Although it is called Flag Day, the actual feeling of the day is much more that of the Fourth of July. Families get together and BBQ and relax during the weekend, as well as attending Flag Day celebrations. This year one of the main attractions was a parade and Samoan presentations at the stadium. We had seen similar at our Samoan Day celebrations so we decided to check out the other event, the Fautasi races. Fautasis are traditional boats that look like huge canoes and carry around forty rowers in each. For the Fautasi Race many villages entered a boat, and there was also a boat from Western Samoa. The boat races were a big source of village pride and the crews had been training for months. One of our own, Matt, was apparently the first palagi to ever row in a Fautasi Race.
Thursday we stayed over at Scott and Taylor’s and watched Glee, and on Friday morning we were up and heading to the first heat of the races. It was a beautiful day and were enjoyed watching the race but were a little confused about what was going on as the radio everyone was blasting from their cars was in Samoan, and the boats were coming in at all different times. As it turned out the boats were about ready to start the race when teh goveror called and made them wait til he could get out to the starting line in his yaght to see the race start.
A family watching for the boats.
The race starts in the open ocean, and by the time that the yaght got out there the boats had drifted away from the line and a couple were swamped becaue they had to wait half an hour. The race was scrapped.
We watched anyways but decided we would come in to watch the real race the next day, and consoled ourselves by hanging out and swimming at Sadie's and then hitting up the karaoke bar at night.
On Saturday some of us headed back out to see the real race, although it was not nearly as nice weather. However it was cool to see the race and we ended up watching from one of the areas where the boats dock so that we got to see them when the race was over.
After yet another afternoon of sushi and Sadie's we headed to Ben's friend Matt's house to hang out for a while, and then decided to head to a going away party for one of the palagis on Island at the karayoke bar. Back for the second night in a row, but this night was much more of a party vibe as evidenced in the pictures.
The weekend was deliciously long and much needed, and did not disappoint.
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