There's a MOSQUITO in my mosquito net!!!

You know that feeling when you feel safe and protected from everything bad in the world, and then all of a sudden--"BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!" That annoying buzzing sound, that only a mosquito can make, is right in your ear? It was a Wednesday afternoon....

Ok, but before I finish the story let me give you a little background. I came to my village a little over a week ago, just a few days after the cyclone hit. Luckily the island that most of us are staying in wasn't hit as bad as the main island that we were living in at the time. So after they talked to our families and checked to make sure we all still had houses, they sent us out as quickly as possible.  We arrived on Wednesday afternoon, completely exhausted. Just to paint you a little picture, for the past two months I have had this very specific routine, of eating breakfast with my sisters, going to school, coming home for lunch and eating with my family, coming home from school and chatting with my family for a bit before heading off for one of three places, a. a walk with my fellow PCV friends, b. volleyball with the villagers and my fellow PCV friends, or c. the beach, again with my fellow PCV friends and whatever random kids happen to be swimming at the time. After hangout time, I would go back home for prayer and dinner with my family and then go back into the village to play cards, catch up on some X Factor,  watch dance practice, or play a game with the kids in the street. And then, wake up and repeat the next day. That I pretty much did the same things everyday for the past two months, until we went to Apia and were locked up in the hotel for multiple days because of the cyclone. I spent almost every minute of the day with my PCV friends in the hotel or around Apia. So you can imagine the shock to my system when we all departed from the warf and were dropped off at our different villages. I was partly exhausted from the cylcone, party distressed because I was in a new village, partly overwhelmed because I couldn't believe how much I missed my family in Utulaelae, and partly experiencing severe withdraw from these other volunteers that have become like family to me in our short time here. They said that it would be hard to come to a village, but  I don't think I really thought it would be hard for me! I mean, I'm the queen of independence. I'm a pro at travelling and going new places by myself. Hello, you are talking to the girl that moved away to college when I was 17, half way across the country without knowing a single person out there. THIS SHOULD BE EASY FOR ME, right?  My experiences in the past week would say otherwise.

It turns out that without a routine, I don't really know what to do. I spend a lot of time cleaning my house, and just kind of wandering around looking at things in my house imagining how I would clean it if I had cleaning supplies.  I spend multiple hours a day, watching and playing volleyball, because that's a way I know that I can meet new people in the village and make friends. This has become my favorite time during the day, and indeed is where I have made friends with lots of the young girls in the village. I go swimming with the kids in the evening, which is always nice. I enjoy having time to exercise every morning and going on a walk. But there were many times when I would just be awkwardly hanging out with my sister and her friends and think to myself, "wow, this is not what I imagined." Or when my sister wants to go hangout at 10:00 at night i the village, and all I want to do is go hide in my mosquito net and read or write in my journal or sleep or cry (not actually cry, but just, you know...what's the word...wallow in self pity?). 

So anyways, the day after christmas here, Chirstmas day in the states, I'm thinking about what my family and friends are doing there and kind of sad that I can't be there for the holidays, and then feeling equally sad thinking about my family and friends in Utulaelae and wishing I could be there with them. I had been sitting in the HOT sun watching volley for a couple of hours and getting bitten by mosquitoes and trying to fight off the flies that seem to enjoy torturing me by swarming my infected sores on my feet. So I finally decided I had earned a break and I was going to go hide in my mosquito net and read for an hour, because you know, it's SAFE in there! I don't have to worry about speaking Samoan, or worse, not being able to speak or understand Samoan. I don't have to worry about what I'm doing and if it is culturally appropriate. I don't have to look around the village and compare it to my old village (which, yes, is a very bad thing to do, and I really do make a sincere effort not to do that, but it's such a natural thing to do, it's hard not to!). And best of all, I don't have to worry about mosquitoes or flies!!! 

So I get all ready, I turn my fan on, get my book out, put my water bottle beside me, get all cuddled up with my pillow, and tuck in the mosquito net under my mattress.  About thirty seconds of pure bliss pass, and that's when it happens!!! The  "BUZZZZZZZ" is right in my ear!!! THERE'S A FREAKING MOSQUITO IN MY MOSQUITO NET!!!  You know how when you have a sunburn and someone touches it, it causes extreme pain and is super sensitive? It doesn't matter that normally that wouldn't bother or phase you at all, but just because you have the sun burn, you think you are going to die? That's how my experience with this mosquito was. I almost started crying. Yes, very dramatic, but I had an emotional sunburn that day for some reason. So, obviously, I decide to kill the mosquito. Which turns out to be a tricky thing to do on a twin bed inside a mosquito net. At first I start flopping around like a beached whale on the mattress trying to get it. When that doesn't work, I get up on all fours and try chasing it around.  The problem is, when the mosquito lands on the net, and you slap the net, the mosquito doesn't die, because HELLO! The mosquito net is flexible and the mosquito just kind of conforms to the net and in that gap where your palm is. So then I start try to clap the mosquito to death. You know what I'm talking about, when you use both of your hand and try slapping the mosquito in between them. Well, after about 4 minutes of bouncing around and clapping the air (looking like some kind of pathetic attempt to be a cheerleader) I finally am victorious over the mosquito! By this time I was so exhausted (it's hard work to kill a mosquito!), my reading time turned into nap time.

