Weekend in Paradise Continued

After we went on our mini tour of the North side of the Tutuila we headed back to our lovely home, Polytech, and got ready for some Samoan food. Kaleo had already gotten the umu started by the time I got out of the shower, and here it is in all it's quasi-traditional glory.

As we had some time to kill I Jesse and I joined some of the guys for some kava. Matt here is showing the traditional first step to kava making: put the kava in a sock (preferably clean).

Here I am enjoying some kava, traditionally drunk out of half a coconut shell.

Dan watching Kaleo's friend at work making the kava by massaging the sock full of kava in a bowl of water. Classy.

Chowing down some traditional Samoan food, and we were all pretty surprised at how good most of it is. Note - the brownies are not traditional.

Brandi, our FD, dancing with Kaleo and he is throwing money at her feet. Nice.

Later in the night we progressed to all manners of games including truth or dare which had Molly and Bobby up dancing on a table.

Late that night a few of us decided to head to the bowling alley/batting cages / driving range / dance club in Tafuna for some dancing. Jesse and me.

Alex, Tanne, and KC.

The Bowling Club was definitely fun, and really didn't think that there would be dance clubs like back home in AmSam. One of the fun differences about AmSam is that the guys are the first ones out on the dance floor and they really get into the dancing whether by themselves or with a partner. One guy who danced with Jesse and I actually asked permission from one of the guys we were with to dance with us, and afterward would go back to say thank you. I know some women might think this is a bit old fashioned or chauvinistic (Erin?) but compare to the attitudes of dudes from the Cellblock (akin to drunken gorillas) it is a welcome change. The music was also a very ecclectic mix. Their DJing system was down so their live band came on and play songs including Cupid Shuffle, Man, I Feel Like a Woman, Samoan music, Chris Brown, and You're the One that I Want (from Grease, the dance remix). So much fun.

Saturday we only had a presentation at the library and then had the rest of the day off, so we got our library cards (only two books out at a time - argh!) and then just did whatever. I took a nap for a bit, and then headed out with KC and Courtney to find the mysterious and magical Airport Beach

The blue star is where we are staying, and the arrow indicated Airport Beach. The dark blue is where the reefs are.

We had heard from multiple sources that this is one of the best places for snorkeling on the island. Lucky for us we happen to be pretty close. As it is near the airport (duh...) you actually have to walk all the way around the airport fence which makes it a little bit of an annoying walk. It took us about 40 minutes of walking around the inside of Pala Lagoon and then the ocean side of the airport to get to a nice area to snorkel. As my friends know, I am a total nerd and have been waiting to go snorkeling my whole life (family, remember the moping in Florida?) and we quickly got off the rocks and into the water.

Amazing. Awesome. Incredible.

The water is crystal clear and blue, and you can see forever in the distance. The coral is between 5 and 25 feet deep on average so it was easy to dive down and see things closer. There were tons of fish of all different kinds, including angel fish, clownfish, little neon blue ones, and who knows what else. Also on the sea floor were huge blue starfish, sea cucumbers and we saw three huge stingrays whose bodies were almost three feet across. I was diving down to get closer looks and I almost touched one but didn't want to get Steve Irwined.

We ran into some other folks from our group and showed them the sting rays, and then headed back as it was getting dark. After some showering and changing we went and had a much appreciated dinner at the Green Burrito (yes there is Mexican food here, thank God).

Sunday was definitely a day of rest, mostly just some napping, reading, and hanging out. With some ice cream and a mini tour of the island with Kaleo. For the most part it was a great day to catch up on some must needed rest.

Yesterday we were back to work with lectures and activities all day with the Teacher Quality department of the DOE. Some of us also decided to be responsible and do our laundry while we studied some Samoan. After Kaleo's friend gave us a ride back in the back of his truck I saw some walking to dinner. I asked around when I got back to Polytech and it seemed like everyone else had eaten dinner or was eating leftovers they had so I decided to catch up with the group who was walking. This was very exciting for me cause it was my first chance to hitch here, and apparently everyone does it and people who give rides are super nice.

The second car that came by picked me up, and he was a nice guy name Filipo from Western Samoa who I found out live in Leone and drives the pink bus from Leone to Pago. I thanked him, told him I would see him soon most likely, and headed in to meet folks for dinner. Afterward we had a little more learning, and then Jesse and I chilled with some of the guys in our group that play guitar and just listened to their music. Pretty chill night.

