Patamea, January 17, 2013
BANG!
The enormous clap of thunder startled me awake. I had just fallen back to sleep after being awoken by strong winds and torrential rain when the lightning struck. It must have hit a tree right outside my house or some other nearby structure because the volume of the thunder was unlike anything I’d ever heard before. The flash of light and the roar occurred at the exact same time, evidencing the proximity of the bolt. It echoed through the valley for a few seconds but it echoed in my head for much longer as my heart raced. I wasn’t able to go back to sleep for about half an hour while I tried to calm myself down after the close call.
This was last night. I’m now sitting in the main room of my house at the folding table I use as a desk listening to the next wave of rain march into the valley. The rain hasn’t been constant the last two weeks. Rather, it comes in waves. It’ll rain for anywhere from a couple minutes to a few hours then stop for a similar range of time only to start right back up again. I’m told it’s the rainy season and they certainly don’t call it that for nothing. It has rained so much in the last couple of weeks that my front yard has turned into a swamp and the dry riverbed running parallel to the village is now a rushing white-water river.
Having lived in the Pacific Northwest for nearly a decade one might expect me to be used to relentless rain showers for days on end. However, as anyone who has ever called the Oregon or Washington home for any length of time can tell you, the rain there feels more like a prankster hovering over you wetting you with spray bottle. It’s a weak but constant rain there. Not like in Samoa. Here, the rain falls like it does in the Midwest, in sheets, with strong winds and the occasional flash of lightning and rumble (or BOOM!) of thunder. It’s almost deafening sometimes. More than once, I’ve had to ask someone to repeat themselves (and not just because I didn’t understand what they said).
Another interesting thing about the rain in Samoa is the effect it has on all aspects of life. This morning I went to go brush my teeth only to find the water was off. We were warned that this could happen but this was the first time I’ve experienced it. I’m not sure of the mechanics behind why the water shuts off but it will surely come back on relatively soon. Also, my phone has been telling me that I’m apparently not allowed to make personal calls. “Emergency call only!” it exclaims across the top of the main screen. It has allowed me to get plenty of reading done. I’m currently reading Carl Sagan’s Contact. I haven’t seen the movie for years but I remember being disappointed with it. The book, on the other hand, is better by leaps and bounds as is so often the case. I just finished The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. It was entertaining. Reading the reviews online is almost equally entertaining with a stark contrast between those who loved it and those who would rather eat rotten eggs than ever even hear the name of the book again.
The rain continues outside my window. I think I’ll go read some more.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Family Reunion, December, 29
Patamea, December 30, 2012
Yesterday, my host family had a reunion. My extended host family live in the fales around my host family and there were people in town from American Samoa, New Zealand, and Australia, as well as the family from Apia who were staying with us. They day started with some chatting in one of the fales. I was allowed/invited to sit in on the conversation with the elders of the family. Someone my age in Samoa wouldn't be so freely allowed to do so as it's quite an honor.
Following the tafao (hanging out), we had a small prayer service with the pastor around the graves behind the fale. There was a new headstone for one of the graves which was also unveiled during the service. They said a lengthy prayer (as is the custom in Samoa with some prayers lasting 15-20 minutes. I've even heard of a single prayer that lasted upwards of 45 minutes) and sand a beautiful hymn in four-part harmony (another part of Samoan culture--everyone has a part of the harmony depending on gender and age).
They prayer service was interesting to me because, while the adults were all standing in reverence, the children, teenagers, and young adults were all sitting on or even lounging on the graves next to the one that had been unveiled. Some were taking videos or pictures. Though I had my camera, I felt it would be rude to use it. Cultural differences, I guess.
The service ended and we all made our way slowly to the front of the house. Along the way I started a conversation with a young man visiting from Australia. He was in his early twenties and was ethnically Samoan but this was his first time visiting Samoa. He was planning to be around until February. I continued to chat with him and two other young visitors from Australia. We sat in the kitchen and drank water from the refrigerator since it was quite hot out. We ended up chatting a bit too long and almost missed the beginning of the next part of the reunion.
The entire family crossed the road to another aunt and uncle's house for an ava ceremony and lunch. The ava ceremony was a part of the reunion I could only watch from a distance. It is a traditional and formal ceremony to welcome traveling parties. The matai (titled men and women) go through a somewhat standard or ritual conversation and then, one by one, they drink a cup of ava. Before drinking they pour a bit on the ground as an offering to god. The ceremony varies in length depending on what exactly they say and how long they take to say it but it is normally (in my experience) no less than 30 minutes and often substantially longer. Once theirs was over it was time for lunch.
