River Hike

June 7, 2013

I went for a river hike in Upolu with a few other volunteers for Madi's birthday. Her mother was visiting for a week and came along. It was intense and awesome. We ended up jumping off a 50-foot waterfall at the end. Running my third marathon (and my first one in another country and in the southern hemisphere) tomorrow starting at 5am. Wish me luck!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRfCoYyj9DA&feature=youtu.be

Early Service Conference

Apia, Samoa; Friday, April 19, 2013

                We’ve spent the last week in Apia for Early Service Training (EST). This is a week-long program of various technical trainings meant to facilitate integration into our villages and improve our teaching and classroom environments. We are on a two-week break between the first and second terms and EST is normally done after a few months of service in all PC programs worldwide. It allows PCVs a chance to experience their villages and begin working on their projects so that they can get more out of the technical trainings. We stayed at a new hotel and held the EST sessions inside of the Central Bank of Samoa building. The weather has been rainy which has been a nice change of pace from the extreme heat and intense sun.

                Training began on Monday with a sharing session in which all the PCVs were given about 15 minutes to share their successes and challenges. This session was encouraging. It helped me realize the negativity I was bringing into my work and my village and refocused my energy on the positivity I was experiencing and bringing. Throughout the week we had technical trainings including Error Correction, Visual Aid Ideas, Library Organization and Activities, and my own session on Beginning Writing: 4-Square Writing. We wrapped up the week with a session on how to report our work to Peace Corps Headquarters. EST really helped me to reset my expectations and goals to be more successful in my village. Also, during EST we had another Language Proficiency Assessment. Afterward, the assessor told me that I had noticeably improved and that he felt like he was talking to a Samoan who lived abroad. I think it was a bit of an exaggeration but I definitely appreciated the feedback considering I felt like I didn’t improve at all during the first term.

                During the first week of the break I spent some time in the village, had a day at a local resort with fellow PCVs, and took an overnight trip back to our training village to see my host family there. The break was much needed. I definitely feel refreshed. The resort day with the other PCVs was entertaining. We had a barbeque on the beach and stayed up late swimming and letting lose. I stayed one night in my village and then went to Upolu, the main island, to travel to Utulaelae. It was incredible to see my old host family, especially my two host brothers, Asuelu and Vita.

                The hotel we’re staying it is actually the closest to a western style hotel that we’ve stayed in—it has a TV, a mini-fridge, and a telephone in each room as well as a bar in the central patio. It’s also located centrally and is within walking distance of the banks, shopping, restaurants, and training facilities. We’re all quite happy with it. The only issue has been the weather. It’s been raining non-stop. But I actually have been enjoying it. It’s reminded me of Autumn showers and studying in the library during undergrad.

                Again, this has been a very needed rest. I feel excited for next term.

Snorkeling

I went snorkeling with a few of the other PCVs after a reunion we had on Monday. I have a camera that can take pics under water so I brought it along and took some shots. We went to 3 different places but the second one we weren't able to get out to go snorkel because the waves were to big--they were HUGE! (I might have gotten sick over the side of the boat. I can neither confirm nor deny)

