. The town is said to be completely decked in red and white- Digicel’s colors.

Back to my story. Jared and I had actually picked this topic before we even know about Digicel’s new launch. Like I mentioned earlier I knew that cell phones were on the horizon before I even arrived. And its not that people didn’t have cell phones before, but the network coverage was nowhere near as good and apparently Digicel’s price is half what Samoa Tel was charging. Personally I’m not surprised as many government organizations struggle with optimization. Anyways, what sparked my interest in doing cell phones was actually something that happened in Fiji. We were hiking up the mountain in Abaca and our tour guides were texting and chatting on cell phones. Now you’ve got to remember, this is a village that doesn’t even have electricity! And yet they were able to use diesel generators to charge their cell phones to talk while they were hiking up a mountain. In the States most cell phones won’t work in the more rural areas, but then I guess that’s a reflection of Fiji’s small size. Another interesting observation about cell phones here- like everything else they really don’t belong to one specific person. I mean yeah they might, but then again not really. I don’t know how many times I’ve had someone tell me not to call them today because so-and-so has their phone. Or I’ve been in the computer lab and someone answers and says “oh no, I’m using his phone today but I’ll tell him you called.” It’s something I don’t think you would ever see in the US. Part of it is definitely the way cell phones work here. For the most part people can’t afford to have a plan so they buy minutes and its easy enough to pay back minutes but it’s still unusual to see cell phones being passed around so easily. And speaking of ringing in the lab, I don’t think I’ve been in the lab for more than forty-five minutes this entire semester without at least one cell phone ringing. Finally, just one more comment about cell phones- but this one from American Samoa. Texting language is not just used for cell phone conversations. It’s used for emails and myspace messages and pretty much any other form of electronic communication. That was actually how we did our skit. Our entire conversation was a series of signs written out in texting talk. I don’t think the rest of the class appreciated them as much as we did but it was still fun.

One of my favorite presentations was a slideshow on sleeping. People here sleep a lot, and they sleep just about anywhere. One of the girls had taken a bunch of random pictures of random Samoans and of us sleeping in well, random places. There were pictures of us passed out at 2:30am in the airport lobby; pictures of people sleeping in fales by the side of the road; and a picture of the pastor who fell asleep after he’d come to assist at a birth to name just a few. But the one that takes the cake was a picture of our academic director Jackie. Jackie was born in South Dakota but has lived most of her life in Samoa since coming here with the Peace Corps and marrying a Samoan. We often joke with her that she is more Samoan than American and this picture demonstrated that so very well. It was a picture of Jackie asleep on the floor…next to a very comfortable bed. Only a Samoan would do that and so…Jackie must be a Samoan.

To my family and friends back home

First of all, I just wanted to give a huge shout-out to everyone who’s been reading my blog for the past two and a half months. Thank you for taking the time to be interested in what I’m doing and learning out here in the Pacific. I miss all of you and can't wait to see you in December!

We’re coming to the end of our classroom learning and our independent research projects will be starting soon. I’m a little nervous about it to be honest. I had great plans about how organized and on top of things I was going to be at the beginning of the semester and none of that has happened. It will be interesting to see who stay around campus and who goes off into the villages. I really want to spend at least a few days with some of the different families I’ve met in the past two months. Unfortunately the office phone isn’t working right now so I can’t call any of them.

We’ve spent a lot of time traveling this past month and had so many opportunities to observe and learn. Especially with the trip to Fiji I feel like I suddenly have a lot to process and try to understand. Going to Suva and seeing a modern city that contrasted so sharply with the small village of Abaca we’d just left was such an eye-opener. It brought so clearly to my mind the issues of development and modernization, not just in Fiji but in Samoa as well. Coming back I noticed many things about Samoa that had escaped my attention before Fiji. I noticed that we American students were among the few young girls who consistently wore lavalavas on campus. I noticed that all around me young people were using their cell phones to send and receive text messages. There is a subtle revolution among the youth that I feel like the older generation almost wishes to ignore in the hopes that it will just disappear. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that they are completely throwing off their cultural heritage. They still have the overwhelming hospitality and pride in being Samoan, but I can’t help but wonder if in focusing on what the older generation has defined as being Samoan we are ignoring what the younger generation is now defining as being Samoan. Are they the same? In many regards undoubtedly yes. I think however that there is a danger in ignoring the differences that do exist because they could easily open up into the conflicts and problems that we saw in American Samoa. If the older generation ignores the younger generation then the chances of conflict and misunderstanding will only increase.

I hope I wasn’t speaking in too many riddles. When we first arrived in Suva many of the girls were in a state of mini-culture shock and felt like they were back in America. To the SIT Fiji girls though there was no doubt that they were in Fiji. They could see the aspects that made it similar to America but they could also see the aspects that remained distinctly Fijian. It made me realize that in my attempt to understand Samoa and Apia and the urban areas as Samoan I had ignored the effects and influences of Westernization. I was seeing only how it had not developed and not how it had.

More on Fiji

We’re back to lots and lots of rain in Samoa. Yesterday morning I did my laundry and then hung it out to dry. Within forty-five minutes it was dry, but I decided to just leave it up for a few more hours while I went to the computer lab. Big mistake! I forgot about it until around 4pm when it started raining. It hasn’t really stopped since then and my clothes, which had been dry, are still sitting in the rain. All I need is another hour or so of sunshine!

