Back to the Island Life

After months of waiting to see if I would get offered the position of being a contract teacher on Aunu’u I finally got the news in August. Two weeks after receiving the news I was on a plane on my way to American Samoa. Spending two months home with family and friends was amazing and I truly enjoyed every moment of being around the people I love. I was also excited to get back to the island and see all people and start teaching again. I was super excited for the school year to start because I felt so much more prepared for this year than I was for last year.

            When I arrived on island I stayed at a hotel for a little over a week. Staying in the hotel was nice but I was itching to get back to the island. During my week stay on the main island I was busy getting all the paperwork completed for my contract. Getting paperwork completed here takes forever compared to the states. Slowly but surely I am starting to get it all completed. It only took a month and a half. I also made my first big girl purchase and bought a car. To make my life a little easier over the next two years I figured this would be a smart choice. My car is nice and I love having the ability to go off island whenever I want.

            Another big hurdle I had to tackle upon arriving on the island was finding a house. I was unable to stay at the house I was at last year because the new WorldTeachers were going to be housed in that house. So my principal and I were house hunting once I had gotten back. We finally found a house that was located in the “mountain”. The mountains on this island are not nearly as big as the ones on the main island. My house is located after the taro plantation. All the other locals live in front of the plantation. The plantation is about the size of a small field and it has a cement pathway through the middle of it. Which leads you to my house. I enjoy the small walk it talks because it’s very peaceful and reminds me of living in the country. The plantation at night is FULL of frogs. You are literally dodging frogs the whole time you are walking through. Luckily I am not scared of frogs but I always feel bad because Lusi is super scared of frogs.  The locals were a little bit concerned about me being placed here due to the location. At night if I am walking up towards my house usually people will walk up just to make sure I arrive safely. I told them it would be fine because I am used to living in the country. It took me three weeks of being here before I was able to move in. The house is a perfect size for me and contains everything I need.

            I was fortunate enough to get three new girl volunteers with me on island. I got the chance to really get to know them the first couple of weeks I was here. I ended up sleeping on their couch since my house wasn’t quite ready. It was nice being able to help them figure out the island and teach them about the culture of the island. It’s also nice to have them to hang out and chat with them after school. Most days I end going to their house after school to hang out with them.

            I was more than excited for school to finally start so I could finally get into routine again. This year I am teaching level five and I really enjoy teaching this grade. My students are great and I feel more comfortable in this grade level. Our school year has been off to a great start and cant wait to see what happens throughout the rest of the year.

            I also have the goal of trying to learn Samoan before the end of the school year. I am definitely getting better at understanding the language but speaking it has been a process. I am just really scared that I am going to mispronounce something. So at night Lusi is always helping me learn some new words. I really want to learn it so that I hang at with locals and I can understand what they are talking about. It also helps me with teaching also because sometimes I get frustrated when my students don’t understand what I am saying but I can guarantee if someone was teaching me in Samoan language I would have no idea what is going on. So this year I try to find the Samoan meaning of words to help my students. This also helps me learn the language. Win/win for me! I spend most of my Sundays searching through the dictionary looking up words for the next week but if it helps my students I don’t care!

With Love,

Abby