Final post

I'm back at Rice and beginning my final semester of undergraduate studies, so this will probably be my last post in this blog. Maybe if I feel inspired I'll start another one at some point in this semester. This however will remain as a personal reminder of my semester in Samoa.

Being back has been so much easier than I thought. I do miss some things and many of the people from Samoa, but it is good to be home. I miss the friends I made and the extreme welcomness and friendliness of Samoans as a whole. I miss snorkeling in Palolo Deep. I miss the laid back pace of life.

Over Christmas break, and now being back at school I have had the opportunity to think about what my trip meant to me and how it has changed me. Maybe some of you disagree, but here are my thoughts. Studying and living abroad is like stepping through a door into a whole new world that you never knew existed. Coming back, you cannot just close the door and forget about it. It has become a part of who you are, and I know that it will forever shape who I am in the future. I have become more self-confident and willing to take risks. Not knowing anyone else really forces you to think about who you are and how you define yourself. I have no idea what the future holds for me, but I am no longer afraid of it.

Being in a developing country made me realize how much I take for granted and how much wastefulness goes on around me. It's not so much about becoming a green-fanatic as it is about realizing that we are stewards of God's creation and must treat it with proper care.

Finally, I have come to realize more than ever that God has a reason for everything. I had my own plans when I went abroad, but what happened while I was abroad is exactly what I needed at this point in my life.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to read this blog. If you haven't already I hope that one day you are able to experience living in a foreign country, even if it's only for a short time.

God bless.

Pictures

I've started adding more pictures now that I'm back home.

Hawaii

After spending four very relaxing days in Hawaii I am now officially back in Texas. It's so good to be back, but I still haven't seen most of my family. At first I wasnt looking forward to being in Hawaii, but it turned out to be a very nice break between Samoa and home. I did a little bit of shopping, rode around the island on the busses, went to the beach, watched some surfing, and basically just chilled. It was wonderful, although a tad bit cold.

I came back to Houston on Saturday and have been staying with my sister at Rice until she finishes her finals on Tuesday. It worked out perfectly because this way I've gotten to say hi to all my friends back here before they leave for the holidays. Next semester is going to be so awesome. I've decided however that I really prefer just hanging around with no work, so I think that maybe I should just crash on campus next semester and not take any classes. That would be a lot of fun. However, I dont think my parents would be amused. What a shame!

As for culture shock- there hasnt been much. Wandering Ala Moana mall on Tuesday I kept wanting to speak Samoan, and it took me a little while to realize that I could actually call people on their cell phones, but mainly I'm just glad to be back. Yes it was a wonderful experience, but I'm not ready to give up everything here to move back and live on a tropical island. I realized that I'm not quite who I thought I was. Then again, I suppose that's part of what studying abroad is really about- discovering yourself. Hopefully I managed to do that. I think I have.

Coming home

Last night was our farewell dinner as we leave tomorrow afternoon. One of the boys left this morning. I can't believe how quickly time has flown. We spent the night at on a small private island Friday night, and I went back to Palolo Deep yesterday with a visiting SIT student. I'm so glad we went because I hadnt seen the giant clams the first time and they were gorgeous. I'm on borrowed internet time at the moment so I cant say much more, but I will be seeing everyone very soon. I have four days in Honolulu due to the flight change so I wont be home as early as I thought, but by this time tomorrow I will be in route. Love you all!

Presentations

Yesterday and today were our final presentations. I wasn't really looking forward to them, but I was very pleasantly surprised. They were all really well done and very interesting. I didn't feel the need to keep looking at my watch the whole time. For better or worse I drew the last time slot. I hadn't realized how nervous and just generally feeling stressed I was until it was over and it was like this huge wave of relief. I'm done!!!! Well, almost. We still have to fill out a few evaluations and write up a one page paper, but that shouldnt take more than thirty minuetes max. Tomorrow we are going to Lotofaga to say good-bye to our home-stay families. Friday is our free day and I'm planning to head up to the Robert Louis Stevenson museum. Saturday we have our final program evaluation and good-bye dinner, and then Sunday evening we get on a plane to head home. Somewhere between now and then I have to pack, which will involve sorting through the mess that is currently my desk, chair, and floor. I'm normally not this messy and disorganized, but with all the craziness thats been going on lately I just havent had a chance to put stuff away. I think I'm going to end up leaving a lot of the stuff I brought with me here- especially the clothes because they've just become stretched from all the hand washing. Plus, there are some stains that are just not ever going to come out. It's really amazing how dirty things become here.

I know I haven't posted pictures in a while. I'll probably go back and add them once I get home, but I'll be honest. I'm feeling a little lazy and just a tad bit burnt out right now. The semester's been incredible but intense. Anyways, I probably should get going...we're planning on going out tonight to celebrate being done. :)

Big day

Happy Birthday Robert! I don't think its quite midnight in Texas, but by the time anyone sees this it should be your birthday. I can't to see you and everyone else. I'll be home in one week. I finished my paper last night and will be doing my presentation tomorrow. After that we just have a few more things to do.

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. :)

Back

I'm back from Manono, but not feeling all that well so I'll have to tell you more about that later. :)

*yawn*

It's almost midnight and I should be in bed but my mind does not want to let my body sleep. I dont really feel stressed but I think that on some level I must be. Last night Michaela, Heather, and I went out for dinner to get away from things for a little bit. It ended up being really nice, and when we got back we sat around in our common room and talked until 2am. Afterwards, instead of going to bed, I stayed up until almost 3:30 working on my paper. I finally crashed only to wake up at 5:30 unable to go back to sleep. I sat on my bed and wrote for the next four hours, knocking out the second half of my paper. I was honestly quite proud of myself. I've spent the past few days staring at a blank screen in the computer lab unable to get motivated so this morning's sudden burst of productivity was quite nice. I am now done with my rough draft and am only missing my bibliography. Tomorrow morning I plan to wake up early and head to Manono for about 24 hours. Hopefully the weather will be nice and I'll be able to hike around the island and do a little snorkeling. Heather and Niko might join me later in the day which would be really nice as it would mean that I wouldnt have to spent the night by myself. Not that I would mind, but company is always fun. When I get back Sunday the plan is to take a second look at my paper and begin work on my presentation. It's hard to believe that my time here is fast drawing to a close. At this point there is barely a week left. I won't lie- I am starting to get excited about going home. :)

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.