Today we are just learning more basic lesson plans, and are preparing to do a demonstration lesson. Blah... However I am getting really pumped to see my classroom and teach!

Weekend on the Island

Somethings are the same where ever you are - namely that weekends are a time to party and relax. Friday we had a little bit of responsible stuff to do in the day before the glorious weekend, but turned out to be sweet too.

In the morning we headed out to the National Park of AmSam office to introduce everyone to that resource, and I was pumped to finally meet the folks with whom I will be working to complete my master's project. After the group talk I had a chance to meet people and hammer out the timing, and some of the finer details of how we want this project to go. Obviously since I have some classes to prepare for I won't be doing too much work until the fall.

After the park office, we had the option to hike Mt. Alava, but most of use decided to wait for another day cause it was rainy and cloudy up on the mountain. Instead, Lisa figured this would be a good time to go visit the villages on the north coast since those living there hadn't seen their places yet. We thought the rest of the island was beautiful, but the north side puts the rest to shame.

View from Fagasa pass.

Kathy was seeing her village of Fagasa for the first time and was waving to the children playing basketball at the school. She is totally bad ass.

Fagasa

View of the village from the far side of the bay.

View of Pago from Afono pass.

View of Afono bay.

View of Craggy Point.

Me with the beautiful view in the background. Side note: while we were taking pictures from here at craggy point I saw my first flying foxes!

The ridiculously pretty village of Vatia where Steve and Alex are living.

Just for your information, to go between the east and west ends of the island you have to drive past the tuna canneries which smell like the most horrid combination of fish, burning fuel, and ass.

It is midnight - and there is now way I have the energy to type any more tonight. I am the last person up so I think I should probably got to bed. Be on the lookout for the next post about the rest of the weekend as it gets exponentially better.

Trouble in Paradise

So I guess I should mention that we have trouble in paradise. Not that bad, but definitely not good. Right now about 8 of the 33 of us are really, really, sick. In the last day and a half people have come down with this horrible high fever, vomiting, fainting disease that is knocking them down for the count. One girl fainted twice and was just taken to the hospital by Brandi.

However I am right as rain (knock on wood) so I am only pained through empathy. Let's hope they get better and no one else gets sick!

DOE Dinner

Can't sleep, and pretty much everyone else is in bed so If figure I's put up a few more pics. Tonight we went to a dinner provided for us by the American Samoa Department of Education which was probably the best food we will have for the year. The director, Claire, was so kind when she talked about how appreciated they are to have us teaching for the year, and again we felt thoroughly welcomed. Super fun. In addition, I also ate some local foods such as breadfruit and green bananas in coconut milk and raw tuna. I'm really quite proud that I kept down the tuna.

Courtney, KC, and Jesse.

Brigit, Me, Julia.

Other folk from our group.

More of our group, and the DOE administration.

Brigit showing off the truly yummy food.

Orientation to Paradise

Here it is Wednesday – and I cannot be happier. Strangely enough, while I was imagining this experience to be awesome, it has somehow already been more than I expected. In these few days I have gotten to know the people in my group, and they are amazing. We have laughed often and hard, stared at the beautiful vistas in disbelief together, and shared our common excitement and fears about our upcoming year. There are 33 of us, and while we all definitely share some of the same characteristics – love of travel, teaching, and adventure – we come from varied cultures, philosophies and backgrounds. Still we all mesh together nicely.

We arrived at the hotel on Saturday and tentatively asked “World Teach?” to others with huge suitcases in the lobby to break the ice. My roommate at the hotel, KC, is absolutely hilarious and we get along very well. The only downside is that she is teaching on the outer island of Ta’u so I will only see her maybe every couple months, although we already have tentative plans to spend Thanksgiving on Ofu, the outer island with the most beautiful beaches in the territory. Our meeting at the hotel was not that surprisingly very uninformative, but it got us all pumped none the less. That nice as we walked out for dinner and all of Sunday while traveling us constantly shared our questions and facts about AmSam, pooling our knowledge as we had really been told nothing. As we arrived at the Airport in AmSam we were all so excited and anxious because we had not been told where we were staying or any details of our orientation. However as we exited the customs we were greeted by a kiss on the cheek, a talofa, and a shell necklace from our field director Brandi.

After an excited group pic at the curb, we hopped on our short bus and were taken to the school we are currently staying at for orientation the Nu’uuli Vocational and Technical School in Tafona. As it was night when we arrived we excited for morning to see what the island looks like, but braved the dark to wade in the lagoon across the street. The next morning I awoke early while it was still pitch black and so did KC, and we walked across the street back to the lagoon found Charlie, and watched the sunrise over the water. All I can say is we were in awe of our new home.

