Valentines Day and mini hurricane

Valentines day used to be one of my favorite days when I was growing up. I loved the fact of going to school and getting candy from my fellow classmates and giving candy to all my friends. In Samoa they do things a little differently. I honestly had no idea what to expect with this holiday. I had gotten candy for all my students and brought a movie so we could have a little celebration. My students loved the candy and I had gotten cute little handmade valentines from other students. I love getting handmade work from students. I also keep them and put them in a binder so I can look back on them. My students devoured the candy and loved the movie. That is about the extent of the celebrating we did for the holiday. Valentines Day was also Virginia’s birthday so we were also celebrating her 23^rd birthday. We made a big cake and then Lusi and Joe did the cinnamon challenge. This challenge is that you cannot eat a spoonful of cinnamon. Safe to say they both failed miserably at the challenge and were leaning over the sink for a while and the three of us were sitting in the chairs laughing at them.

On Friday we had the Valentine’s dance at the Mormon Church. At the dances they start off the night by having a big potluck. We had so much food sitting in front us during the meal. I have to say I have never gone hungry since arriving on the island. After eating our weight in food they called up everyone who had a valentine to come to the middle of the dance floor. I was casually sitting next to Dana when Lusi came over to me and said let’s go. After giving him the death glare because I knew my students would freak out when we went in and joined the heart circle that had been created by the locals. A small murmur went across the crowd as we got up safe to say I am going to hear all about this on Tuesday when I get to class.

Late Saturday night into early Sunday morning was the start of what Dana and I are calling the mini hurricane. Throughout the night we could just hear huge gusts of winds going on outside. These gusts of winds have continued until now which is Sunday night. Our rule of thumb is if we don’t here them constantly ringing the bells we are still safe.  Apparently they are supposed to last until Tuesday sometime. All day on Sunday Dana and I have been running in and out of the house looking at the crazy wind gusts. Lusi came over for lunch bringing us fried chicken and Samoan food. We all had went outside to look at the damage that had happened so far. I was busy recording and not paying attention to where I was walking when I stepped into something squishy. Little did I know that I had just stepped in dog poop. After I had screamed a little bit I heard Dana and Lusi just dying of laughter. I don’t think that I had laughed that hard in so long. It is now Sunday evening and the wind has gotten a little worse. The locals are walking around boarding up all the windows. Whenever it gets really windy we all run to our screened in porch to look out side. One time we were standing in the porch and we could hear tin coming off our roof, the power went out and Lusi was yelling at us to go into the house. For once I was actually wishing we had a basement here to go to. I am so used to having a basement I didn’t know where to go.

With Love,

Abby

Mid-Service already?!

Yet another week of school has passed already. The weeks here seem to be flying by and the end of the school year seems to be getting closer and closer. This week we also had our mid-service meetings with world teach. For this we spent a weekend together with all the volunteers discussing things we need to complete before hopping on the plane to go home. We also got the opportunity to talk to other volunteers about the struggles of being a teacher in Samoa when you are not Samoan. It was relieving to talk to them and know that all of us our going through the same thing just we have different schools.

Along with the meetings we also got treated this weekend. We got to spend one night at Tradewinds hotel on the main island. This is like the Hilton of the island. It has nice rooms, air conditioning and hot showers. These are all big things for us and we all laid in our rooms and just enjoyed sitting in the cold but we all also froze. I slept in long sleeve and leggings and multiple blankets. It will be quite an adjustment when we get back home and not being in the heat all the time.

School has been good lately the closer I get to the end of the school I try to spend more and more time with my students because deep down I know I am running out of time with them. I also know that saying goodbye to them may be one of the hardest things that I will have to do. My big project of the week is to revamp my classroom. I really don’t like the decorations in my classroom but I also don’t really have a choice due to the fact that we have limited supplies. So I have been trying to get as a creative as possible with redecorating. Slowly but surely I am making some progress it may take me until the end of the year to get it to look like I want but we are getting there. I also created a learning center this week. It’s an area my students can go to when they complete assignments. So far this has helped so much with classroom management. I have a stress relief coloring book that I brought in for them and they love it and are always fighting over who gets to color in it.

