Siva Samoa!

So, I know I don’t blog enough. Sorry! There are two majors reasons I don’t blog more: one is that, at some point, even living on a tropical island becomes mundane- every day stuff stops being excellent blogging material and just becomes, well, every day stuff. The other reason is a bit more complicated: some of the major stuff that we spend time discussing here, the things that annoy me and frustrate me and drive me crazy, the things that I DO want to talk about, are the kind of things I can’t (or won’t) blog about. If you’re curious about the “other side” of paradise (and this is excluding the lack of all uncanned vegetables, dairy products, bread, and Target), you can hit me up privately. But, anyway, luckily every once in a while something comes up that is neither mundane nor frustrating, and this is one of those occasions (except that this was actually like 2 weeks ago, and for the delay I have no real excuse except that I’ve been watching a lot of trashy TV lately. Sue me).

This blog post is very long overdue. But it also has lots of pictures! I think it’s a good trade off, overall!

Friday, March 21^st (shortly after hopping off a boat from Ofu), Jackie and I went to our first Siva! Sivas are Samoan community events that function as a fundraiser for something (in our case, I’m pretty certain it was for the church). “Siva” in Samoan means “dance”, which is very accurate because this is how the fundraiser works. Everyone in the village turns up in someone’s fale (aka outdoor porch-thing), and as a DJ or band play music, one family is called up at a time to perform a dance. Each family chooses a taupo (female “princess”, usually the oldest daughter) to perform the siva for the family. First, all of the matai (village chief) families go, then the aumaga (untitled men), and then everyone else. As the taupo dances, people gather around and literally throw dollar bills (or, as it so happened, $20 bills) at the dancer, and someone collects the money and brings it to the matais to count. Not only is this a fundraiser, but it’s also a competition! The family that raises the most money wins (though I have no idea what exactly they win)! Apparently, our siva raised a whopping $32,000! What?!? All from money being thrown at dancers?! I don’t get it, but it’s pretty fantastic!

The weekend of the Siva happened to coincide with our (shortened) spring break, so we had a couple of visitors from Tutuila, one of them being one of our WorldTeach cohort! We spent a few days hanging out with them on Ofu and then returned late Friday afternoon, in time to take a break and ready ourselves for a night of fun! We had some dinner (a sandwich! With bread! And cheese! And deli turkey! THANKS ALEX!) and a pot of iced coffee (necessary since we were staying up past 9pm), waited until “after dark” (the closest approximation to when this thing actually started that we were able to get- Samoan time, ugh!), and then headed down to the Siva! What followed was an AWESOME night of dancing, playing with the village kids, and watching the teenage boys get steadily drunker as the night wore on. In between the taupo songs, the DJs played dance music and everyone (aka the kids, the drunk teenagers, and the palagi teachers) had a blast dancing the night away. This is probably the one time and place in which it is not only appropriate but actually encouraged to dance with your drunk students… at a church fundraiser… at the principal’s house. Hm. I have to report that Jackie may or may not have injured her hip while “getting low” with one of the seniors… God, we’re getting old!

Like I said, Jackie and I had never been to a Siva before, but from the testimonials of Alex (who had been in Tutuila) and Matt (who had stopped by one in Ta’u a few weeks ago), I can pretty safely claim that Faleasao throws a good party! The festivities ended around 11pm and we stopped in to the local store for some ice cream before heading home to bed. All in all, a fantastic night, and an awesome cultural experience I won’t soon forget!

And, to help me remember, PICTURES! Enjoy!

SO READY TO SIVA!!

Cas siva-ing with a high school senior

The kids

Breaking it down on the dance floor!

These kids know how to dance

So adorable.

More dancing!

Awww!

The palagis are having a GREAT time!

Jackie, me and Cat, all decked out in our Samoa finest (girls are required to dress in puletasis while mean, as you can see, can wear what they want. SO unfair!)

The school principal doing her fundraising Siva

Look at that attitude!

Adorable!

Crazies

Also (and more recently), last Saturday afternoon we had a really low tide, so I was able to walk out onto the reef from the beach, and walk all the way to the break! Awesome! The tide had come in a bit by the time I went to get my camera, but the effect is still pretty cool!

View from outside my house. You can see the reef poking out above the water.

Just casual standing on a coral reef, nbd

Looking out at the ocean (Ofu/Olosega are the islands you see at a distance)

Looking back to shore

So awesome! The water was crystal clear

AN EEL! This one made me jump straight out of the water, since I've been terrified of eels since 5th grade. But once I was at a safe distance, it was pretty awesome!

Never quite the same...

Sometime in the last 8 months, I think I’ve kind of forgotten that I used to separate what I considered “normal” and what I considered “Samoan”. Now, I mostly have trouble telling the difference unless I really think about it. Last night was one of those nights.

