On TV, First Week of School

Patamea; Sunday, January 27th-Thursday, January 31st


Currently reading: Contact by Carl Sagan

So, I was on Samoan TV on Sunday. Part of being a PCV in Samoa means attending church as religion is a huge part of the culture here. It would be very difficult to accomplish much if the members of the community saw a PCV refusing to be involved in religious activities. So I’ve been attending my host family’s church. I’ve also joined the choir and have been going to practices regularly. I have a horrible singing voice but it’s drowned out by the amazing voices of the people around me. Singing is a much larger part of everyday life in Samoa than in the U.S so most (all?) Samoans have amazing singing voices. Now church services in Samoa, in addition to normally happening twice on Sunday (in the morning and afternoon and people usually attend both services), different churches from around Samoa are filmed and played on TV between the other services. So you can go to church all day! Yay! On this particular Sunday, our church was being filmed. So the choir was busy practicing several songs for the filming. The night before we were filmed singing a few of the songs in front of the church. Then the whole service was filmed on Sunday and played later that afternoon. There were even a few close ups of me. It was a pretty unique experience especially for a PCV seeing as though the last time this church had been filmed was in 2000.

My first week of classes as a Peace Corps Volunteer is coming to an end. This has been months, years really, in the coming. Starting school is the culmination of year-long application process, 26+ graduate-level credits, and more than two months of in-country training. However, it hasn’t been quite what I expected.

In my experience as a student and teacher in various contexts, the first week of school is normally rather hectic. Students are searching for their classrooms, teachers are busy printing, handing out syllabi, and previewing the next year of the students’ lives. The hustle inside of American school buildings or in the halls of a Korean hagwon are absent in my village here in Samoa. Instead, the teachers are often found around the meeting room table sipping tea, eating, and talking. The students perform various tasks in and around the school.

For instance, the first day of class, the students picked up “rubbish” around the school yard when they first arrived. Now, you might think that this means that they were picking up wrappers, used cans and bottles, crumpled paper, or other rubbishy items. You would be wrong, though. Rubbish in Samoa is actually dried leaves, mostly from the ubiquitous breadfruit trees. The leaves are about the size of dinner plate (although shaped more leaf-like and less plate-like). They dry out and fall from the trees at the rate of about 5-10 per day and can add up quickly. While the children normally spend the first few minutes of their mornings at home removing the fallen leaves from their yards while leaving what you and I might consider rubbish they are also responsible for this task at school. The rest of the day was spent in the classrooms sweeping, picking up “actual” rubbish, and playing.

The days since that have mostly involved giving the students a simple task of copying introductions off the board while the teachers divided our supplies, set our schedules, and had staff meetings to go over changes for the year (e.g. the new four-term system which will replace the three-term system of years past), rules, and responsibilities. There was also a meeting with most of the parents in the village with the principal, vice principal, and school committee. This meeting took place on a rainy morning during downpour with winds of 25-35 mph. So, when the time came for me to introduce myself to the parents I wasn’t able to hear anything and just sat there as about 50 pairs of eyes hinted that I had missed a cue and was supposed to be doing something. Additionally, I hadn’t known beforehand that I was to introduce myself at this meeting so it was like a surprise within a surprise—a boxed present wrapped and put inside of another wrapped box of surprises!

As I write this, it is Thursday, January 31st. Tomorrow, we are to come in everyday clothes which means an ‘ie lavalava (basically a sarong) around shorts and a shirt rather than the typical school clothes of a puletasi (Samoan-style dress) for women or a button-up shirt and ‘ie faitoga (formal men’s skirt) for men. We’ll be wearing ordinary clothes because the day will be spent pulling weeds, trimming hedges, and general beautification of the schoolyard. Hopefully next week we’ll start classes.

I’m going to be co-teaching with years 4-6 (3-5 in America) on Mondays and Tuesdays. The rest of the week will be spent with smaller groups from within each of these classes teaching literacy. My challenge will be to work towards a sustainable set-up so that the teachers can continue working on English literacy even after I’m gone.

After school tomorrow I’ll be headed to a neighboring village to meet up with three other Volunteers for a night before we head to another nearby village on Saturday to meet up with some more Volunteers to help one of them celebrate their birthday at a resort on the beach. It sounds luxurious, and normally, I assure you, it would be. Unfortunately, this weekend (the majority of the last week) the islands are surrounded by storms clouds and rain. We’re still getting together, though. Many of us are feeling down after the intense high of the honeymoon phase people tend to experience during their first few months in a new culture. I’m sure the rain isn’t helping. It is the rainy season but the Country Director who’s been in-country for 5 years claims this to be the rainiest rainy season he’s experienced here yet. It will be nice to get together.

Nicely decorated pig for the toonai after the filmed service

That's my host dad on the right

Students leaving the school on the first day

This is normally a bone-dry riverbed

The Rainy Season

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.

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.

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

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.

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"

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

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