My life here is always an adventure and this week was yet another experience for me. I was on my lunch break and multiple students were gathered around this box and eating something. I was curious as to what they were eating so I went over there to see what was going on. They were eating seaweed yes, you heard me correctly they were eating seaweed. I tried a piece it looks like tiny little ball filled with water. It actually was pretty good. It tasted salty but it was really good. If they have it again I will take a picture and show you guys. I also tried sushi. I never thought that I would be a person to try sushi and I really liked it. Yeah, I am even surprised to say that I liked it. I tried some raw tuna it was a little spicy but otherwise it was really good!

With Love,

Abby

Island Life

After exploring the main island for the first couple of days it was time to head to my small little island with my parents. I was so excited to show them the island and to let them see what it was like. We took an hour-long car ride over to the island. I was a little nervous putting them on the boat but they really enjoyed the boat ride. It was fun watching their reactions to how the blue the water was and how close I actually lived to the ocean. We got them settled into the house and headed out to the local volleyball games for the night. My parents got the opportunity to meet some of my students and see what we do at night for fun.

Some of the highlights of their time on the island were going to school on Friday. I had told my students that I would be bringing my parents into the classroom so that they would get the opportunity to meet them and talk to them. I had them create interview questions to ask my parents and incorporated my parents into one of my classes. When my parents arrived at school the kids were so excited to see them and interact with them. They had created homemade Samoan lei’s for my parents to wear. They had went into the mountain and picked fresh flowers for them. They also brought in coconuts for my parents so they could drink some coconut water. My students opened the coconuts for my parents so they could drink it. My students also performed Samoan songs and dances to teach them about the culture. My parents brought presents for my students and they absolutely loved them. They all got their own cross necklace to wear around. I am now constantly seeing them wearing the necklaces and it reminds me of my parents. After the day at school we went to volleyball again at night. My dad decided to hop into a volleyball game. It was fun seeing him play the game and just interacting with the locals.

On Saturday we took my parents for a hike throughout the island. Lusi came along with us and was the official tour guide for our hike. We went and looked at quick sand lake and one of the most beautiful places I think on the island. It is almost like blowholes on the island. Dana and I may have gotten eaten alive by mosquitos but I wouldn’t trade that day for anything. It was fun just watching my parents reactions to all the different things on the island. We also had to take a picture of each and every flower on the island so mom and I were always behind everyone. After the two hour hike around the island it was time to go swimming. We were all sweaty and tired from the long hike that it was time to head to the water and cool off for the day. The rest of the night we just chilled outside enjoying the nice weather outside.

On Sunday they got their first experience of a Samoan church service. One thing you have to know about going to church out here is that it is hot inside the church. I had bought my parents fans before the church service to avoid them getting too hot. Even though they could only understand parts of the sermon they loved listening to the choir sing. I am telling people out here really know how to sing. After church Lusi brought over fried chicken and Taro for my parents to try. I think they really enjoyed the food because I have never seen my mom eat so much chicken. After we ate we headed over to Lusi’s to watch the super bowl game. We don’t have a T.V. at our house so he offered to have us over so we can watch the game. It actually felt like a Sunday for once because we were watching football and just relaxing all afternoon long.

On Monday morning we spent the morning at the beach one last time before my parents headed home. It was so fun just sitting in the water and soaking up the sun with my parents. My mom and I may have fell a few times due to the waves and my arms may be filled with scratches. We also both had so much sand in our pants that it wasn’t even funny. Dad laid in hammock and overlooked us two playing in the water. He more or less laughed at us and was thinking what the heck are these two doing. Once we finished swimming in the water the dreaded goodbye was here. Multiple kids came to the wharf to say goodbye and told them how much they are going to miss them. It was so hard saying goodbye to them all over again but at least this time it wont be nearly as long.

With Love,

Abby

National Parks and more

It is still weird to me that my parents are on the island and getting to experience everything that I go through. I am trying to squeeze in as much as possible so that they will be able to see as much of the island. I also am trying to get a bunch of errands done because I have had the convenience of having a car these last couple of days. Bringing the car back to the rental place will be quite a sad moment because I didn’t realize how much I missed actually having a car and being able to go wherever I want. On our second day of exploring the main island we decided to stop by the National Park Center to get some more maps and figure out the most scenic routes to take on the island.