Last night, Manu’a High School held the induction ceremony for the new National Honor Society students. I feel like we have so many assemblies (and classes, meetings, general interactions) where the principal/vice principal/teachers/everyone ends up yelling at the students (not that they don’t deserve it….) that it was nice to go to something that was actually celebrating their accomplishments, and the four new members of NHS (plus the old members) all definitely deserve it. The ceremony was at 6pm, so I decided to stay after school and get some work done and head straight there, which meant I literally spent one billion hours at school yesterday (ok, fine, 13.5, but still!!). But I am very glad I did.

National Honor Society is a very Western- very American- organization, and its traditions are very Western as well. But Samoans have a knack for making things their own, and this was no exception. I had been trying to remember all day if there had been an induction ceremony for NHS when I was in high school, and though I still can’t remember (though I’ve been assured that there was, and that there are photos somewhere on Facebook…) it did make me look at the event in a different light: how was it different than what would have happened at DeLaSalle High School? Well.

The event was held in the cafeteria, which had been specially decorated for the night: NHS balloons covered the walls, and at the front was a huge airbrushed banner: “Our Choices Not Chances Determines Our Destiny” (ahem). The principal, keynote speaker, and a few other important members of the community sat under the banner, facing the audience. The NHS members sat at the front of the audience, the inductees in front, wearing all white, and the current members behind them wearing their official NHS uniforms (blue ies (skirts) with the logo on them and yellow shirts- and, yes, the uniform is basically the same for boys and girls).

The ceremony started on time (which is so weird for Samoa) with a prayer, and then a speech from the NHS advisor. Then, four of the former NHS members stood up and gave speeches on the four tenants of NHS: character, leadership, scholarship, and service. The new members stood up one by one, lit candles, and were honored by their parents with an NHS logo to pin on their shirt and an ula lei (a necklace of flowers) … or two… or three. And, once that was over with all of the members of NHS stood up and…performed a song and dance! This is SO Samoan, and something I am so used to now, but it makes me think… if, back at my high school, we had been required to perform in front of an audience to get into NHS, how many people would say “yeahhh… thanks, but no thanks!”

After the ceremony, the current NHS students as well as some of the other high school students who had come to help out walked around with trays of sodas and water, and then brought out Styrofoam to-go containers to every person present, along with a bag of chips and a cup of ice cream (!!!). The to-go container contained an entire meal: 2 sandwiches, 2 cupcakes, and a muffin. I’m still always confused when I’m handed a to-go container like that at an event: am I expected to eat there? Or are we all supposed to take our food home with us? Eating together in Samoa is very different than eating together in America (or, especially, in Russia!): it seems like it’s the food that is important, instead of the company, and everyone eats relatively quickly, gathers whatever is left, and heads back to their respective homes… coming from a family that will spend 5 hours at the table when we have company that’s so weird to me. However, when it’s a school night and it’s already almost 8pm, I’m not exactly complaining…

Congratulations were given, photos were taken, and, finally, the school bus took us all home where I relaxed on the couch, ate a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, and watched 3 episodes of How I Met Your Mother. And now it’s Friday! I am definitely not complaining!

Also: the countdown is on:

           

91 days to graduation

98 days in Samoa

If your friends tell you to jump off a bridge... (Ofu for President!)

I now know for a fact that I’ll do it. Peer pressure, man… it works.

As many of you know (and I’m sure I’ve mentioned before), American Samoa is made up of a number of islands, some of them more populated than others. For President’s Day weekend, we made the trip over to the neighboring islands of Ofu and Olosega, which are connected to each other by the afore-pictured bridge (and to which we’ve been once before, but accidentally… I never wrote about it but Jackie did and so did Chris and also Matt). We spent 3 nights enjoying a relaxing break at the Vaoto Lodge (located just at the end of the airport runway), where we spent our days relaxing at the beach and enjoying the creature comforts of 3 homecooked meals, hot water, wifi, and a whole room full of books.

The following is a photographic documentation of our time.

The Vaoto Lodge aka Paradise

Hey! An airport!

Ofu sunset

The famous Ofu beach!!

The water's so clear you don't even need a snorkel...

Beach selfie... had to happen...

Another Ofu sunset....

Standard underwater snorkeling pic...

Selfies because we're BFFs!!!

Underwater selfies are hard work...

And so the starfish photo shoot begins...

Hats!

Yum!

Starfish bikini... the newest trend!

STARFISH ANTLERSSSS

Because downward angles are the most flattering? 

Matt got a bikini too!!!

Swimmin' wit da starfish

Artsy pic? Mkay.

Roomies at the beach <3

The boat we took to get to Ofu (and home)

On the way!

That Time I Joined a Choir...