Madi, Kate, and Aly

Kate

Aly and Kate

Aly, Madi, and Kate

This turtle appeared right below my feet

The island of Savai'i from our first snorkeling site

Our guide, Alex

Students Singing Before School

http://youtu.be/hdjRh9UEzWU

Birthdays and Corporal Punishment

Patamea; Friday, March 01, 2013
Currently Reading: Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
We are half way through the first term of eight terms we will be teaching here in Samoa. We’ve also been in country for nearly five months. That means I’m about 1/5 of the way through my service and right on track with culture shock. Little things are irritating me and though I try to remember that I’m in a different culture with different ways of doing things, it’s sometime hard to put on a happy face and go with the flow.
Times like the first 30 minutes of every day at school. To be fair, the first 30 minutes also include some of my favorite parts of each day. The students and teachers gather in the assembly hall and have devotion—religion is part of Samoan society and included within their constitution so even public school have religious overtones. During the devotion the students always sing some hymns. Let me tell you something. Samoans know how to sing from a very young age. They even sing in harmony with the girls singing the soprano (I think that’s what it would be called) and the boys singing the tenor (again, maybe that’s right? I’m an applied linguist, not a musician or a singer. Give me a break). It’s quite awesome to witness as the hall fills with the melodies of children singing at the top of their lungs, unashamed to just belt out that song. It’s very different from the Lutheran upbringing I had in Minnesota where excitement for singing in church seemed on par with the excitement for pulling out one’s own hair.
After the singing is over, however, the students who have done something, anything, wrong are lined up behind the teachers where they wait to be beaten with a hand, a large wooden walking stick, or a 6-foot-long stick as thick as my index finger used to whip them. Corporal punishment is actually illegal in Samoa but that does little to change the behavior of teachers in rural schools who are rarely inspected at all. An inspection happened about 2 weeks ago. Five cars pulled up. About 20 people piled out of them and walked around the campus. Fifteen minutes later, after some tea, they were gone. They didn’t inspect any classrooms or even talk to any students. And the inspection was planned with the principal and all the teachers knowing about it ahead of time (of course I wasn’t aware of it). I doubt surprise inspections ever take place. If I do report it, it will be obvious that I was the one that reported it and I can basically forget about accomplishing anything during my time here since I will have broken my principal and co-teachers’ trust during my first few weeks here. It’s really not a fun situation to be in. They try to tell me how it’s “fa’asamoa” (Samoan culture, or the Spirit of Samoa) to beat kids. I wouldn’t be so forthcoming in coopting such a behavior as part of my cultural identity but then again, I’m not Samoan.
I celebrated my 31st birthday on Wednesday which took my mind off of that for a bit though. I had a blast. I originally had just planned on having dinner and playing volleyball with my good friend and co-PCV, Aly who lives in a nearby village. My principal lives in another village past Aly’s so she gave me a ride. We picked Aly up and she dropped the two of us off at a pizzeria in another neighboring village. Then two more PCVS, Madi and Kiri, along with a couple from Madi’s village, surprised us by showing up. It was awesome to see them and they brought amazing gifts of Tang, beer, Snickers, M&Ms, avocados the size of a grapefruit, and a ride to a nearby resort to go swimming. It was a gorgeous beach with awesome company. Later, Aly and I returned to her village to play volleyball. At about 8:30 I got a ride from a neighbor to my village. I stopped by the local shop, bought two beers, and headed over to my host family’s fale to celebrate with them. I gave a beer to my host dad and we drank and talked (ok the conversation was broken but it was entirely in Samoan!). They bought another round for us which was enough to send me off to bed. Birthdays abroad could be lonely times. The two times I’ve been abroad for my birthday though have been tons of fun! (I may or may not have had a drag themed party for my 29th birthday in South Korea). I’m missing home and friends and family but I’m also feeling reenergized for my work here.

