I’ve been in Samoa for 6 months. I have 5 months left. That
means I’m officially past the half-way point, and for some reason I feel like
I’m on a slide: like the last 6 months I’ve been climbing to this point, to
halfway, and now the last half is just the slide down, and it’s going to go by
so fast. In September, I realized how long a year actually is. In January, I’m
realizing how short it is. 5 more months.
So my plan was to have a really nice reflective blog post to
mark my 6 months living and teaching in Samoa, but nothing especially deep is
coming to me, and I think the best way to sum up my current state of mind is to
give you all a few quick snapshots from the past week, a typical one as far as
Samoa is concerned (except for the ultra long weekend… which rocked).
On Wednesday, Wes and Matt took me and Jackie spear fishing
at night for the first time (since I had just gotten the underwater flashlight
my parents shipped me… THANKS!)! The goal of the night, as stated by Wes, was for
both me and Jackie to catch something- anything.
And (drumroll please) WE DID IT!!!! We ended up going out in the wharf because
the waves were rough, so there weren’t too many fish out, but I ended up
spearing a tiny red fish stick and Jackie got a slightly bigger guy with a
gigantic will to live who ended up eventually escaping the line (though we
tried to chase him down, he ended up disappearing to lick his wounds in peace).
Though the fishing wasn’t prime and jointly we only got a few, it was still a
really amazing experience just to be out in the ocean at night. After I got
over freaking out that YOU CAN’T SEE ANYTHING and that I never actually knew
what direction I was going, it was incredibly peaceful out there, with the moon
and the stars overhead. And I didn’t run into any sharks, so, cool. Walking
back through the silent village (there’s a newly reinstated curfew for the kids
now, since they’ve been, ahem, misbehaving…) soaking wet, carrying snorkeling
gear, a spear, and a line of teeny tiny tropical fish, it was weird how unweird
it felt*. Just another night in Samoa, I guess. 5 more months.
Friday was Tusi Day**. 27 years ago, on January 17th,
Hurricane Tusi hit the Manu’a islands. The villages of Ta’u and Faleasao were
almost completely destroyed, but, miraculously, not a single person died. To
commemorate that event, every January 17th the villages of Ta’u and
Faleasao have a mandatory midnight to dusk Sa. Sa means sacred in Samoan, and
stands for a time of prayer and thanksgiving. Practically, it means that you’re
not allowed to leave your house. Or go to school. So we got the day off!!! I
slept in until 10am (which is amazing… I don’t know the last time I did that.
Even on break, when I occasionally didn’t go to sleep until 6, I was up by 8 or
9), and spent the day in bed watching movies and enjoying the time to relax. I
thought that by 6pm (the time Sa ended) I would be going stir-crazy and have to
go out, but honestly when the bell rang to end Sa I just shrugged, made dinner,
and put in another movie. It was the perfect day of mandated rest and
reflection- not bad!
Saturday, though, I couldn’t sit inside to save my life. I
woke up late (but normal late, not 10am late), had a breakfast of coffee and
Pop-Tarts (yum!) and went for a long run: through my village, over the
mountain, and down the beach road to the end of the next village, Ta’u. I
started getting back into running at the end of last semester, but on weekdays
I usually just go to the elementary school and do laps, and I haven’t done
anything more athletic than walking between restaurants since vacation so it
was a nice change, and a beautiful view! I got stopped several times by little
kids asking for friendship bracelets (SO MANY NEW FRIENDS) and parents wanting
to know how their kids had done on finals. Everyone also wanted to know what,
exactly, I was doing… running for fun isn’t really a standard pastime in Samoa,
but the people pretty well know that palagis are strange and generally accept
it. At the end of the village, I met Matt who was coming back from spear
fishing and went home with him for some water and a quick visit before running
back to Faleasao. After a stop at home to drop off my iPod and break up a
rock-throwing fight between two of my little neighbors, I went to the beach for
a swim. Usually, I kind of hate having to wear actual clothes to swim, but
after a run in the Samoan sun it was kind of nice to just be able to go in with
what I’d had on. The rest of my afternoon was spent chatting with little
neighbors and the kids from Ta’u (who were visiting because their parents were
down for Bingo, a big activity here in Samoa), and playing Trivial Pursuit,
version 1996 (for which I am at a stark disadvantage, since I was SIX when it
was made, and know nothing about the 80’s- and I still got second! Yes!).
