Is this in my Job Description?

For the last two or three months our school has not had a landscaping service on contract to mow (or as they do here in Samoa, weed whack) our campus, so the grass has gotten pretty intense. Last week our principle apparently got fed up with the occasionally chest-high lawn and decided that since the DOE was taking too long to work out a contract for a new service he would take matters into his own hands.

Cue the announcement of "Staff Field Day". We found out that Our principles solution was to decided that the staff was going to all bring their week whackers to school and we would have a half day and then take care of the lawns ourselves. The idea was to show the DOE that if they didn't hurry up and get a contract we would have to have the kids leave early so that they staff could take care of the lawn, therefore reducing learning time. Interesting idea...

As it turned out, when we showed up at school yesterday ready for a half day of classes and then the afternoon slave labor we found out that they had decided to have a full day of school after all. Wonderful. I love having classes that I was told I wasn't having so that I can be completely unprepared. Luckily I all ways have some back-ups ready because hey, this is American Samoa.

The day continued, the kids are ticked because they thought they were having a half day too, and we realize that we are still supposed to stay after an do field day after school. Thanh, Julia and I decided that we don't want to be the lazy teachers so we decided to stay and help, but only til 4 when we are technically supposed to stay at school until. So for a bit over an hours we filled garbage cans up with piles of grass clippings and carried them across the way and dumped them into a giant pile. This was all while we realized that there were only about 10 of the other staff actually doing anything...

Is this stuff in our job description? Who knows. The things we do to look good at our school...

Say What?

There are winged termites living in our toilet paper roll. Seriously. I can't make this crap up.

Oh, Samoa...

I Rescind that Last Post...

Today I was smote by the weather gods of Samoa for my mocking of the 'rain excuse' that some of my students have used as the reason that they are late for school. Apparently my jocular nature should not have stretched to mocking the rain as a lame excuse for holding up school because today as we were contemplating how to get to school in a complete and utter stormy downpour we enlighten on how serious the rain here can be. First our adventurousness failed and we asked our landlady Salu if she could give us a ride to school when she took her son because no amount of ponchos could keep us dry in that rain. Salu informed us that she had been listening to the radio and lo and behold - school was canceled!

The steady, heavy rain over the past few days had been adding up and last night's and this morning's extreme precipitation and high winds finally were too much and there was a lot of flooding on the road and worries of landslides.

Were we concerned? Nowhere near. Thanh and I thanked Salu for the information and as soon as we were out of sight in our house did a celebratory dance of no school and thanked the Mormon god of Samoa for the weather. I have learned my lesson and will not balk at the rain here again!

 

To Excuse or Not to Excuse...

Yep. Here in Samoa rain is a legitimate excuse for being an hour late to school.I'm not sure how this works because it rains quite a bit here, so it seems that kids could be late pretty often. Oh wait... they are late pretty often.

MLKJr. Day Adventure

(Posted 01/20/10)

Last week excitement rose as we approached a rare and wonderful three day weekend. Friday started out with a relaxing dinner and Jessie and Julia's and Saturday we spend nearly the entire day at Sadie's by the Sea eating, drinking and swimming. Sunday was the day the adventure began. We decided last weekend that we wanted to do something new that we had been meaning to do since we all arrived on the Island – climb Mt. Alava. This hike is maintained by the National Park and is a moderately (or deathly) strenuous 3.6 mile hike up to the top of Mt. Alava. The trail is actually an old road that used to service the cable car station that once existed on the mountain and ran cable cars across the harbor to near Samoana School. They kinda ended that when a navy plane carrying paratroopers for the Flag Day celebration hit the cable line and everyone in the plane perished. So now you have to hike up.


Being the crazy palagis we are we decided that it wasn't good enough to just hike up the mountain, so we chose to camp overnight in the fale'o'o (traditional style Samoan house) on top. We still don't really know if this is allowed, but we figured we'd stick to our motto of "fa'asamoa" and just do it anyways. On Sunday afternoon ten of us met at the trail head loaded up with supplies and all the water we could carry and set out on our jaunt.