Hopes and Fears

Apia; Sunday, February 24, 2013
Currently Reading: Why We Run: A Natural History by Bernd Heinrich
I’ve spent the last three weekends in Apia. The first two were enjoyable. This weekend had some great positives that renewed my resolve as a PCV. It also had a few negatives that really got me to question my volunteer experience. I think the range of these experiences has given me fuel for my service.
The highlight of this week was a meeting that many of the PCVs had with the Peace Corps’ Regional Director for Inter-America and Pacific Regions on Saturday. We didn’t receive much notice that he was coming nor did we have a very clear idea of what the meeting was exactly going to entail, but it turned out to be a very productive, informative, and encouraging discussion. He opened with a brief introduction—he’s had a pretty amazing life having lived all over the world. Surprisingly, he isn’t an RPCV (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer). Most of the staff at Peace Corps will have their dates and country of service printed on their business cards, typed at the end of emails, or told at introductions.  His introduction lacked that and he explained how he had worked for USAID in Costa Rica, later started his own consulting business which has offices around the world, and how he became a Regional Director for the Peace Corps.
Then it was our turn. We went around the room explaining who we were, where we were from, and why we joined the Peace Corps. It was refreshing to hear my fellow PCVs tell their stories. We’d told similar stories before but it seems like a bit of new information is shared with every retelling. I’m in some great company. Finally, we got down to some real business. He asked us each to share both positive and negative feelings and experience with Peace Corps in general and with our experience in Samoa. We really got a sense that he not only cared for us and our safety but also for the sustainability and productivity of the program and the well-being of the countries and people who hosted the PCVs. We had a little laugh as he questioned the placement of another PCV and me. We both speak Spanish (well, I used to anyway) and have experience living and studying/working in Latin America yet we were placed in Samoa. We both love it in Samoa, don’t get me wrong. But it does cause a bit of a raise of an eyebrow that two Spanish-speaking volunteers would be placed outside of Latin America. Being transparent about his curiosity around volunteer placement showed that he cared on an individual level as well as a program level.
After the meeting, we had lunch and did some shopping at the few stores that are open in Apia (or anywhere in Samoa) on a Saturday evening. After about 2pm on Saturday until about 7am Monday morning, Apia is a ghost town. It’s actually a bit amusing to watch the bustling—I’m not sure that’s an appropriate term for a town of about 30,000 people—city go from crowded stores, streets, and sidewalks, to a person or two every other block or so and most of the time they are palagi (“pah-LANG-y”, foreigners). I decided to stay another night. Hotels in town have hot water and often air conditioning. I was happy to absorb the luxuries for another night. However, I was missing village life and after 3 weekends in a row in the capital I was ready to leave early the next day.
My readiness was only exacerbated later on Saturday night when we went out with some former PCVs. Generally speaking, they are awesome people and know how to have a good time. But there is one little thing that gets under my skin about some of them and some of the PCVS from the previous group (all but one of whom are back in the US having finished their service). One of my biggest concerns about joining the Peace Corps was that I would end up volunteering with a bunch of people fresh out of college hoping to extend their college years a bit longer and not take the work or the responsibility of living in a host culture seriously. Some of what I’ve heard from these PCVs and from others including the Regional Director we had just met with confirmed these concerns I had. It appears that many of the people in the groups before us basically used their two years as extended spring breaks. Many of their stories related to the parties they had with each other and few of their stories were about the work they were doing or their lives in Samoa. It was evident from day one in country that our group was different from the last just in how we composed ourselves and what we talked about. Again, don’t get me wrong, many of the people in the previous group were great and I’m sure that they all had impacts at their schools. But when I hear someone say that partying is “what the Peace Corps is all about” it doesn’t make me proud to say I’m a Peace Corps Volunteer. Luckily, the Peace Corps did what the Regional Director referred to as “hitting the reset button” and there was no Peace Corps group last year. That effectively starts the program over from scratch as our group of 13 are the only PCVs in country plus one from the last group who is staying for a third year and teaching at the University. Like I said, we are a very different group with different priorities and I’m happy to be part of Group 84.

