Nothing but a trickle

This morning I woke up at 6am to run. My goal is to run at least three days a week. It really helps me clear my mind and release a lot of tension.

Yesterday was another full day. We're slowly learning the Samoan language. I must say I really like the simplicity of their grammar structure. I'm sure they'll start throwing exceptions at us soon enough, but so far its very uncomplicated.

One of the things we did yesterday was talk about our proposed independent study projects. I feel ike I'm the black sheep of the group. I'm not looking at dancing or music or singing or any of the traditional cultural aspects. The more I've read about Samoa and the more Samoan novels I've read the more I'm glad that I picked the topic I did. We've gone in and "Westernized" many countries with very little regard for the implications. Yes, electricity is great and I dont think anyone who has ever used it would willing part with it, but how do you find a balance. These small islands do not have the same facilities that we do to deal with waste. And its more than just an issue of how things look...they live off of the land. The water supplies them with food. Polluting or destroying either means destroying their means of support. There are many things that we take for granted living in the United States. We have so many resources that people in other parts of the world do not have.

After classes several of us took a bus up to Manoa Falls. From the trail head to the waterfall is about a 3/4 mile hike. Absolutely beautiful. I have pictures, but again- no way to unload them at the moment. Hopefully next week... The hike was beautiful. It is so green and lush. Before setting out we'd planned to jump in when we got to the top but halfway up some Australians informed us that "It's nothing but a trickle and there are parasites in the water." So much for the swimming idea. And trickle? Surely they meant that it just wasnt gushing. Fifteen minutes later we were standing next to a small pool of water surrounded by rocks and looking up at well- a trickle. I guess they were right after all.

I realized I haven't said much about the rest of the group. There are a total of twelve of us- eight girls and four boys. Suprisingly enough most of us are seniors. Everyone comes from a different school and from different parts of the country. There are so many different experiences that I think it'll be a very good group. I hope so because apparently the past year was a rather rocky one for SIT Samoa and they managed to damage the program reputation a little bit. I think Jackie, our Academic Director, is hoping that we will be quite the opposite. Oh, and let me just add, the boys are awesome. So far they have cooked dinner for us twice. I could get used to that. :)