But when I woke up, I realized an important lesson. Sometimes, we think we can just go in and hide in our mosquito nets and be protected from everything bad. Because in our safe place (mosquito net, if you will) we don't have to face the world outside or the stuff that is scary or awkward or just not what we want to do.  But the problem is, it's not always safe in our mosquito net. And the mosquitoes eventually find ways to get us even in our nets. So I decided to stop being a baby and stop moping around, and get out in the village! Endure the hot volleyball games or the awkward hangout sessions even after I'm tired, even if it doesn't sound as fun as reading a book in front of the fan. Talk to people even if it seems scary to just strike up a conversation.  Because I'm here to become a part of this community, and I'm never going to be able to do that in my mosquito net.  I really do love my village, even if the transition has been hard. My family is so kind. They take such good care of me and are always asking me if there is anything that  I need and worried about if I'm eating enough and what food I like. They like to make sure I'm getting enough rest.  The girls in the village are my favorite! They are so funny. They love to dougie!! They love singing and dancing and playing volleyball. And they think it's hilarious when I get hit in the face with the ball. The women in the village are all so kind and they are very interested in my love life (and think it's hilarious when I say I don't think about boys, I  just think about God--which is not necessarily true 100% of the time given all of the guys that don't wear shirts when they are working in the bush or cutting the grass). They also think it's really funny when I do something really bad in volley or say something really bad in Samoan. I love that the village is so active, and I'm excited to get to know more people.  It's just a transitioning period right now. School starts at the end of January, so I'll have more of an excuse to go and talk to people in their houses then and to go visit my students and their parents.  I'll also be meeting more of the teachers, which will be good. I'm really excited to finally get to start teaching!!! I feel very ready.

Lessons learned from Cyclone Evan...

A comment that was made during a conversation I had with someone a couple of years ago about the Earthquake in Haiti that hit and devastated the whole nation has stuck with me and has been haunting me over the past few days--they said something to the extent that one of the reasons the earthquake hit was because the people weren't Christian enough, maybe they were being punished for practicing voodoo.  I remember being offended by this at the time, but not saying much because I was too shocked to respond. Well, today I am prepared!! But before I get to that, let me tell you about the events of the past few days...

Thursday morning we went to the conference room in the hotel to begin our training, only to be met by our Country Director who said training was cancelled.  He told us we needed to go by some food to get us through the day in case the cyclone hits and stores close.  We were to stay in the hotel and not leave until we were further notified.  So we went to the store beside the hotel got a few packages of instant noodles, crackers, bread, peanut butter, and cookies--a sufficient amount of junk food to last us a day.  My fellow gal-pals would like to interject at this point that they asked me if I thought we should get more and I brushed it off with a "Nah, I think this will be fine." (This will come into play later when we were concerned that we might starve to death in the hotel).   The first part of the day was pretty fun in the hotel, we still had power untill about 4, so we watched movies, played cards, got on the internet some, snacked on our junk food, played scrabble, etc. We took breaks intermittently to go and watch the cyclone that was brewing outside. The wind was crazy, the trees were blowing sideways, there was so much rain, the river that is right outside our hotel was flowing faster than I thought possible and the waves in the ocean that is outside the other side of the hotel were getting really high at the sea wall.  I went outside the porch on the second floor once just to see how strong the winds were and I almost blew over (which is saying alot because I'm a pretty sturdy girl!).  After this we went back into the room, watched one episode of Friends (so approximately 22 mins) and when we went back to survey the progression of the storm, we were amazed to see the flooding that had taken place! The river had so many trees and logs in it that it dammed the bridge so as the river is running down the mountain, instead of being able to go under the bridge an drain into the ocean, the water overflowed the river and flooded all of the houses on the bank, and then the rest of the city.  We litterally watched from the 3rd story of the hotel, all of the houses and stores in sight be flooded. The ones right below us litterally had water to the roof.  There were people floating in the streets on refrigerators and other miscelaneous objects.  Our hotel was flooded above the knee and up the first stair. Obviously, power and water went out in the whole country.  I saw one guy on the bank of the river trying to pull the logs out to keep it from clogging, for every one log he pulled out another twenty were floating down the river. Our country directors friend had his family ride out the storm in their boat because the water had flood their house up to the ceiling and that was the only way to keep them above water.  The flooding died down pretty quickly and it was pretty manageable by that night. Friday we were still stuck in the hotel and that was when we realized we didn't have enough food-luckily our Country director managed to get us enough crackers and peanut butter to last us a while. 