While the ava ceremony was happening the untitled men and women (mostly the women) prepared the food. Actually, all of the food had been prepared that morning or the night before. During the ava ceremony, the used a work-line to put the food into enough Styrofoam to-go containers for everyone to have their own. The amount of food was shocking. Well, it would have been shocking if I hadn't been in the country for nearly three months at that point and already witnessed the amount of food that Samoans typically present at special occasions. There was chicken, pork, sausage, curry, taro, rice, and plenty more. I wasn't able to finish mine which meant more food for others.
Once the lunch was over the time for dancing began. In Samoa, this normally means a small group of people getting up in front of everyone else to dance (read: make a fool of themselves). This is also normally associated with giving money as that small group dances. This money was used to buy treats for late on in the evening. I was invited to dance with the first group (as well as nearly every other group). After a while, I began to have trouble remembering that it was for fun and to include me as well as give me a chance to integrate a bit with the family. Instead, I was getting frustrated by being asked to dance so much. I felt like they were trying to put me on show. But, again, this was my own interpretation which actually prevented me from getting closer with my family.
After the dance, the adults had a long (three hours) meeting to discuss the time for the next reunion. Unfortunately, it's going to take place just days or weeks after my Peace Corps service is over in December of 2014.
Then it was time for a little malolo (rest). I went back to my fale and read and slept. After a couple of hours I went back to my host family's house where they informed me there would be another siva (dance) that night. The second siva started at 10:00pm and lasted about two hours. There was plenty of music and dancing, however, my forming insecurities and frustrations again got the better of me. I think it was just part of the emotional roller coaster that is culture shock. The dance ended with the entire family holding hands in a giant circle and singing--a truly beautiful and powerful experience. When it was over, I went to my fale for a long, strong rest.
Yesterday, my host family had a reunion. My extended host family live in the fales around my host family and there were people in town from American Samoa, New Zealand, and Australia, as well as the family from Apia who were staying with us. They day started with some chatting in one of the fales. I was allowed/invited to sit in on the conversation with the elders of the family. Someone my age in Samoa wouldn't be so freely allowed to do so as it's quite an honor.
Following the tafao (hanging out), we had a small prayer service with the pastor around the graves behind the fale. There was a new headstone for one of the graves which was also unveiled during the service. They said a lengthy prayer (as is the custom in Samoa with some prayers lasting 15-20 minutes. I've even heard of a single prayer that lasted upwards of 45 minutes) and sand a beautiful hymn in four-part harmony (another part of Samoan culture--everyone has a part of the harmony depending on gender and age).
They prayer service was interesting to me because, while the adults were all standing in reverence, the children, teenagers, and young adults were all sitting on or even lounging on the graves next to the one that had been unveiled. Some were taking videos or pictures. Though I had my camera, I felt it would be rude to use it. Cultural differences, I guess.
The service ended and we all made our way slowly to the front of the house. Along the way I started a conversation with a young man visiting from Australia. He was in his early twenties and was ethnically Samoan but this was his first time visiting Samoa. He was planning to be around until February. I continued to chat with him and two other young visitors from Australia. We sat in the kitchen and drank water from the refrigerator since it was quite hot out. We ended up chatting a bit too long and almost missed the beginning of the next part of the reunion.
The entire family crossed the road to another aunt and uncle's house for an ava ceremony and lunch. The ava ceremony was a part of the reunion I could only watch from a distance. It is a traditional and formal ceremony to welcome traveling parties. The matai (titled men and women) go through a somewhat standard or ritual conversation and then, one by one, they drink a cup of ava. Before drinking they pour a bit on the ground as an offering to god. The ceremony varies in length depending on what exactly they say and how long they take to say it but it is normally (in my experience) no less than 30 minutes and often substantially longer. Once theirs was over it was time for lunch.
While the ava ceremony was happening the untitled men and women (mostly the women) prepared the food. Actually, all of the food had been prepared that morning or the night before. During the ava ceremony, the used a work-line to put the food into enough Styrofoam to-go containers for everyone to have their own. The amount of food was shocking. Well, it would have been shocking if I hadn't been in the country for nearly three months at that point and already witnessed the amount of food that Samoans typically present at special occasions. There was chicken, pork, sausage, curry, taro, rice, and plenty more. I wasn't able to finish mine which meant more food for others.
