HAPPY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!

HAPPY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY, SAMOA!

October 7^th marked one year since our plane landed in Samoa on that hot Sunday morning.  It’s absolutely insane how quickly the time has gone by.  It’s weird because a day can drag on here like none other, but months fly by.  Time is strange on the islands. 

This last year has been an emotional roller coaster, containing some of the best and some of the hardest times in my life.  I feel like I have been more challenged here than anywhere else before, but I have also felt more rewarded here than anywhere else before.  Most days I love Samoa, but there have definitely been some days when I think I just want to go home today and never come back!  They say Peace Corps is the “toughest job you’ll ever love.”  I never understood it until I got into the thick of what it really means to be a Peace Corps Volunteer.  What does being a PCV mean to me?  It means giving your last 20 tala to your family or someone in need because they don’t have food for the night.  It means sharing your ice cream you’ve been thinking about getting for 2 weeks with a kid at the shop. It means doing things you don’t want to do, like dancing in public.  It means helping a kid with homework at 9:00 at night.  It means cold showers every day without complaining.  It means sweating bullets everyday when you walk home in the sun in your school uniform which happens to be the heaviest and least breathiest material on the planet (and did I mention it covers neck to ankles?). It means only having about 4 different meal options.  It means crackers or fried flour and water for breakfast every morning.  It means only being able to talk to your family once a month, maybe.  It means getting to see the rewards of your work in your students.  It means getting to listen to a kid read a book they couldn’t have read 6 months ago.  It means getting to hold hands with 40 different kids on any given day.  It means endless kisses and hugs.  It means singing the same song 20 different times because the kids love it so much.  It means dancing silly because the kids think it’s funny.  It means staying positive even on the days you don’t know what you are doing here.  It means remembering that I am an only one person, I can’t do much, but I can do something. 

I’ve been contemplating a lot the idea of time, and how afraid I am of leaving without having done all that I can here in Samoa. It’s scary how quickly time goes by, and how easy it is to say “Oh today is a busy day, I’ll do something good for someone tomorrow.”  I think I’m learning here how important EVERY single day is.  And how important EVERY single interaction is.  How we treat people makes all the difference in the world.  What we do with our time is up to us, but when it’s gone it’s gone and you can’t get it back.  I know, for me, I don’t want to waste a single day not trying to do as much as I can to try and bring a little more good or a little more happiness or a little more kindness into the world.  Because, Heaven knows, with all the bad that there is in the world, we need as much goodness as we can get.  

An Update of the last few weeks...

I’m by far the worst blogger in the Peace Corps, I’m pretty sure.  It’s funny because I feel like I’m always busy but when people ask what do I do, I can’t think of anything to answer.  Instead of trying to catch my few blog followers up on what’s been going on in the last few months since my last post, I’m just going to give a few main highlights and then just vow to be a more consistent writer after today! 

·       I ran a 104 KM relay race with 5 of my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers around the perimeter of the main island of Samoa.  It was an awesome experience.  Easily the hardest thing I’ve done physically and the hottest day of my life, but it was really fun.  It was a beautiful run, I never ceased to be amazed by the beauty of this island. 

·       I got a new puppy, Marley! As some of you may know, my last two puppies, Jackie Chan and Baby, disappeared mysteriously when I was away one weekend.  Subsequently, Marley has been spending a lot of time at the neighbors so she can used to going over there when I’m not home.  She’s a real hoot.  She loves dragging things around the floor, like mats for example.  She also loves sleeping on the bed, more specifically on my pillow.  Which is fine because during the day she spends most of her time playing with her brother, my neighbor’s puppy, so at night I’m just happy to have her close by.  She loves chicken and papaya but will not eat bananas, bread, or noodles.  For a samoan dog, she’s very picky. 

·       My house has turned into a bit of a zoo.  I have 3 cats and Marley, the puppy.  Well the other night, I wake up at 3 am to the sound of my guitar playing.  Just a couple strings, but they were very obviously being strummed.  So I started yelling for catman (my cat) to stop, assuming it was him since I could feel marley on the pillow with me.  About 2 seconds letter, I feel catman moving around at my feet and I still hear the guitar playing. I open my eyes and turn on my lamp to verify that marley is indeed sleeping on my pillow (she was) and that catman is at my feet (he was).  Then I proceed to freak out thinking there is either a giant spider (which is possible in Samoa) or a ghost playing the guitar. I turn on the main light to see a full size crab climbing up the strings of my guitar, and feel somewhat relieved.  Only somewhat because it turns out those crabs have pretty scary pinchers, so that made me worried on how to remove him from the room.  Luckily, I succeeded in letting him back out to the wild.  I had to tell him I just don’t think my little room is big enough for 3 cats, a dog, me, and a crab.  He seemed to understand. 

·       We hosted a Community Day for all of the village to come and see the classrooms and talk with the teachers.  It was nice to have some of the parents of my kids come in and see their children’s progress and the things they have been doing.  I felt proud of my kids.  And of course the kids performed some new songs!

·       We had a 2 week break in between the 3^rd and 4^th term—during which I bought a bike and acquired a guitar.  I learned how to play jingle bells and amazing grace on the guitar—not very well, but you can tell which song is which.  I rode the bike 10 miles to the next PCVs village to help her with an English Fun Day, twice.  I got a pretty good tan laying out on the beach at the resort in my village.  We had a one year reunion at this amazing resort in Asau—it was great to have all of the PCVs together again. 

·       I had my birthday! So now I’m old—23! Where does the time go??? I spent the day at a beautiful resort in Manase just watching the ocean and being so grateful to be here.  I also spent a lot of time contemplating how I used to think 23 sounded so old and grown up when I was 16.

·       I assessed my kids reading levels, and was pleasantly surprised by how much progress many of them have made.  Most are still learning letter sounds, which makes me feel like this is too slow, but I am just happy that I can see that they are learning things, even if it is slow.

·       We had Teacher’s Appreciation Day, during which the teachers chastised some kids for not bringing gifts and told them to bring them next week—that just made me laugh.

·       My mom bought a ticket to come to Samoa!! I’m so excited to see my family again.  My mom, grandma, aunt, and cousin will be coming to spend a week in December and I could not be more excited to get to show them around and introduce them to my life here in Samoa. 

·       I reached my ONE YEAR mark in Samoa—I will write a separate blog about that!