On saturday, the clean up began. One of the Peace Corps Staff members (a young samoan man) came into start helping clean the office.  It turns out, his house was completely destroyed, but he still came to try and help other people.  We spent the majority of the day Saturday drying to get the water out of the office and clean up what we could down there.  On Sunday, we went to Red Cross and helped with what they needed, but more about that in my next post. 

Moral of the story, and the reason the stupid comment about Haiti has been bothering me so much is because I realized I should have said at that moment, sometimes bad things just happen to good people, and it's not a punishment.  SAMOA WAS NOT HIT BY A CYLCONE BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT GOOD ENOUGH PEOPLE OR THEY WERE NOT CHRISTIAN ENOUGH.  These are some of the best people I have had the privelage of knowing. This country is centered around God, family, love, and happiness (and food, but that's irrelevant at the moment). They love and care for people just as the Savior would and they  are the embodiment of being happy no matter what circumstances they are in.  Sometimes really bad things happen to really good people, and the lessons that we are supposed to learn come from how we deal with the bad stuff.  On Saturday morning we went on a bit of a drive up the mountain to find a store that was open to stock up on some more food, and I saw a lot of people outside just looking around at the damage.  Just as I started to get really depressed thinking about all the people who have lost so much-their houses, their cars, their belongings, everything-I saw a group of kids playing in a giant puddle (think somewhere in between a puddle and a small pond in their yard).  They were just laughing and jumping and playing like kids do, and the woman in the yard with them was just watching and smiling and it reminded me that even when you think you have lost everything, there is always something to smile about.

Some photos of the village....

this is just to give you a little idea of what volley looks like for me more often than not--the ball coming straight to my face!! I sometimes curse my parents for not passing along some hand-eye coordination genes...

Dance practice is always fun, but the best part is getting to hangout with the other volunteers afterwards!! "THAT'S A GOOD GROUP!"

The End of the Beginning...

 The past two months of training have been intense and packed full of emotions--happiness, sadness, stress, freedom, loneliness, friendship, frustration, accomplishment,  purpose, uselessness, excitement, anxiety, and most of all, more laughter and tears than I ever thought possible.  But training has finally come to an end.  It’s a very bittersweet feeling.  I’m so excited to be done with the 9 hours a day of class and the stress that that entailed! But I feel like even though I’m tired of it, there are definitely more things that I could do to prepare-especially in regards to language and teaching.  And I’m so excited to go out to my village and start meeting the people and my students and building relationships there. However, I’m desperately going to miss my family in Utulaelae and all of my friends in the village.  I’m thrilled to get settled into my house and make it feel like home, but I’m really going to miss my little samoan house, that was so breezy and cute.  And I’m also excited to get into a routine that I have more control of-including diet, I’m hoping to limit my taro eating to once or twice a week (in my dreams!).   But it makes me tear up just thinking that my new routine won’t include hanging out with, playing volley with, or watching dance practice with my PC friends that I have become so close with over the last two months—missing them will be one of the hardest parts of adjustment. Despite all of the things that I feel kind of anxious about or that I know I will miss about the training village, I’m mostly just really excited to get into the classroom and actually start teaching and working with my literacy groups.  That’s why I came here and I’m really excited to get to work doing it! I know the transition will be rough, but I also am looking forward to all of the great experiences I will have during this time.

Our Swearing In ceremony is on Friday at the US Embassy (which is where we went for thanksgiving dinner—and is probably the swankiest place in town, super nice house!).  This will be when we will do our official “I promise to be a good Peace Corps Volunteer and serve my country and Samoa” spiel.  I already know it’s going to be an emotional day, but I know it will be one of those events that I never forget.   We go out to our permanent sites the next morning (Saturday) and say Fa Soifua to all of the other volunteers, and Talofa to our new village.  Big day! 

The truth of the Samoan proverb….something about how saying hello is sweet and goodbye is bitter.