A half hour later we were literally soaked with sweat, winded and taking a break already on our two hour hike. Going up a mountain is hard work for the not so in shape of us. However the views were awesome, the day beautiful and the nature exquisite so we just kept on trucking and after much ado we finally made it to the top. The view was amazing, and we all were in fantastic spirits and ready for the night which started with an amazing sunset. Once it got dark we relived our younger years by making cold s'mores (the boys tried to start a fire but everything is just too dang wet) and playing some Mafia. I felt like I was back at a middle school sleep over - just on a mountain and with some adult beverages - and eventually we headed to bed.


Sleep was not so good for some of the group, with two people actually getting sick, which was the only sad bit of our otherwise awesome adventure. After a leisurely morning of breakfast, staring into the ocean, and Thanh going to put on her hat and finding a giant ticked off centipede inside, we headed down the mountain. The hike back was lovely and much easier than the hike up and we arrived at the car exhausted but exhilarated and loving life.


Now I'm back at school but the week started on such a positive that I am still riding out the high. Check out the pictures to see just how awesome this weekend was.

Camping on Mt. Alava

Scary Things in Our Shower

(Posted 01/17/10)

My shower today, you can pick which you think is more frightening.

Kitten in a Bucket

 These things really only happen in Samoan classrooms. One of my students brought a kitten to class and it took and nap in a bucket after I carried it around for a bit. So cute, so distracting.

Flirting is Not Universal

(Posted 01/15/10)

Possibly the most ridiculous thing I have seen in my time here occurred yesterday in my class. Two of the seniors in my class were flirting, which is common place especially with this pair. The class had a little free time at the end since it was they last class of the week and I had worked them like slaves and was feeling generous. The boy was jokingly punching the girl in the arms, and saying something teasing in Samoan, and she was responding with slaps back and other aggressive physical flirting. This continued on for a while with the boy's friends watching on and laughing, when the boy struck a particularly hard punch on the girls arm and her response back was to lean in, plug one nostril and blast snot from the other side of her nose all over the boy's face with his friends getting some collateral damage.

End of flirtation, you say?


After he literally wiped the snot off his face he laughed and punched her in the arm again, and then held her hand.



Where am I?




Bonus: Some pics of my students.

My Favorite Little Punks

Welcome Back!

The weekend after I arrived back on the Rock we WorldTeachers had our mid-service evaluation. I was kind of bummer because as it was the first weekend back I really wanted to just hang out and maybe do some snorkeling, but we survived anyways. On Friday we decided to stop by a party that A guy named JR was having (refer to post) to show off his new paintings. His family's last party for Raj's mom was really fun so we didn't want to miss out on this. When we arrived the place was pretty full of people and paintings and we chatted with Jr for a while about his paintings and then continued to mingle with other folks there. We ended up enjoying most of the night chilling at an outside table on the porch with some drinks and appetizers (his kids and grandkids came around with trays of snacks, interesting…). We ended the night with a trip to Malio Mai, the bar with a beach, just to kick back and enjoy the warm island night.

Saturday I very grudgingly headed to the mid-service thingy at the library with Thanh, but the day turned out alright. The paperwork wasn't too bad, and the picnic we had was decent food and a spectacular view. The picnic spot was a national park site that has an old military gun (a big one) that you get to by taking a 15 minute hike up the mountain on the side of the road that overlooks the ocean on one side, and Pago Pago Harbor on the other side. Awesome!

After lunch Thanh, Julia and I met up with Taylor for a trip to Airport Beach for a little snorkeling. It took too long to get there so the tide was high, the wind had picked up and visibility wasn't great but it was still better than nothing. After some time in the water we just chatted while drying off on the rocks before heading back to the car to meet people for some Chinese food dinner. Sunday dawned and I was completely engrossed by the Packer's game which I listened to online and ended up being one of the most stressful and nail biting games I have even experienced. And I couldn't even see it! Oh well… It struck me as strange though, to think that the next Packer game I see I will be back in Erie for good. I have a feeling that this spring (ok fall here I guess…) is going to fly by.