Second Week of School, Rain water, Exercise

Patamea, Friday, February 1st- Friday, February 8th, 2013


Currently reading: Why We Run: A Natural History by Bernd Heinrich

Well, I’ve been without water for a full week now. I don’t fully understand why but it has to do with the extreme amount of rain we’ve had the last week or two. It affects the water supply. This is the third time it’s happened since I moved in in December but this is by far the longest I’ve gone without water. Normally it comes back on the same day just a few hours later. I’m pretty sure my neighbors behind me have water back, though, because I think I heard their shower going earlier. When I turn my faucets on all I hear is the hiss of water trying to make its way through the pipes and into my sink but there isn’t enough pressure to push it through. Luckily, living on the school grounds means I have access to the gigantic container they use to collect rain water. It’s not ideal as the rain water is collected after it has pour down the roof of the school building collecting anything that might be on the roof (hint: there are a LOT of birds that hang out around the school). I filter and treat the water before I use it for drinking or cooking which is a bit of a chore involving lugging buckets of water several yards from the container to my house then pouring it into my filter after using a ‘ie lavalava to filter some of the larger chunks and then adding a few drops of bleach to sterilize it. The water then takes an hour or two to filter through so I have to repeat this at least once a day. I take bucket showers, which is actually kind of nice except in the mornings (people generally take several showers a day here) when the water hasn’t had a chance to warm in the sun and the temperature is lower than the normal 80+. But even still, a cold shower isn’t that bad. I mean, I’m living on a tropical island, right? The only real issue is that I don’t really have time to wait for the water to filter in order to wash dishes. So I don’t use treated water to wash dishes right now. It’s better than nothing. I do use antibacterial soap at least.

The second week of school went smoothly. I wasn’t completely clear on where to start with the students because I hadn’t been shown a curriculum, told what topics the teachers had finished with or where they were planning on beginning, nor shown any textbooks that the teachers use. The students don’t really have textbooks here. Normally the teacher will just write things up ahead of time or during class and the students copy it down. This is what many classes consist of and where the students get there “textbooks” from. With this being the case, I revised a literacy assessment from one of my textbooks to use with groups rather than individuals. It wasn’t ideal but it allowed me to gather some information about where the students were as a class and even shed some light on where individuals were at. I had students write their names, current year in school, the English alphabet, the numbers 1 through 20 (digits), and copy a sentence (The boys and girls are going to school). I had them recite the alphabet as a class. Lastly, I had them read basic body parts (head, eyes, nose, mouth, leg, hand) and match the word to a picture for several basic objects (boy, girl, table, chair, car, pencil, book, door, clock). Ideally this would have been done individually with every student but I knew my co-teachers were going to probably pick the groups themselves whether or not I did an assessment. So, I figured I would use a class period to gather as much information as I could to inform my future classes.

It helped a lot but I was still not very clear exactly where the students were with their English and where they needed to go. The students are divided into 3 groups in each year: one low-level, one mid-level, and one high-level. I chose to label the groups “A”, “B”, and “C” rather than the names “weak”, “average”, and “strong” that the teachers wanted to give them (they also regularly refer to students as vaivai, weak or valea, foolish/dumb to their faces). I co-teach 2-3 times per week with each year then meet with each group in each year separately once a week (9 classes). I used these classes to go over basic introductions (“What’s your name?” “My name is ________.”) which was actually needed and informative. I found the groups to be more or less well divided by current English-level although I think it will be a challenge when I try to talk to the teachers about switching students to different levels if need be. My first impression is that once they label a student “weak” or “strong” that label sticks and that is how the student is seen throughout their education. But we’ll see. I didn’t get to meet with all the groups because we had teachers’ meetings during class time a couple of days and then today and entire class was absent and I’m not sure why. All in all I’m happy with how my first week of actual teaching went. I have lots of ideas for where to go and have even found some curriculum books that list the learning objectives term by term, skill by skill (listening, speaking, reading, writing) for each year.

In my free time I’ve organized a fitness competition for the PCVs. Everyone who is participating puts WSD$10 into a pot. They identify their fitness goals for the term making them personally challenging yet attainable. Then we will be keeping track of our progress throughout the term and whoever keeps to their plan the best wins the pot. It’s simple, easy to participate in, and hopefully encourages some healthy lifestyle choices while we’re volunteering. It should be fun! I’ve been using a resistance band and some body-weight exercises I wrote down before coming here 5-6 days a week and running 3-4 days a week. I’m already noticing some changes with energy and weight/muscle so I think I’ll keep to it.