Leaving the training village on Saturday morning turned out to be one of the most tear provoking events, EVER. The water works that came and the floodgates that were opened when I was saying goodbye to the village this weekend were a little ridiculous.  I don’t know if it was the idea of leaving to go to something so new and unfamiliar (my permanent site) after being so comfortable there for the last two months or if it’s the idea that I won’t ever be living there with them again, but whatever the reason-it was pretty rough.  The Methodist church had a fiafia for us the week before we left--which turned out to be the most fun I had in Utulaelae possibly the whole time I was there!  There was lots of food, of course, and dancing (both samoan songs and hip music), and lots of dance performances! The boys did some really cool slap dances, Kate’s 81 year old grandmother did some pole dancing and danced with a chair on her head, Becca’s dance partner played hide and go seek around her while they were dancing, bobbing and weaving from one side to the next , above and below while she diligently tried to keep up with his speed, the Pastor’s wife knocked Seti to the ground when she was dancing with him so intensely, but the highlight was obviously when I did a dance by myself in front of everyone.  If you are wondering how I got talked into that, the answer is I DIDN’T! My mom just called me over the side and started putting this big feather thing on my hair and a sequin head band on my forehead and a giant necklace and some sort of hip decoration around  my waist—I gathered that I was going to dance, as this is the uniform for the taupou dance.  The taupou is usually done by the virgin daughter of a high chief in a village—but this time, it was done by me! After I suffered through what felt like a small eternity of dancing, the torture ended and I was allowed to remove all of my costume except the Vegas feathers in my hair.  Luckily, the rest of the Peace Corps also had to dance by their selves as the night went on.  I felt much less like an uncoordinated fool when I realized we all sucked.  

The night before we left the whole village through a fa’amavai (farewell) for us at the same house as our fiafia the week before.   The feeling in the air was so different.  Even just by looking at pictures, you can see that we are laughing our heads off watching the dances the first time, but the last time we are crying thinking about this being the last time we get to watch them dance.  Regardless of the tears, it was a great experience. Of course, we all had to dance again in front of everyone (and yes, I did wear the feather costume again) and there was food and dancing.  The worst part was when they played the theme song from “Ghost” (Unchained Melody, by The Righteous Brothers) and we all danced with our host moms or dads.  I danced with my mom and by the time the first chorus came around we were just standing there sobbing and hugging as we embarrassingly swayed on the dance floor.  Luckily, we weren’t the only ones I saw doing this (thanks becca and kate—that’s why we are friends!).  Following this, we all stood in a circle and held hands while the Samoans sang a beautiful Samoan hymn.  This of course led to even more crying (my tear ducts got a real work out this day!) and then going around and kissing and hugging everyone. 

After the fa’amavai, I went back home to my family and we did our farewell speeches during family prayer.  The fa’asamoa (samoan way) is that you thank God first, then express your love and gratitude, then ask forgiveness for anything you have done wrong, and generally concluded by the giving of small gifts. I stumbled my way tearfully through my broken Samoan to give my speech and try to express my love.  It was hard.  I, obviously, am terribly awkward when it comes to most things related to emotions and crying and being sad, and anything else of the likes that go too far beyond joking and being funny, thus I added a few jokes into my serious speech.  For example, I said “Thank you for asking me every time I walk to the shower if I’m going to shower and every time I walk out of the shower if I am finished showering.”  And “Thank you climbing up the coconut trees to always bring me coconut.”  They really got a kick out of these—and it broke up the crying so that was nice.  I will definitely miss my Utulaelae family, but on the optimistic side, I am very excited to go see my new family again and get settled into my permanent village.  

It's getting real folks...

This weekend I had the opportunity to travel to Savai’i and visit the village I will be living in permanently after next month.  It was a very good experience! I was greeted at the warf by my principal, host father, and a couple other men from the school committee. It was very weird leaving all the other volunteers because we have been doing pretty much everything together for the last month (which feels like a lot longer—In a good way!) and we all just kind of scattered as we got off the ferry.  It was probably good for me to have the realization that we are not going to be together for much longer, but I’m really going to miss the friends I have made.  Anyways, so we got to the warf and all scattered. I spent the next several hours driving around and eating a quick lunch with the men. I finally got to meet my host sister and brother and mom a little later in the afternoon. They are all so kind.  My dad is very talkative and my little brother is sooo cute! My mom sewed me a Puletasi yesterday, so that was very nice of her.  She wanted to make sure I had something nice to wear to school.  It’s funny how quickly they make me feel like a part of the family.  My parents are both 42 and they have 2 kids that live with them.  There is a 16 year old girl and a 11 year old boy.  They both a friend/cousin(?) living with them too, so another girl that is 15 and another 10 year old boy.  I kind of wish my parents would have let me have a friend come live with me just because they didn’t have enough children or other kids for me to play with, but I’ll save the woes of being an only child for another day.   The first day, we just went  around the village and visited the school.  I was only at the school for just a minute, but all the students did say “Good Afternoon, Ali” in unison to greet me, so that was cute.   We also went swimming in the sea in the afternoon. It was very nice.  They didn’t have the same white sand beach that Utulaelae does, but it was crystal clear water with fine white sand on the sea floor.  So, I’m definitely not complaining! I really love the ocean any time I can see the bottom and can swim in it!