I said a little big about Fiji yesterday, but there is really so much more that can be said. Before I came to Samoa deep down I had the misconception that all Pacific Island nations were somewhat similar. That’s not even close to being true. Fiji looks different, sounds different, was formed differently, and has a different history and culture. One of the very unique aspects of Fiji is its huge Indo-Fijian population. I think I talked about it a little bit when I was discussing the coup earlier. It was really amazing to see the two side-by-side in Fiji itself. I also think it is incredibly sad to see the amount of racial tension between the two groups. Seeing it in another country makes you realize just how stupid and pointless it is to judge someone else by the color of their skin or by their ethnic background. Is cultural heritage really that important that it can cause such huge divides?

We had a few afternoons free while we were in Suva so we walked around and did a little window shopping/shopping. Most of the shops were owned by Indo-Fijians and there was an interesting mix of stores with designer labels and stores with ultra-cheap t-shirts. One of my favorite things was the bread shops. I loved walked by and getting a whiff of fresh bread. Mmm. Food is one thing I’m really going to miss from Fiji. I loved all the Indian food. It was everywhere and so cheap.

note: This is my house in Abaca, Fiji.

Fiji

I am in love. Samoa is beautiful and amazing, but Fiji- well, no wonder it's such a hot spot for tourists. We spent about a week there and I would really like to go back at some point in the future. I'm not really sure how long exactly because it's all so confusing crossing the international date line twice. It was kind of cool. First we didn't have a Saturday, and right now I'm in the middle of my second straight Saturday. I don't know about you but I think it's pretty cool to have a second chance at Saturday...especially since we spent Saturday evening on a bus. Of course, Saturday morning was pretty awesome. We went down a river to an eco-tourist village and then up to a waterfall. The river ride was really pretty. The whole time I kept thinking to myself "This is how I would have imagined a river in China." The tourist village was interesting because we haven't really seen a lot of the commercialization of culture for tourism. We've seen culture manipulated for us when we've been hosted by families, but it was still different from the ceremony that was present in this village. It was nice because they explained some things better, but I am glad that we have been able to experience a little bit more of the "living" culture...the way things are done now.

Sunsets in Fiji are beautiful...as are sunrises. On the flight over we saw the sunrise out the window of the plane. It was so amazing, and really cool to think about as well. I mean, I was leaving Friday and entering Sunday morning in a plane over the ocean watching the sunrise in first place on earth. What more could I ask! We also saw a few sunsets. My favorite by far was the one in Abaca- a small village of 80 people where we spent our first couple nights with host families. There is no electricity and its far removed from pretty much anywhere else. They cooked completely by fire, and at night the houses were lit with kerosene lamps. On the one hand parts of Fiji are extremely developed, but on the other you have this remoteness that is even greater than that of Samoa. The first night we were there we hiked up to a nearby hill and watched the sunset over the ocean from the hilltop. I dont even know how to describe it. As one girl in our group put it "I feel like I've seen Paradise." Sunsets on the beach are amazing, but watching the sunset behind another island on the horizen from 1500 feet is a completely different experience. All I could think of was wow...and God created this for me. How you can not believe in the Almighty after seeing something like that I dont know.

The next day we went up to the top of the second highest mountain on the island at 3600 feet. The hike was pretty intense, I'm not going to lie. Only a few of us went. There were some parts where it pretty much just went up- none of this cutback that you find in so many national parks. Once we got to the top it was another wow. We were so high- I almost felt like I should be able to reach out and touch the clouds. If you're wondering what the view was like go back and watch Lord of the Rings. It wasnt filmed here but the scenary is very similar.

Most of the rest of the time we spent in Suva studying at USP main campus. For many people in my group it was somewhat of a reverse culture shock. I think Suva is something like 79,000 people. It's good sized. It's full of life and motion and cars. Lots of people. I loved it. We met up with SIT Fiji and hung out with them a little. It was nice to have some people who knew the city and where to go and what to do. I've loved Samoa, but part of me wishes I'd gone to Fiji instead. It would have been a very different experience. I guess I'll just have to go back later eh?

I feel like I haven't said a lot, but I feel like thats also because I'm still trying to process all of it. The village life was so different from Samoa. People seem to be more relaxed. There's more of a sense of privacy it seemed, and people actually locked their doors. Guys aren't as agressive which made me happy. They drink more ava, and seem to have more dancing and singing. Suva is huge in comparison to anything in Samoa, so it was interesting to see the direction that development has taken Fiji. Oh, and bartering. I had to try it because in Samoa you don't.

I just realized that I completely forgot to talk about the Halloween party. We were in Fiji and didn't really know our way around at all. SIT Fiji had a lot of work due when we first got there so we were pretty much on our own. Most of us made costumes using what we had. We had a gangsta', "white trash," a bellydancer, a student, and I was a snorkler. However, and this was what made the party- a few of the students had bought superhero costumes in American Samoa. Unforunately they were only available in kids large so three boys were crammed into this much too small for them spandexy like costumes. One of the girls also had one, but it actually fit her and looked cute on her. I wish my pictures had turned out better because they were hilarious. Two of the boys actually went out in their costumes later that night...