Once the lunch was over the time for dancing began. In Samoa, this normally means a small group of people getting up in front of everyone else to dance (read: make a fool of themselves). This is also normally associated with giving money as that small group dances. This money was used to buy treats for late on in the evening. I was invited to dance with the first group (as well as nearly every other group). After a while, I began to have trouble remembering that it was for fun and to include me as well as give me a chance to integrate a bit with the family. Instead, I was getting frustrated by being asked to dance so much. I felt like they were trying to put me on show. But, again, this was my own interpretation which actually prevented me from getting closer with my family.
After the dance, the adults had a long (three hours) meeting to discuss the time for the next reunion. Unfortunately, it's going to take place just days or weeks after my Peace Corps service is over in December of 2014.
Then it was time for a little malolo (rest). I went back to my fale and read and slept. After a couple of hours I went back to my host family's house where they informed me there would be another siva (dance) that night. The second siva started at 10:00pm and lasted about two hours. There was plenty of music and dancing, however, my forming insecurities and frustrations again got the better of me. I think it was just part of the emotional roller coaster that is culture shock. The dance ended with the entire family holding hands in a giant circle and singing--a truly beautiful and powerful experience. When it was over, I went to my fale for a long, strong rest.
A quick tour of my home in the training village
Follow the link to the video on youtube. It's of my fale, my family's compound, and the compound of the extended family across the road:
http://youtu.be/r9xK7eOEFEY
http://youtu.be/r9xK7eOEFEY
Christmas
Patamea, January 10, 2013
I didn't have a chance to write about what i did for Christmas this year yet, so I wanted to let you know how I celebrated the season in Samoa. First of all, the season is actually the rainy, summer season and not the cold, quiet, and introspective winter season of the northern hemisphere. Here, the sun will shine most of the day, its intense rays broken only occasionally by clouds and sudden rainfall. Christmas Day was no different, sometimes hot and bright and at other times humid, damp, and overcast.
There were eleven family members from extended family who live in Apia visiting for the holidays. They decided to take a tour of the island of Savai'i and invited me along. We headed out at noon after a morning church service and packing the van for the trip. Our route took us north along the eastern side of the island. We first came to the lava fields of Saleaula. These fields are remnants of the eruption of a nearby volcano at the beginning of the twentieth century. The eruption and consequential lava flow destroyed the village which is now rebuilt on top of the hardened lava.
We didn't stop in Saleaula but rather drove straight through. In fact, we didn't really stop in any villages during our trip except to refuel both the car's gas tank as well as our stomachs. Village after village passed my view. I took pictures when possible--the windows of the van were not very conducive to photography. One stop we did make was to buy a few niu (young, green, drinking coconuts) from a little girl on the side of the road. Her clothes were brown and torn and nearly matched her skin tone. We payed for the niu (about $0.50 a piece) and were off.
Along the way we passed through the villages of every Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) on the island. In one of these villages we crossed the path of a fellow PCV. The van was brought to a stop and we reversed to meet her. I got out of the van and we chatted briefly about our experiences thus far and about how we were celebrating Christmas. We chatted for about five minutes then I got back in the van and she continued on her walk.
Our next stop was for lunch. We stopped at a remote beach. When I say remote, I mean it. For most of the people on the planet it would take days to get there. First, a plane ride that, again for most of the world, take more than half a day. This would be followed by a bus or taxi to the wharf. Then an hour or two on a ferry to get to the island of Savai'i from Upolu, where the airport is. Finally, a bus or taxi to the opposite side of the island which would take at least two and a half hours. It was a gorgeous beach. Check out the video here. We ate typical Samoan food--pork, chicken, taro--and enjoyed the beach. One of the people with us was a one and a half year old boy. He was so cute and quite intelligent. He was also quite afraid of the beach and especially the water. He screamed when anyone brought him near the water. When they attempted to set him down on the sand away from the water, he curled his legs up as if they were slowly setting him into a frying pan or a bucket of ice water. He didn't know what to think of it and therefore didn't want to touch the sand.
After lunch, we simply continued around the beautiful island until we were home in Patamea. We only stopped here and there to get snacks, to buy cash-power (Samoans prepay for electricity much like some people prepay for the use of their cellphones putting money into their accounts as needed rather than paying a bill at the end of the month), or even to try to see the blowholes on the southern coast. We would have had to pay quite a bit to enter so we chose instead to continue home.