My family has a pretty big compound, especially for as few of them as there are.  There is a main open empty fale (just a structure with no walls and no furniture), then an open fale for eating (ust a few chairs and a picnic table), and then an open cooking fale, and then an open sleeping fale with a couple of beds and chairs, and then there is my house! My house is a western style fale with walls and windows (just open windows, no screens or anything, but it’s nice for the breeze).   I stay with the younger girls in the house, but I have my own room.  I am very happy to announce that I do have running water and a flushing toilet in my house!  It’s no four seasons, but it has absolutely everything I need.  I will have to buy a small fridge and some sort of cooking device (there is no stove), but Peace Corps gives us a little allowance for these things, so that will be perfect!   My school is about a 15 minute walk from where I live, and there is an LDS church right beside the school, so that will be perfect!  My village is located on the lava fields, so it’s covered in big black rocks everywhere. It’s different than any other village I’ve seen here.  There was a volcano that erupted here in the 1900s and the lava rocks everywhere are the result of that.  If there was every anything here before that happened, it was definitely destroyed. 

I went to my school today for the whole day! I was welcomed with a traditional ava ceremony, during which all of the men from the school committee said kind words welcoming me, and one tried marrying me off to the other single male teacher.  The students performed some songs and dances that were precious, and then as the highlight of the event—I was asked to dance in front of all of the students, teachers, principal, and school committee.  It was one of the most awkward situations I have ever been in.  First of all, I don’t dance. Second of all, I really don’t dance when I don’t have something prepared. Third, I don’t dance to music that’s not hip hop, i.e. children singing and clapping the words to some Samoan song.  So, regardless to say it was not the most pleasant experience for anyone involved. However, we all made it through it with very little injury.  The students thought it was funny, the teachers got excited to have a project, and I learned that sometimes we just have to do things we don’t want to do because it’s what we need to do.  I really did not want to dance, but I felt like it would show my fellow teachers that I respected them and was grateful to be there.   I also thought about all of the awkward, uncomfortable, and unpleasant situations that you encounter when you are in a different culture and I think it’s a great quality to learn to just embrace them and not dread them.   I really felt so excited to be there at my school today.  The kindness just radiated from them.  Even though we didn’t have many deep conversations, I felt their love and I felt love for them. The students were so happy and the teachers seemed so excited. They kept telling me this was the first time they have had a Pisikoa and how excited they were for me to help them. I was already thinking about all of the projects I want to do while I’m here, especially related to the reading groups.   I won’t be teaching one class, but rather pulling out small groups of students to work on literacy.  I’ll be doing most of this in the “library” which consists of such a small number of books it almost made me cry, then I looked at the english books, I did tear up a bit.  I definitely want to work on developing the library and helping the teachers learn how to use the computers (that’s one of the things the teachers asked me if I could do).  It’s kind of an overwhelming feeling, but it’s also one of the best feelings!  We watched a clip from John F. Kennedy (the President that started the Peace Corps!) during one of our training sessions the other day, and one of the things he said was that there was “No feeling of PRIDE more real than being in the Peace Corps.”  Sometimes when I think about all that I need and want to do while I’m here, it feels daunting and impossible.  But then I think about the fact that I am here, and how blessed I am to be here, and I feel so excited and just full of JOY.  And every time introduce myself, “O a’u o le Pisikoa.”  “I’m the Peace Corps.” I feel a feeling of pride that I have never felt before! It’s a great feeling. SO from now on, every time I feel annoyed that I can’t go to the bathroom without everyone in the village talking about it or I can’t eat a cracker without 14 pairs of eyes staring at me, I will remember that feeling. 

 I am excited to go back to Utulaelae tomorrow. I miss my village.  I miss my family and friends and the sunset on the beach and choir practice and so many little things it’s kind of absurd.  It’s unreal that I have only been there for three weeks because it already feels like my home.  Based on how sad our goodbyes were when we were leaving to come here, I don’t even want to imagine how hard it will be when we leave for good in December.  That’s the hardest part for me.  Making relationships and leaving them behind.  Not a day goes by that I still don’t miss all my families and friends in Tonga, and I can already tell Samoa will be the same way.  Speaking of missing people, I have now had a total of five women tell me I’m “leaga” (which I think is the equivalent of bad/ugly, but it’s used in lots of situations so I’m still a little iffy) because I’m the only child and I left my parents behind.  They ask if I miss them and I say of course, and they say “Leaga oe, you leave your parents behind alone to miss you.”  I try to tell them that it’s ok, my parents are strong, but I guess you just don’t leave your parents in the fa’asamoa.  So here’s a shout out to my family in the states! I love and miss you guys and you have a lot of Samoans feeling bad for you having a daughter that would just desert you!

You know you are in Samoa when...