Sunday I spent all day at school, lesson planning for the
week and taking advantage of the internet to catch up with things (and people)
back home. Whenever I miss having internet at home (Tutuila spoiled me!), I
remember how, coming out here, I honestly didn’t think WiFi would be a
possibility, so it’s daily availability is pretty awesome (even if I can’t
Facebook from my couch). On the way home, I got caught in Sa (like the Tusi Day
Sa, there’s a daily 15 minute Sa around sunset every night, when everyone is
expected to stay in their homes to pray) and was invited to spend it at the
high school principal’s house, where Diana fed me coconut pudding (yummy!) and
one of the high school student’s regaled me with tales of his pus-y infected
eye (and how it popped during the night and he woke up with a pus-covered face…
boys, ew) and admired my badass Samoa sandals, because I’m that cool. I then
spent the night watching Downton Abbey with Cat, because YES TV’s exist here,
and YES they have real shows on… who knew?!
Monday, Jackie, Diana and I wandered over to Ta’u and, with
the boys, hiked out to Second Beach (just past First Beach, but not quite as
far as Third Beach). I complained about the long hike, the rough water, and the
rocky beach… and then I realized that it’s January, and I’m on a beach. Getting a tan.
Warm. So that kind of took the wind
out of my grumbling (though I’ll still always vote for Toa, the beach that’s a
fifteen minute hike from our backyard). That evening, as Wes and Matt played
nerdy strategy games (not board
games) in our living room, Jackie and I completed some craft projects we’ve
been meaning to get to for some time, and I’m extremely happy with the turn-out.
Thank God we’re roommates and have such fantastic ideas. I don’t know what I would
do living on this tiny island with no Jackie to plan gecko mazes, make hand
turkeys, and create wall-sized Cultural Adjustment Curves complete with
Flat-Us’s!
Sometime over break, I think I realized that I’ve fallen a
little bit in love with Samoa. I also started calling Manu’a home. Sometime
over break, I started realizing that moments that seem to be inconsequential
matter, and that you can’t take time back. I started stopping at times and
taking a breath, trying to make sure I could catch that moment in my memory,
remember what it felt like. Because, eventually, things that seem everyday now
won’t be anymore. I’ll be back in the US (because no matter how much I want to
go wear leather in Italy or work at a milk factory in New Zealand***, I think
I’ll be back in the states at least for a few years after this), and I won’t be
spear fishing at night, observing Sa, running along a beach on the Pacific.
Samoan kids won’t be begging for friendship bracelets and giving hugs, Samoan
teenagers won’t be telling me about their disgusting infections, Jackie and I
won’t be decorating our beach-side home with awesome art projects. 5 months is
a pretty long time, but it’s also not. 5 months can fly by. I miss so many
people and things back home (currently, mostly Target), and I’m getting antsy
to figure out what I will be doing next year, because I hate not knowing. But I
want to make sure that I don’t wish these next few months away, that I don’t
spend them worrying about the future instead of living right here right now. So
I’ve started stopped, taking a breath, saving a moment. I guess that’s why I
decided to blog about normal things that happened on a semi-normal weekend- it
wasn’t anything special, or anything exciting. But it’s part of a life that I
am coming to love, one that I am excited to keep living, and one that I know I
will eventually miss ****.
Oh! Also. I spend a lot of time teaching. Kids just took
finals, everyone passed (Yay!!!), and now the new semester begins!!! I’ve
gotten many promises of New Years Resolutions: good behavior, straight A’s, no
skipping school, turning in assignments… we’ll see how all that turns out. I
give it a week…
(COMING SOON: a post about our long boat-y homecoming, and probably some pictures!)
*What was weird, and will always be weird, was the
midget-legged ghost dog who kept trying to commit suicide off the wharf wall. How do you talk a dog down from
the ledge?!? Hm.
**Friday was ALSO my dad’s birthday!!! I couldn’t call
because, oh yeah, my parent’s are in EUROPE skiing and celebrating. So I don’t
feel that bad. But HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!!! And I’m so jealous!!!
***Just kidding. I would never in my life work at a milk factory.
Yech.
**** Also, in speaking with certain people… I really, really
think many of my friends might be a little confused about what life in Samoa is
actually like… I hope this helped clear things up!