Brandi and Lisa (the Ass.D) had scheduled an amazing day for us beginning with a trip to the Samoan History and Culture Museum to hang out and do projects with the kids at the summer camp there. WE had an amazing time meeting people, learning Samoan woodcarving, weaving and some really fun Samoan dances. We were also gifted with bracelets and headbands they wove for us, and given our first lava lavas. The morning was all we could have asked for in getting familiar with the traditional Samoan culture and the people there were incredibly friendly.

Cynthia and Molly showing of the weaving

Traditional wood carving

During the afternoon we ate our lunch on the bus and took about a three hour tour of the island with some stops along the way. We were total tourist palagis hanging out the windows and snapping pics of the insane beauty of Tutuila. Many people got to see their schools or villages as I drove around and it was great to get an idea about where everyone was going to be. Me and my fellow Leone folks had to wait until very last to see our area as we were way on the west side. However once we saw our area we were impressed because apparently we live in the ‘burbs of AmSam. I was really great to see my school, but sadly my camera battery died so I don’t have a pic yet.

Fales by in Pago along the harbor

Stretching our legs, looking across the channel to Aunu'u


Beach on the east coast of the island

Back at the Nu’uuli we decided it was about time to do some swimming, and a bunch of us headed out into the lagoon by our place and just relaxed. Just when we thought things couldn’t get more amazing we spotted what soon became a full arched f***ing rainbow over the inlet and all we could say is “this is our f***ing life for a year! One girl has a pic of us under the rainbow so I will post that when I can get it from her. Later that night we had pizza and caught up about the day. We soon after met our security man Keleo, who immediately welcomed us with a Kava ceremony. There wasn’t much Kava for all of us but we got our first taste of ‘muddy water’ and had a good time joking around – definitely a night to remember! Keleo also then promised us a giant BBQ on Friday with the strong kava and an umu, which we are all stoked for!

Tuesday we actually had to get down to work, and had lectures and presenters pretty much all day, but we did have some fun with the head of PE playing freeze tag in the park. The night winded down with some Samoan beer and some hilarious rounds of catch phrase.

As we are on Samoan time which pretty much means things shut down by 10 as there is a curfew we went to be at 11, and I woke up today at 6:30. Now for those of you who know me I have a shocking thing to tell you. The group here is so supportive and awesome that they have motivated me to go running the morning! Yes, you heard me, running at 6:30 am rain or shine. So currently I am majorly sore from the running and KC’s evil arm work out, but am feeling amazing physically and emotionally!

That is about it so far – we had more lectures and lunch, and I am typing this as I have a little break before the EPA comes to chat with us so I will keep you posted.
Note: This only took so long because our internet has been out, so I will try to post again but who knows?

Matafao Peak, viewed from across Pago Pago Harbor

PS. How epic is my life right now?

My New Home

Talofa, American Samoa.

Sunrise.

View from where we are staying in Nu'uuli.

My First Foray into LA

Ahhhh LA... It's an interesting place. As I was flying in I as usual had my face plastered to the window watching the land below, and couldn't believe how perpetual the suburbs were, nor could I stop the theme from Weeds running through my head. I have a whole new image for the term suburban sprawl. Also the smog is lovely...

However I have had fun so far. Last night Marley, her roomate Phil and got some Thai for dinner which was delish and I savored as I probably won't have Thai for a long time. Today we say Harry Potter at Mann's Chinesse Theater which I am glad came out before I left, and tonight Phil is making Korean BBQ. Good times.

On My Way

Yesterday afternoon I arrived in LA, my adventure has officially begun! These last few weeks have gone so fast, I mildly in denial that I have even left yet. Last week was spent camping with my family in Cook Forest and I think it was the perfect last week in town. I left all the stress and drama of moving behind and spent the week simply enjoying my family and nature. Very relaxing.

Monday and Tuesday were different stories. It so amusing how even though you think you are ready for a trip, in the last days before you think hundreds of things that you haven't gotten ready or packed. Eventually after much rummaging throughout the house I managed to get everything I need ( I think....) and pack it up. My parents also made a really nice steak dinner for my last day in town, and it was a really nice family meal.