The last three weeks have been amazing! It seems like I have been in Samoa for months, but it also seems crazy a month has already gone by! I love being here. Every day I literally look around in awe at all of the beauty and say at least once, “Are you FREAKING kidding me??? DO I REALLY LIVE HERE?”  Our little village is tiny and everyone knows where you are going, what you are doing, and who you are doing it with, EVERY second of the day.  But the people are so kind. They really love us. We all felt really emotional when we left to come on our site visits this weekend because our families came to see us off and they were all crying and kissing us goodbye.  We have already formed really tight relationships with our families, so it’s going to be hard to leave next month.

So basically, we are in this training village all together for 9 weeks before we swear in as PCVs next month.  We are living with different families, but pretty much everyone is related.  I live with a family that has three teenage girls and three little kids living there.  It’s nice. I have a little house of my own about ten feet from their main house. It’s only big enough to have my suitcase and a bed on the floor of the room, but there is a porch that I like to sit on and study/read/get ready/talk etc.   I eat all of my meals with my family, which is nice.   They feed me enough food for the entire village, but I don’t feel the pressure to eat everything because I know that there will always be someone waiting in line to eat whatever I don’t eat.  I eat a lot of taro. And I mean A LOT. Every meal.  But really, I’ve learned not to complain about that because when I don’t eat taro I find myself feeling hungry more…that’s what the Samoans say at least. They also tell me that I’m going to be sick because I walk in the sun too much (even though I’m only outside for like two hours a day).  I’m also going to be sick because I text too much. But DON’T WORRY! As long as I shower good, that will cure my sickness!  I really do love the Samoans and all of the differences that we have! My family takes such good care of me! I am never in need of anything. It’s funny because it’s like they are always watching me and if they see me looking like I might be thinking about possibly slightly needing something any time in the near future, they are right there checking on me! It truly is the best feeling. 

Besides my family, I pretty much just go to school for `10 hours a day.  We have been having intense language sessions every day, so my samoan is getting much better. It’s still pathetic, but improving!! After school I usually go home and talk with my family for a little bit, before I go watch or play volleyball or Frisbee or just go hang out on the beach.  About five times a week we have church choir practice, which is long, but sounds pretty.  I have to be home by 7:45 everyday because that’s the time everyone in the village has prayer and dinner.  After prayer, I take a shower.  During which my family asks me four times if I am going to shower. Converstaion always goes like this:   “Alu ta’ele?” (go shower?)  “Ioe, alu ta’ele.” “Ioe, Alu ta’ele.”  “alu ta’ele.” (I shower, and walk back towards my house).  “Uma ta’ele?” (finish shower?) “ioe, uma ta’ele.” “uma ta’ele” “lelei tele” (good job!).  “Vave tele oe” (You shower fast). It never strays from this dialogue.  I love it though, I really do. The rest of my night is spent studying or writing in my journal, or going to bed early.   WE went to tosua trench last Saturday and swam, it was very beautiful.  You should google it.  It’s this deep trench that was like a blown up blow hole or something, it’s really awesome. The Saturday before that we had culture day. We did a lot of traditional culture stuff that day, including killing a chicken!! I killed a chicken. There are pictures on facebook, it looks like I’m smiling but that was just the shock on my face of the fact that I was strangling a chicken!!   I won’t give all the details, but I’ll just say it was kind of crazy.   We went to the plantation and brought firewood and then made the taro and peeled unripe bananas to boil (which was the hardest thing we did that day) and then killed and plucked feathers out of the chicken.  We just sat around singing while we waited for the food to cook and then we had a big meal in which we got to serve the matais of the village. It was pretty cool!

Honestly, I don’t have a lot to report. I feel so grateful every single day to be here.  It’s kind of like being in a seriously intense school course because we are in class so much (even Saturdays for a few hours!) but it really is so nice to feel like I’m learning a lot already.  We start technical and educational training next week, so I’m really excited about that.  There is so much to teach and so many responsibilities, I feel like I really need the training to help me feel more prepared.  Even though I’m not doing much service right now, I just feel like I’m learning so much and like everything I’m learning is not only applicable to Samoa but to the rest of my life.   I can’t say it enough times, but the people are so happy here.  The children may not have clothes and they may have a very limited variety of food, but they laugh all of the time. They may walk around covered in sores, but they will bend over backwards to take care of anyone, even strangers.  I love it! The culture is so strong and giving, it’s beautiful.  I really don’t feel like I deserve to be here, but I am so grateful that I am.  They may call us the “Beach Corps” or “Posh Corps” but we are here to meet the needs of the people, and we will do all that we can to do that.  One of the guys in the group said, “You know, we applied to the PC not having any idea where they were going to send us and telling them we will go where they need us to go.  But they sent us here because they need help here, and I’m not going to feel bad that I’m living in paradise while I’m serving in the Peace Corps. “   I remind myself about that when I find myself feeling guilty that I’m not living the hardcore PC experience that I could be if I were in Africa, but again, you go where they ask you to go and do what needs to be done.  We just happen to be doing that in the most beautiful place on earth!!!  But I think the most important thing is not what you are doing or where you are doing it, but just that you ARE doing SOMETHING to try and help where help is needed.  