We arrived back at home at about 6:00pm. Shortly thereafter we ate dinner. I quickly went home to read and go to bed. It's always fascinating to me how exhausting sitting down for hours can be.
I didn't have a chance to write about what i did for Christmas this year yet, so I wanted to let you know how I celebrated the season in Samoa. First of all, the season is actually the rainy, summer season and not the cold, quiet, and introspective winter season of the northern hemisphere. Here, the sun will shine most of the day, its intense rays broken only occasionally by clouds and sudden rainfall. Christmas Day was no different, sometimes hot and bright and at other times humid, damp, and overcast.
There were eleven family members from extended family who live in Apia visiting for the holidays. They decided to take a tour of the island of Savai'i and invited me along. We headed out at noon after a morning church service and packing the van for the trip. Our route took us north along the eastern side of the island. We first came to the lava fields of Saleaula. These fields are remnants of the eruption of a nearby volcano at the beginning of the twentieth century. The eruption and consequential lava flow destroyed the village which is now rebuilt on top of the hardened lava.
We didn't stop in Saleaula but rather drove straight through. In fact, we didn't really stop in any villages during our trip except to refuel both the car's gas tank as well as our stomachs. Village after village passed my view. I took pictures when possible--the windows of the van were not very conducive to photography. One stop we did make was to buy a few niu (young, green, drinking coconuts) from a little girl on the side of the road. Her clothes were brown and torn and nearly matched her skin tone. We payed for the niu (about $0.50 a piece) and were off.
Along the way we passed through the villages of every Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) on the island. In one of these villages we crossed the path of a fellow PCV. The van was brought to a stop and we reversed to meet her. I got out of the van and we chatted briefly about our experiences thus far and about how we were celebrating Christmas. We chatted for about five minutes then I got back in the van and she continued on her walk.
Our next stop was for lunch. We stopped at a remote beach. When I say remote, I mean it. For most of the people on the planet it would take days to get there. First, a plane ride that, again for most of the world, take more than half a day. This would be followed by a bus or taxi to the wharf. Then an hour or two on a ferry to get to the island of Savai'i from Upolu, where the airport is. Finally, a bus or taxi to the opposite side of the island which would take at least two and a half hours. It was a gorgeous beach. Check out the video here. We ate typical Samoan food--pork, chicken, taro--and enjoyed the beach. One of the people with us was a one and a half year old boy. He was so cute and quite intelligent. He was also quite afraid of the beach and especially the water. He screamed when anyone brought him near the water. When they attempted to set him down on the sand away from the water, he curled his legs up as if they were slowly setting him into a frying pan or a bucket of ice water. He didn't know what to think of it and therefore didn't want to touch the sand.
After lunch, we simply continued around the beautiful island until we were home in Patamea. We only stopped here and there to get snacks, to buy cash-power (Samoans prepay for electricity much like some people prepay for the use of their cellphones putting money into their accounts as needed rather than paying a bill at the end of the month), or even to try to see the blowholes on the southern coast. We would have had to pay quite a bit to enter so we chose instead to continue home.
We arrived back at home at about 6:00pm. Shortly thereafter we ate dinner. I quickly went home to read and go to bed. It's always fascinating to me how exhausting sitting down for hours can be.
 |
| The main road around Savai'i |
 |
| A typical fale with an amazing view |
 |
| A beautiful church on Savai'i |
 |
| The beach where I spent Christmas |
 |
| Another shot of the beach |
 |
| A panoramic shot of "Christmas Beach" |
Sunday, January 6, 2013
a few more pics
 |
| using a graphic organizer to teach literacy |
 |
| teaching literacy skills |
 |
| a warmer to start |
 |
| the sunset in our training village |
 |
| prize-giving (graduation) at our training primary school |
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Some quick pics
Just wanted to post a few pics for you all. I have tons more and some video but for some reason I'm having loads of issues uploading anything while other volunteers have been able to upload quite a few videos and pics. Anyway, hopefully that will be figured out soon. But for now here's a few of my faves:
 |
| My host-brother, Vita with a kid from Utulaelae |
 |
| Scraping taro root |
 |
| Some of the family with Kate |
 |
| Cyclone Evan from our hotel window |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)