Yesterday when I woke up I was so excited. After some last minute things and some toast I jumped in the car with my mother and brother and headed off the the airport. I have to note here that I am the oldest (my bro is in high school) and that I have never really gone far away for more that an month. While I am totally ready for it, my mom was having a slightly more emotional time about it. Up until this point there were no tears, but as we pulled out of the driveway I turned on that radio and quite possibly the worst song for my mom to hear at that moment was on.

She's gotta do what she's gotta do
And I've gotta like it or not
She's got dreams too big for this town
And she needs to give 'em a shot
Whatever they are

Looks like she's all ready to leave
Nothing left to pack
There ain't no room for me in that car
Even if she asked me to tag along
God I gotta be strong

She's at the startin' line of the rest of her life
As ready as she's ever been
Got the hunger and the stars in her eyes
The prize is hers to win
She's waitin' on my blessings before she hits that
open road
Baby get ready
Get set

Don't go

Darn you Miley! Now my mom was crying in the car while my brother looked on slightly awkwardly and I felt guilty about making my mom all teary. However we made it to the airport and met my dad there to check in my luggage and for them to see me off. After some weight redistribution between suitcases, and about a million pictures of me with the family I headed off, my mom of course in tears again.

Looking back that whole experience the last 24 hours made me realized how much my family loves me and will miss me, and that leaves a nice warm fuzzy feeling inside.

Still Off the Face of the Earth

I lied when I said that I would get back at updating my blog frequently. Turns out life can get hectic when you start to realize how quickly a month can fly by, especially when you keeping thinking of 'lasts'. Don't get me wrong, I am absolutely stoked for my upcoming move to AmSam, and am not having any second thoughts I am just trying to savor those last Erie moments with family and friends. As a consequence I still haven't been updating the blog. However somehow I find myself on this day of Independence celebrating my leaving the mainland, and readying myself for an adventure away from this strange American society that everyone outside is currently celebrating.

With certainty I can tell you that this will be my last blog post for at least a week, as I am leaving tomorrow morning for lovely week camping with my extended family in Cook Forest. As ridiculously excited as I am for this annual family tradition it did cause the last few days to be hectic as I am leaving on the 15th - two days after I get back from the woods. Taking a break from laundry and searching out almost forgotten items to pack, I thought I would be nice to post a quick catch up of what I have done the last month. For my sanity and yours I'm letting the pictures do most of the talking.

On Sundays I got to my grandfather's house where the family typically indulges in a few rounds of four square, and yes there are way more adults than kids.

For three weeks in May when I had my class in Pymatuning I stayed with an awesome guy named Josh who let me couch surf. One night he caught a bat in his apt and we made friends and then set him free.

The town where my class was held is known for the carp by it's spillway which gives the town it's catch phrase "Linesville - where the ducks walk on fish." I'm not kidding, it's on their town sign - but I have yet to actually meet anyone who has seen this phenomenon.

I spend a lovely two days totaling around 10 hours doing data collection and analysis on host species and dbh concerning different species of lianas. Can you identify the two in this picture? (hint: they rhyme with smosion shmivyand berginia beeper.)

While roaming in the woods for forest ecology I would occasionally run into something I thought was cool like the trunk of this beech tree which I swear looks just like a troll or elephant foot.

Pretty flowers...

Lake Pymatuning in all its glory.

On Memorial Day weekend my family from all about stayed the weekend at Camp Notre Dame and hung out. In exchange for our use of the camp we put in a few hours of work each day, here we were cleaning up brush... woo hoo...

Last week with my cousin and friend I visited the site of Extreme Home Makeover in Erie. It was interesting to see how fast they can get up a house. Interesting experience.

Trying to take advantage of time with family and what is uniquely Erie, we went on a pontoon boat ride in the lagoons of Presque Isle. After seeing beavers swimming around their dam my cousin Luke declared that he could stay on the boat for five more hours. There's a boy after my own heart.

Sunset over the lagoon.

As I've mentioned before, my not-so-little little brother and I decided to get scuba certified, and just this week we finished our open water dives and got officially certified.

After mastering my technique of catching sunfish with my bare hands while diving I surfaced with one and proceeded to slap my brother in the face with it. We had some good times.

So there are my weird doings of the last month or so in a nutshell. I'm off camping tomorrow, and will hopefully have time to post when I get back to Erie before I leave for LA. I'll be in LA for three days before embarking on my journey to AmSam staying with my friend who just moved to the city. I'll try to keep this updated. I can;t believe it's only a week and a half 'til I leave...!