Our group has  a lot of "You know you are in Samoa" moments since we have been here, I will share a few now:

You know you are in Samoa when:

-You have everyone in your family wakes up to follow you to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

-People ask you where you are going when you are walking towards the shower with only your towel on.

-You find entertainment in watching the ants walk along their paths…and then you almost pee your pants when they keep running into each other. (But seriously, they have a whole wall to walk on, why do they only go on one little path and continue to bump into each other??).

-You get seven pieces of taro, a bowl of rice, spaghetti sandwiches, ramen noodles, orange milk tea, two apples, an orange, and whole papaya for breakfast.

-You consider it a cool day when you only have sweat stains with a 3 inch radius rather than a 12 inch radius.

-You hear the words Pisikoa and palagi over 100 times a day.

-You could win a gestures tournament because you have become so accustomed to acting things out to explain things you can’t communicate with the 10 Samoan words you know.

-You can name all of the songs that the chipmunks have covered, including but not limited to My Heart will Go On and every Christmas song imagined.

-A chicken lays an egg in your classroom.

-A chicken runs around in your classroom and no one notices.

-Sand comes out of your clean clothes.

-The word “Friend” means you are making out without that person.

-You don’t mind eating ants, because they are the much preferred alternative to cock roaches.

-You get excited to just eat a salad for lunch.

-You realize why the samoans eat taro after you feel hungry two hours after eating a salad.

-You get excited about only having to go to church for five hours on Sunday rather than seven.

-You only know when church is going to start based on the bells ringing thirty minutes before the actual service starts.

-Only showering twice a day seems like a small number.

-You feel hot as soon as you turn the cold water from your shower.

-Cigarettes are lit up in church to show what not to do.

-The life of Jesus is acted out with the soundtrack of lion king.

-You get called “Cheeky” on a daily basis,  but no one can actually define it for you.

-When it’s not ok to hang out with actual friends of the opposite sex, but the pastor can talk about marrying you off and make sexual jokes in church.

-Your house has sea shells and coral rocks in the grass in the yard.

-You start to complain about something and then you shut up long enough to hear the waves crashing on the sand and look at the palm trees and then can’t remember what you were upset about.

-You walk around every day looking at your surroundings and thinking “I’m the luckiest person alive.”

-You REALLY are the luckiest person alive.

Welcome to Samoa!

So I survived the flights (barely!) and made it to Samoa!!! It’s been kind of intense so far, but everything has been so wonderful it makes up for the many hours of training we are going through each day.  The Peace Corps really takes care of its volunteers—reassuring me that I made a great decision in deciding to join the PC! We were met at the airport with the PC Staff and some of the current PC volunteers with a big sign welcoming us.  It was very nice. They took our photo as we came off the plane and then it was published in a local newspaper announcing our arrival.  I’ll try to find a way to put a picture of it on here when I figure out how to do that. It has been a very warm welcome. 

The Peace Corps has been in Samoa since 1967 and most Samoans have been positively affected by the PC in some way.  The Samoan word for Peace Corps (pisi koa) is synonymous with volunteer.  That kind of touched me because It made me realize how much the PC has really done in Samoa and to be a part of that is incredibly humbling.  I learned all of this at the ‘ava ceremony that was held for us our first morning here to officially welcome us into our village.  ‘Ava is a drink that is made of a root from an ‘ava tree and mixed with water. Traditionally it was used at cultural ceremonies and is a very traditional drink.  So we were welcomed with this ceremony, in which we all went around and drank the ‘ava and said (in Samoan of course!) “This is your ‘ava, God.” There were many speeches given, none of which I understood because they were all in Samoan.  Despite not being able to understand, I felt the love of the people and I felt very blessed to be here.

Other than the ‘ava ceremony, nothing too terribly exciting has happened. It’s beautiful here and I will never cease to be amazed by the beauty that is all around.  I ate fish at a seafood restaurant last night, and it was delicious! We are staying in a hotel this week while we are doing our Survival 101 week of training so I’m really excited to go and meet my host family in the village we will be living in for the next  9 weeks of training.  My favorite part of being in a new culture is meeting the natives and being immersed in the culture, so I feel like being with a host family will be a fabulous experience! 

The other volunteers are all really fabulous! They are such great people. It’s so fun being around people that have been so many different places.  We have some pretty impressive world travelers around here!  Anyways, we are leaving for the training village tomorrow where we will be for the next 8 weeks. I’ll be living with a host family while we are learning the language and getting technical training on TESL, so I’m really excited about that!!! J  We will not have internet access while we are there so it’ll be a month or so before my next post, but I’m sure I will have lots to report then.

