Samoan Runs

Today one of the cutest things happened to me while I was out on my run. Its usually hotter than hot when I run and about five minutes into my run I have already have sweat dripping down from me. Dana always goes on a run too and we usually go around the same time. I see Dana running and just laughing and I was like what are you looking at and she points behind her. Sure enough a little trail of Samoan kids are running behind her. These sweet little kids have sweat just dripping from them. Soon enough I had my little trail of kids behind me. I love having them run with me but they also motivate me because sometimes they can run faster than me.

I got home from my run and some of my students were yelling my name. They were all crowded around my house. I had like 15 kids outside my house. The sweet kids brought us free papaya. I had told them I really wanted some and they brought the girls and I some papaya. The fruit was so good and it was so cute. For the rest of the night we had little faces peeking in our windows.

One of the teachers invited us to come play volleyball at the local church. We decided to head out and see them play volleyball. We headed to the courts and started playing. I am not even kidding like the half the village comes out and plays volleyball. The little kids sit on the sidelines and cheer for everyone. All the older kids play volleyball. They play music on the speakers and everyone is singing and dancing. My students were at the game just watching from the sides and the next day at school I heard all about it. One of them asked if I was in the Olympics. Another goes teacher you can block I can’t believe it.

Our first week of school is coming to close. I am glad to say that the first week is over but it flew by. I have a feeling this whole year is going to go by so fast. I have a feeling the kids are not going to like me so much next week. Next week we are actually diving into work and starting to do important things in class. One thing I have really noticed about these kids is they love music and dancing. They are always singing in dancing throughout the school day. It keeps my day very entertaining but they keep asking me to join them. I have a feeling they would all just laugh at me.

With Love,

Abby

A Samoan Rainfall

Today we were all excited because we had intentions of heading to the main island and getting wifi, hot showers, and to see friends! Our big plans for our big weekend soon came to an end. We went outside and it was windy and the waves were huge. We saw that all the boats were still anchored which meant the boat was not running. We were a little bummed out so we all watched a movie to feel a little better. While watching a movie we heard a knock on the door. I went to the door and our cook was they’re holding a papaya. We got another fresh one! I was so excited to have one.

We decided to go on hike for a little bit and explore part of the island that we had never seen yet. By some miracle we did not have the little kids following us. We found a little beach and sat and watched the waves roll in for while. We headed back toward our house when our little group of kids spotted us. We followed them and they were showing us how to skip rocks on the ocean. It was fun just watching them play and enjoy being around us.

We went inside made some dinner and relaxed for a while. After a little bit Virginia and I headed to our secretary’s house to get some wifi. I wanted to face time Lexi since I knew that she was having her birthday party today! This also meant I would get a chance to see most of my family. I also got a chance to face time some coworkers from this summer. I didn’t realize how much I had missed everyone until I got the chance to talk to them all. It was so nice just chatting and laughing with everyone. It makes me so excited for the chance when I get to see everyone in person again!

After spending the afternoon talking to friends and family I decided to go outside and explore again. The second we walked outside the kids spotted us and were waving from the rocks next to the ocean. For once we were curious as to what they were doing. So we walked out and found what they were looking at. There were two guys out scuba diving and the kids were just watching them. The kids soon jumped in the water. I seriously just love watching the kids play in the water. They are giggling and having the time of their life. They also give us heart attacks because they have no fear and do some crazy things. As we were watching we got soaked by the rain. The kids hid under rocks but we were too tall and just got soaked. We watched the scuba divers come in and saw that they had something. We went over to talk to them and they had a sea clam. I had never seen one before but it looked so cool. The kids surrounded us as we watched him cut the sea clam open. The kids were huddled so close to us because it started raining and they were all cold from the rain in the wind. The guy who was cutting up the sea clam gave us some of the meat and it was really good. He was talking about all the cool things to do on the island and told us we should go with him. We also found out he has Kayaks, and surfboards that we can use! Score! We are finally meeting the people and getting to try so many cool things.

We decided to head home for the night. After saying goodbye to all the kids we went home and changed into some dry clothes. As we started preparing supper two girls came over. They had heard that we liked papaya and brought us one. These people are so giving here and I love it. I love that I have a fridge full of fresh fruit because they know that we like it. I am really starting to fall in love with this island and all the sweet people that live on it.

With Love,

Abby