Art and a Cannon

It's a Wonderful Life

(Post Written 01/8/10)

For seventeen glorious days I was back in Erie, Pennsylvania! I found out that I was going back home for the holidays back in October when my wonderful parents told me that they got a ticket for me to travel back. The weeks leading up to the break I was literally freaking out I was so excited, and the days at home did not disappoint. Getting to PA from American Samoa is no joke however, and even though I left on the night of the 17^th, I didn't get back home until noonish on the 19^th. The trip home itself was wonderful in that once I got to Hawaii I was so excited to have some nice AC and good coffee and vegetables for lunch that the waiting through my eight hour layover wasn't that bad! My last flight home from Detroit to Erie I was so excited I was worried that I might pee myself, and was even excited when it was snowing when we landed. As Erie is a small airport there were only about 30 people on my flight so it didn't take long to get to the gate, and once I saw my family waiting I couldn't stop smiling. As I came through security my mom was right there waiting and I grabbed her in a hug while she cried (moms…) and right after grabbed my dad and little bro Ricky. It was so surreal to see my family after leaving them at the exact same spot in the airport almost exactly five months ago. That whole day I was awash with giddiness because it was just so weird and good to be home. It felt strange to realize that though my last five months had been tumultuous and each day brought something new, that things at home had gone on as they always had.

I headed with my mom right to my grandfather's house as it was the day where my extended family gathers to cook tens of dozens of cookies which we so creatively refer to as "Cookie Day". In one fell swoop I got to catch up with my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandfather – not to mention eat a bunch of fresh homemade cookies. After heading back home for a nap I stopped by my grandpa's house again, and then met up with my friends at our favorite bar, the Plymouth. The days leading up to Christmas were nearly as perfect as I could imagine. Sunday was the Packer's game with my family and our crowd of fellow Packer fans and seeing my friends again. Monday was our epic party at my friend's condo at the nearby ski resort where we had a mini reunion of old Camp Notre Dame friends from as far as Alaska and Scotland who it was amazing to see again. Tuesday I headed to my paternal grandparents house for the traditional Wigilia full of perogies and such and my dad's sister's family from Ohio. More hanging out, Christmas shopping and spending time with family lead up to a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas where I gave my cousin Erin who was my person in our family gift exchange an 'Ava bowl and some congressional corned beef. All during Christmas I was so happy to be able to be home with family. Some people like the idea of traveling for Christmas, or don't mind being with their family, but with my family as close as we are I wouldn't have it any other way.

The rest of my stay in Erie after Christmas was full of seeing friends, hanging out and just enjoying civilization. Watched another Packer game, went out for my cousins Birthday, and many other fun things all leading up to New Year's Eve. The night ended up being another mini reunion with Camp friends, and also with two of my friends from grade school and high school. We rang in the new year old school. New Year's Day my parents have the whole family over for food and fun, and I was a fun time. Saturday we headed out to Camp for my little cousin's birthday party, and I stayed up way too late having convos and my cousins where we all realized that we are old, and our parents were nearly all married by our age. It was a rather disturbing realization. Sunday was the final Packer game of the season, and Erie apparently wanted to see me off in style because that day started some blizzardy weather that lasted until I left the next day. Finally it was time to go home, and my folks dropped me off at the airport and we said our goodbyes again and I headed into the gate.

As fate would have it my flight out of Erie was delayed, and as a result I missed my connecting flight from Detroit to LA. By some lucky chance the only way that the airline could get me to Hawaii in time for my flight back to Pago was to re-route me through Las Vegas and to have my seat from Vegas to Hawaii be first class! Sipping champagne as I flew over the strip, I enjoyed my first and most likely my last ever first class flight. Finally, late Tuesday night I made it back to the heavenly hot and humid weather of my AmSam home.

A Very Merry Christmas