Counting down the days

I will admit it. I am counting. Yes I love being here and I know that I will miss it once I get back home, but I also just cant wait to see my family and friends. Tonight I had dinner with my first Samoan family. I'm glad that I had a chance to see them again. It's hard to believe that its already been three months since I was last at their house. Monday nights are always family nights- something I did not know until it had actually started. Before dinner the entire family- about 20 total including all the young children who live with them while they are in school- sat in the main fale, prayed and sang, and then began the talent portion of the evening. Apparently every Monday of the month is different- lesson, talent, service, and games. Everyone, from the 2 year old to the mother/grandmother got up and had to do something: a song, a dance, a poem, a story. I did my Samoan dance while everyone sang. It was really quite nice. We ate dinner and then I had to come back to campus to start working on my presentation.

I turned in my paper today. It was quite a fiasco trying to get it printed. Jackie wanted double-sided but after an hour of wandering around town I gave up and did it single. I'm glad its done. My goal is to finish the power point tonight so that tomorrow I can hang out with the group that presents tomorrow. My presentation is the very last one on Wednesday...ick. I feel like this week is going to fly by so quickly.

I should probably say something about Manono before too much time passes. The 24 hours that I spent there were very relaxing, restful, and definitely what I needed to take my mind off of the stress that was surrounding me with the paper's deadline looming over everyone. I spent most of the time reading or sleeping in the little cabin. I think I would have enjoyed it much more if I'd had more time or if I'd gone with someone else. As it was, it was a little wierd being pretty much the only girl around the place and feeling like a tourist for the first time in a very long time instead of a guest/family. I walked around the island- it took two hours. No cars, no dogs. Snorkeling was also nice, mainly because it involved going out in a boat to the reef. In terms of the actual underwater scene, Palolo Deep was so much more spectacular. All things told, I'm glad I went but Apolima was about ten times more awesome. :)