Two weeks ago, Jackie went running after school and was stopped by a neighbor. “You need to be at the church tomorrow. 4:30.” Hm. Jackie came home and relayed the message. I was doubtful. The next day, though, the message was repeated: “The church. 4:30.” We asked why. “Practice.” Hm. I was still doubtful. The principal explained a bit more: every few months, the village churches of the island all come together for a big joint service and program, where each church puts on a show (the last one happened in November, but Jackie was sick and I was quite busy hammocking so we ended up missing it). Most of the village joins in the performance, and the practices are held at the church starting a few weeks before the big day.

Ok. So. Everyone who knows me knows I don’t dance (except in very special circumstances) and I never, ever, ever sing (not even karaoke). Also, I don’t really go to church (the amount I spent in church so far in Samoa, even before this program thing, was probably more time than I’d ever spent in church before combined). Probably the last thing I would ever normally do, then, is join a church choir.

And yet. At 4:30 that day, Jackie and I showed up at church, dressed in puletasis (the very hot, semi-uncomfortable formal Samoan clothing we were told to wear). The church was empty except for a few kids running around (which was lucky, since, before their help we had settled down in the old man section of the choir seating). The rest of the congregation got there sometime between 5 and 5:15, and only the kids were wearing puletasis. Hm. Ok. Practice started. The songs, for which we were given the lyrics, were all in Samoan. The instruction, too, was all in Samoan (it took me 3 days to figure out that we were seated according to whether we were altos, sopranos, tenors, or basses). Practice that first day lasted for an hour, for the entirety of which I tried to puzzle out the pronunciation of the words on the page (because Samoans don’t use consonants) and sometimes mouthed words when it seemed like I was supposed to. It was probably one of my most awkward and frustrating experiences in Samoa so far. Finally, after what seemed like 3 separate speeches from 3 separate old men, we were free to go. Jackie and I wandered home, wondering aloud whether this wasn’t one of our worst ideas so far.

But, the next day, we were back. This time, we got to the church at 5. Everyone else wandered in around 5:30. Ugh. And… we were dancing! Ugh! Like I said, I don’t sing. I don’t dance. And I certainly don’t sing in Samoan while trying to do Samoan siva moves on a church altar. But I did, and the Samoans giggled, and at the end of the day we got a special thank you from the choir leader (both for joining them AND for being the only people on time…).

So we kept going back, and, with every day, practice got less awkward, less frustrating, and more fun. I met new people from the village, got to see my students in a new light, and I really got to feel the spirit of the community, and become a part of it for just a little while. People talked and laughed and teased, complained about the heat, fanned themselves and each other, shared candy and snacks, braided hair. Toddlers raced up and down the aisles and in and out of church giggling, eating candy, and every once in a while stopping for a hug and a kiss from someone in the choir. Teenagers giggled and flirted, took selfies, chewed gum, made jokes… and, for once, it wasn’t my problem. Many of the students also had leadership roles in the performance, which was wonderful to see!

Last Sunday, a week before the performance, we were invited to sit with the choir during the church service. This meant that we had to wear all white and I couldn’t read Harry Potter, but during the service the choir director made a special point to thank us for joining them and made me feel like a real part of the community which was very cool.

And then there was last week. We practiced every day for at least 2 hours. This meant that I got home around 4, went to practice at 5, and came home sometime between 7 and 8, with just enough time to shower and grab a quick dinner before bed (because, you know, we still had to be up at 6 to teach…). The first week, we practiced 3 songs and 1 dance. Last week, we added 5 more songs and 2 dances, and 2 of the songs and one dance were added 2 days before the performance. Um… But, really, it was a lot of fun, even though I spent the week exhausted AND missed half of the Olympics Opening Ceremony :/ .

Sunday was the performance. We were told the bus would leave our church at 8am to travel to the neighboring village where church would be held. Honestly, I have no idea why Jackie and I actually bothered showing up at the church at 8… I guess we’re slow learners. We ended up hanging out at our friends’ house until almost 9, when the bus finally arrived. At the Ta’u church, we were served a huge breakfast and told the program would start soon… once the church leader meeting was done. 2 hours later, we finally started.

I think we finally got home around 3pm that day, after which I promptly showered and fell asleep. The last few weeks have been exhausting, and I’m glad to have the afternoons back to my own devices. However, no matter how awkward it was at first, and how much I sometimes regretted signing up for this (remember how I don’t sing or dance?) it has turned out the be one of my favorite things I have done since coming to Samoa. So much of life here revolves around the church that I think I would have really been missing out if I hadn’t participated. I know the village appreciated our attempt to become more a part of the community, and all my students appreciated the chance to see me make a fool of myself on stage in front of all their friends and family.

A year ago, I would never have imagined joining a church choir (no matter how temporarily). A year ago, I also would not have seen myself sitting in a hot classroom with a sleeping kitten in my lap, helping a girl apply for an NIH summer research job as two other girls used my room to blast music and practice their hula dance for the talent show. But hey. TIS.

*I was going to try to post a video of the performance, but just the one from our village was almost an hour long!!! So I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it!