Day two in Samoa

Day two in Samoa. Once again I’m typing this up in Word not sure when the internet will work and I’ll be able to upload. I feel like this will be a long semester at least in terms of internet connectivity. I want to be able to check my email but I also know that it’s probably a good thing because if I had a good connection I might be tempted to talk to some people who I really shouldn’t be at this point in time. How I react to that will be interesting. There is such a wide range of emotions there for me. But you probably don’t want to know about that so on to the interesting stuff.

What did I do today? Once again the day began with a brief check-in. We went over what would be required of us this semester in terms of written assignments and oral presentations. It is actually quite a bit. We will be covering a lot of material.

The next two hours were devoted to more language study. I’m going to be honest. After an hour and a half my brain was just not working anymore. I think I’d reached saturation level in terms of classroom instruction. What I need now is to go back to my room and just memorize the vocabulary. It’s hard for me to learn new words under that kind of pressure.

After lunch we went on our second Samoan drop-off. The one was a little different though. We were taken to the market place in Apia and told to take a bus out, ride it for thirty to forty-five minutes, get off and spend an hour in whatever village we happened to be in, and then find our way back to USP. Very broad instructions, and just a little intimidating when you realize that we’ve only been here for a day and a half. Part of our job was to compare and contrast villages further from Apia with those that are closer. I decided before we even got on the bus that I was going to avoid talking to men and just stick with girls. I didn’t want to end up in another awkward situation.

I got on the bus and started talking to a girl named Kareti. She was in her senior year of high school and spoke very good English. I told her that I was here studying and trying to learn Samoan. When we got to her village she got off with me and started taking me around to introduce me to the other families in the village. We ran into one of the other guys on the program (Niko) and he joined us. It was really quite amazing. It’s a little hard to describe what the villages are like but I’ll try. I don’t want to take pictures at this time because I feel like that would make me too much of a tourist and I’m trying to learn about and understand the culture. I will before I leave, but only once I’ve gotten to know some of the people.

Everyone in the village lives in a fale. These are completely open structures built about two feet off the ground. Behind the house is the kitchen and other work structures. Aside from the kitchen most of them are built off the ground as well- probably to get more of a breeze. Since the cooking is done on the ground the kitchen is the one building that is level. Many of the families we visited were resting or relaxing. Walking through the last thing you would expect to find is a TV and stereo system but they’re there. It presents quite a sharp contrast. As one of the other girls said, you walk in and they’re watching music videos. That’s the impression they have of the United States. It’s a little sad. Some of the other families were cooking. In Samoa the women cook the soup and the men cook most of the rest of the meal so we saw boys preparing bananas and coconuts. The one woman we saw cooking was roasting Samoan cocoa.

Kareti was absolutely invaluable. As we went from house to house meeting people she would sit behind me and tell me what to say in Samoan. Sometimes I would say something completely wrong and everyone would start laughing. I have no idea what I was saying at those moments but it made me realize just how little I know of the language and how much further I have to go. It’s very hard to hold a conversation or get to know someone when you only know five phrases. Almost everyone asked when were coming back to the village and invited us back to their houses when we did come back. Kareti will be meeting us on Saturday to hang out with us some more. After a couple hours we caught the bus back to Apia and then finally back to USP.

I guess now just some observations on the day in general. The people are incredibly friendly and welcoming. They live a simple life with no pretense. Clothes and money mean nothing. I would feel so out of place if I were wearing makeup or dressed in designer clothes. In some ways I felt very comfortable because I did not have to worry about what I was wearing or how I looked. The concept of family is also very different. It can include aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, grandparents. Twenty people can live together in the same household. Kareti is the eighth of eleven. One of her older sisters has died and some of her older brothers are abroad in New Zealand and Australia. Even though she would like to go and have a better future she said that she has to take care of her parents since her dad is sick. The way they deal with death is also very different. Family members are buried in the front yard.

I think this semester will really force me to stop and think about what’s important. I’m not saying that this way of life is perfect, but there is much to be learned from them.

Oh and on another random note- the scenery here is very pretty. Solosolo has a black sand beach. It’s the first one I’ve ever seen. I almost feel like I’m stepping into a storybook. Lush green foliage, deep blue seas. It is a tropical island, but it is also a very poor island and the hardships many Samoans face are just are real as the natural beauty by which they are surrounded.