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!