One funny story, we learned how to shower out in public covering ourselves with a lavalava today. We learned from a women over 50 years old, who demonstrated in the shower, with no clothes on! It was very impressive, I will be a multi-talented woman when I return to the states!

I hope to post pictures somewhat soon, but we will see how that goes. Until then....

The Analogy of the keys....and other tidbits of wisdom.

Did you pick up the sarcasm in that? There most likely is not much wisdom in anything that I say...at least not yet (maybe the Peace Corps will impart more wisdom on me over the next 27 months). We leave Los Angeles in less than four hours, so It's kind of getting real finally. We have done a little bit of training, more like basic introductions, over the past 24 hours.  We turned in all of our paper work, and when she announced this morning "Congratulations. You are officially in the system of the U.S. government as a Peace Corps Volunteer," I almost cried with excitement! But as I left Kentucky, I almost cried when I left my house key at the Anderson's house. Why? Because that was my last key!!! I sold my car a couple of months ago so I no longer had my car keys. I gave my grandmother back her car key (because she was being so kind and letting me use it since I sold mine).  I gave my parent's back their house key. And then my last key, my house key, was officially going to be returned to the Andersons! It was a very sad experience because I looked at my two bags and 75 lb backpack, and thought, this is pretty much everything I own in the world. I don't know why getting rid of my keys became such a deep experience for me, but it was in that moment that I realized, you know we give up a lot of material possessions and money and whatever else to go to the Peace Corps and serve as volunteers, but what we will get out of this experience will be so much more than our worldly possessions could ever bring to us.  I'm so excited! In less than 24 hours I will be in Samoa. Apparently, we will be greeted with the press from the US Embassy and a paparazzi of sorts as we walk off of the plane, so that's kind of intimidating. And as my mom can attest, I don't love the attention so much in big groups and in the form of news media, but I think it will be a warm welcome which will make the experience that much better from the start.

The Journey Begins....

Well, I guess the journey began about 22 years ago.  It's funny because it feels like everything in my life has led me to where I am right now.  It sounds like a sappy country song, yes, but it's true.  My friends make a lot of jokes about my plans to "Change the World" and although I know they are always kidding, I can't help but to feel the sarcasm that is laced in those words and think to myself a little, "but what if we DID change the world?"

I just started reading this book, "Kisses from Katie" and I have identified so much with so many of the things that she has said so far.  She wrote, "Sometimes working in a Third World country makes me feel like I am emptying the ocean with an eyedropper. I have learned to be okay with this feeling because I have learned that I will not change the world.  Jesus will do that. I can, however, change the world for one person. And if one person sees the love of Christ in me, it is worth every minute. In fact, it is worth spending my life for."     We can't try and change the world, because it's too big and we are too small, but we can try to change it for one person.  On the grand scheme of the world, only God is big enough to change all of it.  He is the only one with the power to reach everyone and to touch every person's heart. But as His servants, we can try and touch one of His children. We can love as many people as we can and love them as much as we can.  And that is enough for me. 

I am so excited to go to Samoa.  I am so excited to go and meet the children I will be teaching and the families in my village.  I know that my little contribution as an english teacher will not be huge, but I also know that every sacrifice will be worth it if I am able to make one child feel loved. I know that if one person can feel the love of Christ through me, then the next two years will be completely worth every minute.  I know that we don't have to go across the world to make a difference, I see this in the lives of my family and friends.  I see this in my mother who can make a difference in the life of one little boy who just needs love and a good example. I see this in my father, as he sacrifices his time and money to help anyone he can.  I see this in the sacrifices of my best friend as she teaches her daughter about Christ and the happiness that His gospel brings.  I see it in the lives of my friends who are social workers, and nurses, and teachers-- they are changing lives everyday, right here in Kentucky. But for me, God has led me to Samoa.  He has given me a deep love for the people of polynesia and has led me to the Peace Corps.  He has given me the opportunity to not only try and help these people in whatever way I can, but to also be able to learn from them.  Because despite whatever good things I will try and do for the people of Samoa, I know that I will still come out learning more from them than they do from me.  So in many ways, I know that this will end up being a selfish experience. I know that I will come back a better and stronger person. I know that I will come back with a better perspective on life. 


It's been exactly one year this month since I started the application process and I fly out October 5th.  Usually I'm not this cheesy of  a writer, or quite so longwinded (who am I kidding, I always talk a lot!), but I feel like this is an important part of my journey.  I'll keep posting! Stay tuned for more experiences and lessons learned... and knowing me and my clumsiness/bad luck, there will most likely be atlest a few interesting near death experiences to share on a somewhat regular basis.