Home Stretch- Lessons Learned

Whoops just found this entry as a draft from 2 years ago... Guess I might as well post:

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Up until now, I’ve always counted my time in Samoa in months: 1 month in, 10 months to go. 9 months to go. 6. 3. It just occurred to me that I can’t do that anymore: it is officially less than one month before I leave the islands of Samoa and return home. It seems like some sort of reflective post is in order. At one month in, I wrote a post looking back at the things I had learned so far (at one month? What could I have possibly learned in only one month?!). Well, it looks like it’s time to revisit the question: my time in Samoa is almost up, so, what, exactly, have I learned?

I’ve learned responsibility. I’ve never, ever had a job before where I felt guilty about calling in sick, or not showing up, even if the reason was a late night or a hangover. In college, I had no problem skipping classes (especially when they happened to fall on Friday morning). I guess until this year, I’ve never before had a job where my absence had a clear impact on other people. This year, if I wasn’t here it meant my students weren’t learning, and that another teacher was giving up their break to babysit. That was a good lesson to learn.

I learned why people choose to teach. It’s the most frustrating and rewarding thing I have ever done. It’s a job that, on a single day, can make me want to quit and sign a contract for the next 2 years. I’ve learned what it feels like to be getting nowhere with a class, and what it feels like when- FINALLY- they seem to get it. I’ve learned that it is a job that pretty much takes over your life. I’ve also learned that it’s definitely not the right job for me (not that I ever really thought it was). However, I understand my teacher-friends a lot better now. I am also so, so much more grateful now to all the teachers I had during my educational career- it’s a hard job, and students don’t make it any easier. So thank you to everyone who takes it on! You’re much braver than I am…

I’ve learned that it is pretty much impossible to talk about my life in Samoa with anyone who hasn’t been here. There are parts that are relatable, I guess… kind of. But so much of my life here is so completely different than it was in the states, and it’s only gotten harder to describe since I’ve gotten so used to it. So, a warning: if you ask me for Samoa stories, know that I have a lot… but, probably, not a single one will actually make any sense J .

I’ve learned that cultural differences are very real. Before this, I had only ever really lived in the United States, and most of my travelling has been in Europe, Russia, and South American cities. There are cultural differences, there, sure: is lunch or dinner the biggest meal of the day? What is the polite way to address elders? Is it ok to open an umbrella indoors? Should you take your shoes off when entering a house? But, seriously, none of these even touch on the differences between Western and Pacific cultures. I’ve also learned how hard those differences can be to navigate, but how cool it is when you can get past it for a minute or two. And, hey, you might even learn something about your own culture and upbringing you’ve never thought of before.

And I’ve learned a lot more things. Here’s a list, in no particular order.

1.     To use a paper-cutter.

2.     To lesson plan.

3.     To write tests.

4.     To not kill my students, even when they’re driving me REALLY crazy.

5.     Patience

6.     That there are places in the world where candy and GUM will melt if not always kept in the fridge

7.     To use Facebook even when it’s blocked by the school firewall.

8.     To break chargers.

9.     To break iPhones.

10. To break Kindles.

11. To live without in-home Wi-Fi

12. To take cold showers

13. To swear in Samoan

14. To cook without half the ingredients in any given recipe

15. Never, ever to share cheese (sorry)

16. To wake up at 6am 5 days a week :/

17. To avoid getting pink-eye, even when surrounded by Zombies

18. To give long lectures on respect, responsibility, and what it means to be a student (FUN :/)

19. To use a SmartBoard

20. To Bluetooth things

21. To teach (maybe? Kind of)

22. To surf!

23. To spearfish

24. That bananas take ONE MILLION YEARS to ripen even after you take them off the tree… and then all ripen at once

25. How to prepare bananas in one hundred different ways

26. That Dexter is good, Girls is weird, and The OC used to be much better

27. That the War parts of War and Peace make it really hard to read the whole book… even in an entire year

28. How much I really, truly love vegetables… and salad

29. To love the ocean

30. To eat food that was covered in ants a second ago… because EVERYTHING is covered in ants

31. To brush the sand off my feet (and legs, and arms) every night before going to bed

32. To live with sand all over everything

33. To ignore all spiders unless they are tarantula-sized

34. How to avoid being covered in flying termites while watching TV at night

35. To lock the door when the little kids come over (because THEY have not learned patience yet)

36. That going to the beach with your friends is one of the greatest things, but going to a completely deserted beach all by yourself is sometimes even better

37. That beer bottles need to be made in red, purple, blue and pink… because the abundance of brown and green sea glass is getting really old

38. That dead sea creatures in pretty shells smell REALLY bad

39. That boys who don’t speak any English (except “yes” and “I want a palagi girlfriend”) are really hard to be interested in

40. That students can be very, very bad.

41. But they can also be very, very sweet

42. That time zones are hard to figure out, especially when everyone except you has Daily Savings

43. There should absolutely be no 5 day weeks after Christmas

44. It’s just as hard being a teacher as being a student in May

45. That teachers like long weekends and vacations just as much (or more) than students

46. That it’s hard to schedule trips when you live in a place where the only methods of transportation on or off the island may or may not be working at any given time

47. That while mail is ALWAYS exciting, it is much more exciting when you live on a very isolated island

48. That it’s much easier to relate to Survivor when you also live on an island

49. And, also, harder to relate- if they actually always wore those teeny tiny bikinis, they would all be sun burnt and bug-bitten

50. That island life is hard on dogs, and most of them WILL die. Even if it’s the cutest puppy ever

Anyway, I could probably (definitely) keep going, but I think I should just leave it off here. One month from today, I’ll be back in the United States, jumping right into the old life I had before this whole adventure: how weird is that??? Right now, a quick shopping trip to Target, a hair cut, and a nice dinner at the Cheesecake Factory sounds perfect, but I can imagine that readjusting to the US will be 10 times harder than it was to get used to Samoa one year ago (what do you mean I can’t catch a ride with any passing truck? And how strange will it be not to be stopped by strangers in the supermarket (supermarket!!!) and questioned on what you’re doing and where you’re going next?). No matter what happens next, this is an experience I will always carry with me.

No pictures today since I just uploaded some to Facebook. But for anyone who actually managed to read this entire post (or was smart enough to just scroll through to the bottom), a reward! Here is a two and a half minute video of me being the most awkward person in the world and Samoan dancing in front of the entire school and all of their parents. Enjoy!