            We also made a quick stop at the fabric store because I really wanted to get another pulitasi made before I went back to my small island. It is a traditional Samoan outfit that almost all the girls on the island wear. I only had one of them and I really wanted to make another one. So we headed to the fabric store to get fabric for this outfit. All you have to do is pick out the fabric you like and then bring it to a sewing shop and they will design it any way that you want. I told the lady what I was thinking and she drew up the design right as I was telling her. The next day she had the whole outfit completed for me!

            After heading to the sewing shop we decided to head to the National Park to drive around. The roads to the National Park were quite steep but the views that we saw were amazing. I could not get over how beautiful the island was. It was also fun to see my parents reactions to all the sights around the island. This was the first time that they had been to a tropical rainforest! They were also amazed by how clear the water was here. I am telling you nothing compares to the blue of this ocean it is absolutely stunning! I am just so happy they got the opportunity to show them it all. We just drove around the island listening to music and listening to my dads commentary of the locals from the back seat of the car.

            We spent most of the day driving and then we headed back to the hotel to go enjoy the beach for a little while. Dad and I went to a place to rent out paddle boards for the afternoon. My dad had never gone paddle boarding and really wanted to try it out. So we rented the boards out for an hour. I have gone paddle boarding in multiple lakes but nothing compares to paddle boarding in the ocean! It was so awesome the water was so clear so you could see the coral and all kinds of fish swimming beneath you. I remember looking behind me at one point and seeing my dad fall off the board into the water! We decided to head over to the beach where mom was reading and I told her to come join me on the board. At work this summer we would put two of us on the board all of the time. So I just told her to trust me and sit at the front of the board and not move around too much. I took her all around the coral and fish so she could see it since she cant snorkel because of her glasses! It was quite the experience seeing her on the paddleboard.

            Once we finished at the beach we showered up and went to supper at a restruant at the hotel. We all got some type of fish and it was so good! The fish here is so good. I normally do not like fish at all but this fish was so good! Fresh fish is seriously the best. After our meal I think that we were all tired and we all fell asleep early that night!

            With Love,

            Abby

Mom and Dad are here!!

Sorry but I have been failing at blogging lately. School has been crazy busy lately and I just haven’t had time do it! We just finished up with conferences and all of that so it should be better now! Well after a long five months I finally got reunited with my parents last night. The amount of excitement I had when I watched the plane touch down was insane. It also seemed like it took ten years from when the plane landed to when they actually came out of security. It was one of the moments where you were so excited about something and it just took forever for it to actually happen. I literally saw my parents walking through the door and ran for them. I know you are not supposed to do that buuuut I hadn’t seen them in five months and I could no longer hold the excitement. After a somewhat tearful hug with my mother we were headed for our hotel. The hotel that I had booked for us is right on the ocean it has a beach, pool, hot showers, and internet! All real exciting things for me.

Today was the first day that we got to really experience the island with them. After waking up we went to small café that I had been to a couple of times. I have always really enjoyed the food there and it was equally as good when I went there this morning. After breakfast we got the rental car for the day and that’s when the true adventure had began. We got the car and I really wanted to see this one bay where it is supposed to have really good snorkeling. Well we get on this “road” more like dirt bumpy path and I kept reassuring my parents that we were going in the right direction. Well after driving on this road for a while we come across this looked gate to the entrance of the park. I was really confused and there was a house right next door to the gate and you could walk on the lawn to get past the gate. So I was talking to her and to say the least she was not the most pleasant lady I had ever talked to. She was telling me that if I wanted to go to the park I would have to pay her five dollars to walk on her land to get to the park.  She said it in a very rude tone and I was getting really irritated in the way that she was treating us. So we decided to not pay the five dollars and just skip on the bay. On our back to the main road it started to rain. It rains here all the time but low and behold our windshield wipers were not working. So we are driving in the car with no windshield wipers in the middle of back roads in Samoa and I literally have no idea where we are at. Slowly the rain starts to let up and we decided to keep driving around the island. It was so cool to see all the different sights on the island. We also traveled to turtle and shark point on the island. It is said that if you bring a local they will sing a song and a turtle and shark will appear swimming in the water together. They say it happens every time they sing songs. After a day of traveling around the island we stopped to get pizza and milkshakes. This is a good day in my book! I never get pizza and milkshakes in the same day!

With Love,

Abby